Ready or Not (The Love Game Book 4)

by Elizabeth Hayley

  “The party’s more of a what?” Brody said again. “You’re making me nervous.”

  Screw it. Brody was my boy. If I asked him to keep this close to his chest, hopefully he would. And if he didn’t, well, then I only had myself to blame, and I could just hope the rest of the group was accepting of it.

  “The party’s more of a…place where I take my clothes off.”

  Suddenly Brody looked like one of those wax statues—eerily human without actually being alive.

  I waved my hand in front of his face but couldn’t get him to blink. Thankfully, I was certified in first aid and CPR, because there was a good chance I’d just put Brody into some sort of catatonic trance.

  Finally, he seemed to move again—first his eyes and then his jaw—but it still took him a moment to find his words. “Just to be clear, are you taking your clothes off for the kids you work with? Because that’s a kind of fucked-up I don’t wanna be a part of.”

  “No! God, no! The party doesn’t have anything to do with the after-school program. I get paid to take my clothes off because I’m a stripper.” I should’ve known I’d have to spell it out for him, but it still felt weird to say the words.

  The color seemed to return to Brody’s face, and as he smiled, he seemed to look proud. “Dude! That’s awesome. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  “I know, it was probably stupid, but I was worried you’d think it was creepy or something.”

  “No way, man. I’m totally cool with it.”

  “I thought you would be, but I wasn’t sure. And I also wasn’t sure how everyone else would be. Your sister, Drew, Aamee, Taylor. Look, I can’t tell you not to say anything, but I’m asking you as a friend to keep this between us for right now. It’s just…weird. Ya know?”

  “Yeah, I get it.” Then Brody made a gesture of zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the imaginary key as if that would actually keep his lips closed.

  “Thanks, man. Y’all are such a fun group, and I just don’t want anyone to think differently of me.”

  “See!” Brody was almost bouncing. “That was it! The southern thing I was talking about. ‘Y’all,’” he clarified. “Only southern strippers say that.”

  “Asshole,” I said, though we both couldn’t help but smile. Brody was one of a kind.

  T A Y L O R

  I knew when I moved in with Sophia at the beginning of the summer that time would fly by, but I hadn’t expected that I’d be as sad as I felt getting ready to part ways with my best friend.

  Even if I were still in the area, it wasn’t the same as rooming together. We’d had so much fun over the last couple of months, I’d almost forgotten the real reason I’d decided to get an internship near her college and not my own. Almost.

  I couldn’t forget completely. Not really. The physical distance helped, as did staying in a nice apartment complex, but it would take more than a summer away to fully rid me of the memories of Brad. Maybe I could call Sophia’s friend Xander and ask him if he knew where I could score some ecstasy. A guy we went to high school with used to pop them like Tic Tacs. His drug use caused such extreme memory loss he needed to be taught to eat again.

  On second thought…

  “Do they still perform lobotomies?”

  Over the flattened boxes I was carrying, I couldn’t see Sophia’s or Aamee’s faces, but without missing a beat, Aamee said, “You can get any type of work done if you know where to look. What kind we talkin’ about here? Ice pick or head holes?”

  “What’s the matter with you?” I’d known Sophia long enough to recognize she was disgusted but also slightly impressed. In the short time I’d gotten to know Aamee, I’d noticed she seemed to have that effect on many people.

  Aamee shifted the boxes she was carrying as we approached the door to our building. “Nothing’s wrong with me. Taylor’s the one who wants a lobotomy.”

  “I didn’t say I wanted one.” Which was true because the more I thought about it, the more I’d prefer that Brad forget about my existence instead of the other way around. “I was…asking for a friend.”

  “I’ll ask around for your ‘friend,’” Aamee said, clearly assuming the friend was me.

  “Seriously?” Sophia asked her. “You’re gonna ask people about back-alley lobotomies?”

  Aamee let out a sound of disgust. “Ew, no. Alleys are so early two-thousands. I’ve heard the trend lately is Airbnbs.”

