A Drinking Game
Characters: Reece and Susanna Setting: Reece's room, evening
It was a great way to start the day, Susanna thought after Ryan left and she was dressing for the day. Much better than the day before, anyway. No blaring alarms, and if she were hearing right, it sounded as if a storm was coming in. She did so love storms. It made her wish she was back home, sitting in that little alcove window seat with a mug of hot cocoa or cider or even tea, watching the rain beat down over the grounds, seeing the lightning strike in the distance. It was soothing to her.
And so she did just that. Susanna went to the kitchen, got herself a big cup of tea, and went back to her room, sitting in the corner of the couch with the drapes cracked open so she could see the rain falling in the courtyard, a book in her lap that she peered down at periodically. It was well into the afternoon by the time she remembered that she’d planned to find Reece and enlist his help in assembling the ballet bar she’d received. She still didn’t leave her room, though. After a little while, she finally turned the computer on, spotting the only new entry easily.
Caroline was dead.
And go figure that Jae didn’t give any details. It was... disappointing, really, that Caroline was dead. She’d actually liked her well enough. Not in a ‘let’s be friends’ kind of way, but because she’d seen a bit of familiarity in the woman, a lack of interest in being truly social that she could appreciate. It truly was a loss, even if Susanna didn’t feeling anything deeper than a slight disappointment over it.
It was close to dinnertime when she finally ventured from her room, heading toward the library, staying under the cover of the second story balcony to avoid getting wet. As she ventured back out of the library, having returned the book she’d finished over the afternoon and picked a new one, she paused at the stairwell, internally debating whether or not Reece was in his room. She hadn’t quite found her footing with him yet, but she wanted to, even if only to be able to count him as an ally.
Reece wasn’t in his room, but coming out of the kitchen instead. He’d put to cleaning up the bloodstain, which was mostly gone now, and after cleaning up after himself, he’d gone back to bed. Or maybe not so much bed, but rather the bottle of whiskey and a strong consideration of bed, which meant he spent about three hours, alternating between drinking and laying on his bed staring at his ceiling, waiting for demons to pass.
Remember me fondly.
For the millionth time he’d asked himself how he couldn’t.
Dinner wasn’t going to happen. Not sitting in the same room as that bar, thinking of her the whole time. That was just asking to throw up again, so he’d raided the kitchen early, found enough to make a sandwich and was already eating it while he walked. He wouldn’t have eaten if it weren’t for the fact that he was sure he needed something to soak up the whiskey. He wasn’t drunk, but there was a nice fuzz around things. So much of one, he wasn’t really looking at her when he started back towards the stairs.
Susanna had just decided to go ahead and go up to see if Reece was ‘home’ when she heard someone coming toward her, and she glanced over her shoulder to see who it was. Her smile was soft, reserved almost in a deliberate way out of respect for the events of the day. “Reece,” she greeted him. “I was just about to head up to see you,” she admitted. Though with it having been so close to the normal dinner time, she really should have anticipated he’d have been getting food.
Reece stared at her for a moment, not sure why she was talking to him. It made sense, sure, but there was a long moment before his fuzzed brain processed it and he was swallowing. “Did you need something?” he asked, not sure what she would be coming to find him for. He hesitated for a moment before starting up the stairs, assuming she would follow him.
At the question, Susanna shook her head slightly, though she couldn’t help thinking that he was a tough shell to break through. With as much work as he was proving to be, she really wasn’t sure how much longer she would attempt to get on his good side, but for now she would keep on with it. “No, nothing in particular,” she answered verbally as she started up the stairs after him. “I’d intended to ask for your help with the ballet bar, but considering what happened, I do not feel it would be appropriate. I liked her.” And though her words were precise, they rang true.
Reece winced a little then glanced back at her. “Sorry I forgot about that.” He had said he’d do it for her, hadn’t he? “I liked her too. A lot.” Though part of him wondered if he liked her more now that she was gone, sort of an after the fact thing. “Probably not, no.”
Susanna waved the apology off, shaking her head. “Do not worry about it. It’ll keep until another time,” she assured him, wanting to make it clear that she wasn’t bothered by waiting even if it was a little annoying. She wouldn’t let that show, though. Besides, she’d waited this long to dance properly, she could wait just a little bit longer. The admission came as a bit of a surprise, but she filed it away for further thought later. “Then I am terribly sorry for the loss. Do you know what happened? All I’ve heard on it was what I read of Jae’s post on the journals, which did not have any details.”
