Page 5 of Wild Card

I blinked. “What?”

I needed food for this conversation, and a good long talk with my therapist because I had a feeling my stepsister had really good news. I wanted to be happy for her, but sometimes it was hard.

She was self-centered and condescending, but mostly she was just not self-aware at all. Never conscious that her comments were rude, or that having sex in our shared space would be considered thoughtless, or that using my dad’s credit card for everything she wanted was tasteless. Still, I wanted a sister. I’d never had one, so regardless of Taylor’s shortcomings, I did try to be nice to her and I did want a decent relationship with her…it was just hard to be happy for her.

I hedged closer to the stove to see what she was making and smiled.

“Are you trying that soup recipe?”

I loved when she tried things outside of her comfort zone—anything to humanize her. It wasn’t often that I saw this side of her, but when I did, I got really proud.

She blushed, untying the apron. “It’s probably horrible. It wanted me to use the grease from the bacon in the soup—that can’t be right, can it?” Her nose scrunched up in disgust as we stared down at the potato soup.

“I think it adds flavor.” I mimicked her face so she didn’t feel stupid for asking her question. Sometimes if my face gave away that I thought she was asking something everyone should know, she wouldn’t try whatever she was doing anymore.

“Well, whatever. It’s dinner…hopefully we don’t both die.” She tossed her apron on the counter and let out a heavy sigh.

“You were going to tell me something?” I grabbed for my can of lime-flavored soda water, grateful there were still a few left. After the day I’d had, it was the little things I was living for.

“Oh yeah! Oh my gosh, Mal—this is crazy.” Taylor reached into her back pocket and pulled out a simple playing card from a regular deck.

“Are you playing poker or something?” I moved around her to grab a spoon.

She turned with me. “No, silly…this is from theteam.”

She said team like it was holy or revered, holding the card between her fingers like it was made of gold.

“Okay…” I didn’t exactly know how to respond even though my mind was racing at the odds of the team gathering at the bar and the cryptic term ‘card’ being used.

“You’re a senior—you must know about the Devils and their card games…” Her blue eyes narrowed on me as her head tipped to the side.

This was when things with Taylor got difficult. She should have already known the answer to this question. No, I didn’t know about the Devils, nor had I ever attended a single game, even for the obligatory sports story. That was always given to someone else. I never volunteered because I hated sports. Sure I’d heard rumors about the team here and there from Hillary, but she’d never mentioned anything about a card game before.

“You know I don’t do sports, Tay.” I took my spoon to the pot of soup and dipped it in.

“Oh…I forgot.”

I kept my back to her so I didn’t have to see that look on her face, the one where she realized we were too different to hang out. Taylor was popular, pretty, and had exclusively hooked up with guys from the sports teams at Rake Forge University.

“Well, the baseball team gives out these cards to girls they want to hook up with. There’s a base number on the back, and that’s how far you’ll go with your mystery player.” She waggled her eyebrows at me. “Sounds fun, huh?”

I leaned forward, snatching the card away from her. This did not sound fun; it sounded dangerous, and my mind kept reaching for the connection to what I’d overheard the night prior.Bases have been assigned…

“Yours says home run…”

She brought her hands together and began jumping up and down. “I know! Someone wants to bang me, which means I’m going to wear his letterman jacket to the game next week.”

My eyebrows dipped in confusion. “How do you know when it will happen?”

“Everyone knows that after you get a card, the following Friday night they will host a big party—you take the card to the basement, and there you’ll be guided to the appropriate room. The guy who gave you the card will come find you, and once you do the deed, he’ll leave his jacket behind.”

Gross. This whole thing was just too much.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? You could get raped…no one would know who the guy was…this is such a bad idea.” I rubbed the stress out of my temple.

“Every girl who gets a card willingly walks down there. Everyone knows exactly what’s being asked of them…” She let out an irritated sigh. “You wouldn’t get it. Girls who actually enjoy the attention of the male population love this. It’s like a total honor.” Her shoulders straightened, and our tentative truce ended just as quickly as usual. I typically ignored her barbs because they were an entire language for my stepsister, but sometimes a few landed.

“Okay…but didn’t the guy have to give it to you, and isn’t that a dead giveaway?” I tried to push forward even though I was starting to feel lightheaded with all the details around this crazy setup. How long had this been going on? Had anyone actually done this…had anyone been hurt?

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