Page 98 of Sin

“How did that one part go?” Lewis asked, smirking as he pocketed his phone. “Your head on my pillow. Your bare skin on view?”

I groaned. “Har har. Okay, I won my dare. Which means Jinx is in need of a haircut after this.”

“And shave!” Mare reminded.

Jinx’s good humor vanished, replaced with horror. “Oh, fuck. I forgot about that part.”

Blade nodded at the bowls. “Okay, boss man. You’re up.”

After finishing our meals, London took his turn.

“Walk up to a stranger, breathe in their face, and ask if your breath stinks,” he read out loud, his tone unimpressed. He narrowed his eyes on Lewis. “You wrote this one, didn’t you?”

Lewis winked at him. “Sure did.”

Muttering under his breath, London grabbed one of the two remaining consequence papers and laughed as he said, “Wear your underwear on the outside of your clothes.” He eyed Blade with dismay. “You really don’t want to let me have any dignity, do you?”

A smile slashed across Blade’s mouth. “Nope.”

Groaning, London stood, removing his hand from my thigh. He scanned the restaurant before zeroing in on an elderly couple eating dessert. With determined strides, he moved to stand in front of them. While we couldn’t hear what was said, we watched, laughing like fools as London said something before leaning down and blowing air in the woman’s face.

The woman, rightfully appalled, grabbed the stand up menu on their table and started smacking London, making a shooing motion. London retreated immediately, his dark skin flushed with embarrassment.

When he got back to the table, he smiled cockily at Blade. “The restrooms are just inside.”

Blade glanced around the room, the tips of her ears pinking. “Maybe I can wait until after this?”

London grinned with mischief. “Nope. Now, not later.”

“Though, we will need to stop at a barber after this,” I piped in, making Jinx pouted, running his hand through his dark hair.

The food arrived as Blade reluctantly stood and made her way inside, and my stomach rumbled in excitement as I took a large bite of the tacos. London did the same, and we shared a private smile.

When Blade returned, looking far too embarrassed with a pair of bubblegum pink hipster briefs with a little white bow on the front clad over her black pants, we cackled. She flipped us all the middle finger as she rushed to sit, probably aware of all the many eyes on her from the surrounding tables.

Blade, ears still heated, nudged the dare and consequence bowls toward Jinx, who was devouring a rather distractingly large steak. Like, seriously. It took up half his plate. “Come on, big guy. Get this game moving and pick your poisons.”

He stuffed another bite of steak into his mouth before he complied. “I dare you to perform a magic trick to a stranger,” he read with a wide smile. “Hell yeah.”

“What’s the consequence?” Blade asked, peering across the table to try to see.

“Kiss a stranger,” he said, tossing his papers down on the table.

I smirked at him. “Ha! That was mine.”

London stiffened almost imperceptibly beside me, and I shot him a curious look. He was already staring at me, his expression unreadable, only confusing me further.

“Are you okay?” I mouthed, brows drawn low.

He leaned closer. “You better hope Jinx fails that magic trick.”

And then I realized the problem. “I’m sorry. I wrote it before we added the extra part to the consequence. But Jinx might fail, so maybe it won’t matter?”

Slowly, he nodded and his hand slipped over my knee. It was distracting enough I almost missed his next, nearly inaudible words. “If he wins that dare—”

He didn’t get the chance to finish before Jinx stood from the table. He glared around the restaurant, rubbing his hands together like a cheesy cartoon Villain. He spotted a group of women sipping margaritas and apparently celebrating someone’s birthday, if the sash one of the ladies was wearing was to be believed.

Then the guy went and yanked our tablecloth out from under our food and drinks, forcing all of us to grab at our things to keep them from tumbling over. His body separated until there were two Jinxes, and the real Jinx handed his clone the tablecloth with a smirk. Without so much as a goodbye, the clone sauntered away with the tablecloth while the real Jinx sat back down with a wide grin, making a kissy face at me.

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