Like maybe two weeks or so.

You know. Since the snowball fight and near-kiss.

Also?

The odds that he’s naked under that costume are very, very high. He’s always naked. He’s like—he’s like my diamond in the buff.

I hope he can see as well out of Spike as I could see out of Ash earlier—which is to say, not necessarily all that great—because if I’m visibly drooling over the idea of him naked, I’d prefer he didn’t know it.

Or would I?

He mutters something that sounds suspiciously like Cooper’s gonna kill me, but it’s muffled behind the costume.

“Max. Take the mascot off.” My voice is breathy and hungry, and I suddenly need to know what makes Max Cole tick.

I need to know all of what makes Max Cole tick.

He doesn’t obey.

Instead, he shoots to his feet, turns, and scurries down the hall. My front door clicks shut a moment later.

“Tillie Jean!” Sloane yells from inside the washing machine.

I need to answer her.

Let her know I’m okay.

But I’m not okay.

Physically, I’m fine.

Emotionally, though? Emotionally, I’m a mixed wreck of guilt that Max feels guilty, worry that he thinks I’m mad, and also horny as hell.

He pranked me back.

I know it’s weird, but it’s like…it’s like he sees me.

For the first time in four years, I know without a doubt that Max Cole sees me.

17

Max

There’s something wrong with me.

Scratch that.

There are many things wrong with me.

One, my dick went hard as steel inside the echidna costume, and now I feel like I violated the damn mascot.

Two, there’s a high likelihood that international incidents have nothing on the war I’ve just sparked with Tillie Jean Rock.

And three, I can’t fucking wait for round two.

The beast has been awakened.

She’s going down.

Christ.

Now I’m picturing her sucking my cock, and this is not how I want to head into a bar where her brother’s waiting.

Think about losing. Think about Cooper smashing my face in. Think about Luca’s dance moves.

I think about overhearing TJ telling whoever she was talking to on the phone that she wanted to kiss me. Or whatever it was she said.

All I know is, Tillie Jean wants to get naked with me.

That’s my takeaway from her conversation.

She wants to do me. And I want to do her. And I cannot cross that line and risk losing Cooper as a friend. Some of the other guys on the team know I take meds for anxiety, but they don’t know the rest of it.

They weren’t there when I thought I was going to die.

They didn’t pick me up without judgment, tell me it was okay, and help me get help.

Friends like that don’t come around every day.

Even if they did, I wouldn’t trust them, because I wouldn’t let myself.

Fuck.

“Max, over here, bro.”

The Grog’s door shuts behind me, and I wave at Emilio, who’s at a table along the far wall with a bunch of the guys.

If Tillie Jean were Luca’s sister, or Robinson’s sister, or anyone else’s sister, this would be okay.

But not only is Cooper Rock the closest thing I’ve ever had to a best friend, he’s the heart and soul of the Fireballs, and there’s no denying it.

Guy has lived and breathed this team since he could walk. Rumor has it Duggan Field was his first word. He still has a ratty old stuffed Fiery the Dragon that he slept with supposedly through high school. And I completely believe the story Tillie Jean was telling her friend on the phone, that he kept every pair of socks he ever wore to a Fireballs game as a kid.

Screwing around with Cooper’s sister would be like asking to be traded away from the team.

And I don’t want that.

So I man up, walk across the bar, and sit down next to him at the long row of pushed-together tables near the dart board. “I pranked your sister. Again.”

He grins. “Good. Make her think I’ve forgotten and you’re taking over. For the record, she hates clowns as much as she hates garden gnomes.”

Good to know. Unfortunately, I hate clowns too. “I put on the Spike costume and broke into her house and scared the shit out of her.”

That sounds bad when I say it out loud.

But Cooper’s still grinning. “That’s next-level.”

“She’s gonna kick your ass,” Francisco tells me. “TJ gets bored out here. She spends eight months of the year plotting for prank wars. You’re basically a dead man.”

“Don’t leave your door unlocked,” Darren agrees.

His wife, Tanesha, cackles. She cackles. “Like a locked door could stop her.”

“I know. She can open my windows from the outside, and they don’t have locks.” My pulse is kicking up. Not sure that’s a bad thing. “You’re not pissed?” I ask Cooper.

“Sleep with her and I’ll kill you. Distract her so she’s not sprinkling sprinkles all over the ceiling fan in my bedroom? I’m good with that.”

“Sprinkles on your ceiling fan?”

“Worse than glitter, man. Sweat a little at night and you wake up sticky as hell.”

I rub a hand through my hair, which is still glittering. “At least you can eventually wash it off.”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” He frowns. “This isn’t foreplay, is it? I’m serious. Don’t touch my sister.”

“I’m not touching your sister.” Fuck, I want to touch his sister.

“Aw, Cooper, go easy on him,” Luca’s girlfriend, Henri, says from down the table. “Every playboy can be redeemed by the right woman.”

“He can redeem his own fucking self if he wants to go near my sister.”

Mackenzie leans around Brooks to peer at us too. “Would you let Francisco date your sister?”

He makes a face like he’s thinking about it. “Probably.”

“What the fuck?” Shut up, Cole. Shut. Up. “He’s no Boy Scout either.”

“Yeah, but I’ve seen how he treats his mom. He’d shape up for TJ.”

Luca throws a napkin down the table at us. “Don’t be a dick, Cooper.”

He rolls his eyes. “Or maybe I’m protecting Max from Tillie Jean. Ever think of that?”

Now I want to throw something at him. “I don’t need protecting from your sister.”

He glances around, then pinches the bridge of his nose. “Look, I’m not saying this, because my sister is fucking awesome, but TJ…she’s like, queen of the on-again, off-again thing. You two would fuck with each other’s heads. Okay?”

Dammit.

Dammit.

I’m sweating again, and on the verge of wanting to throw him out the window.

He doesn’t usually use my weaknesses against me.

“Where is TJ?” Cooper asks.

Looking for something to wear is probably not the right answer. “Sloane’s car was at her house when I left.”

He frowns. “Don’t sleep with her either. She’s like, long-term material, and you two don’t go.”