Seventh Heaven (Allendale Four 4)

“You’ve had the controller for an hour.” Hayden reached for my hands. I jerked away. Sadie, asleep next to me on the couch, wagged her tail.

“I’m in the middle of something.”

“You’re being a hog.”

“Shut up. You’re just mad I’m on level eighteen.”

He rolled his eyes but I kept my focus on the game in front of me. Two more levels. I could beat my score.

“It’s your fault, you know,” he said to Jackson, who was lounging on the chair near the sofa.

“How is her being a game hog my fault?”

“You’re the one that taught her how to play. She used to just watch us but no, you thought it would be more fun if she joined in. Now she’s a maniac.”

I laughed. “I am not a maniac.”

“You’re obsessed.”

I jabbed my thumb into the button and muttered a curse at the game. “I am not obsessed. You just suck and you can’t handle it.”

“Did you just say I sucked?”

“At the game, duh.”

There was a beat of silence, which I took to mean he’d finally shut up about it, but my character was climbing the mountain, almost at the top near the treasure chest when—oof.

“What the hell?” I shouted, feeling the strong grip of arms around my chest. Jackson stood in front of me with a devilish grin on his handsome face. He plucked the controller out of my hands, while Hayden held me against his chest. Sadie jumped off the couch and barked at the two of us. “I wasn’t finished!”

“Yeah, you are,” Hayden said.

I watched in horror as Jackson reset the game. “What? Why did you do that?”

“Because there are rules, Heaven,” Jackson said, shaking his head, “and you don’t follow them. We take turns, no one hogs the game. You don’t just get to come in here and mess with the system.”

I squirmed out of Hayden’s arms and turned to glare at him. Sadie circled our feet. “Well, your system sucks.”

Anderson and Oliver walked out of the back room. The tall swimmer rubbed his hand through his hair, leaving it a rumpled mess. “What the hell are you guys arguing about?

“Video games—”

“Heaven’s not playing fair—”

“Nothing.”

They all glared at me. I shrugged. “They have a bad attitude.”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed and I placed my hands on my hips. A ripple of energy ran between us. I opened my mouth to say something snarky but he lunged, coming after me with those massive hands and ridiculously strong arms, and I yelped and bolted.

Somehow, I narrowly escaped his grasp, rushing around the kitchen table and through the narrow space. Jackson cackled with laughter, loving every moment. Hayden bent his knees and spread his arms, cornering me in. My heart hammered in my chest, not because I was really afraid of him, but because this was a game and I desperately wanted to beat him. I looked to my left and right, noting my only option was with one of the two guys watching the scene with interest.

I raised my eyebrows in Oliver’s direction and he shook his head. “Don’t involve me in this.”

I shifted to Anderson, who held my gaze with his brilliant green eyes.

“Dude, don’t interfere,” Hayden warned.

“You guys are acting like children.” Anderson crossed his arms over his chest. “I mean, is this what you’re going to do one day when Amber and Ginger ask us to watch their kid?”