Fighter {Completed}

Chapter Twenty: Joker {Ellie}

Chapter Twenty: Joker {Ellie}

"Ellie, your turn!" Julia says, snorting as she laughs, slapping her husband's arm playfully. I grin as I reach for the circle of cards, sliding one out carefully so that I don't break the circle.

Queen of hearts.

I grin softly, looking up.

"Hey, Sebastian, what was the queen for again?" I ask, knowing he'll fall for it.

I spy Cole roll his eyes as I ask the question, but I ignore the pounding of my heart.

"Queen is for questionnaire...fuck!" He laughs before taking a large swig of his Jack and Coke. "I can't believe I fell for that shit."

"Alright, my turn!" Scarlet reaches for the circle, almost breaking it as she pulls a card. She flips it around to show everyone, grinning smugly. "Six is for dicks. Drink up, bitches."

Her dad rolls his eyes as he takes a drink, Sebastian finishing his quickly and Cole drinking silently.

"I'm gonna grab a beer. Anyone else want one?"

"I'll take another Jack and Coke if you don't mind," I tell him, and he grabs my glass, quickly chugging the mouthful that was left before winking as he walks away.

I practically feel the bristle next to me, Cole's eyes going to his glass.

We make a whole round around the table, Cole's turn finally coming up. He just stares at the cards for a moment, unmoving. His jaw flexes as he grinds his teeth, the chiseled bone sending a jolt to my belly.

"Isn't it your turn?" I ask him.

"Is it?" he snaps, and I frown. Why the fuck is he being rude right now? What the hell did I do?

"Feeling snappy, are we?" I ask him, hearing the warning in my voice.

"Feeling nosy, are we?" he gives a pissed off smirk, eyes hot as they meet mine, gray to green. I scoff, flames of anger beginning to lick up my chest and face.

"You're going to talk to me about being nosy? That's rich."

"Were you going to come clean otherwise, sweetheart?" For a moment, I'm stunned that Cole is back to his normal, mean self. He hasn't changed at all and now that I know that, I can move on from his stupid self. It's clear he doesn't regret what he did.

I bet he doesn't even feel bad about it anymore. If he ever did in the first place.

Keenan's face flashes in my mind, and I lift my glass, downing half of it in one go. I'm so tired of these asshole men thinking they can just do whatever the fuck they want and get away with it. Why am I a pawn in their games?

"Easy there, tiger. I don't want to have to carry you to bed later," Sebastian jokes, trying to ease the tension I hadn't realized has gathered in the air.

When his turn comes, he faces me after he glances at his card.

"I'm coming for you, E."

I raise a brow and he flips his card to reveal a five of diamonds.

"Alright, five fingers everybody." We all hold up a hand, fingers spread wide. "Never have I ever read a book in one sitting."

Julia and I both put a finger down, and Marcus scoffs.

"Nerds," he murmurs, raising his glass to get a drink, laughing as Julia smacks his shoulder.

"Alright, never have I ever drank a whole bottle of Jack by myself in four hours." He smirks as I roll my eyes, putting down another finger.