60 - The chapter where everyone finds out

Christian

As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the game room it was already possible to hear the laughter inside, Rose opened the door, attracting the attention of everyone who was already arguing about which games to start. Her parents seemed very comfortable in the place, Alex was sitting on Jack's lap on one of the sofas, Liam was sitting in an armchair with a smile on his face, but his expression was far from calm. Addison was preparing the boxes of games they had brought.

All eyes turned in our direction as soon as we entered, Liam was the first to speak up, and his choked voice showed us that he was far from sober.

" I would guess that they have gone to do something besides get the pizza, but it looks like they have company. Hello little beauty…”

" Hi " Cam looked like he was about to faint as he spoke directly to Liam.

" I don't know this one, will you introduce us, Rose? " Jack asked.

" This is Cam, our new friend. Be nice to her, boys." Rose winked, taking the pizzas and placing them on the coffee table.

I went to greet Rose's family, leaving Cam by the door, looking like she was about to run away at the first opportunity.

" I'm serious, guys. Who is she? " Theo whispered after watching Cam for a few seconds.

" She is from my class, has no friends, and was being bullied by some girls at the pizza place," I explained.

" And she's not the type who can defend herself," Rose added in a low tone.

Everyone turned unceremoniously toward the girl who remained frozen near the door.

" Come on girl, our fake daughter has given us the shaft, we need a new member of our group," Jack called out.

Cam approached shyly as Addison pulled out several boxes of games and spread them out on the carpet.

" Okay, Rose, did you get a partner yet? " Jack asked.

" I'll make the sacrifice," I murmured, sitting down beside him.

Rose smiled, resting her head on my shoulder before taking my hand.

" Let's start with the basics. Jenga," Alex warned, starting to set up the tower. While everyone settled in a wheel on the floor.

" Wait, aren't you going to form pairs? " I interrupted.

" Rose is the only one who needs supervision," Addison explained without paying much attention to me.

I looked at Rose with a cross expression, finding her cunning gaze locked on mine.

" You are a manipulative bitch, you know that?”

" Yes, I know." Her smile widened.

The evening started off smoothly, Camille slowly getting into the first few games, and to my surprise, Rose was behaving very well, although she was quite anxious in the games she could not participate in.

We were both scoring well, and with each game I could see that Rose had pulled out all the competitive spirit of her father, who was getting more and more excited with each new point scored, and I had the impression that Addison was cheating at card games. We reached a climax during the foosball match, when Jack took on Theo.

" THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, PETERSON. I WIN THEM ALL! " he slaps the side of the table, celebrating another goal while everyone watches in astonishment.

" Is it just me, or is no one in this family normal? " Liam whispered to me.

" Now that you realize it? " I returned "I'm not going to play with him!”

That statement attracted the attention of Rose, who was talking to Camille a few meters away.

" You need to! I can't play!”

" No way," I denied.

Rose held my hand, pulling me away from everyone before trying to convince me.

" Chris, please!”

" Rose, look at him. I won't do it," I shook my head.

She took a deep breath and moved a little closer, still holding my hand, tilting her head back to look into my eyes.

" Christian, you know that winning is everything to me, right? If I could, I'd hit him over the head with a bottle myself just to win," she lowered her voice to one I knew well.

" What are you doing? " I whispered to her.

" Just talking to you. If you can beat my father, I'll make it up to you," she assured me, stroking my hand lightly.

She's mistaken if she thinks she can convince me with so little!

Just for the pleasure of seeing her struggling with this nonsensical plan, I decided to continue with the subject.

" Oh yeah, and what kind of reward do you plan to give me? " I raised both eyebrows.

"You can ask me anything, the limit is your imagination, Christian," she returned, with a small smile on her face, without breaking eye contact with me.

We spent a few seconds staring at each other as my mind processed what she had just offered.

" I'm next! " I warned the others, releasing her hand and returning to the table.

Liam and Alex exchanged a complicit look as I approached.

" What did she tell you to change your mind? " Alex teased me.

" I bet I can guess," Liam added, sipping his beer bottle, looking more content with Skyller's absence.

