Chapter Twenty-Three #2
“She is,” Demi replied. “That’s what makes her dangerous.”
The first round set the tone.
By the third, everyone was yelling.
By the fifth, Alice had accused Penny of cheating twice even though there was no possible way to cheat at the game.
“You keep choosing her cards,” Alice complained.
“I don’t know which cards are hers,” Ever said.
“You feel it in your soul.”
“I feel indigestion. That’s probably your dip.”
Alice gasped loudly and the garage went quiet.
A moment later, Pipe appeared in the doorway, wiping his hands on a rag. Oliver followed him, and Arlo leaned against the frame behind them.
“What happened?” Pipe asked.
“Ever insulted my dip.”
Pipe looked toward the kitchen. “Which dip?”
“The white one.”
He hesitated.
Alice’s eyes narrowed. “Choose your next words carefully.”
Pipe folded the rag and shoved it into his back pocket. “I was asking so I knew which one to eat first.”
“Good answer.”
Pipe crossed the room and grabbed a piece of cheese from the tray. Penny watched him do it, then pointed triumphantly at Alice.
“He did it too.”
“He waited until I had the damn tray ready, Penny. There is a difference,” Alice replied.
Oliver walked toward the kitchen sink to wash his hands. He passed behind my chair, his fingers brushing lightly across the back of my neck.
It was barely a touch.
Quick enough that no one else seemed to notice.
My skin tingled beneath his fingertips.
He didn’t stop or look down at me. He continued into the kitchen as if he hadn’t done anything at all.
I stared at the cards in my hand and tried not to smile.
Demi leaned close. “I saw that.”
I looked at her. “What?”
“The little secret touching.”
I cleared my throat and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You look like someone handed you a winning lottery ticket.”
“I have excellent cards.”
She looked down at the white card I’d accidentally turned sideways. “Your card says ‘a sad hand job.’”
“I stand by my statement.”
Demi snorted.
The next black card went to Ever.
She read it aloud. “‘Coming to Broadway this season: blank, the Musical.’”
Cards flew into the middle.
Jude wandered in from the garage just as Ever started reading the answers. He grabbed her abandoned lemonade from the table and took a drink.
Ever paused and stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s mine.”
“You weren’t using it.”
“I was actively using it before you picked it up.”
He took another drink while maintaining eye contact.
Ever held out her hand.
Jude passed it back.
She looked at the rim, then at him. “You drank half of it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“For what?”
“I was checking for poison.”
She rolled her eyes. “No one is trying to poison me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know I might poison you.”
Jude grinned and dropped onto the floor behind her. He settled with his back against the couch and pulled Ever between his knees like it was the most natural thing in the world. She complained that he was crowding her, but she leaned back against his chest before she finished the sentence.
“Read the cards,” he told her.
“You’re not playing.”
“I’m supervising.”
“That’s what Wrecker said.”
“Don’t compare me to him. I’m younger and better-looking.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Wrecker called from the garage.
Jude’s grin widened. “He heard me.”
“The entire county heard you,” Ever said.
She returned to the game and read through the answers. Most were terrible. Two made no sense. One caused Alice to laugh so hard she dropped her spoon, which she still hadn’t let go of despite sitting nowhere near the kitchen.
Then Ever picked up the final card.
“‘Coming to Broadway this season: Grandma.’”
The room went quiet.
Demi covered her mouth.
Bell stared at the ceiling.
Penny’s shoulders started shaking.
Ever looked confused. “That’s it? Just Grandma?”
Drew slowly raised her hand.
The room exploded.
I doubled over, laughing so hard my stomach hurt. Demi fell sideways into me, nearly knocking both of us off the couch. Star made a sound that wasn’t quite human. Even Jude laughed behind Ever.
From the kitchen, Oliver looked over his shoulder.
His laugh wasn’t loud, but I heard it. I always heard him.
Drew sat in the middle of the chaos with both hands over her face. “I panicked,” she said.
“That was perfection,” Alice told her.
“It wasn’t even dirty.”
“That’s why it won,” Clove managed between laughs.
Demi wiped beneath her eyes. “I’m never letting you pretend you’re normal again.”
“I never said I was normal,” Drew cried.
“You wore sweater sets for three years.”
“They matched.”
“That is exactly my point.”
The game kept going until we lost track of whose turn it was and Alice started claiming cards she hadn’t earned. The guys drifted in and out of the room, pretending they weren’t listening while reacting to every answer.
Nickel came through during a round about an inappropriate children’s birthday party and immediately turned around.
Pipe made the mistake of drinking coffee while Alice read a card involving a mime, a church organ, and an inflatable pool.
Coffee shot out of his nose.
The entire room erupted again.
Oliver closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over his face.
“I don’t know these people,” he muttered.
Pipe coughed into his sleeve. “I raised you.”
“That doesn’t help your argument.”
Arlo slapped Oliver on the shoulder. “You can’t escape genetics.”
Oliver looked at him. “We don’t share genetics.”
Arlo grinned. “You still got stuck with me.”
The words were casual.
A joke.
Nobody reacted to them except me.
Oliver’s expression didn’t change, but I saw the slight pause before he looked away. It was gone so quickly I might have imagined it if I hadn’t learned to watch him.
He belonged here.
Everyone in the room knew it.
Sometimes, Oliver was the only one who forgot.
I wanted to reach for him, but the moment passed as Alice accused Wrecker of sabotaging the game from the garage.
“I haven’t touched the damn game,” he called.
“That’s exactly what someone sabotaging the game would say.”
Wrecker walked into the room holding a wrench.
He stared at Alice.
She stared back.
He looked down at the black card in her hand.
“Read it,” she challenged.
“No.”
“You’re afraid.”
“I know better.”
“Coward.”
His eyes narrowed. “Give me the card.”
Alice handed it over with a satisfied smile.
Wrecker looked down and read it silently. His expression went completely blank.
“What does it say?” Alice asked.
He placed the card facedown on the coffee table. “I’m burning this game.” Then he turned around and walked back toward the garage.
By the time we finally packed the game away, the food Alice had prepared was cold, the cheese tray was empty, and Drew no longer looked like she was waiting for permission to belong.
She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, arguing with Bell about whether her last card should have won.
Demi was helping Penny steal cookies from a covered tray.
Alice saw them and didn’t say a word.
That was practically an adoption ceremony.
I carried empty cups into the kitchen while everyone reorganized themselves around the room.
The guys had mostly come inside now that the game was over.
Arlo and Jude were arguing near the bar.
Pipe sat beside Nikki on one of the couches, his arm resting along the back behind her.
Wrecker stood near the doorway talking quietly with Mason.
Oliver leaned against the kitchen counter with a bottle of water in his hand.
I noticed him before I reached the sink.
Of course I did.
“You survived,” he said.
“Barely.”
“I heard something about Grandma.”
I placed the cups in the sink. “Drew is secretly unhinged.”
“I knew there was something wrong with her.”
I turned and leaned back against the counter. “You laughed.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I heard you.”
“You were all yelling. There is no way you heard me in the kitchen.”
“I could hear you through the yelling.”
His eyes held mine.
Something shifted in his expression.
It happened more often now. That tiny softening he didn’t give anyone else. The look that made the noisy room fade around us even though we were standing in the middle of it. “You always know where I am, don’t you?” he asked quietly.
Heat crept into my cheeks. I could have lied. I could have teased him and changed the subject. Instead, I nodded. “Yeah.”
His gaze moved over my face. “Why?”
I smiled slightly. “Because you’re my favorite.”
Something warm flickered in his eyes. “That simple?”
“Pretty much.”