Page 38 of Playing with Fire

My laughter breaks out before I hear someone call for my sister.

"Rory!"

My sister moves quickly toward me and the other two while Emerson rushes to catch up with her.

With laughter she runs at me extending both her arms. "Jack! Jack!" Ro screams as I pick her up. She holds onto my shirt as she lets out joyful peals of laughter. Em runs up to join us before stopping to release a breath.

The reason behind Rory's pursuit becomes evident to me. Ro's decision to throw sand seemed logical because Em's hairwas in disarray and sand kept falling from her head when she moved it.

I stretched my arm out towards her to deliver a high five. "Good job, " I said, praising her actions.

Emerson shot me with a glare, which I answered with a smile. Ro moved off my shoulder while telling me "Mommy said dinner is ready." she smiled.

"Okay. Tell her we'll be right there." After kissing her forehead, I passed her to Tristan who took her happily in his open arms.

I deliberately remained behind while El and the other two continued to walk ahead.

Emerson's head dropped down again while she worked the sand out of her hair by running her fingers through it.

"Good job, really?" she says, flipping her hair back over.

"What?" I shrug. "I had to. She's just like me." I smile. She gives me an eye roll before moving ahead of me. Her fast-walking speed implies she wants to avoid speaking with me which I disagree with.

"Come on, it's amusing," I tell her as I catch up to her side.

"No, it's not. She allows it to pass since it's Rory. I say to her "What if I did something like that...".

She says she would kill me if I had done it.

"Guess I'm a dead man then." I laugh.

"What-" Her response stopped when I touched her head, but her reaction was priceless.

"Jaxon!" She shouted at me "Jaxon!" while tearing her head back and shaking her hair again. "I swear, you are the worst!"

She lifts her gaze toward me while her lips twist into a frown. The power of looks would be lethal to everyone but me. She has stared at me countless times, yet I remain unharmed.

"You. Are. The. Worst." Her exact words echoed as she pushed me away.

My response remains unchanged whenever she loses her temper. I smile and laugh.

"It's not funny, Jaxon," she complains. Your attempts to prove you're not an asshole are completely ineffective. Did anyone ever say that I wasn't making an effort to be an asshole? I ask her. I plan to behave like an asshole at this moment but avoid that behavior afterward.

Her eyes narrow, and her frown deepens. God you're completely wasting my time Jaxon. She groans and walks up the beach.

I pursue her while realizing the others have departed and are likely at my home now.

"How so?" I question.

She halts her walk and turns her attention to me.

"Because. Everything you fucking do wastes my time!"

The change in her eyes tells me she's gearing up to lay out all the ways I annoy her and call me an asshole, blah blah blah.

I admit my partial correctness, but she goes on to explain how my actions waste her time.

Each word you speak causes me to waste my time. I observe her mouth moving yet I hear no words. I managed to hear several more remarks such as, "Anything that you say wastes my time.

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