Page 228 of Plaything

“Neither was I... until I kissed a girl,” Jamie shot Niko and me a coy smile.

“Shut up, Trix! You’re not helping my case,” Reesia snapped in a hushed tone.

“Let’s vote,” Aiden cut in again. “All in favor of all or nothing,” he put his hand up, as did everyone else in the room besides Niko and Reesia, who looked utterly defeated. “Great!” Aiden clapped his hands. “I’ll deal.”

“Really?” Reesia crossed her arms at Collin for voting against her. She flashed her wedding ring at him and pointed to it. “Does this mean nothing to you? What happened to solidarity?” She playfully pouted.

Collin lifted his brows. “She said while desperately trying to make-out with another person with whom she isn’t united in holy matrimony.” He glanced at the diamond, then back at her for emphasis.

She shut her mouth quickly and nodded in defeat. “Touché,” she turned back to the table. “If I lose after all my hard work, I’ll—”

“I’ll deal with the tantrum,” Collin assured. “Go ahead and deal the cards, Aiden.”

Shifting in Dominic’s lap, I watched in anticipation as Aiden shuffled the cards several times before dealing each of them two cards.

On cue, they quickly looked at their cards before making faces, dissatisfied with their hand. Reesia’s shoulders fell as she showed the cards to Collin, who simply nodded at her. Niko stuck his tongue in his cheek while rolling his eyes and setting the cards face down.

“Either you’re both the worst bluffers in the world, or you actually have bad cards,” Vincent smiled hugely. You might as well turn them face up; you’re both all in.”

Reesia practically threw her cards on the table, showing a three and a nine... oof.

Niko flipped his cards around, too, revealing a seven and a two. Ouch. “You suck at dealing,” he sent Aiden a sharp look.

The jab rolled off Aiden’s shoulder as he quickly burned and turned until there were five cards, not giving them a chance to react as each card was played.

A three. A queen. An eight. A three. A three.

My eyes widened, looking back at the three next to Reesia. What were the chances?! She just won with awful cards! Meanwhile, Niko had absolutely nothing—not even the suits helped him.

“Four of a kind takes the win,” Aiden announced expeditiously.

Reesia was still momentarily before she hollered a laugh, throwing her arms in the air. “Yes!” she shrieked. She jumped out of her seat and didn’t stop jumping as she clapped her hands in excitement. “I won!” She pointed at Niko. “You counted cards for half the game, and I won!” she bragged.

Niko was still looking at the cards on the table, dumbfounded. “I can’t count cards; I don’t know why you all think that,” he mumbled absentmindedly.

Liar.

Dominic tightened his grip around me. “Your bet is void if Odette doesn’t want to make-out with Reesia,” he announced.

Niko grinned, his eyes hooded as he glanced at Reesia.

Reesia sighed, “You’re going to play the consent card?” She turned her attention to me. “Please?” She cheesed. “I won fair and square,” she added, blinking up at me with her giant eyes.

For Niko’s sake, I really should have said no. But I owed her one—more than one—because she’d been there for me since day one. She was the one who got Dominic to admit he thought I was pretty. She tipped me off about BDSM, laughed about our trauma, and was genuinely the first real friend I’d ever had. Plus, she didn’t mention anything about Aiden and me by the pool.

At the very least, I could make-out with her for 60 seconds. “I’ll do it,” I agreed. “But for Niko’s sake, you have to stop the flirting. Deal?” I negotiated my terms.

“Deal!” She quickly nodded, agreeing readily.

Niko opened his mouth and closed it several times as if trying to object. They were both getting exactly what they wanted... more or less.

“This is thrilling,” Jamie mumbled as she lightly elbowed Vincent.

“Very entertaining,” he nodded.

The peanut gallery...

Reesia began walking around the table toward me. “Stay sitting. You’re tall, so standing will be weird,” she decided while practically skipping to me.

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