Page 127 of Burn Bright

“Counting me out already, House Stark?” Harriet appears, biting on a Jolly Rancher and taking Easton’s abandoned chair. She’s in khakis and a white button-down, her outfit for volunteering at the hospital, and my smile has fucking exploded.

Xander has a similar one. “Hey, I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Gotta pad the resume with extracurriculars.” She scrapes her chair closer to the table.

“Fashionably late, Fisher,” I tease.

She sucks on the hard candy, but her lips try to perk. “You need new eyes, Cobalt boy.Thisisn’t fashion.” She plucks at her button-down. “It’s necessity.”

“I’m pretty sure you could make a heavy-duty trash bag look cute.”

Xander deals out some cards, more tensed.

Harriet notices him and talks more to the cards she’s stacking in her hand. “Maybe you should keep those eyes. They’re clearly painting me in the best light.”

“You know how to play?” Xander asks her.

“Nope. You want to teach me, Paul Atreides?” The first time Xander and Harriet met, he was dressed as Paul Atreides from theDunemovies…or books. I have no idea what he was going for. I’ve neither watched nor read them.

Hurt flares in my chest seeing Harriet give him attention. It shouldn’t. Three days ago, I literally told her I’d be fineif she got with Xander—and saying those words out loud felt like shoving pushpins in my mouth. Witnessing this possibility now is like swallowing them.

“It’s not too hard.” Xander tosses her the dice.

She catches with a slight smile.

Jealousy hammers against my ribcage. They’re not even really flirting, and breathing already becomes painful. Fucking fantastic. I down a large swig of water.

“You’ll get the hang of it fast,” Xander sits back down.

“I love the vote of confidence.” She rests her elbows on the table. “Lay it on me.”

He describes the rules, then the goal of being the first to build the largest army or road, or the first to create the most settlements and cities. Soon, we’re all playing together. Rolling dice. Trading our resource cards—a critical component of the game.

“Either of you want to give me all your brick for a couple sheep?” Harriet asks us.

“All my brick?” Xander’s brows jump. “Fortwosheep?”

She nearly laughs. “It’s called shooting your shot.”

He laughs back. “Savage.”

My stomach knots. Cards. Focus on the cards.

Harriet pumps her bicep. Barely any muscle. I smile over at her, and I’m not sure she notices me until she says, “What about you, Friend?” Her ocean blue eyes dart to mine. I swear flush creeps up her neck. “Give me all you’ve got for a couple Bo Peeps?”

My entire hand is brick. “You run a hard bargain.” I lean toward her. “But okay.”

“Okay?”

“I’ll take the deal.”

“What?” Xander scrunches his face at me, especially as I pass over all my cards. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He spreads out his hands. “Pause the game.” He shoots a harsh look at me, reminding me of his dad, my Uncle Loren, who can kill with one glare. Xander can be soft one second and lethal the next. “You’re going to be left withnothing, Ben.”

“She’s giving me two sheep.”

“To do what with? Sheep are practically worthless.”

“Hey, they’re cute,” Harriet defends with not much fight.