CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Myra
Two hours and five jumbo margaritas later, I stood with a hot pink ball in my hand staring down the lane at the single pin standing between me and total bowling domination.
Long gone were haunting thoughts of the previous night, drowned out by Laney’s cheers, Sasha’s heckling, and Curtis’ deep laughter as I started my approach, ball cocked back, ready to fly.
The trio hushed as we all watched to see if my aim was true yet again, and I crouched down and urged the ball to curve like a witch whispering an incantation that would direct it to its target.
My breathing ceased until a thunderous crash echoed through the alley as the pin flew through the air and ricocheted off the back wall.
I shot to my feet, a war cry on my lips as I ripped my shirt over my head and whipped it around above me in celebration.
As much as the dark and decaying parts of my soul hated to admit it, I really was having fun.
I ran back to the table in my bra while the others looked on wide-eyed and slammed a shot in preparation for all the gloating and shit-talking that was about to go down—the part of the game I thought I excelled at the most. But before I could get a word out, a low, sultry voice as soft and rich as velvet whispered in my ear.
“I don’t think shirts-and-skins is a thing in bowling, love.” Yael’s words slid down my back like ice, making me shiver. I looked over my shoulder to find him staring down at my half naked form, eyes bright with mischief. “But please, don’t let me stop you.”
A million and one things to say to him flashed through my mind as I quickly slipped my shirt over my head and pulled the hem down, never breaking eye contact.
His blase attitude—as though he hadn’t been out fucking someone while my life was in danger and ignored all the texts that followed—threatened to send me into a drunken rage right then and there, but that would only have caused a scene I’d need to explain to the others, and that was something I definitely didn’t want to do.
Instead, I just stood and stared at him in silence until the walking ruckus known as Sasha squealed at the sight of him and headed toward us.
“Oh my god!” she said as she stumbled around the table. “Laney, look! It’s Ya—”
His name was cut short by a blonde blur that tackled Sasha from behind and drove her to the floor, a hand clapped tightly over her mouth to prevent a deal-breaking rule infraction.
Laney looked up at us through her disheveled hair as she lay on Sasha’s back and smiled nervously. “We’re good. Nothing to see here...”
Yael couldn’t help but smile at the spectacle. “I’m no expert, Laney, but I’m pretty sure that bowling isn’t meant to be a contact sport.” Wicked delight dripped from his tone. “Though I’ll admit, it would make it far more entertaining.”
“Yeah,” she said as a giggle erupted from deep inside her, “totally.” The sharp trill of Laney’s laughter cut through the din, making me wince, while Sasha struggled to get out from beneath her.
Laney’s grasp on her mouth was unrelenting steel as the two of them stood in an awkward, unbalanced mess.
“I feel as though I’ve missed something here.”
“I think you’ve missed a few things,” I countered, doing little to hide my contempt.
His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he assessed my thinly veiled anger. “Perhaps I have,” he replied before he leaned in closer and whispered conspiratorially, “but I think you should be more worried about those two.”
“And I think you should leave,” I clipped in response.
He had the gall to look offended. “That seems a touch uncalled for.”
“I’m sure it does to you, but it feels right to me.” I glanced at him in my periphery to find him staring with a curious expression.
“Once again, I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something.”
I turned away from the group and leaned in close so only he could hear me as the anger I thought I’d suppressed bubbled over. “That’s funny… from what I heard, you most definitely got something last night. I hope you had fun, because I sure as fuck didn’t.”
“And what was this ‘something’ you heard about?”
“It involved you and a redhead getting busy in an alley.”
“Careful, little mermaid. One might think you sound a touch jealous about that rumor.”
“Rumor?” I replied, choking on a laugh. “Is that the story you’re going with? And don’t even try to make this about jealousy. That’s just ridiculous. Now, if you could please get to that fucking right off bit, I have games to win.”
“I’m not leaving until we discuss this story you heard.”
“I’d really rather not, if it’s all the same to you. Some details don’t need to be shared. Besides, you shouldn’t even be here. It’s Laney’s party, and you weren't invited.”
