8. Don’t Break The Egg
Don’t Break The Egg
CARTER
Next to me, Liam and Sara argued fervently on the lawn. “You did not get the Turkey Ball into the Cornucopia before the timer went off,” Liam shouted, his breath curling in the cold air.
I blew into my mitten-clad hands, knowing she definitely didn’t. “Uh, yes, we did!” Sara parried right back, eyes sparkling with mischief as she accused, “ You’re the one who’s cheating.”
“You would know, you little cheater.” Liam grabbed at Sara, but she ducked behind me with a grin just before he could grab her.
“Alright, you two, break it up, break it up.” I finally wiggled my arms between them, pushing them apart.
Jules tapped in, and I rested my arm on Sara’s shoulder, and rolled my eyes watching. “You guys are going down,” Jules threatened, shoving Liam’s chest. It was all play, of course, but it was comical how she postured big and tough, at more than a full foot shorter than Liam.
“Ladies, this has been child's play.” Liam bowed out, giving the girls a wink. “Doesn’t matter if you cheated, because we’re still gonna win anyway.”
“We did not cheat.” Jules rolled her eyes at him.
Sloane came up with a hot drink in hand and linked arms with Sara, pulling her out from under my arm with an astute look on her face. “You’re going down, Kensington.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” I rolled my eyes and lifted my chin to greet Remi Devereux, one of Liam’s cousins, several paces away.
Similar competitive squabbles erupted across the Devereux’s perfectly manicured lawn—most of Briar Rose was out here, and everyone was bundled in colorful scarves identifying which team they were on.
On the other side of me, Cade crooned, “Come on, don’t deny it.”
“Literally, I’m not discussing this with you.” Ariana rolled her eyes.
“Because you know it’s true.” Cade smirked, but his eyes blew wide, and he quickly headed the other way when he saw Theo closing in—Ariana followed suit, diligently avoiding Theo like she always did.
“Settle down everyone, settle down.” Charlotte Devereux called from the deck with her bullhorn.
“We’ll tally up the scores and then move to our last and final competition, the Egg Master Race.
” Behind her, the smaller kids and the older adults sat bundled up in a row of chairs with steaming mugs, watching the annual Devereux Turkey Games.
I didn’t realize how much I’d missed this.
“Are you ready to race, Kensington?” Sara cocked her head at me smugly.
“You ready to lose your title, Rookie?” I teased, albeit a bit nervously. “Because this year, I’m going to smoke your ass.”
“Oh, Kensington.” She smiled patronizingly, sweetly, and I knew I was back in. “You’ll never be faster than me, but that’s so cute.”
I grinned. “We’ll see about that.” Thanks to soccer and track, Sara was faster than most everyone, even me and Cade on occasion, but not today. Just on the possibility that I might come home this year, I’d been running sprints. For over a month .
From the raised deck, Liam and Sara’s mom, Charlotte, used the bullhorn to detail out the instructions for the Egg Master Race.
“Here you go.” River’s tiny voice chirped as she strained to lift her basket up to me.
I chuckled, tousling her already windblown hair. “Did you help paint these?” I asked, and she smiled proudly, nodding that she did. I dug through the sparkly, puff-painted eggs and selected a gold one. “Thanks, River.”
“You’re welcome.” She grinned shyly and then skipped over to the girls, who oohed and awed over her. I chuckled, watching River eat the attention right up.
Sara shot me a mischievous look before squatting down and whispering something into River’s ear from behind a mitten’d hand. River laughed gleefully before sprinting away, and I chuckled watching her lose half her eggs in the process.
“What was that all about?” I closed the distance between us and nudged Sara’s shoulder.
“Just a little surprise for later.” Sara shrugged, her expression giving way to a genuine grin.
“Great, I can’t wait.” I rolled my eyes, secretly eating it up. I’d always loved Sara’s mischievous streak, and being on the receiving end of whatever little prank she was planning, brought me immense relief.
Actually, after our little chat this morning, she’d been all smiles, acting like nothing had ever been wrong.
It made me feel like an idiot for staying so distant these last few years.
