Page 91 of The Games We Play
“You’re infuriating,” she says, her bottom lip puffed out in a pout.
Ryder glares at me before saying to his sister, “He’s right. That’s not happening. Now, again, let’s put on our clothes so that we can all go home and sleep it off.”
“Fine.” She stomps off and grabs her shorts.
It takes twenty minutes of Ryder and Sophie herding us like sheep to get us out of the house and into the truck.
Sophie settles in the front seat as Harmony, Jessica, and I climb in the back.
Jessica’s body is warm next to mine.
I want to touch her. The desire is so strong I have to shift away to maintain my resolve.
In the rearview mirror, Ryder catches my gaze, his jaw hard.
Obviously, he knows something is going on between his sister and me. I don’t think he’d care beyond the normal brother grumbling, like Mitch and Shane Donovan do, married to each other’s sisters.
What he cares about is that I’m hiding it from him. That I’m not trusting our friendship enough to talk to him. That’s what he’s pissed about.
I can’t blame him.
The best option is to tell him the whole story and admit I can’t stay away from her, no matter how much I want to. But I can’t do that, because I promised the woman next to me. And until she tells me otherwise, Ryder and I will have this wedge between us.
Jessica’s leg presses against mine as she scoots closer to me. “I want waffles.”
“Oh my god, yes!” Harmony clutches Jessica’s arm. “And well-done hash browns with extra salt.”
“We’re not getting waffles,” Ryder says, his tone exasperated.
Jessica kicks the back of his seat. “You’re no fun at all.”
“Hey, knock that off!” Ryder yells.
“You’re sooooo boring.”
“It’s time for bed, not making a spectacle of yourself at the highway Waffle House,” he says, sounding incredibly boring.
I have no trouble picturing them as squabbling teenagers, and the way she gives Ryder shit amuses the hell out of me. I find myself wondering what it would be like to grow up in such a full house.
She drapes her leg over mine. “Soph, you’d better be careful, or pretty soon, he’s not going to know how to work the remote either.”
Sophie peers over her shoulder. “I’m afraid you lost me.”
“Just like our dad,” Jessica says, as though that explains everything. “And once you can’t work those buttons, the clitoris is soon to follow.”
Harmony and I start laughing.
Ryder’s brows slam together. “I know perfectly well where the clitoris is.”
Sophie reaches over to pat Ryder’s shoulder. “He does okay.”
Ryder pinches her, and she yelps, giggling.
“Just remember, it wasn’t that long ago you were so drunk, you peed all over your bed.” Jessica squirms deeper into me, and I drape my arm over the back seat so she can get closer.
Ryder shakes his head. “I was fourteen.”
“Exactly.” Her voice is satisfied, like she scored a point.
