by Witt, L. A.
I stole a self-conscious glance at Jesse, fully expecting a little jealous side-eye, but he was grinning at me like he’d been waiting to see how I’d react to Levi. Not a hint of jealousy or insecurity. Which . . . no shit. Why would he be insecure? That wasn’t like him at all. Why would I—
Oh.
Right.
Because while Sean hadn’t been the type to flip his lid if I’d so much as looked at another man, he’d had his moments of uncertainty. That palpable doubt, like he thought I’d be tempted to jump ship.
Jesse didn’t do that. He wasn’t insecure like that. He wasn’t Sean. Arguments could be made that I was an idiot, though.
After the introductions had been made, Simon and Lydia put some bowls of candy on the nightstand, and bags of chips were strategically placed on the beds. Nobody was drinking, surprisingly, but that was fine by me.
“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Lydia asked.
“Just us,” Carter said. “Everyone else had other plans.”
Levi scoffed with mock indignation. “What the hell could be more important than eating pizza and getting your ass kicked at Magic?”
“Well.” Hunter clapped his shoulder. “You’ll have to tell the rest of us about that last part.”
“Shut up, Easton.”
“We do need to get some more people here,” Lydia said. “Especially some more women. Our card nights are seriously getting heavy on dudes.”
“Uh-huh,” Levi said. “And if I recall, that wasn’t an issue until you made Natalya swear off Magic until the end of time.”
“Who, me?” Lydia feigned offense. “Not my fault she wasted her Counterspell on a dumb Lightning Bolt and couldn’t defend against a ten-point Fireball.”
Simon laughed. “It was probably the cackling more than the card that put her off.”
“Hey.” Lydia waved a hand. “If she doesn’t like shit-talking—”
“Oh God, please don’t piss her off,” Carter grumbled. “Do you know how painful it is when the stunt coordinator is in a bad mood?”
Levi snickered. Carter elbowed him, which didn’t help.
“We could always ask them to come back,” Ian said. “But you all know damn well we won’t be playing Magic. Those two are hooked on Cards Against Humanity.”
“And they’re fucking awesome at it too,” Hunter grumbled. “Especially Anna’s bodyguard.”
A laugh burst out of me. “Jeremy? Really?”
“You know him?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah, I’ve known his fiancé since high school. He’s really that good at Cards Against Humanity?”
“Oh my God.” Hunter whistled. “There is no beating him. None.”
“I think he cheats,” Carter said. “No way in hell he always has the perfect card for every round.”
I just laughed. It was surreal to be swept up in banter with people I’d only seen on camera. They were just normal guys though, here for a good time and some relaxation after a long, busy weekend. And I was definitely making a mental note to play Cards Against Humanity with Scott and Jeremy.
After we’d devoured two of the three pizzas and everyone had meticulously scrubbed all traces of grease off their hands, we settled in and started shuffling cards. We couldn’t play one large game because there wasn’t space. Not unless we wanted to sit on the floor, and none of us were that adventurous. Instead, we broke into small groups at the little table and on the gigantic king-sized beds. Simon and Ian cuddled up next to each other, playing against Carter and Jesse on one of the beds. Kevin and Lydia took the table for a one-on-one match.
And that was how I wound up on the second bed, facing off against Hunter Easton and Levi Pritchard, and how the fuck is this suddenly my life?
I glanced at Jesse as we settled into our respective games, and he winked. Oh right. This was my life because he was my boyfriend, and . . . No, seriously, how is any of this my life?
After Levi, Hunter, and I had been playing for a while, I surveyed the battlefield. “Okay. Well. I seriously never thought I’d say these words, but . . .” I tapped three of my creatures. “Levi, I’m attacking you with my Shivan Dragon and two Fire Elementals, both of whom are equipped with Whispersilk Cloaks, so you can’t block them.”
Levi grunted as he glared at my cards. “That dragon is flying, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
He scanned his row of creatures, none of which had the ability to fly and thus couldn’t block my dragon. Then he huffed sharply and picked up his twenty-sided die. “All right. What’s the damage?”
