Page 71 of Chess Not Checkers
Long Night
Jasmine Chamberlain
Family dinners are usually one of my favorite things. I show up, get hugs from all my favorite people, eat delicious food, laugh until my sides hurt, then go to bed and fall asleep smiling. Tonight, this is my worst nightmare. I’m in a house full of hyperobservant people—some of whom are trained spies—and I’m keeping a huge secret. It’s like walking into a K-9 unit with a backpack full of contraband. There’s noifthey find out, justwhen.
“Have you gotten taller? You look taller,” Grayson says as he yanks me into a hug. I barely got in MJ and Bash’s door before being attacked.
I laugh. “I’m eighteen, not twelve. I think I’m done growing.”
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you that my mind is playing tricks on me,” he says when he pulls back.
His wife, Sloane, shakes her head. “It hasn’t been more than a couple of weeks, Gray.” She pulls me in for a much gentler hug. “Apologies, he had caffeine before he came.”
My eyes widen. “Why did you let him do that?”
Grayson is what I imagine a human golden retriever puppy is like, but somehow more energetic. And when he has caffeine? None of us are safe.
“I needed it. She’s been keeping me up—” Sloane smacks her hand over his mouth.
“Writing. We’re cowriting a book. He was going to say writing.”
The blush on her cheeks says otherwise, but I’m going to choose not to think about that for too long. Grayson might be my brother-in-law’s brother, but he feels and acts more like an honorary uncle.
Grayson pries Sloane’s hand off all while wearing a grin. “Don’t leave tonight without losing a chess match.”
I shake my head. “I’ve been practicing, old man. I’m going to beat you,” I say as I pass him to go farther into the house.
“Old man?” He laces his voice with mock outrage. “I teach you to become a prodigy and this is my thanks?”
“You are getting a few gray hairs,” his twin brother, Adrian, drawls from where he’s standing in the oversized living room.
The Holt house is more of a mansion, and it’s made almost entirely of glass. Every window is lined with plants. It feels as though you’re walking through a greenhouse mixed with an art gallery thanks to MJ’s art and their daughter Maddie’s photos on every wall.
“We’re twins,” Grayson says pointedly as he follows me into the room. “If one of us has gray hairs, we both do.”
Adrian’s wife, Juliette, reaches up to run her fingers through the side of Adrian’s dark hair. “I like them. He looks sophisticated.”
Adrian doesn’t say anything, but the faint smile on his lips tells me he’s pleased. He’s the opposite to his brother in everyway but their looks. If Grayson is a golden retriever, Adrian is a German shepherd.
Maddie comes in from outside where I can see a few of my family members are huddled around a bonfire. “Jaz!”
“Hey, Mad Dog,” I say, using the nickname Grayson bestowed upon her a few years ago.
She gives me a hug, her blonde curls mixing with my brown ones. “How’s college? Have you met any cute boys? Do you like your roommates? Are you dating anyone?” She blurts out the questions in quick succession.
I laugh at her enthusiasm. She’s in high school currently, and no doubt itching for the day she can go off to college herself. Though if she becomes a Thrasher, every boy on campus will be afraid to so much as look at her, given that her dad is the formidable Coach Bash. My stomach twists at the thought of him trying to protect me, and me lying to him. I know it was wrong of him to do, but it’s still hard not to feel guilty after all he’s done for me.
“College is great! My roommates are the best.” I lean closer and lower my voice. “The boys are very cute.”
“I heard that!” Grayson says, and pulls Maddie away. “No talking to her about dating. She’s already boy crazy enough.”
Maddie rolls her eyes. “I’ve been on a couple of dates.”
“And each one has given your dad a heart attack,” MJ says as she comes in from the kitchen. She pulls me in for a hug. “It’s good to see you. We’ve missed you.”
I let out a light laugh, trying not to let my nerves show. “I haven’t been gone long, and not really gone at all. I’m in the same city.”
“Dahlia cried last week ’cause you weren’t at movie night,” Maddie whispers to me.
