Page 44 of Cohesion

“All of them,” Peyton said slowly. “Why don’t you play like a normal person and just fold?”

“How do you know I don’t have an incredible hand?”

Sebastian leaned forward and grabbed a handful of the Smarties, popping a few in his mouth before he’d properly settled back into his seat. He crunched the outer shell to get to the soft chocolate underneath, letting it melt under his tongue.

“I was about to win all of that,” Peyton said indignantly.

“I’m sure we can negotiate something,” Sebastian said, tossing another Smartie into his mouth. “Besides, you already owe me a blow job, remember?”

Heat flared in Peyton’s blue eyes. “That was a previous game, not this one. And you’re not even playing this one.”

“Sure, I am. I’m on Will’s team.”

“Thought you didn’t like to lose?”

“I should be offended by that,” Will said. He looked between his cards and his mostly empty chip bowl critically.

There were at least two or three more packets of chips in the cupboard—Sebastianmighthave stocked up for Will specifically—and Peyton would let Will eat all the gathered food afterward, regardless of the outcome.

Will seemed to come to the same conclusion since he pushed the bowl into the middle. “All in.”

“If you win this, I’m gonna be so pissed,” Peyton muttered.

Jericho appeared at the bottom of the veranda steps that led to the side of the house. His hair was threatening to fall out of the messy bun he had it in, with sunglasses atop his head and the natural brown of his eyes glinting under the sun. The ratty jeans and hoody he was wearing—who the fuck wore a hoody inOctoberin Sydney?—shouldn’t have been attractive, but lust pooled in Sebastian’s belly regardless. He could be wearing a paper bag, and Sebastian would still want to get horizontal with him. Or vertical. They all had that effect on him.

“I hate this place,” Jericho said, brushing sand from his jeans. It had a way of getting into everything, being this close to the beach.

“Careful, the house might hear you, and the monster that lives under the bathroom will come up and eat you.”

“Wait, the what?” Will asked, pausing with his chip halfway to his mouth.

Sebastian grinned at the memory. “My niece Claire, when she was three, she had a bath here, and we pulled the plug while we were drying her and trying to convince her that pj’s are an important part of her night routine. The sound of the water going down the drain terrified her, and she insisted there was a monster down there. She’s eight now, and she always uses the shower in my en suite because she refuses to use the bath.” Heand Charlotte had tried a dozen different ways to convince her it was safe, but she was stubborn. Definitely a Devlin.

“I’ll remember to say hi to it if I have a bath,” Jericho said. He sat beside Quinn and stretched an arm across the back of Quinn’s chair, fingers absently skimming his neck.

Quinn finished his drink, his eyes meeting Sebastian’s as he looked up. It was plain to see the mix of guilt, loss, and sorrow there. Charlotte had been pregnant with Claire when he and Quinn had been dating. Charlotte and Quinn had been close, and like everyone else around them, she had suffered the consequences of their fallout. Neither of them had told Quinn Claire’s full name, and that had always sat heavy in his gut. A lot of things lost to time.

Jericho tensed at the sound of a car pulling into the drive. He stood, one hand going to his hip. Sebastian wasn’t surprised to know that he was armed under that hoody. Guess that explained why he was wearing it.

Will’s face brightened. “Pizza!”

Jericho kept a hand near his hip as he went through the back door. “Stay here,” he told them.

“It’s just pizza.”

“Youthinkit’s pizza,” Jericho said, stopping in the doorway and twisting back to look at them. “We can talk about you calling for home delivery later.”

“Is the pizza man out to get us?” Will asked. “Or are we in a movie where the bad guy masquerades as the pizza delivery? Or is this a porn situation?” Will waggled his eyebrows. “Is he going to… serve us pizza?” he said suggestively.

Jericho scowled. “He even tries to give you something other than food, I’ll drop kick him and then cut off his dick.”

“I know you mean that as a threat, but it’s just making me hot under the collar,” Peyton said, tugging at the collar of his plain black T-shirt as emphasis, leering.

Sebastian sighed and rubbed his forehead. “You all need therapy.”

“Just stay here,” Jericho said, slapping his hand on the wall before disappearing.

“Hope he took his wallet with him,” Will said. He waved the cards in his hand. “We finishing the game, or are you forfeiting?”

---