“Oh, sweetie.” Cara pats his chest. “No. No, you shouldn’t.”
He frowns. “Yeah, I thought so. New year, same single me.”
“Man, even I’m rooting for that guy to find someone,” Jaxon mumbles as we slip away, heading into the dining room where a game of beer pong has just ended.
“Garrett!” Carter bounces a ping pong ball off the walnut table. “I need a partner.”
“I’m not drinking.”
“They’re not drinking either.” He gestures across the table where Jennie and Olivia are fixing their cups. “Gonna plow them into the ground, alcohol or no alcohol.”
Jennie’s eyes meet mine, brows lifting, a challenge. “Andersen doesn’t have it in him.”
“Uh, Liv and I took the entire tournament last year,” I reply, high-fiving Olivia in the process.
“You guys cheated,” Carter grumbles.
Olivia smiles sweetly. “You know what they say. You have to learn to lose before you can truly appreciate winning.”
His eyes darken. “Garrett! Get over here!”
The thing about those two is they both hate losing. Carter might seem like the type of guy to let his wife win to shield her feelings, but he never willingly loses. So it’s always highly entertaining to watch his tiny wife beat him at nearly everything.
Including the first beer pong game, in which Olivia and Jennie sink all six fucking cups in a fucking row, and Carter demands a rematch.
“How is it even possible?” I murmur.
“I don’t fucking know,” Carter mutters. “Fucking horseshoes up their asses.”
“Nothing to do with luck, bud,” Emmett chimes in, but maybe luck is on our side this time around. Because Olivia misses one shot, Jennie two. Carter’s more focused, refusing to look at Olivia when it’s his shot, relentlessly taunting her when it’s hers, and I’m as good as I’ve always been.
With two cups left on each side, tensions are high. The girls are up first, and Cara runs in, smacking both their asses.
“I want to see them cry, ladies.”
Jennie bounces her ball three times then bends, poised at the edge of the table.
“Hey, Jen—ah!” Carter bends, clutching at the toes I’ve accidentally stepped on.
“Whoops,” I say. “Sorry ’bout that, bud.”
With her brother distracted, Jennie lets the ball fly, sinking it with ease, and poor Carter’s gonna be so drunk by the end of this.
He’s apparently decided to try his hand at another distraction tactic for this last round. When Olivia steps up to the table, he drags his shirt up his torso in slow motion, one finger on his lip as he gives her the eyes.
“Like what you see, princess? Want me to take you upstairs and—ah, for fuck’s sake!”
That, my friends, is the sound of Olivia sinking her last shot, all while looking her husband dead in the eye.
“Hey, c’mon now.” I clap Carter’s back as he whines. “We’ve still got a chance. We’ve got as many cups as they had. We can do it.”
He grips the edge of the table, swallowing. “You go first.”
You’re going down, Jennie mouths to me.
One way or another, I definitely am. Down on her, or down in this game. Either way, when I effortlessly sink my shot, I know I’m not at fault for whatever happens next.
With a shaky exhale, Carter steps up. He rolls his shoulders, bending his neck left, then right.
“Any cup, Carter,” I tell him, rubbing his shoulders. “Any cup.”
It’s in this moment, as he’s poised and ready to throw, that Olivia makes eye contact with Emmett, and he tips his chin just slightly, an instruction.
“Don’t look at her,” I growl at Carter. “Don’t you fucking look at her.”
But does he listen? No, of course not. Carter never listens.
Olivia twists away, slow as hell, bending, and Carter snorts a laugh.
“Don’t even try it, Ollie girl. I’m not falling for…”
I see it all happen in slow motion. The water sloshing between her legs, covering the floor as she gasps, the color draining from Carter’s face as Olivia cries out that her water just broke. His eyes widen with fear as the ball slips from between his fingers, bouncing once, twice, three times on the wooden table before clattering to the ground. Through it all, I don’t miss Jennie snickering in the corner.
“Ollie—”
“Ha!” Olivia twirls back to us, face shining with arrogance, and she crushes the empty water bottle between her hands. “Gotcha, sucker! You missed!” She claps Jennie’s hand before Emmett embraces her.
“I told you he’d fall for it!” he shouts, and Carter curls over with a snarl.
I chuck a ping pong ball off the table. “I knew I shoulda been Ollie’s partner again this year. Carter sucks.”
“I thought my wife was in labor! This isn’t fair! It’s cheating! I call a rematch!”
“That was the rematch,” Jennie reminds him. “You keep losing.”
“I’m not losing! I didn’t lose! I-I-I—”
“You lost,” Cara cuts him off. “Twice. And you lost three times last year. Your wife continuously beats you at this game, and yet you continue to have hope that the next game might be yours. It’s inspiring, Carter, but it’s also sad.” She pats his chest. “Midnight is in five. We don’t have time for you to find your balls.”
Chaos ensues as everyone piles into the living room and the kitchen, and the temperature in the house instantly spikes. Too many people, too many bodies crammed onto the main level as everyone starts pairing off with their respective partners. Adam and Jaxon are gathered at the island, lining up shots for all the single guys and girls. There are so many people in this space that it’s hard to see anyone other than the person standing next to you.
For me, it’s hard to see anyone other than Jennie, the way she stands at the edge of the living room like she’s damn well trying to disappear, eyes moving anxiously around the space. Her glowing personality has been shoved aside, replaced with this shell of who she is, preferring to hide away than be part of the excitement.
I slip through the kitchen and into the dining room before I loop back around to the dark, empty hallway, right behind Jennie.
My fingertips dance their way around her waist until I splay my palm out on her belly, and she gasps, jolting.
My lips touch her ear as the countdown drops to the final minute. “Come with me.”
“What are you doing?” she whispers as I usher her up the stairs. “What if Carter sees?”
“The only thing that exists in your brother’s world in this moment is his wife.” I peek into a bedroom, the same one I first tasted Jennie in. “He won’t notice we’re gone.”
“I’m playing amnesia if you’re wrong.”
I pull her into the dark room, pressing her against the wall. “And I’ll jump out the window and you’ll never see me again.”
Downstairs, people start counting backward from twenty.
My hand curves around Jennie’s neck, and my thumb settles over the pulse point hidden below her warm skin. It thuds violently, and I love being the reason she’s coming back to life right now.