Page 68 of False Start

It was a tease, a way for me to confess without making it too serious.

But her breath had hitched when I’d said it.

Her skin had erupted in chills when I’d breathed the words against her neck.

And now, all I could think about was getting her back to that hotel room with one bed to see if she’d let me make good on my promise.

“Alright, ladies and gentlemen,” Clay said, calling attention to him and Giana in the middle of the room. “We want to thank you for celebrating with us tonight, and for getting together on such short notice to celebrate our wedding.”

“We can’t wait to continue celebrating with you tomorrow,” Giana added, one hand absentmindedly cradling her small bump.

“Our time is up here, but… the night isn’t over yet,” Clay added, and then he nodded his head at Braden, who appeared with a box full of glow sticks in one hand and a flashing volleyball in the other.

Madelyn joined me at the bar just as I laughed and said, “Oh, shit,” under my breath.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

I smirked, arching a brow at her, but it was Clay who answered as the rest of us erupted in a mixture of cheers and groans, depending.

“It’s Ravey Ball time, bitches!”

Half an hour later, we were at a sand volleyball court on the outskirts of the city.

It was dark, save for the lights from the surrounding buildings and a lone streetlamp overhead. But in no time, wewere all wearing glow stick necklaces and bracelets, and the volleyball flashed every color of the rainbow as Braden and Clay volleyed back and forth while we waited for the last of the crew to show up.

Giana had picked up a couple of twelve-packs of hard seltzers and beer on the way over, and I sipped from one as I watched Madelyn with an amused smile.

She was next to me, one foot on the bench as she stretched. She hadn’t picked up a beer when everyone else did. Instead, she’d been doing jumping jacks and high knees — in a dress, mind you — and now she was stretching and swinging her arms, a determined look glossing over her eyes.

Those eyes flicked to me the longer I stared. “What?”

“Nothing.”

She narrowed her gaze even more.

“Just love to see you’re still as competitive as you were when you were in high school,” I said, holding a hand up in surrender.

“I’m not competitive,” she said, cracking her neck.

“Uh-huh,” I mused. Then, I finished my beer and leaned in close enough for my next words to sweep across the back of her neck. “And I’m not still thinking about you in that bathtub.”

She froze, and even in the darkness, I could tell she was blushing.

But she swatted me across the chest after only a split second, and I barked out a laugh, jogging over to where everyone was gathering by the net. Madelyn followed, standing next to me with her arms crossed.

“Alright, a quick rule refresher,” Clay said, tossing the ball up and catching it. “There will be two captains. We’ll alternate picking people until we’re in two teams of five. Giana is sitting out, for obvious reasons.”

“Go team!” she yelled from the sideline, doing a fake cheerleader kick.

Clay smirked and shook his head before his attention was back on us. “She’ll be in charge of blasting the music and will be line judge, should we need one. Winning team needs fifteen points and to win by at least two. Otherwise, regular rules of volleyball apply.”

Madelyn nodded, bouncing on her toes as I tried and failed to stifle a laugh.

She elbowed me in the ribs.

“Braden, Madelyn — you’re captains.”

Braden frowned. “Why us?”