Page 121 of Her Marine
“Are you sure you should be participating?” Journee asked, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I know your wrist is all healed, but should you be putting a strain on it this soon?”
“You want me to sit out?”
She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “No, just be careful.”
“Okay, I have the cards,” Zuri announced. “There are seven face cards. Ace already has, well, the ace of spades since he was the individual champion a couple of years ago. Whoever pulls the other ace will go up against him, and the winner from that match will go up against the winner from the rest of the tournament.”
He and Journee walked over to Zuri, and he pulled a random card. Once all eight men had one, they flipped them over. Killian smirked at the ace of clubs in his hand. He grabbed his gloves from his back pocket and walked over to one side of the chalk spray line with a box in the center Gram had drawn several minutes ago.
“We need a referee,” Ace stated, taking his place on the other side.
“I’ll do it,” Journee volunteered.
“Ain’t no fucking way,” Ace responded, shaking his head, and Journee lifted a brow at him. “You can’t ref a match your boyfriend is in. As a matter of fact, you can’t referee at all. Kaydence and Talia, you can’t either.”
“I’m offended that you think I’d cheat,” Journee responded. “But whatever.”
“I got it,” Aryah volunteered, getting up from her seat. “Are you ready?” When both men nodded, she clapped her hands together, yelling. “Go!”
They both began to pull, and the flag attached to the rope didn’t budge from the center of the box. It went on like this for a long minute before Killian dug his feet in, smirked at Ace, and gave one quick yank, bringing the flag to his side of the line and pulling the other man momentarily along with it.
Ace dropped the rope, shaking his head. “I should have known you were going to pull that bullshit.”
“Knowing still wouldn’t have helped you,” Killian responded, removing his gloves, and going to Journee. Axel and Gram were next.
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Journee sat in her chair, watching as Killian and Ace began to pull, the flag staying dead center. It was as if an unstoppable force had met an immovable object for a moment. It went on for a minute before Killian loosened his grip slightly, dug his heels in, and gave a quick yank. It was enough to pull the flag to his side for the win.
Journee laughed when Ace stated he should have known Killian would pull something like that, and her boyfriend responded that it wouldn’t help him. She stood when he approached her, and once he was seated, he pulled her down onto his lap as Axel and Gram, who’d both drawn the jacks, stepped up next.
She picked up Killian’s wrist and gently massaged it as she watched the other two men. Aryah called for them to go, and the competition started. They pulled for several long seconds before Axel pulled the flag over to his side. Jax and Maximus went next, having drawn the queens. She watched them take their places as she kneaded her thumbs slowly into Killian’s wrist. Journee knew it was likely okay, but she wanted to be sure.
Jax ended up winning that match, and he was far too happy about it while Maximus rolled his eyes. She could only suspect that Maximus had beaten Jax the last time they’d gone against one another.
Slate and Matteo were next, and their match was a back-and-forth, the flag moving slightly one way or another but never moving entirely over the line. Then, Slate pulled, the flag moving to his side and coming out the winner.
The following matches went like the first ones. Axel went up against Jax, Axel coming out as the winner. Axel against Slate, Slate came out as the winner. Slate against Ace, Slate came out as the winner. Killian kissed her shoulder, and Journee stood, allowing him to make his way to his side of the line as he slipped his gloves back on.
“That shit you pulled with Ace isn’t going to work on me,” Slate told him with a smirk.
“Simmer down, little cousin. I don’t need it to.”
Journee laughed as Slate narrowed his eyes at Killian. She knew he was trying to annoy Slate since they were only two years apart. Aryah asked if they were both ready and then signaled for them to go.
The flag wavered back and forth the slightest of millimeters, and for a long minute, it didn’t seem as if it would do much more than that. The match went on longer than the others, and she watched as Killian twisted his right wrist in the rope and centered his weight before taking a step back with a hard pull.
“Fuck,” Slate cursed as the flag moved to Killian’s side.
“Better luck next year,” Killian told him as he returned to Journee. Slate had not eaten grass, but she would take it.
They went through their sibling matches, which naturally Killian and Slate participated in together before doing the four oldest against the four youngest. Killian, Slate, Ace, and Maximus were on one side. Axel, Jax, Gram, and Matteo, on the other.
“Do you ladies want to go?” Maximus asked once they finished. “Or we could do men against women.”
“No, thank you,” Journee stated while Talia responded, “Absolutely not,” and Kaydence said, “I’ll pass.”
Killian manipulated her like a ragdoll in the bedroom. She was in no way under the assumption that she would be able to hold her own in a tug-a-war match against him. She was sure the other two had declined for the same reason.
