Page 90 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze
“We’re going to need to give you an hour to pick your character,” Jackson quips and I sigh.
How original.
Rolling my eyes, I subtly scratch my chin with my middle finger.
“I’m good, thank you,” I say sweetly shoot them the most innocent smile I can muster, picking my usual character.
There’s a buzzing atmosphere, all of them hyping each other up and trash-talking while I go through the motions of picking my accessories and setting up my equipment.
“Okay, ready,” I let them know, barely five minutes later.
And Reed whistles when he sees my character. “You’ve played this before, haven’t you?”
I shoot the screen again. “I have a brother too, you know.”
“Oh shit,” Reed says, followed by a “She’s really going to smoke us” from Tanner.
Adam starts chuckling as the countdown begins.
“Maybe you should let them win once, beautiful,” Adam whispers into my ear when I drive the fifth victory home.
“Where’s the fun in that?” I whisper back. Then, a bit louder, I add, “I thought you said your brothers were good at this.”
“He really wasn’t exaggerating when he told us how competitive you are,” Tanner says, shaking his head in disbelief as he stares at his screen. Reed looks amused as hell, while Jackson seems to be silently seething, the red colors of the flag-waving loser reflecting in the light on his face.
“Damn, girl. So how about it, one more?”
I raise my eyebrow at them, giggling when all of them avoid looking at the camera.
“I actually have to leave for work,” Jackson says, looking at his wristwatch. “Oh shit. It was supposed to be an excuse, but I actually need to go. Have fun, everyone. Bye.” And with that, he logs out.
“I’m going to leave you three alone. It was nice to meet you,” I tell the remaining brothers and clasp Adams shoulder as I get up, leaning down for a quick kiss before I leave the room.
As soon as the door closes behind me, I can hear chatter from the laptop, but I’m doing my best to ignore it. Instead, I carry our now-empty glasses over to the kitchen and put them into the dishwasher before grabbing some chips from his cupboard and throwing myself onto his couch.
Reaching for the remote, I search through the streaming platforms for a movie to watch. One might think gossiping and chattering are more of a girl’s hobby, but let me tell you, Adam and his brothers spend at least as much time talking to each other as Lucy and I do.
I wonder what’s going on with his sister. From what I’ve gathered, she’s cut contact to all four of them, and none of them is quite sure why. Hopefully, I get to meet her someday.
Finally, I settle on a movie that I’ve been meaning to re-watch that Adam’s not a fan of. But I’m barely ten minutes in when his office door softly closes, and I hear his steps moving closer to the couch.
“Not much to gossip about today?” I raise my eyebrow at him as he sits down next to me, immediately lifting his arm so I can cuddle into his side.
“They just spent fifteen minutes gushing about you.” He grins and pulls my legs into his lap. “And wondering which games we can play that you aren’t as good at. Fair to say you managed to impress.”
“Of course I did.” I roll my eyes at him. “I was serious though, next time give a girl more warning. Not a fan of getting introduced to your family in your shirt and joggers with hair that screams ‘I just had sex and scrambled to make myself presentable.’”
“It’s less the hair and more the remainders of your makeup.” He grins and lifts his hand to swipe something away from under my eye.
“And you’re telling me that now?” Both of my eyebrows shoot up.
“Relax, you’re beautiful.”
“Probably in the way a panda or raccoon is,” I mutter under my breath, then stifle a yawn behind my hand. “You want me to change the movie?”
“I’m good,” he says and reaches for his phone. Where he got that from now, I have no idea. Sometimes I think it’s magic the way he just conjures it up. “How about I order us some food and we can spend the evening just like our first official date: huddled up on this couch under a soft blanket and watching this god-awful movie.”
“You take that back,” I tease him and turn to him to tickle his ribs. “This movie is not awful. It even got freaking Oscars.”
