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“I don’t know” Derrick pursed his mouth even as Calder and Max both leaned in We were outnumbered Damn it

“You’re not getting out of this” Calder had the saot him exactly what he wanted

Opening and shutting his , Derrick shot me a helpless look And I supposed I owed him after he’d helped er person than my stupid brothers

“It’s okay” I shrugged like I hadn’t been counting down the seconds until we could get horizontal “I need to work on soraphy for the kids”

“Thanks And good luck” He nodded at me like that was that, and I supposed it was

Nothing left to do but eat and then head back to the cabin on , lonely shower then collapsed on the bed with my tablet Unable to concentrate on my music, I stared hard at the locked door Derrick better hurry indeed

Chapter Seventeen

Derrick

“I’ve got you right where I want you” Calder laughed wickedly as he set his beer aside

“So you think,” I saidthe bait We’d been friends so ht he had all my tellsto not reveal a da about where I’d rather be

Because Caldercards and shooting the breeze with his friends and brothers, but I was most decidedly not where I wanted to be Where I wanted to be was back in the cabin with Arthur, finally putting an end to all this teasing between us And every time my mind wandered back to him and my endless fantasies, I lost another hand and ended up suckered into another game

“Raise?” Calder pushed more chips into the pot

“Yep” I matched his call

“I’m out” Predictably, Max folded He was the type of rock who only ever stayed in when his winning was alh with Calder over the years to know that playing it safe seldoh, I won on a backdoor flush, turning my two hearts into a flush with a lucky deal

“Da another swig of beer The tension in his shoulders and jaw said that he was about to ask for a re