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The starting word was FLAN, and the chaos began immediately. I slapped down my cards in quick succession, going from FLAN to FLAT to SLAT to SLAP before anyone else had a chance to play. They each barely got one card in before I slammed down my remaining cards and raised my hands, victorious.
Hana looked at me with an appreciative gleam in her eyes. “Well done.”
I flushed under the simple praise and used my chopsticks to stuff a loaded chip into my mouth to cover my reaction.
We played until all the food was consumed and I was giddy from my multiple victories.
Hana cleared away the trays. “We should get you to bed.”
I glanced at the clock behind her. Five in the morning was earlier than I usually went to bed, even on my days off, but, now that she said it, I could feel the weight of the day sinking into my limbs.
“I’ve got to head to work and set up for my first boot camp,” Hana announced.
She accepted goodbye kisses from the rest of the pack, offering only a nod to me. Not that I was surprised, but I sucked back in a little pout.
When Hana had gone, it was only the four of us remaining.
“Would it be okay if I took mercy on you a different day?” I asked Jasper.
He laughed and gave me a soft smile, patting my knee beneath the table. “I’ll accept your mercy on any day.”
“Cuddle pile for sleep?” Billie asked.
I smiled, leaning in to kissed their cheek. “I can never say no to a cuddle pile.”
We tidied up, and I let them bundle me upstairs, wedged in between them all in Billie's bed. Spud appeared, from wherever he had been hiding, along with Roscoe, and the two of them took over the foot of the bed.
I had never been to paradise before, but this was coming pretty damn close.
19
NICKY
Themusicpoundedlikea drum beat, setting the rhythm right down to my bones. We’d gotten into the club that Gabe worked at the moment we walked up to the door.
I tugged down the hem of my borrowed dress. Billie had put me in the purple sequin minidress out of their closet, but I was both bigger and taller than them, which meant the dress was about three inches too short, just barely reaching the curve of my ass and absolutelyclingingto my curves. Billie was in a sparkly black romper, and Jasper at our backs was in dark skinny jeans and a hunter green tank top with a discrete line of sequins along the neckline.
We hadn’t gotten deep enough to find Gabe yet. Every occupant of the club was omega or beta, with the bouncers that kept the peace the only alphas allowed in.
I felt like an imposter while standing among the strobe lights, listening to dance music I didn’t recognize. It had been almost a decade since I’d been to a club.
Billie dragged us to the bar where they got us three shots of vodka. I tossed it back, trying not to give away how infrequently I drank, and attempting to avoid coughing at the searing burn as I swallowed.
“One more for luck,” said Billie, getting another set of three from the bartender. They tucked a generous tip into his hand and passed our drinks to us. I swallowed back the second shot, already more comfortable with the burn. It warmed me all the way down my throat and sat like a little bundle of coals in my stomach.
Thank god I’d packed a pair of flats. If I was in heels, I already would’ve tripped over my companions. I’d learned from a very painful experience what liquor and high heels did to me—or more accurately what it did to the people around me. I didn’t want to relive the time I had punctured someone's foot after a drinking contest.
I pushed the thought aside as Billie dragged us out onto the dance floor. At least club music all hit similar beats, making it easy to dance to when you were uncoordinated or unfamiliar. I hadn’t eaten more than the piece of toast Jasper had shoved on us before we left. Already, the vodka was warming my body and loosening my limbs.
The crowd throbbed around us. Billie and Jasper sandwiched me between them, and I started to heat up for a whole different reason. Billie hooked their arm around my neck, their heels bringing us up to the same height. I leaned in first, taking the kiss that she rained down on me with a moan that I heard even above the music. Jasper's hands were rooted to my hips, our bodies moving to the sway of the music.
I felt only a little bad that Hana and Tony were at home without us, Tony working on his contract projects, and Hana resting until it was time to make her boot camp clients see god in the coming morning.
Jasper kissed my throat, and I sighed happily against Billie's mouth. This pack was like a drug high. When I pulled away, my eyes were drawn to Gabe like a magnet. He watched us from across the dance floor, looking absolutely scrumptious in a rough white tank top.
Billie spun in my grasp and tucked their ass against my hips, taking both of my hands and setting them purposefully on their front, one bracing their stomach, the other brazenly cupping a breast. I squeezed softly, unable to look away from Gabe.
It was hard to draw a full breath when I was surrounded on all sides, the crowd thick and the smell of desire a haze hanging over us.