It was Sara. Of course, we were fine. I was such a moron for letting years slip by, thinking she hated my guts. Regret didn’t even begin to cover it.
“So who’s going first?” I asked, already formulating a plan. “Ladies first?”
“Absolutely not.” Sara raised a brow suspiciously. “ You can go first.”
“As you wish.” I shrugged, concealing a smile because she’d taken the bait all too easily. She was going to attempt to wear me out by making me run first. Too bad it wouldn’t work.
“Alright, the first Egg Master can line up.” Charlotte’s voice crackled through the bullhorn. “And as a reminder, the Egg Masters will get a four-second head start, and no cheating .” She emphasized. “I’m looking at you, Damon Kingsley.”
“I would never.” Theo’s older cousin clutched his chest and shouted back with a devious grin, several paces away from us.
The long row of people next to us rolled their eyes in unison. A competitive streak ran through nearly everyone here. The unspoken rule was to win, no matter what. We all took that extremely seriously, because the Egg Master Crown was the highest honor you could earn at the Turkey Games.
“Ready?” I asked, carefully holding my sparkly hard-boiled egg.
“Are you?” Sara postured, with a little smirk.
I crossed my arms to hide the slight tremor in my hands. “Oh, I was born ready,” I smirked, stealing a second glance the second she wasn’t looking. Seeing her today—it was difficult not to stare.
River’s tiny voice crackled through the bullhorn. “On your mark, get set, go!”
I snapped back to reality, and heart already pounding, I took off, running towards the other side of the still-green lawn. Several seconds later, I heard River’s tiny voice again. “Chasers go!”
When I was almost to the podium, lined with colorful bowls—one for each team—I felt Sara’s fingertips graze my back. “Gotcha!” She shouted, slightly out of breath.
I chuckled with a shrug. “Damn, girl, I guess you’re still faster.”
She raised her eyebrows, panting hard. “Told ya.”
“Double or nothing?” I extended my hand, adding my gold egg to her red one.
“Double.” She agreed, taking the egg with a determined glimmer in her eye, and I realized we were making up our own rules now .
While the teams lined up to switch, River used her opportunity with the bullhorn to tell everyone what she wanted for Christmas, though she forgot to push the button for half of it .
Sara was already in a runner’s stance, stretching, when I leaned over the top of her, catching a familiar whiff of something sweet that made me swallow hard.
I whispered into her ear with a chuckle, “Hey Rookie.”
“Hmm?”
“You’d better give it all you’ve got, because I let you catch me.” I admitted with a smirk.
Sara’s eyes snapped up to mine with wide-eyed understanding, right as River shouted. “Go!”
“Shit.” Sara took off, a full footstep behind everyone else.
I counted down the seconds, heart pounding, ready to chase her— ready to catch her .
Sara was fast, always had been— and she was competitive. Even with the late start, she was already ahead of most of the group, and for a split second, I genuinely wondered if I’d overestimated myself.
When the moment came, I was focused on one thing, and one thing alone. Her. The cold air stung my cheeks as I passed the bulk of the group in long, hard strides, quickly closing the gap between us. Naw, I totally had her. Knew it.
“Going somewhere?” I sprinted alongside Sara, a mere pace away that I could easily close if I wanted to.
“Agh!” She dodged away from me, but I cut her off, and we did a lunge back and forth as she tried to get around me to get her egg into the pink bowl on the podium.
“Fine, I guess I’ll just take the scenic route.” Sara shouted with a wild grin before sprinting off the platform; she darted through an archway that led into the elaborate gardens her mother kept.
Game on.
Finding people who didn’t want to be found was my expertise. Finding the girl I couldn’t keep my eyes off of—well, that was just too damn easy.
Inside the maze of evergreen shrubs, I lost the sound of her footsteps, and I listened with a grin, knowing she couldn’t have gotten very far. “You can run, but you can’t hide.” I taunted, every cell in my body awake and electrified.
Pebbled stone exploded from the next row over, and I grinned, not quite close enough to grab her before she ducked through another archway and out into the damp woods behind the estate.
