“Seventy, seventy-one, seventy-two!”
Yup, I’m done. When I nod my head, Markus pulls the tap out of my mouth and then helps right me. Closing my eyes, I swallow down the barf that wants to escape and inhale a deep breath. I’ve got this. I do.
“New house champion!” Richie yells, holding up my hand as the crowd goes nuts. “What’s you got to say, Champ?”
I look back at Richie; he’s holding the camera up, waiting for my response with a big goofy grin. Smiling, I choke down some more puke before I say, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner. In your face, Jude Sinclair!”
That sends the crowd into a frenzy, and soon everyone is patting me on the head, smacking me on the back, and fist-pumping as I make my way back to Diane. I’m woozy and my stomach hurts, but nothing is going to keep me from finding out her name. She’s watching as I come toward her, wobbling as I walk and still swallowing down the puke that is trying its hardest to get out.
As I stop in front of her, she grins up at me. “Wow, I’m impressed.”
“Thanks,” I say before letting out a long, obnoxious burp that has my boys cheering. Swallowing hard, I blink, realizing I may be drunk. I hadn’t even drunk all day because I knew I was going to attempt that time tonight. I have been talking about it for a while, and no one paid me any mind because Jude had the record and no one could beat him. I knew I could. But shit, I have no clue how my brother got trashed and then held that for seventy-one seconds, because I feel like I’m going to puke my brains out and die. Kudos to him.
Even though I’m better.
“You okay, big guy?” she asks and I smile.
“Yeah, fine.” I wave her off, holding my chest as I burp again. “Ugh, sorry. I’m not usually this trashy.”
“No?”
I grin. “Nope, I’m a classy dude.”
“Ha, I highly doubt that,” she teases and I hold up my forefinger and thumb.
“Just a bit.”
“Yeah, okay.”
I burp again and I think I’m good. Everything is going to stay down. I hope. “So where were we?”
Her eyes are bright, intoxicating, as she looks up at me. She’s way shorter than me, which surprises me. She has what I thought were long legs, but maybe they just look long. I don’t know, but she only comes to my chest. She makes me want to cuddle her, she’s so little and cute.
“I’m not sure, but I think you were gonna kiss me,” she says, her eyes full of need.
“I was,” I say triumphantly, pointing at her. “But I had to go kick some ass.”
Her brows touch. “Whose?”
“My brother, Jude. He had the longest time.”
“Oh, cool,” she says, but I don’t really think she thinks it’s that cool.
“Yeah.” I nod. “But first, what’s your name?”
Her teeth come out to bite her bottom lip, and I swe
ar, I’m about to come out of my skin. I’m not sure if it’s the beer that has my need flowing out of my pores, but I want her more than I could ever describe. I love women—don’t get me wrong, they are the highlight of my life after hockey—but I usually like to know the person I’m sleeping with. Unlike Jude before Claire, I do respect the women I sleep with. In that way, I’m like Jayden. But this girl, I don’t need to know anything but what’s in them pants.
Wow, that makes me a douche, right?
Eh. Oh, well.
“Avery,” she says huskily and everything goes taut. My shoulders, my back, my cock—Jesus, everything is hot and hard. All she did was say her name and I’m gone.
“Avery,” I say, her name falling from my lips like it was meant to be said by only me. “I like it.”
Her face breaks into a grin as she looks away. “Thanks.”