Chapter Twenty: Joker {Ellie}
"Ellie, your turn!" Julia says, snorting as she laughs, slapping her husband's arm playfully. I grin as I reach for the circle of cards, sliding one out carefully so that I don't break the circle.
Queen of hearts.
I grin softly, looking up.
"Hey, Sebastian, what was the queen for again?" I ask, knowing he'll fall for it.
I spy Cole roll his eyes as I ask the question, but I ignore the pounding of my heart.
"Queen is for questionnaire...fuck!" He laughs before taking a large swig of his Jack and Coke. "I can't believe I fell for that shit."
"Alright, my turn!" Scarlet reaches for the circle, almost breaking it as she pulls a card. She flips it around to show everyone, grinning smugly. "Six is for dicks. Drink up, bitches."
Her dad rolls his eyes as he takes a drink, Sebastian finishing his quickly and Cole drinking silently.
"I'm gonna grab a beer. Anyone else want one?"
"I'll take another Jack and Coke if you don't mind," I tell him, and he grabs my glass, quickly chugging the mouthful that was left before winking as he walks away.
I practically feel the bristle next to me, Cole's eyes going to his glass.
We make a whole round around the table, Cole's turn finally coming up. He just stares at the cards for a moment, unmoving. His jaw flexes as he grinds his teeth, the chiseled bone sending a jolt to my belly.
"Isn't it your turn?" I ask him.
"Is it?" he snaps, and I frown. Why the fuck is he being rude right now? What the hell did I do?
"Feeling snappy, are we?" I ask him, hearing the warning in my voice.
"Feeling nosy, are we?" he gives a pissed off smirk, eyes hot as they meet mine, gray to green. I scoff, flames of anger beginning to lick up my chest and face.
"You're going to talk to me about being nosy? That's rich."
"Were you going to come clean otherwise, sweetheart?" For a moment, I'm stunned that Cole is back to his normal, mean self. He hasn't changed at all and now that I know that, I can move on from his stupid self. It's clear he doesn't regret what he did.
I bet he doesn't even feel bad about it anymore. If he ever did in the first place.
Keenan's face flashes in my mind, and I lift my glass, downing half of it in one go. I'm so tired of these asshole men thinking they can just do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it. Why am I a pawn in their games?
"Easy there, tiger. I don't want to have to carry you to bed later," Sebastian jokes, trying to ease the tension I hadn't realized has gathered in the air.
When his turn comes, he faces me after he glances at his card.
"I'm coming for you, E."
I raise a brow and he flips his card to reveal a five of diamonds.
"Alright, five fingers everybody." We all hold up a hand, fingers spread wide. "Never have I ever read a book in one sitting."
Julia and I both put a finger down, and Marcus scoffs.
"Nerds," he murmurs, raising his glass to get a drink, laughing as Julia smacks his shoulder.
"Alright, never have I ever drank a whole bottle of Jack by myself in four hours." He smirks as I roll my eyes, putting down another finger.
Not my best night...
"Alright, never have I ever been told I was good at singing." Julia, Scarlet, Marcus, and I all put a finger down.
"I don't really think that's fair," I laugh.
"Nope! No being humble, Eleanor Robinson. I'm playing to win and you're going to mess it up," Scarlet comments, pointing a finger in my face. I nod, sighing.
"Alright, never have I ever played a sport in high school." I put another finger down, leaving me with only one left. Cole, Marcus, and Scarlet put a finger down as well.
"What sport did you guys play?" Julia asks, looking between Cole and I.
"I played basketball," I tell her. "Shooting forward."
"Very nice," she says, smiling. "You, Cole?"
"Basketball and baseball," he says. Instantly, the image of Cole in baseball pants and a glove pop into my mind. I wonder if he looked the same as he does now when he was in high school...
"Never have I ever... Shit... uhm... I don't know, kissed a guy," he says, frowning.
Cole's gaze moves to me as I put my finger down, cursing. A strange emotion flashes in his orbs before he tears his gaze from mine, and I take another drink as I'm reminded of the very unwelcome kisses Keenan always forced on me.
"Wait...Dad, did you put your finger down?" Marcus' cheeks turn beat red as Scarlet calls him out, laughing loudly. "How the hell did you kiss a guy?"
"It wasn't my idea, alright?"
"You have to give us something," she groans.