“Um . . .” I counted it up. “Fifteen.”
He blinked. “Seriously?”
“Yep.”
“Fuck you.” He scowled as he put his die down with the five showing. Our eyes locked for a second, and he gave me a wink as if to make sure I knew this was all in good fun. Which I’d known, but damn if that wink hadn’t made my pulse race.
We both looked at Hunter. He pursed his lips as he looked at the cards we had laid out in front of us and the ones he had in his hands. Then he grinned and leaned down to tap two of his creatures. “First, I don’t like that Shivan Dragon, Garrett.” He tapped his Royal Assassin. “It’s dead.”
“Damn it,” I grumbled as I put the dragon in my graveyard. “Fucking Royal Pain-in-the-Assassin.” I made a mental note to destroy it my next turn.
Hunter chuckled, but he wasn’t done yet. “Levi, I’ve got two Sengir Vampires coming your way. Both flying. So . . . eight points of damage unless that Northern Paladin of yours suddenly sprouts wings.”
Levi shot him a murderous glare, rolled his eyes, and put his cards down with a heavy sigh. “Well, I’m out.”
From the other bed, Carter said, “Told you that deck is weak when it comes to defending against flying creatures.”
“Nobody asked you, peanut gallery.”
Everyone snickered, even Levi as he collected his cards and started shuffling his deck.
Chuckling, Hunter cast a Terror, killing off the Vulshok Sorcerer I’d had every intention of using to kill his Royal Assassin next turn.
“Bastard,” I grumbled as I tossed the card into my graveyard on top of the Shivan Dragon.
He grinned smugly. It didn’t last, though. When it was my turn, a Lightning Bolt fried the Royal Assassin, and then I came at Hunter with a twelve-point Fireball followed by a two-pronged attack of unblockable Fire Elementals, all of which wiped that smugness off his face in a hurry.
“Damn,” he said as we started reshuffling cards. “You’re good at this.”
“No kidding.” Levi craned his neck. “Jesse, your man’s banned from Magic nights.”
Without missing a beat, asking for context, or even looking up from his own cards, Jesse said, “Not my fault you suck.”
“Hey!” But Levi was laughing. To me, he said, “Good game. You don’t have to go so easy on us, though.”
“All right.” I smirked. “I won’t.”
“Way to go, Pritchard,” Hunter muttered. “Now he’s going to fuck us both up.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
Levi rolled his eyes, and all three of us chuckled.
“Hey, Levi.” Carter leaned across the gap between the beds, holding out his phone. “Message from the cat sitter. Looks like they’re suffering terribly without us.”
Levi took the phone and eyed the screen, and then the most adorable smile lit up his face. “Yeah.” He laughed. “They’re pretty miserable, aren’t they?” He turned the phone so Hunter could see it, then so I could. On the screen, two enormous tabby cats were sprawled on their backs, paws up in the air and tails lolling off the side of a sofa.
“Holy shit, they’re huge!” I said. “Maine coons?”
“Yep.” He beamed like a proud dad before handing the phone back to his husband. “Two huge, spoiled, shedding Maine coons.”
“You have no one to blame but yourself for the spoiled part,” Carter said.
Levi just shrugged. “What’s the point of
having cats if you don’t spoil them?”
Hunter chuckled. “And no cats on this planet are more spoiled than Link and Zelda.”
“Your cats’ names are Link and Zelda?”
Levi met my gaze, smiling. “Yeah. When they were kittens, their ears looked huge because of those tufts on the end, and they reminded me of Link on Legend of Zelda.”
I laughed. “I like it. Man, I haven’t played that game in years.”
He perked up. “You played?”
“From the day it was released.”
“Same.” He was grinning widely now. “My parents practically had to confiscate the Nintendo to get me to put it down.”
“Me too,” I said. “It’s a wonder I didn’t flunk out of school.”
“Thought I was the only one,” Hunter said with a laugh.
