Page 220 of Plaything

I innocently pressed my lips together, remembering how fun Cowboy Wyatt was. Come to think of it, he hadn’t mentioned what happened between us in his childhood bedroom at all. He said he’d be too drunk to remember, but I didn’t think he meant it. I bet if I timed it perfectly (and we weren’t around other people), I’d be able to make him blush by asking him to check his camera roll.

“How are you feeling?” Aiden asked as he put some chips onto his plate at the counter.

I shrugged. Looking past him at the clock, I saw it’d been over an hour now. “Fine. Maybe I’m immune?” I guessed.

“Nothing at all?” Reesia added with wide eyes.

I shook my head. “Maybe half wasn’t enough—I’m freakishly tall.” Niko said I was tiny earlier, but I didn’t think that was true. I was thin, sure, but I had a deceiving amount of muscle, and they didn’t account for that or my height at all.

Aiden placed the other half of the gummy in front of me. “Give it about another half hour,” he suggested.

Setting it to the side, I nodded. “How are you feeling?” I asked, noticing the whites of his eyes were slightly pink.

He flirtatiously winked at me. “Fantastic.”

“Gag,” Reesia deadpanned, jealousy in her tone.

“It’s never gonna happen, Reese,” Aiden assured before returning to the table with his snacks.

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Oh, it’ll happen.”

“What’s ‘it?’” I questioned.

“You. Me. Making out. Preferably topless with lots of fondling—”

“It’s kinda creepy that you’ve thought about this,” I dismissed.

She leaned back in her chair, swirling her drink as she daydreamed. “In a perfect world, it happens during winter in France—I was a big fan of you speaking French, by the way.”

Feeling eyes on me, I glanced behind me at Niko. He was shooting daggers at Reesia. She knew it, too, because she had a shit-eating grin as she spoke.

“Cariño, come be my good luck charm. Get away from that predator,” he smirked.

“Look how scared he is,” she snickered in delight.

Rolling my eyes at both of them, I popped the second half of the gummy in my mouth before sitting next to Niko at the table.

Two hours later, the sun had disappeared entirely. We were all sat at the table, playing a shockingly competitive game of poker. I was undoubtedly feeling something now.

My entire body felt light as air, and I was incredibly warm, like a fluffy heated blanket wrapped around each limb. I kept having to remind myself that I had bones and body weight. I felt so strange—like gravity was trying to push me up into the air, not pull me down. Hence, the one-handed grip on the seat of my chair that kept me from floating off like a helium balloon.

Besides the peculiar feelings all over my body and brain fog, I felt fine! I was having a great time; we all were. We were equally determined to win—although we still hadn’t agreed on what the winner got. They all put in 20 dollars in the first game and played for money. The second, Jamie had a slice of leftover cake from a well-known bakery that everyone loved, and they played for that. Now, I was pretty sure we were just playing for bragging rights, the biggest reward of all in this group of cutthroat competitors.

“How the hell did you win again?!” Jamie roared. “That’s three in a row, Cupcake,” she folded her muscular arms as I gathered the chips into my pile.

I smiled. “Just lucky.”

“Are you hiding cards? Lift your other hand,” she accused.

Smirking, I lifted my hand from my chair and wiggled my fingers at her, showing my innocence. Without my anchor, I felt myself start to lift off the chair. My heart sank, and I panicked, quickly slapping my hand back down and gripping the seat. “Woah,” I panted.

It was quiet for a moment before everyone, including me, broke out in laughter. “What was that?” Dominic asked. “Finally feeling it, Darling?”

“I swear to God I almost floated away,” I giggled.

Wyatt glanced under the table at my hand before he cutely covered his mouth to hide his laugh. “Is that why you’ve been playing one-handed?” he asked between laughs.

I nodded with wide eyes. “If I don’t, I’ll end up up there,” I pointed to Jamie’s portrait-covered ceiling. “With the naked people,” I whispered.

---