Page 51 of Cohesion

“Ah, yes,” Jericho said. “Make the mess and then clean-up duty. Our lot in life.”

“And then garden in your spare time,” Quinn added, lifting an eyebrow.

“That’s Hunter. I kill plants. I do bake, though.”

Will perked up. “You bake? Why didn’t you say?”

Jericho frowned and looked between them, like he somehow missed a step. “Because it’s personal.”

“Having our dicks up your ass isn’t personal?” Peyton asked.

“If we want to get technical, not all of you have been there yet. Old habits are hard to break. Yes, if time permits, I bake. A lot of the time, I’ll do it with my niece, Olivia. God knows Hunter isn’t the one that’s going to teach her any kitchen skills.”

Sebastian snorted. “So, he gardens, likes flowers, and he can’t cook.” The amount of blackmail material he was accumulating was both incredible and depressing. He doubted he’d be able touseit, not now that he was involved with Jericho, and with Peyton working directly under him. That was almost worse. Knowing and being unable to take advantage of it.

“What kind of baking?” Peyton asked as he shuffled the deck and made five more piles.

“Depends on my mood. Desserts and bread, mostly.”

“Do you like cooking with other people?”

“Are you asking if I want to bake with you, Will?”

“Well, yeah.” The delight on Will’s face was beautiful.

“Sure. I’ll have my people call your people, and we’ll do lunch.”

Will snickered. He picked up his hand and wriggled his lips as he studied it. “I think the flush was a fluke.”

“Youthink?” Peyton said, smirking. He’d already put three cards down, waiting patiently for everyone to finish their turn.

“Worry about your own cards,” Will said primly. “Not everyone has answered my question, by the way.”

Right. The flowers. “I don’t have a favourite flower,” Sebastian answered.

“Nothing?” Will asked, looking surprised.

“It’s not something I’ve ever thought about. I’ll think about it and let you know later.” None of his family had ever been big on flowers. He’d ordered a bouquet of roses for Quinn for theirfirst-year anniversary. He hadn’t been able to give them to him, or his other gift, because they’d imploded only weeks before it. When they’d been delivered, Sebastian had kept them until they’d died and then drunk until he’d passed out the night that he’d thrown them out.

“Daffodils,” Quinn said, unaware of how many walks down memory lane Sebastian was travelling that night. Too many.

“Carnations,” Peyton said. “But you already knew that.”

“Can we ask yours, or do we need to wait for a question?” Quinn asked Will. He frowned, went to discard a card, pulled it back, wiggled his head, then put it and another one face down in front of himself.

“I like dandelions.”

“Aren’t they a weed?” Jericho asked. “Hunter complains about them all the time.”

“I think they’re pretty and deserve to be someone’s favourite,” Will said. “Aubrey took great delight in lopping their heads off when he mowed the lawn at our house when we were younger.”

“How rude of him to mow the lawn and removeweeds,” Peyton said, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

“It was. So I ate all the good lollies in the Allen’s party mix at his birthday parties.”

“As far as revenge goes, that’s pretty good,” Sebastian said.

The next round was better, though not by much, and Sebastian managed to win using a flush. Mostly because Quinn and Jericho folded, and Peyton had a straight. Will had a three pair, which was actually pretty decent, though not enough this time.

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