Page 58 of Sparks Flying

“Sorry. I had to tell someone.”

“Wait, Oscar doesn’t know about him?” Tobi asked.

“Sorta,” I admitted.

“What does that mean?” Dean asked.

“I told him early on after we met and you were acting weird. So he knows I found you and that you’re a raven, but that’s it.”

“We’re gonna keep our mouths shut tight about this, right Tobi?” Jackson said.

“Yes. Our lips are sealed. No way am I gonna try to explain this one.”

“I was there for Chase and Jenna’s mating. Interspecies mating is crazy, but even more so if you’re true mates,” Jackson said.

“We are,” Dean and I both confirmed.

“Cute. We certainly wish you both the best of luck. And don’t let him fool you. Mating period is a crazy time.”

Dean snaked his arm around me and I sighed, leaning into his touch.

“Okay, we don’t have long. I have a meeting with Wilcott in an hour. So if we’re playing, let’s do this.”

We all agreed, jumped back into a waiting room, and then joined a game where, of course, we kicked butt. It wasn’t even close.

I saw enough to know that Dean was a skillful player.

“Since we’re just sitting around waiting anyway, why don’t you do a little trick and we’ll play a bit of two on two?”

“Girls against guys?” Jackson asked.

“No. You and Tobi against me and Dean.”

He laughed. “You’re serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

Dean and I muted our mics when they agreed.

“I’ve only been playing this game a few days. I don’t have it memorized yet,” he said.

“But I’ve been playing it from the very beginning. You’ve got skills. You can handle this.”

“Jackson Holt designed this game. Doesn’t that give him a huge advantage?”

I chuckled. “Jackson designs a lot of games and even more variations of games. We’ll make him do random selection to help our odds. Trust me. He doesn’t always remember what he designs.”

He looked at me like I was crazy.

I turned the mic back on.

“Random selection, so you can’t cheat, Jackson.”

“Dammit, Bailey.”

I grinned at Dean, and he winked at me.

Jackson conceded to my one request, and we came off strong in the first round, beating them by a slight margin. Then they came back strong to win the next two.

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