Vince

Checkmate

The name was written in script with a black sheep tattooed next to it. Color surrounded the tattoo, causing it to be slightly lost behind the chaos.

"What's the sheep for?" I asked.

"She used to be the black sheep in our family. I took the role after she died."

"Hit and run," I said.

"Suicide."

The words hit me like a truck. Losing my brother the way my family did gave us someone to blame, and somewhere to place our anger. Suicide left no such outlet, and I couldn't imagine going through the same pain Dean felt.

"I was thinking of getting a tattoo, but I don't know what I would get," I said, knowing there was nothing I could say to him that hadn't already been said.

"It took me months to figure this out, so don't think about it too much and it'll come to you," Dean said.

I nodded, with Vince placing a car piece into my hand and tossing a shoe at Dean.

"Car?" I asked.

"You drive me crazy," Vince said, laughing at his joke.

"I don't like cars. Trade?" I asked Dean.

He gave me the shoe, and Vince said, "You keep running through my mind."

"I'll run away if you keep it up with these stupid pickup lines."

We began the game, and immediately there was tension in our group.

"If you give me $100 I won't flip the board," Vince threatened Raphael.

"Suck my dick. You get nothing," Raphael said.

Vince lunged, but Julian tackled him to the ground, making sure not to knock anything off the board. While this was happening, I was making a secret alliance with Dean. He gave me his number and started texting me a plan on how to win.

Vince took a seat next to me and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it after his outburst. I rolled my eyes at how childish he was being. My phone buzzed and I looked down at it, shielding the messages from my competition.

"Who are you talking to?" Vince asked.

"Me. We're playing a different game because this one sucks," Dean covered for me.

"Where's your ghost blanket? I want it." Vince got to his feet and started walking towards my room.

I got up and followed him, not wanting him rooting through my things. He walked into my room and wait for me to get inside before he closed the door. I turned around, looking at him like he was nuts.

"I know you've formed an alliance."

"You're insane. Let me out," I said, my voice wavering.

Vince walked towards me, backing me into the wall. I craned my neck up to look at him, and his eyes burned a hole into mine. I held strong, not blinking as he searched my face for a lie. His eyes moved down and held strong on my lips.

"Make an alliance with me instead."

"Shut up," I said, rolling my eyes.

Vince trapped me in with his arms, and I stood up straighter to keep him from looking down so far at me. He moved his lips to my ear, goosebumps forming on my arms as his breath hit my skin.

"I'm only going to ask once."

"There's no alliance," I lied.

I could feel Vince's lip just barely graze over my neck and my breath hitched in my throat. His hand let go of the wall, finding it's way to my hip. He pulled my body into his, planting his lips on my neck. I pushed him off, no longer caught up in the moment.