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“No. I want to do this now. Send it.”
Gray reaches for the computer on the countertop behind him. “Okay, Little Bird. Let’s do
it.”
I watch as he puts the message together and attaches the video. He hits send, and we wait.
Rory
Thesilencethatfollowsis so heavy I’d fold underneath it if it weren’t for the warm strength of Gray behind me. There’s every chance that at this time of night Brendan won’t even see the video. Or maybe he will, and he’ll just be horrified for me as the victim in this scenario. As I think about all the possible ways this could play out, the heaviness I feel in my heart is overwhelming, and I know that I can expect more of the same from Brendan.
“I’m getting a refill, does anyone else need or want something?” Adler gets up and puts his beer bottle in a recycling bin and moves to the refrigerator.
Remembering I have a beer in front of me too, I pick it up and slam it in less than ten seconds. “I’ll have another one, please.” Wade and Hayes look at me with raised brows, and I shrug. “What? Can’t a lady drown her sorrows in booze, or is that only acceptable when men do it?”
Wade instantly puts his hands up. “You can drown your sorrows however you want. No judgement.”
“Good.” I offer Wade a stiff smile, then grab the beer Adler is holding out to me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Princess.” He clinks his bottle with mine, and we each take a sip.
Gray shifts underneath me and closes his laptop, so I can’t stare at it nonstop, which is probably for the best. He puts his hand on my thigh and gives it a squeeze, so I turn in my seat a little to face him and give him a small smile. I didn’t expect these little moments of intimacy and comfort with these guys, but I’m not complaining.
“What should we do while we wait? I suppose we could try to sleep and see if anything is waiting for us in the morning?” I look at Wade and shake my head.
“I’m in favor of finding something to pass the time. There is no way I’m falling asleep any time soon.”
“I know something we could do to pass the time in a pleasurable way.” Adler licks his lips and winks at me, which I can’t help but laugh at.
“No, I’m not fucking anyone else. Let’s play a game or something. I’m sure between the four of you there are some good ones.” They all look at each other, nodding their heads back and forth while they debate.
“I have a simple one that we can play, and it’ll help you catch a nice buzz while we wait,”
Hayes offers.
“Let’s hear it.” I gesture for him to spill.
“It’s so easy. We have a deck of cards, and each person goes around and guesses red or black. If you’re wrong, you have to take a sip of your beer. First person to get three in a row right gets to give someone of their choosing a punishment, like chug the rest of your beer or something. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like the perfect way to get fucked up and pass the time. Let’s do it.” I smile at Hayes, and he hops up in search of cards.
“Are you sure this is what you want to do, Little Bird?” I lean into Gray at his question.
“I’m sure. I need to take my mind off things for a little bit. This feels like a good distraction that doesn’t require any brain power, which is what I need.”
“That makes total sense.” Gray kisses the side of my head, and I swear to fuck there are butterflies in my stomach.Get your shit together, Rory.
Hayes plops down into his seat across from me, and I’m happy for the distraction. “Who wants to go first? Maybe you, Addy, so Rory can see it play out.”
“I think Princess can manage guessing a color, but yeah, I’ll go first. We can just go around the table. Shuffle the fucking cards, then I’ll pick black.” His smile is too smug for a game that is entirely based on chance.
Hayes shuffles the cards for a minute, then pulls the first one off the top. “It’s red. Drink, motherfucker.” Adler chuckles at his brother and takes a big gulp of his beer.
“Wade?”
“I’ll pick black.”
Hayes again pulls the top card off the deck and drops it on the table. It’s a red king of hearts. Wade grabs his beer and downs the last of it before standing up to get another one.
