Page 34 of Playing with Fire

"You're annoying," he mutters.

"And you're any better?" I raised a brow at him.

He started to answer but had to stop when his name was called. "Rowan!"

The voice makes us both look toward the source. Nina appeared together with one of her friends.

They waved at him while completely ignoring my presence. He waved at them while giving his trademark charming smile.

I roll my eyes at the sight. He looks at me again and his face shows clear annoyance. Sighing, he rolls his eyes.

I laugh. Will you handle that task later?

"Nina, no," he answers. The pause in his speech occurs after he says "But her friend" as I glare up at him.

I knew for sure he would arrive late to that meeting. Seeing the conquest in person took me by surprise before it occurred.

"But her friend..." I repeat his response.

"I'll see." he shrugs without care.

I let out a breathy laugh and shook my head as he walked off. Oh, brother.

CHAPTER TEN

We all gathered to spend time together in the basement later that evening.

While El and Nolan played games on the couch Tristan, Camden, JAMIE and I competed in foosball Hazel opted to paint Kylie's nails and Felix spent his time on his phone.

We had reached our final point during the game when JAMIE struck the ball, and I failed to make my shot. After the ball went in, everyone cheered briefly because it made a loud bounce.

"This game's rigged." Tristan shook his head and walked away.

"You're just mad you lost," JAMIE boasted. He turned to me and said, "Hah."

I surrender with a shrug and say "Whatever." I said, rolling my eyes.

I returned to the couch and sat down while yawning. The time was deep into the night when my pasta dinner threatened to send me into a deep sleep. Elijah and

Nolan concluded their game session and decided to stop playing.

After Hazel completed painting Kylie's nails they joined us on the couch.

While we gathered Felix presented his idea to us. "Movie?"

"Yeah." We all nodded.

"I'll get the popcorn. Does everyone want?" I ask, standing up.

I observed their unanimous head movements before ascending to the main floor. I arrived at the kitchen after making several turns and encountered the most unbelievable sight.

The sight of Jaxon with a whisk around his neck made me burst out laughing.

As I moved towards the pantry, I told him that I didn't know he was present.

He gave me a response even though I couldn't tell if he looked at me. "I just got here."

After picking three popcorn packets, I placed one inside the microwave before facing him.

---