The soft ground absorbed the sound of her sprinting steps, but now she had nowhere to hide. Her pink knit hat was like a beacon amidst all the dead winter foliage, and it wasn’t long before I was pacing right behind her.
Sara looked over her shoulder, giving me the most beautiful grin, and then she tripped on a tree branch and promptly ate it.
Right behind, with no time to slow down, I slammed into her and we both went down in a tangle of limbs.
She yelped as I twisted, hitting the ground first, and we tumbled a few times before landing in a hard heap of grunts and groans with her every supple curve draped over the top of me.
Her eyes blew wide as she gazed down at me for a split second before she frantically scrambled across me—or tried to, at least.
I grabbed her foot with a grin of my own. “Nah uh—not so fast, Rookie.”
She shrieked with laughter as I dragged her towards me. “You’re going to break it.” She accused when I yanked her zippered pocket shut before she could stuff one of the eggs into it.
“ You’re going to break it.” I argued, dirt and leaves sticking in both our hair as I wrestled her mercilessly for that egg, effectively destroying it as sparkles crumbled everywhere.
“Cheater!” she shouted, her voice gloriously joyful.
“Just give. Me. The egg.” I gritted, but suddenly she paused, looking at me with a devious grin. I stopped and gave her a goofy smile back—only to be hit in the face with a handful of leaves.
With a dirt-covered leaf stuck to my mouth, I narrowed my eyes. “Oh, you’re in for it now, you little troublemaker.” I was bigger and stronger, and I’d be damned if this wasn’t the year I finally stole her smug little Egg Master Crown. No more Mr. Nice Guy.
I rolled on top of her and secured her hips between my knees while she laughed hysterically, going for another handful of leaves. “You already used that little trick.” I grinned, pinning her hands above her head before she could throw another pile of dirt at me.
“Hah! I got it!” I cried triumphantly as I wrenched the egg out of her hand, holding the broken thing up in the air, like the victor I was.
Beneath me, Sara had finally gone still, and when I finally looked down, time stopped moving in an instant.
I froze as the air suddenly charged with something wild and forbidden. Her every panting breath curled into the cool air, each warm wisp an inviting caress across my face as it danced past.
All the feelings I’d had this morning—that I’d so carefully tucked away when she’d walked downstairs half-naked—came rushing back with a vengeance. Only now, Sara was lying underneath me, looking like she’d let me do one of the many things I’d shoved out of my mind this morning.
The pink hat was long gone, and her curly chocolate brown hair was fanned out underneath her, framing her rosy, windburned cheeks. Her dark lashes fluttered as she laid beneath me, giving me a doe-eyed look that was completely submissive.
I slowly slid my free hand into her other jacket pocket and retrieved the second egg. “I win.” I rasped, watching her gaze drop to my mouth, finding her eyes dilated to the size of quarters.
“I know you broke the eggs, because there’s glitter all over the ground!” Sloane and Jules burst through the trees.
I immediately let go of Sara’s hands, the trance broken.
“So who was—” Sloane immediately clocked us, or rather me, on top of Sara. “You know what? I’m starving.” Sloane grabbed Jules, whose mouth dropped open with a grin before they both abruptly spun around.
Underneath me, Sara still hadn’t moved, she was still just staring at me, and I swallowed hard as I rocked back and hauled her up off the ground in one quick motion.
“Told you I’d catch you.” I said, the blood still roaring in my ears as I quickly let go, but when she swayed, my hand shot right back out to steady her, realizing she hadn’t found her footing.
As I gripped her, Sara just stared up at me with a look I couldn’t quite make sense of.
“We should probably head back.” I offered, heart hammering so wildly against my chest, I wondered if she could hear it.
Her mouth opened and closed before she nodded just once and then finally stepped back.
As we headed back towards the house, she walked slightly ahead of me, giving me a perfect view of her leaf-covered backside.
I tried not to look, but it didn’t matter—I didn’t know if I’d ever get the feeling of her lying underneath me out of my mind. Didn’t know if I wanted to .