PARADOX

fourteen

Vega

October 2037

Kennedy Winters

When we arrived at the table, the game was set up into teams of twos. So, I tapped the shoulder of one of the men from the team who looked like they were wasted. With a drunken smile, the man turned his eyes trailing down my body.

"Whatcha wanting darling?" He was from the south. His southern twang in his voice was recognisable for those who lived by the coastline. Fishermen and quarrymen lived there.

"A shot of beer pong," I smiled sweetly leaning into Damon's side slightly, he hadn't made a noise but his grip had tightened on my hand.

"Yeah," Damon continued swinging his arm across my shoulders, a cold look in his eyes. "Let us have a shot."

Scowling, the man sized Damon up with a fierce look. He was scrawny compared to Damon's massive body which tensed as he watched the man with a mocking look on his face. Eventually the scrawny man relented, tapping his teammate on the shoulder gesturing for him to move along.

"Just so you know I'm very competitive." I told Damon, "I'm going to win."

He leaned down to whisper in my ear, "good thing I have my shifter senses then isn't it darling." He mocked the scrawny man's accent causing me to elbow him in the side but he didn't flinch, it was like he didn't feel a thing. The man was made of steel.

"If we don't win it's on you." I pointed an accusing finger at him before standing slightly in front of him eyeing up our competitors. As they had already played a round before, we joined they insisted Damon and I both drink a cup of mystery liquor full of all the alcohol that was a part of the game. We agreed, but Damon was to pour the drink.

"Cheers," He tapped the rim of the plastic cup against mine as we linked arms tilting our heads back so we could drink the concoction all at once. It was disgusting tasting like what I assumed battery acid would taste like burning a hole into my throat.

Gagging I dropped the empty cup onto the grass, swallowing frantically to try and get rid of the acidic taste in my throat. When I looked up through my eyelashes I saw that Damon, the freak, looked completely unaffected.

"Are you okay?" he bit down on his lip to stop a smile from forming on his stupid face.

Pouting I straightened up pushing him away before grabbing one of the ping pong balls aiming it for one of the red plastic cups.

"I'm peachy," I forced out, the burn was slowly fading. With the utmost concentration I threw the ping pong ball squealing when it landed in the cup perfectly. "Told you I was good at this game."

Both of us were really good at the game. My experience mixed with Damon's shifter abilities made us a dream team. However, after that concoction and drinking two of the cups that we lost, my vision had started to become blurry and I could feel myself swaying on my feet as I was trying to throw the balls. So Damon insisted on being the one to drink all the rest of the cups to prevent me from 'throwing the game.'

By the time the game was over, Damon was looking really blurry and when I checked the time it was nearly half one in the morning and I was starving. My stomach rumbled drawing Damons attention.

"Are you hungry?" He asked before a pink tinge tinted his cheeks, "that was a stupid question after we both heard that monster in your belly rumble."

"I wouldn't say it's a monster." I defended placing my hands on my hips to give him a judgemental look. It wasn't my best considering the way he laughed at me. "There's a twenty-four-hour pizza parlour down the street."