Ready or Not (The Love Game Book 4) by Elizabeth Hayley (pdf ebook reader .txt) 📕

I’ve never gotten a guy to run away from me that fast. Good work.”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t even do anything.”

“Hmm… Must be your complete lack of charm, then.”

“Don’t you have a drink to serve or a demon to summon or something?”

She scoffed. “You sound like Sophia.”

“We are best friends for a reason.”

“Lack of better prospects, huh?”

“The summer’s almost over. Aren’t you supposed to move so you can work for your mom and begin your career in nepotism? God, how I’ll miss you.” The sarcasm dripped from my words so heavily I was surprised I wasn’t drooling.

“Believe me, pet,” she replied as she patted my hand. “The feeling is very mutual.” She smoothed her hand down her shorts. “Okay, I’m bored with talking to you. I only came over here to see if Ransom needed anything, but you sent his hulking six-four frame fleeing in terror before I got the chance.” She gave me a once-over. “It was like watching Chucky kill Rambo.”

“I think Thor is a more accurate comparison.”

She put her elbow on the back of my chair and rested her chin on it, smiling at me. “Oh, is it now? Have a little Chris Hemsworth fetish, do we?”

“Ugh, what does Brody see in you?”

Her smile grew even more gleeful. “I honestly have no idea.”

We laughed together for a second before she asked me if I needed anything. When I said no, she left, but not before telling me to stop sitting alone. It evidently made me look like a spinster.

I spun around a bit so I could survey the bar. Sophia was still chatting with Drew and whoever they were talking to, Aamee had gone over to flirt with Brody as he cleared tables, Xander—another member of our weird little group—was pumping out drinks like he was attempting to medal in bartending, and Ransom was…watching me.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and I immediately tensed, his dark look making my breathing quicken, and not in a good way. But I couldn’t look away because fuck that scowl. Who did he even think he was?

I was so busy returning his glare, I didn’t register the man who’d sidled up beside me until he brushed against me on his way to the open seat at the high top I’d commandeered when I’d arrived. I jolted like a lunatic, my attention dropping from Ransom immediately and focusing instead on the smiling man who was sitting so close to me his knees touched mine. I scooted back as he extended a hand toward me.

“Hi. I’m Roger.”

I stared at his hand like he’d just tried to hand me a viper. While I’d been caught off-guard by Ransom’s stare, this guy’s infiltration of my space was making me squirrelly.

At my silence, his smile dimmed, and he dropped his hand. Onto my knee. And fucking squeezed.

“Shy, huh? That’s okay. I like ’em that way.” He winked, not bothering to remove his hand.

And I…sat there, gaping like a fucking fish. I willed the Taylor who’d inhabited my body twelve months prior to show up and rip this man’s testicles from his body, but she was nowhere to be found.

Come on, girl. Get it together. I was nearly through with my mental pep talk, and totally on my way to verbally eviscerating this smarmy interloper when a deep voice spoke.

“Hey, there. I’m Ransom.” Ransom stuck his hand out, which required Roger to let go of me in order to shake it.

“Hi. Roger.”

“Nice to meet you, Roger. You mind telling me why the fuck you have your hand on my girlfriend’s leg?”

Roger blanched as Ransom closed in on him a bit, making sure to loom over the other man.

My eyes widened, and my mouth might have dropped open a little. Ransom in his full alpha-male glory was a sight to behold. Most of the time, his slight awkwardness and goofiness made him seem harmless. But I had a feeling I was seeing the Ransom who used to run people over on the football field.

Yes, I’d watched clips of him on YouTube. Sue me.

“I, uh, I didn’t, I mean… She never said—”

“I think it’s time for you to go, Rog,” Ransom said as he picked Roger up by the scruff of his shirt and pushed him away from my table.

Roger stumbled a bit, but when he regained his footing, he whirled around on Ransom. “What the fuck, man? You can’t touch me. Do you even know who I am?”

“You’re Roger.”

“Yeah,” Roger, who was becoming an alarming shade of red, replied as if it meant something.

“Glad we cleared that up,” said Ransom. “Hit the road.”

“I, you, this…” Roger spluttered.

“I think he’s going to stroke out,” I whispered to Ransom.

“One could only hope.”

“What’s going on over here?” Drew’s voice boomed across the space as he positioned himself in front of me and beside Ransom.

Brody was there a split second later, flanking Ransom’s other side. Aamee and Sophia slid in behind the boys, our whole crazy little crew shifting into pack mentality.

Roger evidently missed the clear show of solidarity. “This douchebag put his hands on me and told me to leave.”

Drew turned to Ransom. “You did?”

Ransom pushed his hands into his pockets. The move looked too casual, as if Ransom wanted to appear more confident than he felt. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” Drew turned back to Roger. “It’s time for you to leave, then.”

Oh boy. The red rooster named Roger looked like he was about to blow like an atomic bomb. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This roided-out freak can’t tell me what to do.”

“No?” Ransom asked as he took a step forward, causing Roger to leap back. The moment could’ve only been made better if Roger had shrieked.

“See?” Roger yelled. “He can’t threaten me like that.”

Brody stepped forward. “You’re right, sir.”

Straightening out his shirt, Roger calmed a little at Brody’s words. “Damn right I am.”

Moving to Roger’s side, Brody put an arm around him and turned him around. “It’s of the utmost importance to us that our customers feel safe.”

“Finally, someone with some sense,”