I moved to walk away but he stepped into my path, wearing that smug, all-knowing smirk that made me want to slap it from his face. “How do you know that I wasn’t?” The sheer confidence in his delivery told me he wasn’t bluffing.
Mother. Fucker.
I looked back at Laney, who still had a death grip on Sasha as the duo stared at us in silence. “Did you invite him?” I asked, jerking my thumb at he-who-should-not-be-named-aloud.
Laney whispered in Sasha’s ear before she released her hold on the witch’s face.
As soon as it was free, Sasha grinned like a mindless schoolgirl while Laney looked like she might shit her pants—and for good reason.
“I may or may not have forgotten to disclose that fact after you laid out the rules,” she said, “but in fairness, you said we couldn’t mention his name or ask questions.
You did not say he couldn’t come—and we’d already asked him.
I wouldn’t have if I’d known you two were fighting, or whatever this is. ”
I ground my teeth together to stifle my rage. “I’m going to kill them,” I muttered under my breath.
“No, you’re not, because deep down in that arctic heart of yours, you like them,” Yael whispered in my ear as his finger brushed the center of my chest. I smacked it away quickly before he could feel how fast my heart was beating. “You’d feel terrible if you caused their untimely end.”
“Maybe,” I countered, “but I wouldn’t if I caused yours instead. And right about now, that sounds really fucking great.”
He shrugged with an ambivalence that made me rage. “And she says she isn’t jealous. We can go with that for now, if it makes you feel better.”
His lack of explanation about his whereabouts and actions, combined with his smug assuredness, were killing my buzz, and I absolutely needed it if I wanted a chance at surviving the evening, so I grabbed my drink and tossed it back in one massive gulp.
“Laney,” I said as I held the cup over my head and waggled it for her to see, “this looks awfully empty.”
She snatched a bottle of beer right out of Curtis’ hand—much to his dismay—and came running. “Sorry! This is all we have at the moment.”
“Then it’ll have to do.” I held the rim to my mouth as I stared Yael down, his intense green stare fixed on my lips. “Bottom’s up.” I downed half the bottle without pause, enjoying the bitter burn as it trailed down my throat.
“Myra,” Sasha called over the driving bass in the background, “I believe you’re up.”
Yael glanced up at the scoreboard above our lane. “It seems you’ve been busy in my absence.”
I turned back to him and smiled. “Almost as busy as I am now trying to escape your presence.”
“Will he be joining us?” Laney asked with great hesitation as she pointed at him instead of risking another rule infraction—not that it really mattered anymore.
“I believe I will,” he replied as he slipped out of his coat. “This promises to be entertaining.”
While I wanted to argue, I knew there was no point.
Yael clearly did whatever Yael wanted to do, no matter how it affected anyone else.
Instead, I strutted over to where Curtis stood, holding out my favorite pink ball, and took it from him without breaking stride.
In one fluid motion, I wound up and rolled a perfectly spinning shot that sent the pins flying in all directions.
As the others cheered at my strike as I passed, I sneered at Yael.
I was met with a calculated expression. “Very impressive—”
“You have no idea how impressive I can be—”
“—I’m just stunned that you threw it down the right lane in your current state of intoxication.”
Every cell in my body bristled at his jab, but instead of reacting—which would only have fueled him further—I continued on, headed for the bar. Intoxication was the only way to deal with him at that point, and rules or not, I wasn’t leaving yet.
For a few glorious moments, I was left in peace while he took his turn, and I sidled up to the bar and took a look in the clouded mirror beyond.
The faint flush of inebriation painted my normally porcelain cheeks.
My hair had begun to fall from its ponytail, black strands framing my face, accenting my wide blue eyes.
I couldn’t remember a time since I’d arrived in the Playground that I’d looked more wild and alive than I did in that moment.
Then Yael’s frame came into view behind me, and my stare narrowed.
“Can I get a drink over here?” I shouted to the grey-haired bartender at the far end of the bar.
“Beer? Tequila? Battery acid? Literally anything…” His insult was swallowed up by the deafening music that seemed to get louder with every song that played, but somehow Yael’s laughter cut right through the din, reverberating through every cell in my body and spurring my annoyance.
I spun against the bar, leaning back into the countertop to stare up at the current bane of my existence.