The next drink was sweeter. No burning. And, for some reason, I lacked the ability to object to another. After five drinks of that stuff, a toast for each member of the team, my body was warm and tingling in places that needed to stay asleep around my unattainable team leader. He could never know what I thought about him. He would definitely kick me off the team if he found out.

Ret held up the three-quarters-empty bottle. “Should we start toasting the other teams? The ones who make it easy for us to win?”

​I waved my hand in front of me. “No. I’m good.”

*And a bit more*

Tempting thoughts spun in my head, and for some reason, I believed it a good idea to tell Ret that I sometimes fantasized about him. Yep, I’d definitely had enough to drink. Because the Ret I fantasized about didn’t bring home others. He only wanted me. Definitely not the same as the alpha in front of me. I had to stop.

Taking a seat next to my team leader, careful not to actually touch him, I leaned back and brushed my hands across my thighs. Stars, I wasn’t dressed nice. Ret still had on the leather pants and mesh top he’d worn to go out, while I wore my tattered pajama pants. Thank the universe they were a fresh pair, as I’d recently finished my laundry when Ret had knocked on my door. Yet, it was another reason he shouldn’t be here with me.

He poured some chirof in each of the glasses then handed me one. “A toast to the best racer of ORIXA. Heck, you’re the best racer in the USRA.”

Oh, I thought he was talking about himself for a moment. He always went around boasting to the other teams that he was the best circuit racer. 

Hello everyone! Thank you for visiting me today for Weekend Writing Warriors! I'm sharing another snippet from RET, the third book in my Kaddim Brothers series, which is now available!

Snippet setup: Last weekend's snippet showed Ret coming back from the bar, using Ilam as an excuse. He was also thinking about Ilam in ways that he never had before. (Or so he believes.) I'm skipping ahead to Chapter Four, when Ret is back at the dorm. This is in Ilam's point of view. Enjoy!

I eyed Ret from the doorway of my room, not understanding why he’d returned from the club early. And alone. Again. His face wasn’t that red this time, meaning he hadn’t had much to drink. “Are you sick?”

He chuckled as he placed a bottle of chirof and two shot glasses on the table. “Not at all. I simply want a chance to honor the shining star of our team. You never come out, so I decided to bring the celebration here.”

Glancing around, I tried to figure out how this was a celebration. We were the only ones in the dorm. Seemed a little too intimate to me. Not once had we ever done anything together without at least one other member of our team, whether eating, training, or working out.

​Ret sat on the couch and patted the cushion beside him. “Come. Sit down and have a drink with me.”