Page 77 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 1

“Me too.” Mom sighed, her tarot cards held to her heart, a big silly grin plastered to her face. “All right, Jack, let’s see what the Universe wants you to know today.”

“I’m not sure I’m following,” he said.

“She’s going to do your tarot cards, just go with it.” I placed my hand to his thigh, instantly appreciating the hard quad as I did. “Damn, baby, you work out?”

He smirked. “Every day. You?”

I snorted. “Have you seen this body?” I gestured up and down my frame.

His gaze heated once more as he leaned over until he could whisper in my ear. “Not nearly enough of it, no.”

I shivered and my mouth went dry. “Uh, well, I didn’t get these curves by hitting the gym on the regular. That’s more my sister’s speed.”

“Ew. Gyms, no thank you. Yoga, Pilates, hiking, walking, yes. Gyms are icky and stinky. All that clanging of weights against one another messes with my Zen space. No thank you,” Autumn scrunched up her nose.

I sighed. “True. I meant that you exercise regularly. Must you be so literal?”

“Yes, actually, I must, and you know that,” Autumn bit out.

“Girls,” Mom warned.

We both clamped our mouths shut.

“Okay, Jack, pick a card,” Mom instructed.

He picked one off the table where she’d spread them out then flipped it over. It was the Five of Wands.

“Oh, fives are teaching cards. They are meant to teach us lessons about ourselves that the Universe would like us to put more focus and attention on. The image on this particular card is a clash of the fairy folk…”

“I don’t believe in fairies.”

The three women at the table gasped simultaneously. Dad, on the other hand, started laughing out loud while I reached over and put my hand over Jack’s mouth. “He didn’t mean it!” I announced, looking around the garden. “Don’t pull any shenanigans to prove your existence. Pretty please. The rest of us will educate him,” I assured the fairies, lest they strike out.

“What did I say?”

Mom shook her head. “Don’t repeat it. Summer will explain later. Let me finish your reading.” Her attention returned to the cards. “Oddly enough this card tends to appear when there is conflict, confusion about moving forward, lively debate, and combustible energy. All of which you will certainly experience being a part of this family. But don’t fret, the card also shows passion and action. You seem very much to be a man of action, and my daughter has more passion in her pinky toe than mostpeople have in their entire bodies. Together, you’ll balance one another out.”

“Except for when I mention my disbelief in the fairies.” Jack snickered.

“No!” Mom, Autumn, and I shouted at the same time. He was so fucked and didn’t even know it. The fairies could be ruthless but mostly they were tricksters. He had no idea what was coming.

Dad continued to laugh and shake his head. He’d learned all of this when he started dating my mother thirty years ago. It was probably like watching himself from the past.

“Now you’ve done it. Once can be considered an accident…twice a challenge. Good luck, son.” Mom picked up his card and put it back into the deck.

Jack smiled and reached for his water glass. Just as his fingers barely touched it, the entire glass tipped over. Water sloshed straight into his lap, soaking him from the waist down.

“Faen!” he cried out as he stood abruptly, wiping the ice and chilly water from his lap. His thighs and groin were fully covered, looking exactly like he’d peed himself.

“And that, my friend, is why you don’t fuck with the fairy folk,” my sister tutted arrogantly.

I glared in her direction. “He doesn’t know any better,” I snapped. “Give him a break.”

“This was not the fairy folk. It was me being an idiot and not gripping the glass properly. The condensation from the ice made the glass slippery, and I knocked it over. Simple science.”

“Whatever you say,” Autumn cackled.

I lashed out. “Shut up, Autumn!”

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