Some snickering was coming from the other bed, and when I looked, I realized the younger guys were all trying to smother their amusement. I also realized they’d probably all been in diapers—assuming they’d been born at all—when Legend of Zelda had been released.
Hunter and Levi had obviously caught on too. Levi rolled his eyes and muttered something about “damn whippersnappers” and “get off my lawn.” Hunter just threw a pillow at Kevin.
“Kids these days,” I said.
Jesse shot me what was probably supposed to be a glare, but it lost its intensity when he couldn’t suppress a grin. I returned it, and felt a little flutter at the realization that as overwhelming as it was to be playing cards with Levi Pritchard, it was fucking amazing to be going back to my room later with Jesse. How did I get so lucky?
“All right.” Levi cleared his throat and pulled another deck of cards from the case beside him. “We ready for another game?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “You ready to get your ass handed to you again?”
He flipped the bird, then started shuffling his cards.
“Hey, Levi,” Carter said. “You want to use my green deck?”
Levi’s eyes lit up as he put his own cards aside. “Fuck yes, I do.”
Carter dug around in the vinyl case by his feet, pulled out a thick deck, and tossed it to Levi. Levi caught it, and they exchanged grins before he freed the cards from their rubber band and started shuffling.
Several turns into the game, Levi drew a card off his deck, and his brow furrowed. “What the . . . Oh, son of a bitch.” I thought he must’ve drawn a shitty card until I realized he was holding it away from his face and squinting intently. “Could they make the print a little smaller on some of these?”
Hunter and I laughed.
“You got one of the microscopic ones, didn’t you?” I asked. Sometimes the cards had lengthy descriptions wedged into the text box, which meant an incredibly tiny font.
“Yeah.” Levi scowled. “Microscopic fucking words . . .”
Hunter chuckled. He glanced over his shoulder toward Carter and Kevin, then slid a small case out of his pocket. Without a word, he surreptitiously pushed it across the comforter toward Levi.
I had to smother a laugh as I realized what it was. When Levi took off the top and saw the reading glasses sticking out, he shot Hunter a withering glare.
“Seriously?” he grumbled.
Hunter motioned toward the case. “Would you just hurry up and read the card?” he hissed. “Maybe before they”—he gestured at our respective significant others with his thumb—“realize any of us need reading glasses to play Magic?”
“Point taken.” Levi glanced at Carter, then took out the glasses and quickly put them on. I had to admit, he didn’t look too bad in them. Not that I could imagine him looking bad in anything.
As soon as he’d read the card, he took off the glasses and shuttled them back to Hunter, who tucked them away without further comment. I was damn near shaking with laughter by this point, watching the two of them try to be sneaky about reading glasses.
I got it, though. Such were the trials and tribulations of aging with a younger partner. I didn’t imagine Kevin or Carter would be horrified by their husbands needing reading glasses, but it was probably a matter of pride for the older men. Between Jesse and my late husband, I’d been there, done that. Just as well I’d been wearing glasses since I was twelve, and thank God for seamless bifocals.
“Well that was needlessly complicated,” Levi muttered and played the card. It was an artifact creature I’d never seen before, and Levi put three counters—Skittles, in this case—on top of it.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A Tetravus.” He shook his head. “Long story short, those”—he pointed to the counters—“are one/one flying creatures. Or . . .” He picked up the card and squinted at the directions again. “They will be if I decide they are at the beginning of my next turn, I guess.”
“What the fuck?” Hunter took the card and read it. Rolling his eyes, he handed it to me. “Well, all right, then.”
I read the instructions, and yeah, they were more complicated than they needed to be. The counters were one/one flying . . . something. Whatever.
I gave the card back to Levi and watched him put it down on the comforter and replace the counters. Then I shook my head. “I don’t understand that card, and therefore it must be destroyed.” I dropped a Shatter onto the comforter. “Bye-bye, Tetra-whatever-you-are.”
“Damn it.” Levi tossed the card into the graveyard, then popped the Skittles into his mouth. “All that effort to read the fucker, and I don’t even get to play with it.”
