Page 35 of Shiny Things

“I’m gonna have hell to pay for this, but I would love to stay.”

Kim

Chapter 11

What was happening?

How?

Why?

I was stuck at my dad’s house with my secret boyfriend? Lover? Whatever the hell he was to me. It wasn’t like we’d talked about it or defined what we were doing.

He sat across from me with my dad on my right and my brother on my left. It was like something out of one of my nightmares. I was too embarrassed to look any of them in the eyes at this point.

My family wasn’t exactly known for playing fair. Game night often led to high tempers and screaming. It wasn’t something I was proud of and wasn’t a side of me that I wanted Elias to see. So I sat there and bit my tongue.

Elias easily won the first game of Risk because all of us were on our best behavior.

“Yes!” he said when he won.

My jaw dropped as he jumped up and did a victory dance.

“Oh hell no,” Andrew said. “We let you win because you’re a guest, but if that’s how it’s going to be, then all bets are off. Reset the board, Kimmy.”

I sighed. No good was going to come out of this.

“Well, listen to your brother, girl,” Dad said.

I sighed and readied the game.

“You asked for it,” I warned him.

“Bring it on,” he taunted.

“You’re going to be sorry.”

“Yeah, because he’s going down,” Andrew said.

“We let you win the first round,” Dad confessed.

“No way. I won that fair and square,” Elias argued.

An hour later, Dad was out of the game and offering an alliance to Andrew who was struggling not to fold. His army was too low to be of much concern, but Elias and I were battling it out hardcore.

When Eli took the last influential country that Andrew had, my brother lost it.

“This is bullshit!”

He hit the board causing all the pieces to topple over.

“No!” Elias yelled. “I had her.”

“You weren’t even close.”

“I was two moves away from taking you down.”

“No you weren’t.”

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