I pick up the tiny playing piece and press it between my fingers. “Fine.”
I can feel Neo’s gaze burning into the side of my face, but it’s easy enough to ignore.
The burning heat of his hand on my thigh? That’s harder to disregard. Especially because I can’t shove it away.
Not without Neo making a big thing about it.
If I don’t acknowledge it, then nothing’s happening.
That’s exactly why I do nothing.
The only reason.
“Here.” Harley’s smirk deepens as he tosses a playing piece to Samson. I know without looking that it’s the iron. The iron he swallowed and shit out during one of their annoying fights. I’ve thrown it out countless times, but it always seems to find its way back. “We know you can’t play without your precious piece.”
Samson doesn’t bother to try to catch it. Instead, he just smirks back at Harley as he fishes in his pocket. “Nah. I have a better one now.” He slams it down on the table with a triumphant smile. “Meet the new and improved iron.”
“He sounds like an infomercial, but is way sexier than those dudes,” Neo mutters. My lips tug at the comment even as something hot burns inside of me. Does he really think Samson is sexy?
Samson grins, his eyes flickering, and I turn to Neo and murmur, “This is the happiest I’ve ever seen him.”
That’s true. Samson is generally a perpetual grump. But getting one over on our siblings never fails to raise his mood.
Harley eyes the token in disbelief, his cheeks flushing in frustration. “You call that an iron? It looks nothing like it.”
Samson shrugs. “It’s made from iron.”
Dalton picks it up to study it closer. “Technically, it’s made from aluminum foil.”
“Aluminum is basically the same as iron.”
“It’s not.” Neo pipes up. “They’re completely different elements on the periodic table. While they’re both technically metals, iron is heavier and denser than aluminum. Aluminum doesn’t rust, while iron does. Oh, and it has a much lower melting point than iron…”
I’m not the only one staring at Neo as his spiel tapers off. He shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “What? Am I the only one who paid attention in chemistry?”
“I paid attention to how to blow things up,” Cade says. “Can’t say I remember much about different metals though.”
“Neo’s very intelligent,” Ansel says with a knowing smile. “Much as he tries to hide it.”
Neo slinks down in his chair. “Whatever. It’s not like anyone cares about my brain. Maybe stop telling everyone about it…”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I care. That learning he has an intelligence to rival my own is extremely interesting. That I yearn to have someone to converse with on my level.
But I say nothing, because it doesn’t matter. Neo is more interested in using his intelligence to find ways to piss me off than having conversations with me. And that’s fine by me.
I really don’t need to converse with him.
That would be…dangerous.
“Ah-ha!” Harley looks up from where he’s been typing on his phone and snatches Samson’s carefully crafted iron from the table. “Mine.”
Before any of us can stop him, he shoves it into his mouth and swallows it.
We all gape at Harley in silence. He’s unbothered, simply reaching for the fancy French wine that he drinks because it’s Jules’s favorite and taking a sip.
“Have you lost your mind?” I say eventually. “No amount of health insurance is going to cover youwillinglyswallowing aluminum foil.”
Harley shakes his phone at me. “It’s perfectly safe. The internet said so.”