  I scanned my key fob on the door and pulled it open with two free fingers. Pressing against the door so Sophia and Aamee could enter, I heard a deep “I got it” followed by some quick footsteps behind me. Thankfully, I recognized the voice as Ransom’s, or I might have been more startled when the door I’d been leaning against pulled away from me, causing me to nearly fall over.

  I caught myself, though barely. But I did manage to drop almost all the boxes I’d been holding in the process.

  “Oh, no. I’m so sorry,” Ransom said, reaching down to pick up the cardboard as quickly as he could. And since neither of us had any part of our body on the door anymore, it swung back toward the frame, smacking my ass with the glass as I bent over. “Are you okay?”

  Ransom wasn’t usually flustered, but this encounter seemed to do the trick. For an athletic guy, it surprised me how clumsy he could be sometimes. About a week ago, he spilled a beer—which wasn’t even his own—all over both of us when we were at the Yard with Carter and Sophia. Though Drew had given us both free T-shirts with the bar’s logo on them so we didn’t have to go home to change. So I guess it hadn’t been all bad.

  Once I righted myself from where the door had thrown me off-balance, Ransom managed to collect the boxes and keep the door open so I could go inside. Apparently Brody must’ve gone in at some point because he was standing with the girls, holding both of the boxes they’d been carrying.

  He looked more than pleased with himself. “Guess being able to lift all that weight doesn’t always transfer to practical tasks,” he said to Ransom with a smirk.

  “Shut up,” Ransom replied with a laugh.

  “Were you just at the gym?” Aamee asked.

  “Yeah,” Brody said as if her question were ridiculous. “Were you just talking about an Airbnb? Because I want in. Where we goin’?”

  “Not us. Taylor’s ‘friend,’” she said, using air quotes and exaggerated tone when she said the word, “is thinking about getting a lobotomy.”

  “No shit?” Brody said. “That’s intense. They still go through the eye sockets for that?”

  “No one’s getting a lobotomy,” Sophia said as we all piled into the elevator. “Aamee just…takes things to the extreme sometimes.”

  “Well, excuse me for trying to be helpful. Next time any of you are about to remind me what a horrible bitch I am, remember I’m the only one who was willing to help someone get proper medical treatment.” She tucked her blond hair behind her ears and reapplied some lip gloss as she stared at the mirrored wall of the elevator.

  The rest of us stared at her too for a moment before I said, “Thanks for helping with the boxes. They’re all for me. I have way more stuff than I realized. I swear I didn’t move in with this much.”

  “You definitely did,” Sophia said.

  When the elevator stopped on Aamee’s floor, Brody piled his stack of boxes onto the ones Ransom was already holding. “Well, I’m off to take a shower. See you fuckers later.” Then he turned to Ransom and winked. “Well, except for Rans. Right, bro?”

  “Date?” I asked when the doors closed again.

  He shifted in place, and I almost regretted asking the question because really, I didn’t actually care if Ransom was going out with someone tonight. I was just making small talk, and it seemed like the next logical comment.

  “Um, not really. No. More of a party. With lots of people.” He nodded but didn’t make much eye contact with me.

  The elevator came to a stop again, and Ransom successfully kept the doors open without causing any sort of acci
dent. He exited last and followed us to our apartment. After setting the boxes down, he asked, “So when’s the big move?”

  “Tuesday afternoon,” I said, plopping myself onto the couch so I could lean down to begin putting the boxes together. “Can you toss me the packing tape, Soph?”

  “Oh, okay,” he said. “Well, you need any help? I’m done at the camp at three. Not sure if that’s too late, but I’m happy to lend a hand if you need it.”

  Most of the crew were going to help since several of us were moving, but I wasn’t going to pass up an extra set of hands—especially ones as strong as Ransom’s. He could probably lift twice as much as Brody.

  “Um, sure, if you don’t mind. We’ll probably have my stuff out of here by then, but I’m sure we could use your help at the new place if you wanna meet us there.”

  Ransom smiled, appearing almost happy. Moving sucked, so I wasn’t sure why anyone would want to do it if they didn’t have to, but I definitely appreciated his offer.