“And now we know why men never bother reading the instructions,” Lydia interjected from across the room.
“Woman,” Simon said in a playfully warning tone.
“What?” She shrugged, glancing up from her cards. “Don’t act like it isn’t true.”
“She’s got you there, babe,” Ian said.
“Traitor,” Simon muttered.
“And you’re outnumbered,” Lydia singsonged.
Simon just smiled like a fool. Couldn’t say I blamed him.
The games went on, as did the trash-talking, and I loved it. Not just the game and the proximity to Levi fucking Pritchard—oh my God—but everything. The relaxed atmosphere. The easy banter. The way no one seemed to think twice about bringing me into the fold. It was hard to believe I hadn’t known a single person in this room a month ago.
Every so often, Jesse and I would exchange a glance and a smile. I liked that we didn’t have to be joined at the hip. We were in the same room, lost in our own games and conversations, and we didn’t need to glom onto each other at every opportunity. This morning, we’d shared plenty of public affection while we’d wandered the con, and when the night ended, we’d be cuddled up together in bed. That was enough for me.
I also liked that he didn’t mind me sitting over here with a man I’d had a crush on for twenty years. It was easy to get insecure, especially early in a relationship, but he didn’t object to me sitting next to a shirtless Levi any more than I objected to him sitting beside Carter. And, I reminded myself, that was one more subtle reason to separate Jesse from Sean in my head. Now if I could just ignore all the other—
Don’t. Not now. You’re having a good time and so is he. Just don’t go there.
So I tamped down those thoughts—again—and focused on the cards in my hand.
As the night went on, Levi managed to win a couple of games, and Hunter suddenly brought out his A game to kick both our asses. We switched players a few times, and the evening flew by as we bantered over Magic.
Eventually, though, we started to wind down. As tired as we all were from the convention, we’d hung in there for a long time. Hunter and Kevin bailed around twelve thirty. Levi probably could’ve held out for another hour or so, but Carter was fading fast, so they took off just before one. We stayed a little longer to chat with Ian, Simon, and Lydia, then strolled down the hall to our own room.
Jesse looked up at me as we walked. “So, did you have a good time?”
“I just spen
t an evening playing Magic with . . .” I waved a hand behind us. “Them. You’re damn right I had a good time.”
Laughing softly, he put his arm around my waist. “I figured you would.”
“Uh-huh. Though you could’ve warned me about who was going to be there.”
“I could’ve.” He nodded. “But what would be the fun in that?”
I gave him a playful glare.
“What?” He batted his eyes. “Come on. You wouldn’t have been nearly as adorable if you’d known what was coming.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I did have a great time.” In front of our room, I wrapped my arm around his waist and kissed him softly. “Not just tonight, but at the con.”
“Me too. I’m glad you came.”
I smiled and leaned in for another kiss, and I wasn’t at all surprised when it turned into a longer one. A deeper one. Jesse combed his fingers through my hair, and I didn’t even know whose soft moans were whose.
“You all turned on from playing Magic?” he asked between kisses.
“No.” I nipped his lower lip. “I’m turned on because I know I’m going to have you in bed all to myself.”
Jesse hummed and slid his hands up my back. “So what are you going to do with me?”
“I’ve got a few ideas.” I pressed him up against the wall beside our door, and he sucked in a hiss of breath. “Starting with getting you out of these clothes and ending with you covered in cum.”
He shivered hard. “God, I love when you talk dirty.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh.”
I leaned in and kissed him, pinning him to the wall with my hips.
“Our room’s right there,” he murmured. “Bed . . . condoms . . .”
“Mmm, we’ll get there.” I nibbled the side of his neck, grinning when he arched between me and the wall. I’d been perfectly fine sitting apart from him for most of the evening, but now that he was in my arms again, I fully intended to make up for lost time.
“Let’s go inside,” he panted. “I want you. Right now.”
I took the key card out of my pocket and touched it to the reader. As soon as the latch clicked, I pushed open the door.
“Finally,” Jesse murmured, and dragged me inside.
