Page 62 of Heartsmashed
The second he bit down, his expression changed into downright disgust.
“Ohmygod,” he said before snatching the empty cup out of Alec’s hand to spit the snack into.
With the entire room laughing, Sawyer finally stopped holding back and joined them.
“What is it?” Drew asked.
Peter swallowed with visible effort. “I don’t know.”
Rome checked the envelope under where the cup had sat and wrinkled his nose. “Ooh. An ‘old-socks jellybean rolled in pickle juice and organic kale powder.’ I bet you enjoyed that.”
Peter went white and grabbed his drink, taking a long swallow while the room howled in laughter, and even Catherine was grinning behind her wine glass. Maybe I was a terrible person, because watching him try to maintain his dignity whileclearly regretting every life choice that led him here was the most satisfying thing I’d seen in a long time.
Sawyer leaned in by my ear. “I know I should be the bigger person here, but he totally deserved that.”
“Oh, you can say it. Being the bigger person is overrated.”
“I knew I liked you.”
He said it offhand, probably not even realizing I’d take it a different way. Thing was, I knew Sawyer liked me. He wore his emotions on his sleeve. It was his question last night that had sealed it for me, though, because if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have wanted to know if what was happening between us was real or something he had to pay for.
“All right, blues answer for green this time,” Rome said, moving back to the center of the room. “Who is more likely to start an argument?”
Sawyer’s board was up and he was scribbling away before Rome finished speaking.
I let out a low whistle. “That fast?”
“I know myself.”
“You’re answering for me.”
His marker froze halfway through writing, and then he slowly looked down at his board. “I knew that.”
When I chuckled, he growled. “Shut up.”
“Now I’m curious what you wrote first.”
“No one will ever know.” He quickly wiped the board with the sleeve of his shirt before starting over.
That was Sawyer, I was learning. Full speed ahead, mouth open, heart out, then an immediate scramble when he realized he’d gotten ahead of himself. It was endearing as hell. I wondered, though, what would happen if he stopped trying to course-correct and just embraced himself fully.
When Rome called for answers, Hudson flipped his board first, his own name written down. When Drew confirmed thatthat was the right answer, Hudson added, “I’d like to just say he’s wrong, because he starts the majority of arguments—however, I knew he’d say my name.”
“We got the match. You don’t have to explain why you’re wrong,” Drew said.
“Whyyou’rewrong.”
As they carried on in the background, Rome turned our way. “Sawyer, let’s see how well you know your tracksuit-loving new boyfriend.”
Sawyer flipped his board, and I honestly wasn’t sure whom he’d go with until I saw the name he’d written.Sawyer.
My first instinct had been my own name, but once he’d realized the question was from my perspective, I had a feeling he’d go with his own.
I slowly turned mine to reveal his name.
“Hell yes,” he said, not caring at all that we’d both called him out. “All of you should be afraid right now.”
“Our newest couple and somehow also the most in sync two questions in. But will it last?” Rome waggled his brows and moved on to Peter and Alec, who, once again, couldn’t get on the same page.“Would you look at that, another regret penalty. Peter, you must choose a pose that your partner has to maintain through the next round of questioning.”