  “Okay,” he said. “Just text me the address when you get a chance, then.”

  “Will do,” I told him with a nod that felt too businesslike for a friend.

  Ransom gave me a nod back before saying goodbye to Sophia and me and heading to the door.

  Once he was gone, Sophia stared at me silently.

  “What?”

  “‘Will do?’ Really, who says that?”

  Chapter Three

  R A N S O M

  I arrived at the address Taylor had texted me and immediately double-checked that I had the right place. When I’d driven into this part of the city, I thought I’d be driving through it to get to her new neighborhood, but that evidently wasn’t the case.

  Squinting at the numbers over the door of the gray brick apartment building, I saw that they matched what she’d sent me. Weird. Since Taylor and Sophia had grown up together, I’d always assumed they came from the same wealthy background, but I obviously shouldn’t have.

  Not that this was the worst place in the world. It was just kind of…forgotten. There were a lot of boarded-up businesses with exteriors covered in graffiti, the roads were full of potholes, and a lot of the traffic lights blinked red or yellow instead of actually changing.

  I scanned for a parking spot, knowing her building was still a whole lot better than some of the places I’d stayed growing up, but the thought of Taylor in such a depressing place didn’t sit right with me. Not that it mattered how I felt about anything. It was already a minor miracle she’d agreed to let me help her move.

  After parallel parking across the street from her building, I jogged over to find the front door open. There was a buzzer system, but someone had propped the door open with a concrete block so the buzzer wasn’t needed—dangerous as hell. I moved the block to the side and let the door close behind me. I hoped the concrete block wasn’t a sign that the door was left open on a regular basis.

  Taylor said she was on the fourth floor, so I hit the button for the elevator and waited. I was a little later than I’d anticipated due to an issue with one of the summer campers I worked with at Safe Haven, so I hoped I hadn’t missed the opportunity to be useful. I’d expected to see the gang carting things in and out of the building, but I didn’t see any sign that anyone was moving in.

  When the elevator arrived and I got in, I noticed how dingy it was. It was covered in that thick fabric that made it seem like a freight elevator even though it wasn’t. When it arrived at the fourth floor, I disembarked quickly and followed the numbered arrows on the wall until I noticed an apartment with the door wide open.

  Standing at the entryway was a man peering inside the apartment. I quickened my pace, saw that the number on the open door matched the one Taylor had given me, and then glared at the guy.

  “Problem?” I growled.

  He instantly held his hands in front of him and scurried past. “No, man. No problem.”

  I watched the guy until he disappeared into the elevator just to make sure my message was received and then stepped inside the apartment.

  “Hey, man, you made it,” Brody yelled as he tripped over boxes to get to me and give me a bro-shake and back slap.

  “Yeah, sorry I’m late,” I said to the room, which held Aamee reclining on a futon as she stared at her phone, Xander moving items around, Drew’s younger brother, Cody, hooking up a TV, and Sophia and Taylor sitting on the floor unpacking a box.

  “No worries. We just got everything in here, so you can help unpack.”

  “Thanks for coming,” Taylor said with a small smile.

  I got lost in it for a second before I came back to myself and pushed the door closed. “Hey, you should probably keep this closed. I caught some weirdo peeking in.”

  Taylor stilled at my words, and while it wasn’t my intention to scare her, I also wanted to make sure she stayed safe.

  “And some idiot propped the door downstairs open. If that happens again, you may want to let the super know.”

  She cleared her throat. “I propped it open.”

  “Oh. Well, you shouldn’t do that. Anyone can wander in.”

  She fidgeted with something in her hands. “I was just trying to make it easy for everyone to get me moved in.” Her voice sounded defensive, and I probably should’ve let it go, but no one would ever argue that I was the smartest guy they’d ever met.

  “Well, yeah, but you’re not the only one who matters. Other people live here too.”

  The glare she sent me would’ve frosted the balls off a weaker man. Lucky for me, I’d had people look at me like that pretty much my entire life.

