Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

He laughs. “Yes, you will. It’s for Jackson.”

“Do you know what I’ve noticed?” I say as a picture of some hot hockey player is shown on the screen since it’s intermission and they’re talking about him.

“What?”

“There are a lot of hot hockey players. That guy, Elias,” I turn to look at him, “you.” Collin shakes his head with a slight smile. “Do you like playing with your brother? What’s that like?”

“Yeah, I like playing with him. I don’t know if I could do it without him.”

His seriousness makes me frown. “Why?”

He points to the TV. “It can be overwhelming. Cal helps ground me.” He shrugs. “Do you like being a nanny?”

I nod. “Bree’s sweet and Elias is the best.” I sigh. “He’s a really good guy.”

“Rae?”

My muscles lock and I swivel slowly to see Henry, who eyes Collin. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. Where’s Jackson?”

“Is there a problem here?” Collin asks me.

I shake my head, though I want to say yes. “Go away, Henry. It’s bad enough I have to see you tomorrow.” When Jackson will officially meet him.

“Who is Jackson with while you’re here?” Henry pushes.

“He’s with Elias. Why does it matter?”

“He should be with you.”

I don’t know how it happens, but one minute my drink is in my hands, and the next, I throw it at Henry. How dare he tell me I have to be with Jackson twenty-four-seven. This is the first time since he was born that I’ve left him with someone else to go out.

“Okay.” Collin stands, takes my cup and places it on the bar, and then pulls me away from a shocked Henry. “We’re leaving.”

I go to the bathroom while he pays our bill. I don’t see Henry when I meet back up with him, which is good. There will likely be hell to pay for what I did.

“Can you take me home?” I ask Collin when we walk outside into the cold air.

“Not yet.”

He takes my hand and we walk another block or two before he pulls me into what looks like an arcade, but there’s a bar and it’s full of adults. Collin pulls me to the first empty game we come across. It’s one of those dance-off games.

“You’re supposed to have fun with me, Raelynn. If you can’t have fun here...” He lets the sentence trail off as he gets the game started.

“You’re going down.”

He grins. “We’ll see.”

We play a few rounds, all of which Collin wins, before stopping by the bar for a drink, sweet tea for me and water for Collin. I spy an air hockey table and that’s where I drag Collin off to next. We’re a bit more evenly matched in this one. Well, almost.

“Stop cheating!” I shout, making him laugh.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are! You’re using your freakishly long arms to your advantage.” He reaches across the table and hits the little red disk just as it reaches the halfway point to cross over onto his side. Not even fair. I can’t reach like that.

“Okay, whiney baby. We’ll play by your rules.”