Red String of Fate - Thiam

Chapter 14 - Broken noses and Monopoly

December 8th - Wednesday

Liam P.O.V.

I enter the living room and find Theo lying on the couch with his face buried in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think? I'm having an existential crisis." He says in a muffled voice.

I roll my eyes and put the game boxes on the coffee table.

"Pull yourself together, they must be arriving."

"I hate your friends." Theo sits down and I sit next to him.

"Don't say that, you barely know them."

"I know them very well."

"But now it's a different situation, no war or supernatural, just a peaceful afternoon."

"I don't know how to play half of these games." Theo complains, looking at the monstrous pile of board games.

And that's how I spend the next ten minutes explaining the rules of the games to Theo until we hear a knock on the door. Theo growls and I look at him confused.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, I just feel anxious."

I put a hand on his shoulder and try to give him some comfort.

"It'll be okay."

"Why are they taking so long?" Mason shouts outside and knocks on the door again. "Hmmm, I think they..."

I open the door suddenly and Mason almost falls because he had his ear pressed against the door.

"Stop being a snooper."

Mason gives a wry smile and he and Corey walk past me into the living room.

"Hello."

Theo is standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room, his body is rigid and his arms are crossed across his chest. Mason and Corey stop just as awkwardly as Theo.

"This is going well." I place myself between them and smile without showing my teeth, wanting to bury myself in a hole. "Let's play?"

We sat around the coffee table. Me and Theo on one side and Mason and Corey in front of us.

"Let's start with Monopoly." Mason orders throwing the other games on the floor.

Theo didn't take long to understand the rules of the game and after ten minutes he was already the one with the most properties on the board. However, I am the one with the most money. Mason is furious.

"I swear it feels like my money is disappearing."

I take advantage of everyone being distracted by Mason's whining and take another bill out of the box and add it to my stack of fake money.

"What were you waiting for? You don't stop buying properties!" Theo grumbles.

"I didn't buy that many."

I take out two more hundred bills.

"Someone is taking my money." Mason looks at us with narrowed eyes.

"It must be Liam." Corey says, looking at me.

"What? Why me?" I exclaim indignantly.

"You always cheat."

"I didn't do anything!" My heart starts racing, not because I stole Mason's money, but because I'm actually cheating.

"Liar, his heartbeat raised!" Theo shouts pointing his finger in my direction. Traitor.