  “I’m aware of that,” she snapped.

  “Okay, good,” I replied lamely.

  She rolled her eyes and returned to emptying the box.

  “Drew went to pick up a few pizzas,” Sophia said, probably attempting to break the tension in the room.

  I nodded and smiled at her before asking, “So where can I start?”

  “Maybe you’d like to check that the smoke detectors work,” Taylor muttered.

  Despite her snarky delivery, I actually didn’t think that was a bad idea. My eyes drifted up to the ceiling, but a growl from the floor stopped me.

  I looked down to see her glaring at me again.

  Brody elbowed me. “Don’t worry. I’ll hold a candle up to them later to check them out.”

  “That’s not…” I started, but he’d already walked away. I moved toward the kitchen, thinking that it was maybe best for me to begin unpacking in a different room.

  “Hey, Aamee,” I said as I walked past.

  “Shh, I’m trying to pretend I’m somewhere else,” she replied.

  “You know,” Sophia started, “you could actually go somewhere else. Pretty sure no one would mind.”

  Aamee sighed. “Brody and I have decided we’re going to be inseparable until I have to move to start my new job. Right, babe?”

  “Right, babe,” Brody replied before bending down to press a quick kiss to her lips.

  “Ugh, thank God I haven’t eaten yet,” Sophia said.

  I actually thought it was cute that they wanted to spend time together. Not that I’d say that out loud in this crowd, out of fear of being verbally flayed.

  After opening a few boxes, I poked my head around the corner so I could see into the living room. “Do you care where stuff goes in here?” I asked Taylor.

  She blew a strand of her blond hair out of her eyes and looked up at me wearily. She didn’t look tired of me per se, but rather exhausted in general. “Um, no? You can just put stuff wherever it seems to make the most sense. I can always move it later if I need to.”

  “Yup,” I replied before disappearing from view and setting about the task at hand.

  I worked for a while until a loud buzzer sounded in the apartment. Leaving the kitchen quickly, I saw Brody with his hands over his ears.

  “Jesus Christ, is there an air raid coming?”

  “I think that just took five years off my life,�
� Cody muttered.

  “Good thing you’re so young, then,” Brody said to him.

  Taylor had jumped up and was staring at the intercom system on the wall by the door. “How do I work this?”

  Xander moved beside her and pushed a button. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Drew’s voice sounded tinny as it filtered through the intercom. “Can you buzz me in? Someone took the block out from the door.”

  Everyone’s head snapped in my direction. I shrugged. “I stand by my actions.”

  “Yeah, okay, hang on.” Xander pushed something else. “Did that do it?”

  The sound of a locked door being rattled filtered through the room.

  “That thing has good audio,” Cody remarked.

  “Nope,” Drew replied.

  Xander pushed something else. “How about now?”

  “Still nothing.”

  “Push the red one,” Sophia said as she looked over Taylor’s and Xander’s shoulders.

  “You never push the red one,” Xander scolded.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s red.”

  Sophia stared at the back of his head for a second before reaching over him and pressing the red button.

  A buzz sounded and Drew yelled, “That’s it. Be right up.”

  When Xander turned, Sophia was looking at him.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You’re supposed to be the smartest of us, Xander. Get your shit together.”

  “Hey, I got Taylor free internet. Cut me some slack.”

  “Hacking into someone’s Wi-Fi doesn’t make it free,” Aamee pointed out.

  “It’s free for Taylor,” he shot back.

  “Free for Taylor sounds awesome, just saying,” Taylor added.

  Sophia clapped her hands. “That’s a fun slogan. We should get shirts made.”

  “Please do,” Taylor replied. “It makes all of you sound like my concubines.”

  Sophia sobered. “Oh. That’s less fun.”

  Speak for yourself. Being Taylor’s concubine sounded like a blast to me.

  Drew appeared a couple minutes later with the pizzas, and everyone stopped what they were doing to eat. I felt awkward taking a slice because, while all these people had been friendly to me, they still felt like Brody’s friends instead of mine.