“Done.” Price disappeared and returned holding three of them. “I call the blue one.”
“Are you five?” Jordan laughed and took the silver flashlight before handing me the largest one. “We have plenty of wood and matches. I’ll find every spare blanket we have and bring them down. Price, why don’t you help Preston grab stuff from his room?”
“Okay, boss.”
Price approached me, his eyes tight. “Chug a beer. Right now.”
“No, I don’t?—”
He stabbed the side of it with a pen, then shoved it at my mouth. I had no choice but to chug, or it’d spill over the living room. The orange-flavored beer went down my throat, forcing me to focus on that and not on the power situation. Annoyance at my brother shifted to gratitude. “Thanks.”
“I know you needed that. We can talk about how mom and dad are fucking us up later, but right now, you gotta get your shit together. Not cool to freak out in front of the girl you’re down bad for.”
“I’m not—” I stopped and sighed in defeat. “Okay, you’re right.”
“God, I love to hear it.” He boasted and took the empty can from me. “Let’s do what J said and bring everything down here.”
Nodding, we went upstairs to double up on sweatshirts and socks, along with sweatpants and all the blankets we had. I even grabbed an extra from Quentin’s room. Central Illinois had tornados and snowstorms every year. They weren’t always crazyor dangerous, but I swore I could still feel the cold from that night and see the terrified look in my parents’ eyes.
We had a nest of blankets, and a pile of flashlights, plus Price grabbed more beer and Jordan’s portable charger. It was six, already pitch-black out, and the weather was calling for the storm to let up tomorrow.
We’d have to get through twenty-four hours. We could do that.
“Game time,” Jordan said, pulling out a stack of different board games. “We need to drink and distract ourselves before we fall asleep.”
“What about your event?” I frowned, eyeing the forgotten projects on the other side of the room. “You were stressed.”
She twisted her lips to the side but only for half a second. “Tomorrow we’ll work on those. Right now, the power is out in a blizzard. Half my list I can’t do until I know if the event will be canceled or not.”
My chest ached. Jordan had worked so hard for this event. If it were canceled, it would be devastating for her. “It’ll happen. I’m sure of it.”
“What event is this?” Price asked as he scanned the games. “Oh, shit. Remember the aggressive Uno we used to play? I vote for that.”
It was like all the air in the room evacuated out. My gaze sought Jordan’s, and she had the same look ofoh fuckon her face. Last time we’d played our Uno game, we crossed a line.
I’d tasted her.Fuck.“Uh, I’m not sure?—”
“I’m down.” Jordan swallowed and adjusted her hair. A pretty pink blush covered her neck, and she recrossed her legs.
Was she thinking of our night together? Was she imagining how incredible we were? Or was she remembering how she left the morning after, sneaking out like I was some random-ass hookup?
“Hell yeah, okay, deal us in,” Price instructed her. “I need a distraction.”
“Any reason why?” Jordan handed out the cards, doing her damnest to avoid eye contact with me.
“My situationship decided she’d rather keep her ex’s dick warm, which fine, whatever, but I was gearing up to make it more. I don’t have big feelings for her but enough to make her going back to him sting.”
“Did you ever talk about what you were?”
“Jesus, no. We were a situationship.” Price scanned the cards.
“Well, that’s on you then. You changed the rules of the game you set.” Jordan frowned for a beat, her eyes widening like she realized something, but then she shrugged. “You’re an attractive guy. You’ll find someone else.”
“Thank you. So kind of you, J. Now, truth or dare.” Price placed a wild card on the top, starting out strong. “Let’s make this interesting.”
“Truth,” she said, then shook her head. “No wait, dare.”
“Too late.” Price took a huge swig of his beer and smiled. “What is your biggest turn-on?”
