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Laughing, Zayn catches her by the waist, opens his mouth, and leans in too.
My blood ignites in a single second. My fist wraps firmly around the beer bottle until the glass bites into my palm, pressure building enough to make me aware of it. My jaw locks, a dull ache burning deep.
I don’t move. I don’t say a word.
Zayn angles his head, closes the distance fully, and takes the cube between his teeth, then pulls away.
I stay completely still, my eyes already on Thalia before she even has the chance to look around, tracking the way her chest rises, the faint shift of her lips after.
And she finally looks at me for the first time tonight.
The moment she realizes I’m already watching her, she swallows, and her cheeks flush pink.
Good. Let her feel the intensity of my stare.
“Your turn,” Sierra tells Zayn.
He draws a card and reads it aloud, “Massage the person on your left one minute and whisper about the last time you fell in love.”
He drops the card and laughs, loud.
“I can tell you about the last time I had sex,” he says, amused. “But falling in love? Sorry, there’s nothing to say.”
On his left is Chase, who’s staring at him like he’s evaluating a suspicious item in a grocery store.
I barely register the exchange at first. My attention drifts—uninvited—back to Thalia, to the way she shifts her weight, to how she avoids looking in my direction again.
“You can massage my shoulders, if you want,” Chase says. “And with my shirt on.”
Zayn raises his hands in surrender, then starts kneading Chase’s shoulders. Still laughing, he leans in and whispers something we can’t hear. But whatever it is, Chase cracks up, then spins toward him.
“No way,” he exclaims.
Zayn doesn’t answer. He just winks, smirking maliciously.
“We want to hear it too,” Thalia demands, crossing her arms like a kid.
My eyes flick back to her instantly.
There it is again—that tone, that spark—like nothing happened, like she didn’t just…
I look away before the thought finishes.
“Yeah, it’s not fair that only he gets to hear it,” Sierra adds.
Nick lifts an eyebrow and looks at his wife seriously. “You want to hear about Zayn’s last sex session?”
Sierra rolls her eyes, then leans into Nick, wrapping her arms around him.
“I want to hear what shocked Chase so badly,” she replies.
“There’s no way it was just a normal hookup,” Thalia chimes in. “Obviously he did something outrageous.”
Zayn stays quiet, laughing and taking a sip of beer.
Chase shakes his head, smiling, and leans forward to draw the next card.
He reads it, “Recreate a sex scene—with or without clothes, your choice—using movements, sounds, and touches, or take three shots.” Then he lifts the card, scanning each of us one by one.
