Page 22 of The Consequence of Loving Me

“That’s mine again, losers,” Veronica responds with a teasing smile, reaching across to take the card to put it in her winning pile.

The girl has a decent sized stack going. Certainly bigger than anyone else’s.

“Oh, I meant that one was the loser,” Lily responds, shrugging her shoulders at Veronica in apology.

My eyes narrow on Lily. I know for a fact she had chosen that one as winner before she decided to change her mind.

Lily picks through the cards she was given one more time before slapping a new one on the table. “Now this is the real winner. Ha ha, sooo funny!”

We all look at the card, in silence. It doesn’t even make sense.

Everyone is still quiet when Derrick realizes his card actually won. He shoots up like a firecracker into the sky on the Fourth of July.

We all watch him with amusement because we know his card wasn’t actually funny, but Lily gave him a break anyway.

“Does he really not understand that he just got a pity one?” Selma sweetly whispers into my ear.

She sits in a ball on my lap. Her arms wrap around her legs, and any time she moves I have to adjust underneath her to get comfortable again. Whenever she leans back, the short strands of her hair tickle my neck.

“I doubt it,” I whisper in her ear. My gaze finds Veronica and Tristan at the same moment she busts out laughing. I don’t think I’ve actually ever heard her laugh until now.

I’m curiously watching them interact, wondering what he could have said to get the stoic Veronica to react in such a way. Before now, I haven’t seen anything but annoyance come from her.

“Maverick!” Lily shouts, snapping her tan fingers in my direction. I look up from the spot I was staring a hole into at the table and try to wipe the confusion off my face. Selma’s body turns in my lap to look at me, giving me an inquisitive look.

“Are you going to play a card this round?” Lily questions.

13

Veronica

I watch Maverick with fascination as he clearly tries to pull his thoughts together—about what, I have no idea. The whole table is silent, waiting for him to pick a card from his hand and play it. Lily waits impatiently, tapping her foot against the tattered rug below her.

“Oh yeah,” Maverick says under his breath. He quickly sorts through the cards in his hands before throwing one down. He doesn’t even look to see the card he’s filling in the blank for.

Lily narrows her eyes at him from across the table, clearly aware something is off about him right now. She doesn’t say anything, though her eyes find Aspen who’s looking through the white cards to pick his favorite.

My eyes should be on Aspen as well, but they aren’t. I’m too focused on watching Selma and Maverick in curiosity. She still sits in his lap, but her body now faces his. She has a puzzled look on her face just before she whispers something under her breath to him, but his only response is a shake of his head. He watches Aspen read through the cards he’s been given.

It registers a few seconds late that the chosen winning card is the one I played.

I bend across the table. “That would be mine! Thank you, Aspen.” I pluck my card out of his fingers and set it in my large pile.

My body falls back into the uncomfortable fold-up chair I’ve been sitting in for the past hour. I cross my legs and look at Tristan, who’s currently staring at me.

He leans closer to me, moving my blonde hair from where it cascades down the front of me, so it rests down my back. His breath tickles me as he pulls his body close to mine, his lips almost touching my ear.

“Let’s go,” I say to Tristan, grabbing the wine bottle I’ve been drinking in one hand and Tristan’s hand in the other. My door is only a few steps away. I lead him inside and refuse to look over my shoulder at the inquisitive gazes I still feel on my back.

As soon as the door shuts, Tristan’s lips are on mine. They are hard and persistent, and it’s the perfect combination to wipe everything else from my brain. His hands are calloused, probably from baseball, and I love the way they feel when they scratch against my skin.

I let him guide me to the bed, unashamed that I can still hear voices right outside the door.

The only thing I can think of right now is the way Tristan’s lips travel across my body.

This.

This is the feeling I crave. The feeling I live for.

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