“Hey, I’m not London-bred like you two. In Devon, if you saw a nice guy, you had to act fast or they were gone.” Penny waves a hand. “Anyway, I’m glad he isn’t here. Girls’ night in is exactly what I needed today.”
Thea stops eating, and I stop drinking. Then we exchange a look.
“Did you say… a nightin?” I ask.
Penny rolls her eyes, theatrically. “What, I’m not capable ofonenight in?”
“No,” Thea and I answer together, shaking our heads.
“Fine.” Penny sighs, throwing out both her arms. “The Vault is shut down. Some idiot fried the electrics. And I’m banned from my usual group because I slipped and broke their precious table lamp. Thereisan event at 99—Poker and Pleasure,” she says, enthusiastically, then makes a face. “But it’s invite-only and super-exclusive. So, I guess I’m stuck with you two.”
“Thanks,” Thea mocks. “Maybe I should have taken that extra shift at the library instead.”
“Is there literally anything more boring than a library, T?” Penny groans. “You’ve got to indulge a little.”
“I’m very happy with my boring life, thank you very much.” Thea smiles, then turns to me. “By the way, you were right, Mason Grant was fine. I saw him on his Ducati earlier.”
“Told you,” I mutter.
“So, what’s the deal with the Grants and your grandfather, again?” Penny asks while pouring hot salsa over her slice of pizza.
“Not sure.” I shrug, biting my nails. “Old business rivalry, I think. I never asked.”
“Good for your grandfather. Reginald Grant is super scary. I mean, you don’t need a DNA test to confirm Mason is his son, right? Even though Mason’s hotter than this sauce.” Penny licks the hot salsa off her finger.
My jaw hardens, I don’t know why. I shouldn’t care. No, actually, Idon’tcare.
“Oh, don’t look so sour.” Penny makes a face. “At least he’s better than the grim reaper.”
“Kane Berkeley?” I ask. “He’s the alumni, right?”
“Yeah, he’s the oldest,” Thea confirms. “Wonder what it’s like in their house, with Mason, Hugo, and Kane and all that devious energy.”
“I dread to think,” I mumble.
“Okay, answer me this.” Penny slaps the leather arm of the couch. “If you had to, which one of those three would you kiss, which one would you marry, and which one would you kill?”
Thea chuckles, half-choking on her beer. “I think the kill is obvious, don’t you? Anyone in their right mind would choose Kane.”
“I don’t know,” I mutter. “Hugo is pretty annoying.” My injured hip throbs in agreement. “Besides, I would rather not go near Kane, even if it was to kill him.”
“Well, at least we can all agree who we’d all kiss.” Penny giggles, toying with her hair. “Mas?—”
“Can we stop the Fort talk?” I cut her off.
“Okay, okay.” Penny holds up a hand. “I got carried away. No more Fort talk.”
Thea puts on a new film on the TV, while Penny returns toscrolling on her phone, lazily hanging her legs off the couch while lying across my lap. Her scrolls are basically cyber-stalking Caden nowadays. It’s a shame Cade’s not into her. Penny is a jewel compared to the revolving door of flings he has had in the past.
A few minutes later, something on her phone catches my eye. A photo of Caden, and a poker table, with chips stacked.
“Where is that?” I ask.
“99,” Penny whispers. “Looks like he was invited. Lucky Ginger, huh?”
She flicks through more photos, showing his roommates and Hugo in the background too. I grab the phone from Penny’s hand, ignoring her gobsmacked expression, and go back to the first photo with the stacked chips.
That’s a lot per player.
