Page 58 of Moonlight and Mischief
“I feel like I should return the favor,” I say, shifting on his lap so I can cup his erection through his jeans. That can’t be comfortable.
He kisses my cheek and then opens the car door. “As nice as that sounds, we should get going. We don’t want to miss dinner.”
“I’m fine with missing dinner,” I say, reaching for his belt buckle.
Scowling, he shakes his head. “No missing meals.”
With that, he slides out from under me, and heads around to the driver's seat, leaving me to fumble with my seatbelt like I’ve forgotten howmy limbs work.
12. Renegades and Reckoning
JASPER
Marigold eats with her dad and brothers, and I eat with Slate and Hazel. If they notice that every inch of my skin smells like Marigold, they don’t say anything. If she was at the table, they’d definitely notice her flushed skin and the glances she keeps giving me, even across the meadow. Being roommates doesn’t excuse eyeing each other like that.
I head directly home, but Marigold lingers, walking with Hazel. The girls are giggling and my stomach flips. It’s not that I don’t want anyone to know we’re involved, but they will all assume we are well on our way to being mates and Marigold isn’t ready for that label, if she wants it at all.
“Okay, what are we playing?” Onyx hollers the moment he’s through the door. Cedar follows him quietly.
“I’ve got a new game for us,” Marigold chimes, following them in.
“Hey guys,” I say from the kitchen, pulling a 12-pack of IPAs from the fridge.
“I nabbed a few snacks from Crickett,” Marigold says. She holds out a plate to me, grinning. It’s stacked with cheese and salami, beside an impressive array of pickle spears.
“You got pickles?” I ask incredulously.
Marigold shrugs. “Just in the mood, I guess,” she says with a wink. Using two fingers, she raises a pickle to her mouth and takes a bite. At my grimace, she breaks into silent laughter.
Hazel joins me in the kitchen, her dark brown hair loose around her shoulders. She hands me a casserole dish while giving Marigold a strange look.
“What did you make?” I ask, peeling back the tin-foil.
“S’mores bars,” she says.
Onyx leans over her shoulder. “Wow, those look fantastic.” He swipes a bar before I can even set them down.
Hazel’s eyes crinkle as she smiles at him. “I added caramel between the graham crackers and chocolate. You’re welcome.”
“I love you,” Onyx says before taking a huge bite and groaning.
Slate shoves him away and grabs Hazel around the waist from behind, kissing behind her ear as she cackles.
My eyes go to Marigold to find she’s already looking at me. She smiles, showing her teeth, and slowly runs her tongue over her top teeth. Fuck. This is going to be a long night not touching her if she keeps taunting me.
“What’s the game?” Cedar asks, opening a beer with a crack and a hiss.
Marigold pulls a card game out of her bag and waves it back and forth. The brown and gold cover says, “Sheriffs and Outlaws,” with a little sheriff’s badge over an old fashioned pistol.
We load up plates and lay out the cards. Slate sits on the sofa and Hazel sits on the floor between his legs. Cedar grabs the armchair and Onyx stretches out on the floor, leaving one seat open. Marigold sits beside Slate, tucking her feet up under her, and motions for me to sit beside Hazel with my back against the sofa right below her shins.
The game isn’t terribly complicated and Marigold explains the basics. Everyone draws a card to assign their roles, but keeps them secret. Only the Sheriff has to turn over his card to reveal his role - it’s Slate. He flips the card over with a sigh.
I lift my card and peek. Outlaw. To win the game, my task is to eliminate the Sheriff. There are two Outlaws so I’ll have some help, though I’ll have to figure out who. Anyone who fires at the Sheriff is likely the other Outlaw. But the moment we do so, thepeople assigned as Deputies will attack us and defend Slate. They win if the game ends with the Sheriff alive.
The last person is assigned Renegade. “The Renegade wins if they’re the last person alive in the game,” Marigold explains. I turn that over in my mind, trying to predict how that may play out.
Marigold hands me a stack of cards, a mixture of actions for shooting others or blocking their shots, along with a few random bonus cards to give special abilities.
