Page 47 of Cohesion

“Ouch,” Jericho said, holding his cards to his heart. “How old do you think I am?”

“Do you really want to look at the age difference between us again?” Peyton said dryly.

“You’re only as old as the one you feel,” Jericho said salaciously.

“Do you want to touch me, Jericho?” Peyton shifted, pushing out his leg. “Because you can.”

“Baby, I’ve already touched you.” Jericho slid a hand up Peyton’s thigh, squeezing lightly. Sebastian licked his lips as he watched. They needed to play speed strip poker. Like in Monopoly when all the properties were given out at the start of the game to shorten it.

“I want to touch you,” Will said helpfully.

“You are touching me,” Peyton replied. “Perks of long legs.”

Will finished off his slice, teeth showing as he smiled through it. “There are so many perks.”

Sebastian let out a breath as he studied his hand, trying to concentrate.

Not an ideal hand. Three of hearts, five of spades, jack of hearts, three of diamonds and a lone club ace. What the fuck was he going to do with that bullshit? He kept the two threes, and the five, and slid the jack and ace into the centre of the table. He didn’t have enough of anything else to risk keeping them for the off chance he’d get a good hand out of it.

The corner of Peyton’s mouth lifted as he only discarded one and dealt everyone their missing cards.

“I don’t think I like you dealing,” Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes. “Will should do it.”

Will burst out laughing. “I shouldn’t. I can’t even shuffle.”

“You can’t shuffle?” Quinn asked.

“Peyton’s tried to teach me, but I’m all fingers, and it ends up as ‘fifty-two pickup.’ Which I think is still a valid form ofshuffling because the end result is the same. Just takes longer, that’s all.”

Quinn brushed Will’s hair from his temple and kissed him, lips lingering on his skin.

“Afraid I’m going to cheat?” Peyton asked Sebastian challengingly.

“Should I not be? It’syourdeck.” Peyton had more integrity than that and took the game way too seriously to be a cheater, and they both knew it, but rattling an opponent was another fun component of poker. No one lasted long in a real game if they didn’t have nerves of steel.

“It’s yours, actually,” Peyton replied. “We found it in the kitchen junk drawer.”

Sebastian was going to wisely not mention that he didn’t evenknowhe had a kitchen junk drawer. Whose fucking junk was even in it? Were Caleb, Monica, and the rest of his family just bringing over random shit to fill it with? He was going to have to go searching for it. When no one was looking, of course.

Maybe he didn’t even have one, and Peyton was calling his bluff.

Damn, he was good. It was rare to find someone who could make him question himself. It was unbelievably hot coming from the guy who looked like a real-life angel and could kill a person with his bare hands.

Sebastian stayed quiet and shifted not so subtly in his chair—it wasn’t his fault they all made him hard as steel—and contemplated his hand. The seven was completely useless, but he got another three. Three of a kind was a middling hand, but he could still do something with it. He placed his hand face down on the table and leaned back. He unbuttoned the middle button of his jacket and let the sides fall open.

Peyton’s eyes shifted down. “Already so sure you’re going to lose that you’re getting prepared to take off your first piece of clothing?” he asked.

What a little shit.

Sebastian wanted to kiss him.

Jericho and Quinn both folded, and no one bothered to ask Will what he was doing. All in, of course.

Will didn’t wait for the usual song-and-dance dick-measuring contest that Sebastian was familiar with when playing poker. He proudly displayed his cards with a beaming smile. Another two pair. Seemed to be his lucky hand.

Sebastian locked eyes with Peyton. He was an expert at reading people; it was his job and the reason why he could systematically destroy prosecutors in and out of the courtroom. His favourite part was watching the realisation slowly sink in and the colour drain from their face as their inevitable destruction was solidified.

He couldn’t read a single thing on Peyton’s face. It made him want to get on his knees and suck the blond’s cock.

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