Page 28 of Patiently Yours
That causes Atlas to laugh before accepting and shaking his head in merriment. Uriah takes his own and Ciro pours his own before he’s holding it in the air.
“Cheers to…” He pauses, thinking for a moment before turning to me. “The girl of my dreams finally meeting my pack.”
My cheeks heat. His words are normally full of fun and lightheartedness, but his eyes pin me with vigor. So I uncap my individual shot, and hold it up to his.
“It was only a matter of time.” Our eyes give one more meaningful glance to the other before clinking our glasses. The alphas all try hiding their smiles, ultimately failing as they clink with us and take their shots.
“Now,” Kendall says, slapping his hands together. “Who’s ready to lose for the eleventh time in a row?”
“Titanic!”Kendall calls out, and we all groan in unison. Atlas didn’t even do the entire action before he knew the answer.
Ciro was right, these two areinsane.
We’ve put up a pretty good fight, but I’m not sure we can pull this off. These two seem to be sharing a singular brain. No wonder they knew they were pack from the start. It’s like they have their own secret language.
“I call a rebuttal!” Ciro yells. He is somehow both completely unserious and extremely competitive at the same time, whichis an interesting combination. He’s been yelling about the rules since we started. He’s also been throwing out the worst answers as jokes, which has caused a lot of laughter but not a lot of focusing.
“That’s the eighth rebuttal you’ve called this entire game,” Atlas says as Kendall sits down. “Stacia, you’re up.”
I grab a word from the bowl before making my way to the front. I’ve done this several times tonight, but every time is just as intimidating. They all watch me with such intensity. Don’t get me wrong, having their attention is exhilarating, but it’s also unnerving.
I need to learn to accept this avid attentiveness because I don’t think they have plans to stop any time soon.
My word is ‘Ghost’ and the category says ‘Movie.’ I groan silently because that’s more difficult than acting out an apparatus. I put the piece of paper in my pocket and think.
Before tonight, I had never really played charades. Rory and I are a two-man band most of the time and my parents aren’t partial to games of any kind. Or parties, really. Unless you count the kind where you drink champagne and pretend to collect money for charity. Despite never playing, I’ve picked up on a few significant gestures tonight that has certainly helped.
I give them my index finger.
“One word!” Ciro shouts. His cheeks are pink from the liquor.
I point to my nose to show he’s correct before drawing a rectangle with both hands and then mimicking a TV remote.
“TV show,” Uriah guesses, so I shake my head. “Okay, movie.”
They are both intent in their focus as they watch me, determined to get this one right. I’m mindful of the timer while I’m choosing my next action. I could try to mimic an apparatusand bend the rules a bit, but I realize I’d have to do it without sound which feels impossible.
My eyes widen and I look over at Atlas.
Oh, this is going to be perfect.
It’ll probably break a few charade rules, but I’m hoping they won’t care.
I wiggle my finger in acome heremotion. The puzzling smirk he gives me is hilarious as he shrugs his shoulders and joins me. I put up another finger to mimic ‘one second’ as I run to their kitchen and grab a chair. When I come back, the lot of them are watching me in amusement as I carry it to the center of the room.
I put Atlas behind the chair before sitting in it myself.
“Taxi driver?” Ciro guesses.
Uriah flicks him. “That’s two words, dude.”
I put Atlas’ arms around me but move his hands so they’re on top of mine. I see him smirk from my peripheral before he starts moving his hands with me.
Holy shit, he’s got it.
We go on mimicking the iconic scene, pretending to mold clay together in front of us even though we’re just moving air. He nuzzles into me, embodying Patrick Swayze’s sensuality. Mimicking the proximity of the two lovers from the classic film.
Although, it feels a tiny bit real.
