I frowned. “What? To Shawn?”

Clay nodded. “Drop hints that you’re unhappy, that you’re used to being ignored in situations like this.”

“That makes you seem terrible.”

He shrugged. “So? That’s the point. It’ll take Shawn’s piqued interest and turn it into a burning desire to save you and show you what you deserve.”

“That’s cliché,” I said on a snort. “And ridiculous.”

“Have I not proven to you yet that I know what I’m doing?” Clay pulled back enough to hike a brow incredulously. “Just trust me. Oh, and invite him to hang out with you somewhere a little less chaotic. Maybe say you need some air. You can ask about his music, stroke his ego a bit.”

I shook my head. “You’re a little too good at this.”

Clay just smiled, glanced back in the direction of Shawn, and then slipped into a more severe persona. It was the wildest thing, to watch how he schooled his features, looking bored and almost a little pissed off as he lifted the red plastic cup in his hand up to his lips. With a long pull of his beer and his eyes nowhere near looking at me, he said, “Good luck,” and disappeared through the crowd.

I watched him go, watched as he high-fived a few players he walked by before joining Leo Hernandez in the kitchen. It just so happened to be when Leo was lining up shot glasses, and he poured an extra one for Clay once he joined.

Except, they didn’t take the shots out of the glasses.

Instead, Leo cleared the kitchen counter with a sweep of his forearm, littering the sink and floor with plastic cups, discarded lime wedges, and who knew what else. He turned to the girl beside him then — Olivia, I recognized, from the dance floor — and wrapped his hands around her hips before lifting her onto the counter. She laid back, flushed and giggling as he lined her stomach with salt and pooled a healthy amount of tequila in the valley of her abs and belly button.

I watched him do a body shot off her as she squirmed beneath him, and then as soon as she hopped down, another girl crawled up to take her place.

Clay didn’t even hesitate.

Leo poured the body shot in just the same fashion, and Clay bit his bottom lip, eyes hooded where they appreciated the girl’s ample cleavage heave as the cold liquid met her skin. His massive hands came down to frame either side of her, and he placed a lime wedge in her mouth with a wicked grin as she watched wide-eyed.