Theo walked away from the table in complete defeat and I took his place, taking a deep breath at the mocking look on the man's face. He placed the ball between the small team of puppets, and then began the match.

" I thought you were afraid to play with me, young man," he commented without taking his eyes off the table, distracting me a bit.

" I'm sorry, Mr. Campbell, but I'm more afraid of making your daughter lose," I replied, grimacing as the man took advantage of my distraction, scoring the first goal.

" THAT'S IT! THAT WAS THE FIRST OF MANY, DAVIS!”

" The limit is five goals, Jackson," Addison warned.

" What the hell! " I heard Rose complaining.

" The first of five, Davis! " he corrected " So you're afraid of a little girl like my daughter?”

I didn't answer; I tried to concentrate on the little ball dancing between the mini players on the table.

" You're afraid too, Dad. If you weren't, you wouldn't forbid me to play, and I would kick your ass myself," Rose returned.

" That's what you say, Little Girl," he returned, before spinning the puppet control around with force, scoring another goal.

I heard Rose groan in disgust behind me, as I tried to focus as much as possible on that game.

" Chris, come on, I know you're not the best at this game, but…”

" Rose, be quiet, I need to concentrate," I cut her off.

Rose raised both hands in a surrender position, then stepped away. Resuming the game, trying to shut out as much of the noise around me as possible.

The limit is your imagination!

Come on Christian, you can't lose!

Without taking my eye off the ball, I made one last move, managing to get past Jack's defenders, and hearing Rose cheer beside me with my first goal.

That seemed to destabilize the man a bit, and he became more anxious, making more mistakes, and a few minutes later, I managed to score the fifth goal, while he managed only three.

Jack banged angrily on the side of the table, swearing a few words, while Addison laughed beside him. But my biggest surprise came from Rose, she exploded with joy as soon as I scored the last goal, and as I moved away from the table, I was surprised when her arms encircled my neck and her lips met mine.

I didn't think, I just reacted, my hands went to her waist, clinging her body to mine as I responded to the kiss without hesitation, forgetting for a second that we were in the middle of all our friends and in front of her parents.

Regaining that awareness I used my hands on her waist to pull her away, though not completely releasing her, looking into her eyes with a surprised expression.

" Okay, I guess I did get a little carried away," Rose turned away and looked shy.

" A little? " I quipped, finding it amusing to see the blush on her face.

" What happened? Aren't they a couple? " Cam asked looking confused by our reaction.

" No! We are not a couple! We just…”

" They just make out whenever they're alone and think no one knows," Theodore explained, to our surprise.

All right, I knew that everyone had already realized this, and the way Harry had spoken to me earlier was proof of it. I just didn't expect that even Theo had realized it.

" That is…”

" Where were you two at lunch? " Liam interrupted me.

" Oh my God, you two! My parents and my stepmother are here! " Rose tried to run away while her mother set up the place for the next game.

" Rose, don't use us to run away from your friends," Alex scolded.

" Exactly, you told me yourself at Halloween that you chose that costume to impress him. Too bad he ended up in the hospital," Addison added naturally, turning her daughter's face a shade of red that I didn't think was possible.

I crossed my arms, staring at her with an amused expression.

" So you were to blame for that shamelessness? " Jack closed his face.

" You were dressed as a stripper! " Rose returned.

" Plus, she told me that it had happened six times in the last two weeks," Addison confided to Alex, making my eyes widen.

Why would she tell her own mother something like that?

" Six times in two weeks? Wow Jack, he has more energy than you do." The woman teased her boyfriend, who looked less and less pleased with the situation.

" Enough of this subject. All right, we admit to being casual, can we get back to the game? " Rose rolled her eyes.

Everyone went back to where Addison had opened a new game, once again sitting in a circle on the floor. I was about to settle down next to Rose when Jack put his arm around me, resting his hand on my shoulder.

" You know boy, so far you've beaten me at foosball, had sex with my daughter, and impressed my girlfriend. I don't need to warn you that this isn't winning you any points with me, is it?”

" Dad," Rose said in a warning tone.

He released me, allowing me to sit down next to Rose, who sat down facing me, not looking away for a second.

Great, now I have to deal with this too!