Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(116)

‘Welcome, ladies.’ I could hear Brent in the kitchen, greeting the girls in his ineffectively flirtatious tone. ‘Hope you’re ready for margaritas and poker.’

‘Which is now.’ Jared smirked at TJ, and the music instantly changed.

The screen on the deck slid open, and Brent led the girls down to the patio, carrying two pitchers. I was pushing in chairs around the poker table when Emma came into view. I knew I should keep my distance. But it was virtually impossible. I was drawn to her, needing to be near her, whether it was the right thing or not.

‘Hi,’ I said with a grin when she reached the bottom step.

‘Hi.’ She smiled brightly.

‘I still think we should play strip poker,’ Brent announced, setting a pitcher of margaritas on each table.

‘I like that idea!’ Serena declared. Emma looked at both of them like they were crazy. ‘What, Em?! Regular poker can be so boring if you suck. This could make it more interesting.’

‘I’ve told you how much I love you, right?’ Brent told Serena, putting his arm around her shoulder. Then he eyed James staring him down, and moved away. ‘Sorry, man.’

‘You actually want to play strip poker?’ I asked, waiting for James to react. He didn’t.

‘Serena has no objection to walking around nude,’ Meg offered as an explanation.

‘Strip poker?’ Jared questioned, not exactly sold on the idea either.

‘With a twist,’ Serena suddenly added.

‘We play five-card draw. You can replace all of your cards except for one, then everyone lays them down, and whoever wins chooses two people. These people can elect to remove an article of clothing or answer a difficult question,’ James suddenly explained.

‘You’re in on this?’ I blurted.

‘Serena brought it up, and I suggested a few rule changes so there’s an option to keep clothes on,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘Not exactly stoked about having my girl naked in front of these guys, no matter how comfortable she is in her skin. And another rule: if you touch a girl, I break your face.’ He stared at Brent, whose eager smile deflated.

‘Sure, why not.’ Emma and Jared both didn’t look very happy with Sara agreeing to this. ‘Don’t worry. I’m good at poker, remember?’ Sara assured Jared.

‘You’d better be prepared to be very honest tonight,’ Jared said. Sara kissed him on the cheek and smiled.

‘I told you they were up to something,’ Emma murmured under her breath.

‘We don’t have to play,’ I offered.

‘It’s okay,’ she assured me. ‘Everyone seems to want to do it, so why not? I can answer questions, I guess.’

The honesty part was probably going to be harder for Emma than taking off her clothes.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yeah, it’ll be fine,’ she responded without conviction.

‘TJ!’ Two girls squealed from the top step.

‘Hey!’ TJ hollered back. ‘Perfect timing. We’re about to play a new game. It’s a version of strip poker, with truth or dare thrown in.’

‘Strip or truth,’ Nate presented.

‘Ooh, sounds fun!’ the girl with the high ponytail exclaimed with way too much excitement.

‘See, they do sell shorts that short,’ Emma mumbled next to me.

‘They looked better on you,’ I said automatically. She smacked my arm and walked away.

‘Who are those girls?’ Sara asked Meg as I approached them by the poker tables.

‘I don’t know. Friends of TJ’s, I guess,’ Meg said. ‘Do we still want to do this?’

‘If this is your idea of making things somehow better between us, then it sucks,’ I interjected.

‘It’s just a game,’ Sara said, trying to convince me. ‘It won’t be some tortured confess-your-sins thing, I promise.’

People began to sit while TJ made the introductions. ‘This is Darcy and Kim. Darcy and Kim, this is … everyone.’

‘Hi,’ they waved in unison, flanking TJ.

‘Would it be okay if we shut off the lights?’ Emma requested.

Nate shut off the patio and pool lights, plunging us into the dark of the hills until he lit a couple of candles. This allowed everyone’s faces to be seen, only giving a hint to what lay below the shoulders.

‘Better?’ Sara asked. ‘Are you going to play?’

I bit my lip, and nodded. But I wasn’t sure what was going to be more torturous, seeing Evan without a shirt, or having to be completely honest about humiliating moments in my life.

‘Will you just answer questions with me?’ I leaned over and asked Evan, who was seated beside me.

He grinned. ‘Yeah, I can do that.’

I was trying to counter the girls’ not-so-subtle attempts to interfere with what was happening between Evan and me. As much as it was comforting that the girls cared and wanted me to be happy, they really had no idea just how complicated things were.

‘A five-articles-of-clothing limit, and we have to alternate seats, boy/girl,’ Serena explained.

‘But I only have on one,’ the blonde in the yellow dress pouted.

Sara opened her mouth to say something, and from the glint in her eyes, it wasn’t to offer her more clothes. TJ interrupted her assault with, ‘You can count shoes and earrings, Kim.’