Page 10 of In Spades

Until Chase actually moved on, the rest of us had to walk on eggshells around them.

Steve shoved Maddie down further on the couch and patted the space between him and the armrest. “Take a load off, kid.”

I plopped down next to him and scowled. Kid.

It wasn’t a secret that I barely fit in with the group. I was a good six years younger than the rest of the poker club. Hell, Luca and Isaac had more than a decade on me.

My mind drifted back to Will Solomon as I sipped on my pink drink. There were flecks of gray in his light brown hair. It was hot in a silver fox kind of way. The lines at the corners of his eyes crinkled every time he smiled. They were warm and comforting.

“Earth to Kristin … hello?” It was Erica calling my name.

I snapped back to the present. “Hm? What?” All eyes were on me. “Do you need me to take Aly?”

Steve chuckled. “Aly is with Heather’s mom tonight,” he said wistfully.

Erica had a great relationship with Steve’s late wife’s mom. Aly even called her Grandma Evy.

“Let me guess,” Chase said, smirking as he snagged a slice of pizza from one of the boxes. “Thinking about Just a Guest?”

I glared at him.

Maddie tapped her fingertips together like a mad scientist. “Ooooh! Does Kris finally have something juicy to tell?”

“No!” I snapped as if I was scolding a puppy, then shot Chase a dirty look.

Bridget had a wicked smile on her face. “I think we’re going to need details about this Just a Guest.”

Hannah Jane knocked back the rest of her drink and slammed the glass down. “Finally!” she shouted. “You’ve had this coming since you bragged about seeing security camera footage of me running through the inn in a bathrobe. Spill, sister.”

Luckily, Isaac strolled in, saving me from the inquisition. He leaned in and planted a sloppy kiss on Hannah’s mouth. “Sorry I’m late, Princess.”

“Good flight?” Hannah asked. She let Isaac take her spot on the couch, then settled in his lap.

“A little weather, but not bad,” Isaac said, his hand resting on Hannah Jane’s hip.

She leaned back and smiled, pressing her lips against his temple.

A bolt of jealousy zipped through me like lightning. I gritted my teeth and sucked down the last bits of my drink.

“Want another?” Luca asked, gesturing toward my empty glass.

I shook my head. “No, I need to switch to water.” There was no way I was going to drive home anything less than sober.

Maddie and Mel went about setting up the poker table while the rest of us picked up plates and cups. We could be a rowdy bunch, but we were mostly civilized.

Steve took a stack of paper plates out of Erica’s hand and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle.

I dusted some crumbs off the couch and caught a glimpse of Maddie and Luca exchanging heated looks across the room. I needed a machete to cut through the sexual tension in the room.

Most days, it didn’t cross my mind just how long it had been since I felt any sort of intimacy with anyone. My dry spell was looking dustier than the desert in a drought. By the time I crashed on the couch at night, I was too exhausted to dabble in self-service pleasure.

I played through two rounds of poker before my groggy eyes got the best of me. It was nice to be a part of adult conversation, but I couldn’t relax when I knew that it would be back to the grind as soon as I left.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Steve promised to look at my car first thing in the morning, and Chase caught a ride home with Hannah Jane and Isaac.

The tall headlights of Chase’s truck nearly beamed straight across the roof of my single-wide. The screen door screeched open, and Logan sulked on the sagging front step. His shoulders dropped when I hopped down from the driver’s seat and slammed the door.

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