Page 52 of Hard Rock Fling
We reached the table as the group set up another round. August glanced up briefly from shuffling the cards. "You guys want in?"
"I'm not sure—"
Cameron cut me off again, pushing me into a chair with a firm shove. "Hells yeah they want in."
No one listened to my protests. August dealt me a hand. I slumped in my chair, eyeing Ian. He took a seat beside me, pleased and smug. Was he planning to get us both naked? I was fine with that, in theory, but not in front of a room of people.
"It's not fair." There were six people around the table. Ian, Cameron, August, me, and two pretty brunette girls. "The girls are at a disadvantage. We wear a lot less clothing. Panties and a dress, maybe a bra, and that's it."
"Jewelry and accessories count," one of the girls reassured me. She had an oval face and perfectly plucked eyebrows, giving her a classical look. The kind of look I wished I could pull off. "With the amount of bling we wear, sometimes it's the guys who get taken for a ride."
"So how's it work?"
"You know how to play Go Fish, right?" August's usual distant expression was gone. He shuffled and dealt the cards with a laser focus.
"Sure. You ask the person on your left if they have a certain numbered card. If they do, they have to give it to you. If not, they say Go Fish and you pick up a card from the deck. The goal is to play as many numbered pairs as you can until your hand is empty."
"Pretty much."
"But where does the stripping come in?"
Cameron grinned. "Every time you have to pick up a card, you lose a piece of clothing and put it in the middle of the table."
"We don't make it too easy, though," Ian explained. "Whenever you play a pair, you can take a piece of clothing back from of the pile."
"And no one says it has to be your clothing, either." From the bras hanging around Cameron's neck, I inferred that was his main strategy.
"And do those poor girls ever get their clothes back?"
"Only if we ask nicely." The other girl blew a kiss in Cameron's direction with a grin before turning to me. "Hi. I'm Jen. I'm dating Noah."
"DatingNoah?"
I couldn't imagine Noah getting close enough to anyone to actually date them. A one night stand, maybe. But a real relationship?
Jen laughed. "Not exactly the most open or affectionate of men, I know. Still, once you get to know him, he's just a big softy underneath."
Cameron snorted. "His Royal Highness is about as a soft as a brick."
I suppressed a giggle at the nickname. It suited him. The lead singer of Darkest Days did sometimes act like a stuck up prince looking down on his subjects from a lofty throne.
"You just need to learn how to handle him," Jen said. She nodded her head towards the other girl. "And this is Natalie. She's dating Morris from Feral Silence."
My mouth popped open, speechless. An embarrassing squeak left my throat. I flushed bright red.
"Hope's a huge fangirl," Ian explained.
"Don't worry, so was I," Natalie reassured me. "You should have seen the way I freaked when I was first introduced to the guys." She gave me a curious look. "Are you…" she paused for a moment, before continuing smoothly, "…friends with Ian?"
My heart thumped so loudly in my chest, it was a wonder everyone couldn't hear it. "I'm working with the band as an image consultant."
Now it was Natalie's turn to gape. "Oh my god, that's so cool. I wish I could work with rock stars."
"It has its moments. Mostly it's just stressful."
"Dealing with this lot is always stressful," August murmured.
The game went about as well as I could have hoped. We went around the table a handful of times, each of us losing and picking up articles of clothing as our turns came and went. I wasn't doing too badly. I lost a bracelet and both shoes at first, but I'd picked the shoes back up again with two pairs in a row.
