AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aw, c’mon, Jack! Think!” Surely, it made sense!
“No talking,” said Samir.
“Yeah, no talking,” Harry repeated, goading her.
She sent Harry and Samir a molten glare.
“It’s okay, Mom.” Jack’s eyes lost their luster as he said to the boys, “She hates to lose.”
“I do not.” Ava bristled. “I never get upset when you win.” Nothing mattered, if Jack had a fun time. And he seemed to thrive with this band of nerds.
“That’s because you let me win. That’s how I can tell.”
With her turn ended, and her submarine drawing revealed, the screen cleared to show the total number of points each player received, placing her in the bottom.
“Tough luck.” Harry, who’d come in first place, looked directly at her. “But I am hard to beat at this game.”
“I can beat your ass in other ways.” Her insult got the already rowdy boys wrangled up as they hollered additional insults to egg on Harry.
Leroy leaned forward. “Oh man, you better watch your back.”
“Don’t mess with her!” Samir shook his head.
Wesley warned, “You should run while you can.”
Harry snorted a laugh as he stood. He strutted two steps in her direction with his palm stretched open, indicating her. “She’s not going to do anything.”
Before Harry rolled his smug face in her direction, Ava bolted from the sofa.
She grabbed his wrist, twisting it with one hand and twirling around his right side as she forced his arm hard behind his back. Reaching backward around his torso with his free hand, Harry latched on to her arm, eyes gleaming, confident he could stop her progress. But Ava counted on his countermove and grabbed the back of her own loose T-shirt, pulling the shirt over her head and tying it around his wrists tight, like handcuffs. With both his wrists bound in her shirt, she manhandled him in her sports bra, making him stumble off-balance.
The room went silent.
Samir, slack-jawed, tried numerous times to dart his gaze away from her half-naked torso. Leroy stood, bowing, reinstating her old feelings of dominance and worthiness.Hearing Wesley chuckle behind her, she grinned over her shoulder at him, keeping Harry captive and “owing.”
“You got lucky, Baxter,” Harry quipped. “I let her have her fun,” he assured his colleagues.
Ava’s hackles went up. “Oh really?” A shoulder thrust sent them both toward the floor. Harry landed on his belly, with her elbow pinned between his shoulder blades. He cried like a hyena as she smirked up at Samir and Leroy.
Her triumph shattered when she saw Jack. It had felt so good—this aggression release—but at what cost?
Jack stood rigid, his big green eyes reflecting fear and anxiety, telling her she’d messed up again. Her gentle soul of a son wasn’t inclined to witnessing his mommy dropping a two-hundred-pound man to the floor over a friendly game.
A new surge of frustration filled her. She glanced down at the man prostrated on the floor beneath her strong thighs. Immediately, she unwound her shirt but couldn’t resist popping the back of his head with the heel of her hand before rising and redressing. Harry’s forehead smacked the floor.
“Oh gosh!” Leroy wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, still laughing. “That made my day.”
“Well, we have all learned a lesson,” said Samir, pretending to focus on his phone. “Don’t take her threats lightly.”
She ignored the guys, cutting across the thick oriental carpet to place a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “We were just joking around. We’re all friends here.”
Jack woodenly nodded.
“Hey, Jack, are you hungry?” asked Wesley, waving his crew from the room. “We could go get some pizza or something.”
Jack remained silent, but he looked less worried at the mention of pizza and the dispersing of players.
Ava gave Wesley a grateful smile. “Pizza’s one of our favorites. But I doubt there’s anything as good as a New York slice in Oldport.”
