Chapter 19
Kinsley
Chapter Nineteen
The sun headed down behind the large trees, and the eight of us withdrew onto the porch. I was sitting in a comfortable armchair with a cocktail in my hand, still wearing the bikini I changed into after Connor’s nasty attack. My eyes were focused on the table with Cora’s cupcakes on it, but my mind was elsewhere. The only thing I saw in front of my mind’s eye was Thomas emerging from the house a few hours earlier only wearing dark blue swim trunks. I replayed the image in my head over and over until the awkward moment when Aaliyah drew my attention to my own dark blue bikini, which was the perfect match to Thomas’s swimwear.
“You guys are matching.” She elbowed me in the side, and I looked down to the bikini I was wearing. She was right; it was the same color as Thomas’s.
I rolled my eyes, forcing them away from Thomas’s godlike body and toward the dark water instead. I turned my head to where Connor and Kevin were playing in the lake, but from the corner of my eye, I tried to peek at Thomas’s delta-shaped body. How can someone be that ripped? Well, I guess playing hockey all your life and being the hockey captain for almost three years pays off after all.
Now, hours later, my mouth still watered as I replayed the image in my head. I was 100 percent sure it would haunt my dreams, too, but I didn’t really mind it.
I looked up from my orange-colored cocktail and glanced at the present Thomas. He was talking with Kevin in front of the grill, but he seemed distant in a way I couldn’t explain. In the background, Braxton, Aaliyah, and Connor were harshly singing a Taylor Swift song on karaoke, jumping up and down and making strange moves with their hands. Samantha stood a few feet away from me, resting her elbows on the porch’s railing, gazing up at the starry sky. She arrived late into the afternoon on her bicycle and sat down next to me on the pier, where I was dangling my feet into the water, and she did the same. We hadn’t spoken a word, but the company felt nice. I haven’t met many people who liked to retreat into their minds the same way I did. We just laid out there while the others played in the water until Aaliyah called us to join them.
“Is it any good?” Cora asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and sitting down on the chair next to me. I arched a brow and she pointed at the cocktail in my hand.
“Heavenly,” I answered, taking another sip, and she smiled. I had no idea how someone could make cocktails this good, but it seemed Cora had a special talent. A sixth sense for cocktails and baking.
My eyes drifted toward Thomas again, so I blurted out the first question that came to my mind. “How did you and Aaliyah meet?” I asked, focusing my attention back on the blonde girl next to me.
Cora smiled again, leaning back in the chair, her eyes glazing over as I suspected she started to remember.
“Well, it’s not that interesting,” she said, and I leaned back, too, taking a sip of my cocktail and lifting a brow at her. “I moved here with my mom when I was six. I met Aaliyah on my first day at school. Let’s just say it wasn’t my best day. New kid’s curse, as they say,” she explained with a grimace. “So naturally, Aaliyah came to me and told me we were now best friends.” She let out a small chuckle, and a smile formed on my lips too. “She always had a sense of knowing who needed her the most. I guess it was me back then.” I chewed on my bottom lip while I listened to her. “We were friends for nine years.” Her smile deepened. “When I turned fifteen at the end of February 2016, we confessed our love for each other, and we have been together ever since.” She jabbered the end of the sentence as Aaliyah and Connor walked toward us.
Braxton and Samantha disappeared and while part of me was curious what they could have been doing, the other half just said to stay away—which was the right decision, maybe they were making out.
“Kiiins.” Connor sat down in front of me on the porch, crossing his legs and resting his head between his knees, sending me a drunk smile.
“I’m not talking to you,” I said with a fake death stare, and he sighed.
“Oh come on, don’t be such a grump, it was fun.” His smile widened, and I made a face at him.
“Fun for you, maybe.” I pursed my lips. “Have you seen my clothes? I don’t think they had fun.” At that, someone snorted, and I looked up to see Thomas standing next to me with his white shirt slightly unbuttoned, giving us a peek of his abdomen and chest. Suddenly I wished I could just drown myself into the cocktail in my hand. Dramatic much? My body reacted to him, too, with a heat wave flowing over it as I remembered how his mouth captured mine. I took an aggressive sip from my drink, irritated that my mind went there again.
“Dinner is served.” I heard Kevin’s voice from behind Connor, and I stood up like I had been electrocuted, making my way toward the grill. Getting stuck between two Rhodes might have been my limit.
I arrived at the oval-shaped wooden table placed next to the grill first, and I sorted out the plates for everyone before I sat down at the farthest seat from where we had been.
“This looks amazing, Kev,” Aaliyah said, and I looked over at the grill, my mouth watering from the delicious smell of the cheese and grilled vegetables.
“Better be, it was hard to get this out from the tool room,” Kevin replied, knocking on the grill with his spatula.
Connor sat down next to me, sending me an apologetic look before he leaned down and rested his head on my shoulder. I sighed but did the same, resting my head on his, his coconut shampoo filling my nostrils.
“Sorry I threw you into the water,” he whispered so it was only me who was able to hear it. “I really thought it would be fun for you too.”
