Page 95 of Sin

London placed a roll on the small plate in front of me, distracting me. Then, he snatched a roll for himself and cut it in half. As he buttered it, he said to the team, “It’s another two hours toward Clarksville, but I think we should—”

“Nope,” Mare said, cutting London off before he got another word out. “This is a break. So no talk of work.”

London raised his dark brows at her but didn’t fight over her words. “Okay, fair enough. Is there something else you’d like to talk about then?”

“No. I want to play a game,” Mare said, mischief lighting her eyes.

“I think we’re a little old for games,” Blade said, sipping her wine.

Mare leaned around Jinx’s back to punch her in the ribs, and Blade barely contained a wince. “Nonsense. You’re never too old to play games.” Her fingers clicked against the sheathed tabletop while she glanced around the patio, then inside. “We could always keep it simple? We could dare each other to do stuff.”

“Like truth and dare?” I asked.

“Nah, that’s boring. Everyone knows the only fun part of that game is when someone chooses dare.”

Sighing, Lewis took a sip of his soda. “So just dares?”

Rolling her eyes, Mare said, “Yeah, but we can make it better. So like, everyone has two papers. You write down a dare on one and a consequence on the other. Then we’ll put all the dares and consequences into different bowls. When it’s your turn, you draw one dare and one consequence. If you aren’t able to fulfill the dare, then you have to do the consequence.”

Blade grinned, seeming to like the sound of Mare’s game despite her earlier reservations.

“I’m fine playing,” London said, “but we have to make sure every dare’s reasonable. Nothing too crazy, okay? It needs to be fair.”

“Deal,” Mare said, grabbing a small notebook from her pocket and ripping out several pieces before tearing the paper into strips and handing two to each person. Only Mare, Lewis, and London had pens on them, so we all took turns writing our dares and consequences down. Then we folded all our papers and placed them in two small bowls Mare asked the waitress for.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Blade said as the last of us placed our papers in the correct bowl. “What if we make this even better and say if we do manage to accomplish the dare, whoever wrote the consequence paper we picked from the bowl has to do their own consequence.”

Mare clapped her hands with glee. “Yes! Love that.”

“So we just go around in a circle then?” Jinx asked, frowning at the bowls like he was starting to regret this game already.

“Yep. I’ll go first.” Mare reached for the dare bowl and unfolded the paper. “I dare you to ask someone for their leftovers,” she started with a snort of laughter, “and then eat them right in front of them. Oh my god, you guys!”

We all chuckled right alongside her while she grabbed her consequence paper. “It says call the last person in your call history and howl like a wolf. Ugh, was this you, Donny?”

London scowled at her. “Don’t call me that. And yes, that was mine.” He grinned. “This will be howlarious.”

She snorted and stood from the table. Her shrewd gaze scanned the restaurant before zeroing in on her target. A couple were standing from their booth just inside the restaurant, and Mare stalked toward them with determined strides. The man was the first one to notice Mare’s approach, and the poor guy’s face drained of color just as Mare tapped the woman on the shoulder. The girl turned and blanched at the overly toothy smile Mare had plastered on her face. Mare said something, pointing one of her deadly-sharp nails at the box the man held in shaky hands. The guy didn’t even hesitate before thrusting the box at Mare.

She grinned, saying something before ripping the lid clean off the box. Peering inside, Mare snatched out a few BBQ ribs. While the man and woman watched on in horror, Mare devoured the ribs, even going as far as licking her fingers clean. Then she frowned at the box, then the empty table the couple had been sitting at, then the box again. Shrugging, Mare scooped out a handful of what looked like mashed potatoes and stuffed them in her mouth.

When she’d successfully finished her dare, she handed the now empty container, save some bones, and waved a peace sign at the couple before heading back to us.

We were cackling like fiends as she sat down, and she flashed Lewis’s camera the finger before returning to her relaxed position in her chair. “Okay, Donny. Who do you get to call?”

London muttered something under his breath, looking full of regrets now as he opened his most recent calls. President Osborne was his most recent call, and he flushed even as we all cackled at the situation he found himself in.

He downed the rest of his drink as Jinx grabbed his papers, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Fuck.” And then he pressed Call.

Even without it on speaker, we could hear the phone ringing. Then President Osborne’s voice came on the line. “Mr. Whitmore?”

London sucked in a breath, then, “A-whoo!”

Silence, then, “Excuse me?”

London howled again, all the while, we laughed so hard, it would have been impossible for President Osborne to miss.

“Mr. Whitmore, I understand you’re under a lot of stress at the moment,” Osborne said, her tone thick with annoyance, “but if you’re having a mental breakdown, you should call a hospital, okay?”

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