"Fine. My friends and I were playing truth or dare and this guy in our group had some...questions about himself and he dared me to let him kiss me to see if he felt anything. Long story short, I let him and he said he wanted to throw up and so we puked in separate trashcans while our friends watched us and laughed."
By the end of his story, we're all laughing loudly. Julia coos softly to sooth his deep blush, and Marcus tells us to just get on with the game to escape his humiliation.
"Not so fast, you lost, Ellie. Drink up, babydoll." Sebastian crosses his arms and I roll my eyes, before chugging the rest of my drink.
The game continues for a while, before Julia and Marcus head upstairs, claiming they're tired but we all really know what's going on with them. Sebastian gags as they leave the room, and I hit him softly. The four of us sit and talk at the table for a few minutes, before Scarlet pipes up, saying she needs to use the bathroom.
Before Cole or I can comment, both siblings race toward the closest bathroom. After a moment, a sulking Sebastian sits on the couch visible in the living room, crossing his arms.
An awkward silence ensues, and I play with the card in my hands.
Cole sighs. I try to ignore the way my heart pounds so hard in my chest, it feels as though it will burst any second. He leans forward, grabbing a card from the circle.
"Joker."
I frown.
"You mean Jack?"
"Nope. Joker." He turns the card as I look up, and turns out, Sebastian forgot to take out the Joker cards when he spread the cards into a circle. "New card means a new rule..." He thinks for a moment and I take the time to admire his face.
High cheek bones, chiseled jaw, strong nose, plump lips and sharp, angled eyebrows and dark curly hair atop his head. His Adam's apple bobs as he swallows, one of his hands raising to drag through his hair.
I blush thinking of the physique that hides underneath his dark blue t-shirt.
"Truth card."
"Huh?"
"It's a truth card. Whoever draws can pick a topic and you have to tell the full truth about it."
I begin to object, knowing exactly where this is going.
"Cole-"
"This time you have a choice to say no," he reminds me of the way I had to spill the truth last time when he practically forced me to do so. "It can't really do any more damage than last time."
He has a point.
Shrugging, I let him ask his first question.
"What's going on with you and Sebastian?" His teeth grind as he practically spits the words. Surprised, I frown, before shaking my head.
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
"You like him?"
I laugh, the implication almost bringing tears to my eyes.
"He's like a big brother to me," I tell him honestly. "He makes me feel like I never lost my brother. My real brother is a raging alcoholic who doesn't care if I'm dead or alive, so having Sebastian is... nice." I smile softly.
Cole's eyes begin burning a hole through my head, and I reach across, swiping the card from him. He opens his mouth, but I beat him to it.
"I have the Truth Card." I think back to something he'd said before that really irked me. "You said that you've been fighting your whole life. Why?" He tenses.
"Ellie," he warns.
"Don't act innocent. I know what your next question was going to be. You get no information if I don't. Besides, you owe me." He sighs, jaw clenching once more.
"Fine." Leaning forward on his arms, Cole begins bouncing his leg beneath the table. "I was a baby when my mom gave me up. She was only fifteen and couldn't keep me, so she let another family have me. That family ended up splitting because my adoptive dad was a cheating bastard. My adoptive mom got into an abusive relationship and ended up putting me back into the system because he threatened to leave her if she didn't. Every orphanage I went to... fuck those places, let's just leave it at that, sweetheart. They didn't treat us like kids. They treated us like dogs. We fought like dogs, too. Figured I was good at it, so I made a career out of it."
My heart breaks for him, and it's easy to see how much it bothers him as his eyes get dark, avoiding mine.
"I'm sorry," I tell him.
Without thinking, I reach across the table, placing a hand on his clenched fist, holding it softly. I only realize what I'm doing when his shocked eyes flash to mine and then down our hands.
I jerk my hand away, feeling as though I've been burned. His hand follows mine, snatching the card from me quickly.
"My turn."
I sigh, nodding.
"Tell me about him."
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb with me, baby."
Baby. Baby. Baby.
He just called me baby.
Fuck, get it together.
He wants to know more about Keenan.
I sigh, raising my eyes to his. My thoughts of asking him to let it go fly straight out the window when I see the anger in his eyes.
Weirdly enough, I don't believe that anger is directed at me for once. And if I'm right and that anger is directed at Keenan, then he has a hell of a storm coming if Cole ever gets his hands on him.
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