“Sorry I was mean to you,” I answered, closing my eyes.
“You weren’t mean to me.” I heard the confusion in his voice.
“Well, I tried. Let’s appreciate that,” I said, and he chuckled. “And it was kind of fun,” I admitted, and I felt a smile pulling on his lips.
“I knew it,” he whispered, and I let out a small laugh.
I opened my eyes the same moment Thomas sat down at the seat across from me. My lips parted when I realized he was looking at me and I suddenly didn’t know what to do with myself under his observing gaze. A few days ago, I would have scoffed at him, but now—Kevin taking the seat next to Thomas broke the moment and pulled my attention away. Braxton, who was sitting on Kevin’s left, was the first to fill his plate with French fries and chicken, while Samantha gathered some bacon. She was followed by Aaliyah two seats away, who chose the vegetarian version of our dinner, which was basically a lot of vegetables and rice. Kevin was the next, along with Cora, and they both reached for the grilled cheese while Connor had already eaten half of his dino bites.
Thomas and I were the last ones with empty plates, and I motioned for him to go ahead. He stood up and loaded his dish with rice, cheese, and some veggies before placing it down—in front of me. My brows shot up in surprise and I glared up at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. He filled up another plate with different kinds of meats. When he finally sat back down, I cleared my throat, which suddenly felt abnormally sore.
“Thanks,” I said, furrowing my brows, and he looked back at me with a satisfied smirk.
I had no idea what just happened, so I focused my attention back on my plate and ate my dinner in silence, trying to become invisible while listening to the others. Well, listening was maybe a stretch, as I wouldn’t have been able to repeat any of what they were saying. From the corner of my eye, I saw Thomas finishing his food and I felt his gaze landing on me. I knew he saw I was watching, so I grabbed the glass of wine Connor poured for all of us and took a big sip from it.
The rest of the dinner went by quickly, and an hour later we were sitting in a circle at the table, playing Bullshit. The game of bluffing and analyzing.
“Two fives.” Aaliyah slid her cards into the middle of the table, a slight smile playing on her lips.
“BS.” Braxton jumped, and Aaliyah’s smile widened. She reached for her cards and turned them up for us to see. “Fuck,” Braxton muttered, reaching for the pile of cards in the middle of the table, taking them all to himself while Kevin laughed. The two boys had collected half of the deck to themselves already. Kevin had around fifteen in his hands and Braxton wasn’t far behind. On the other hand, Aaliyah had only three cards left.
I looked at the back of Thomas’s cards. He only had three left, too, but we hadn’t even had our turns yet in this round.
It was Cora’s turn, and I watched her face while she stared at her cards. I noticed in the earlier rounds that she had a very good poker face. I didn’t see any changes in her expression whenever it was her turn—no eyebrow twitching or playing with her hair.
She placed down one card at the table, a six, she said. We all held our breath, waiting for somebody to call her out, but nobody did. I guess everyone became more careful after Braxton’s burn. Connor, who was the referee, elbowed me in the side.
“Your turn.” Without glancing at my four cards, I put down two of them. A queen and an eight. I played it carefully, not putting down too many cards at once and making sure I was resting my face muscles, so I didn’t give myself away with an accidental frown.
“Two sevens,” I lied, keeping my face as blank as I could.
I felt Thomas’s analyzing eyes on me, but he didn’t say anything before Connor announced it was his turn. I let out a soundless breath, turning my eyes to Thomas. He placed down one card, an eight, as he claimed, before turning to me with a challenging gaze. I scowled at him, trying to read him, but I didn’t dare to call him out. We both had two cards left, and if he was telling the truth—I glanced at the four cards in the middle of the table—then I would have to pick those up, and I wouldn’t have any chance of winning.
The game went by fast. Kevin got the pile from the middle again, but this time, Samantha called him out instead of Thomas. It was my turn again, and I had two cards left. If I didn’t put them all down, Thomas would win. And if he didn’t, then Aaliyah or Cora would. I had a four and a five. Neither of them was what I needed.
“Two Aces.”
There was a moment of silence between us. The around twenty cards in both Braxton and Kevin’s hands made everyone nervous.
A small smile already started to form in the corner of my mouth when I heard Connor take a breath, but then Thomas cut in.
“Bullshit.” He leaned forward in his seat, his dark eyes fixating on me. I pressed my lips together and turned my cards up.
“Ah, Converse girl,” Braxton groaned, and we all glanced at him. “What? I’m just sympathizing.”
I reached for the pile in the middle of the table with an irritated feeling and gathered the six cards lying there before glaring back at Thomas. He was still looking at me with mischief in his eyes, and I scowled at him, which only earned a low chuckle from him in response.
He won, of course, and I leaned back in my seat, gulping down the rest of my wine. It didn’t matter that multiple of us called him out on his BS, when he turned his two cards up, they were what he said they were. Two twos.
“See, that’s why I didn’t want to play,” Connor muttered to me. “Somehow he always wins.” That I knew.
“Now,” Braxton called with a fake yawn. “We should play something fun.”