Nothing Feels Better (Better Love 3)

“Let’s do it,” Kelley says. “I’ll grab Zay.”

I point a finger at Riggs. “You’re going down.”

“Not this time, SD.” He takes a pull from his beer bottle, eyes narrowed, then turns and stalks toward the door that leads to the connected garage. SD. Short for Slipper Dick. Because the first time Riggs and I met, I was knitting a pair of slippers. I chuckle to myself. The nickname still cracks my ass up.

The beer pong table is already set up when we walk into the garage, and Kelley and Zay, Riggs’s other roommate, are filling the red plastic cups with water. Some people fill the cups with beer, and then you have to down it any time the opposing team makes a shot, but not us. We’ve got douchey-refined palates, so we fill the cups with water and drink from our fancy beers. That, and we were sick of having to fish dirt and junk out of the cups from the nasty ping pong balls. I shudder at the memories. I’m not a germaphobe, per se, but when you can actually see shit floating in your beverage? Yeah, no thanks.

Kelley and I stand on one side while Riggs and Zay stand on the other. I hold back a laugh at Zay’s blank face.

“Calm down, Zay,” I chuckle, “I know you’re excited, but you’re embarrassing us.”

He just arches a brow and takes a pull from his beer. I think I saw the corner of his lips twitch, though. Maybe. I swear the dude is a robot, but I’ll wear him down eventually. I wink at him, and he rolls his eyes.

“Toss off?” Kelley asks, and Riggs shakes his head.

“Nah. You guys go first.” He grins at us. “We kicked your asses last time. It’s only fair.”

“You’ll regret that,” I say smugly, then take my first shot. It plunks right into the cup with a plop. Kelley whoops, and I take a dramatic bow.

Riggs pulls out the ping pong ball, dumps the water from the cup and sets it on the ground, then takes a drink from his beer bottle. He tosses the ping pong ball back to Kelley, and Kelley takes his shot. We go back and forth, sinking more than we miss, until we’re down to two cups left on each side. Kelley’s gloating when the door opens and Bailey and Ivy strut in.

“There you guys are,” Ivy chirps, and slips her hands around Kelley’s waist as Bailey sits down on the big Yeti cooler next to the table. “Been looking for ya.”

“Hey, babe.” Kelley smiles down at her. “You just missed my shot.”

“Rim job.” I wink, and Bailey huffs out a laugh. Some parties let you try to scoop out a ball when it circles the rim of a cup, but Riggs’s House Rules only let you try to blow it out. It’s way harder. Zay wasn’t fast enough, so he had to drink. “I didn’t know he was good at the butt stuff, V.”

“Oh my gosh, Jesse.” She gasps and buries her face in Kelley’s chest, and I see the tip of her ears turn bright red.

“Don’t be shy, babe,” Kell teases, and I have to look away from the flare of heat in his eyes. Fucking hot, those two.

I chuckle, then turn my focus on Bailey. “’Bout to make your king cry.”

“Quit flirting with my boyfriend, Hernandez,” she says with a roll of her eyes. “Get your own.”

“I tried, but Zay won’t laugh at any of my jokes.” I push out a not-so-pretend pout. The dick’s stony face definitely wounds my pride a little.

“Maybe he doesn’t think you’re funny,” Bailey snarks, and I whip my eyes to Zay and clutch at my chest.

“Z, say it isn’t so!” He smirks. I’ll take it.

“His name starts with an X, ya dummy,” B pipes in, and I jerk my head back.

“It does?” I must look shocked as hell because everyone laughs, and Bailey legit cackles. Douches, all of them.

Zay shrugs. “Xavier,” he says, emphasizing the X at the beginning of his name.

“Huh.” I had no idea. I blink at him and take a pull from my beer. “I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”

I catch some movement out of my peripheral and zone back in, just in time to see Riggs’s ping pong ball bounce on the table and Kelley swat it across the garage with a growl.

“God of Thunder!” I roar in my best Thor voice. “Cheap shot and you still couldn’t sink it.”

“Just moving the game along, SD,” Riggs taunts as Bailey and V crack up from where they’ve perched themselves on the Yeti.

“In a hurry to get your ass kicked, Thor?” I ask with a grin, and Riggs smirks at the nickname. I call Riggs, ‘Thor,’ because, well, he’s fucking huge and has long Thor hair.

“More like in a hurry to get some ass,” X-avier mumbles under his breath, and Kelley and I both bark out a laugh. The man of few words himself has some great zingers when he deigns to speak. Riggs just shrugs and flicks his eyes toward Bailey with a dumbass grin, and B groans and covers her face with her palms.

“You guys are all a bunch of horn dogs. I’m gonna get a boner from all the sex pheromones floating around.” I’m met with a chorus of laughter, then Bailey throws a beer cap at my head, so I toss an empty plastic cup at hers.

“Children,” Riggs scolds, and I throw up my hands.

“She started it!”

“Did not!”

“Yes, you did, ya little liar.”

Bailey sticks her tongue out at me, and I mirror the gesture, which sends Ivy into a fit of giggles. I clamp my lips together and narrow my eyes, and when Bailey’s smile slips first, I fucking beam. Victorious.

Zay sinks his shot, then Kelley sinks his. When it’s my turn again, there’s one cup left in front of Zay and Riggs. I hold the ping pong ball lightly and practice flicking my wrist a few times.

“This one’s for all the marbles, boys,” I say in my best Christopher Walken impression, then I take a breath and let the ball fly.

Plunk, into the cup it goes.

“Fuck yes,” I shout, then jump into Kelley’s arms. We sing “We Are the Champions,” and he does a victory lap around the garage—it’s only a little wonky, because I might be 6’4”, but he’s still a beast—then drops me back down at the table.

“Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood!” I shout, finger pointed at Riggs.

“Not more movie quotes,” Bailey complains, and Riggs crosses his arms over his chest and hits me with a grin.

“Who told you, you had a fat one, Hernandez?”

“Biggest one in three counties,” I finish, and the girls laugh.

“Good grief,” Ivy breathes out, “we’ve created a monster.”