Reece rubbed at his face a little, feeling bad that he’d forgotten despite the circumstances and despite his annoyance with Susanna from time to time. “Tomorrow. Remind me. I’ll take care of it.” He shrugged one shoulder before pulling out his key to let them into his room. “Fell, jumped? Looks like she put a lot of effort into getting over the wall, so I lean away from jumped, but what do I know? I know she wanted to get out of here. She didn’t seem to think she’d be sticking around for very long.” Holding the door open for her he waited for her to let herself into his room, wondering if she’d come or not.
“All right,” was Susanna’s only reply when he told her to remind him. And tomorrow had better be devoid of any extreme, dramatic events or she was likely to go out of her mind with having to pretend to care and continue to wait. She sighed softly, giving a small shake of her head at Reece’s answer. “From the one conversation I had with her, I have to admit I am a little surprised. Although I would imagine that the punishments yesterday influenced her decision.” She couldn’t fathom how that might have pushed Caroline over the edge into an escape attempt - because she really couldn’t see her having jumped. When he held his door open, Susanna took it as an invitation and moved past him into the room.
“I’m sure it didn’t help,” Reece said watching her walk into his room. It wasn’t quite neat, but it wasn’t like he had a lot of stuff. The bottle of whiskey she’d found for him was sitting on the coffee table, glass next to it, obviously used today. “Still...what can you do?” That was the question he’d asked himself all day. He still didn’t have an answer.
“Nothing,” Susanna answered, though she was pretty sure that had been a rhetorical question. “It’s upset you quite a bit,” she observed, reaching out almost hesitantly to touch his arm as she moved around him to his couch, sitting down and wondering if he would do the same.
He looked at her, the touch, the way she went to his couch to sit and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe. Well...yeah. Brings up old memories.” He hesitated for a moment, not sure where else to go before he finished off sandwich, then joined her on the couch.
Providing comfort wasn’t something Susanna was accustomed to doing, but it seemed like the right thing to do. She kept quiet while he finished off his sandwich, waiting until he sat down with her before saying anything. “Does it? I’m guessing they are not the most pleasant of memories,” she said softly, encouraging him to talk about it.
Reece barely looked at her out of the corner of his eye before reaching for the bottle again, pouring some into the glass for her then keeping the bottle for himself. “Nope. Not at all. On my second girl I’ve carried down to the clinic and the first one was half dead, the other was dead.” He took a pull off the bottle, though not a hefty one. He knew well enough than to get shit-faced.
Susanna took the offered glass, taking a small sip from it. She had no intention of getting drunk, but since he’d offered, she could drink the one glass slow enough to still appear sociable. “Oh. Well, hopefully you’ll not have to carry any other girls down to the clinic. That must have been difficult, though, since you seem to have been fond of her. Did you know her well?” She wanted to change the topic, but she didn’t want to seem insensitive, and if this would give her an opportunity to ‘bond’ with Reece, then she would take it.
Reece turned enough to put his elbow on the back of his couch rubbing his hand over his head. “Not really. We just had lunch one day. I wanted to get to know her.” His eyes finally fell on Susanna, frowning at her. “They keep getting worse, health-wise. I’m going to stop carrying woman around all together I think.”
“Ahh,” Susanna said, nodding slightly in understanding at that. She couldn’t say that she’d really wanted to get to know Caroline, but she could see why Reece might have wanted to. “Hmm, probably for the best. Things seem to be getting worse here entirely, though. Hopefully that trend will stop soon.” She really wasn’t the optimistic sort, though she wouldn’t call herself an outright cynic either. She could play optimistic well enough, though.
He looked at her, then frowned. “You think it’s getting that bad?” he asked. Sure, the stocks were a little fucked up or at least the punishment was, his Caroline was dead, but it didn’t look like someone had hurt her. “People start playing nice, things might go better.”
She shook her head slightly. “Hmm, no, not that bad quite yet. But this environment is bound to be a breeding ground for trouble.” Especially if Ryan failed to keep his head in the game. She was going to be furious with him if he ruined her chances at freedom, and yet she just couldn’t seem to stay away from him. “Things might,” she agreed. “I’ve mostly tried to keep to myself the past few days, though.”
“Mostly?” Reece asked, looking at Susanna, skepticism all over his features. “Who have you been failing to not see?” He knew the answer, but he was curious if she’d answer. “It’s that bad because there’s not a leader.”
Susanna quirked a brow at the look Reece gave her, and she was faintly amused at the question. “Hmm, I just meant that I’ve not ventured out too much. I have on occasion left my room, though. I had a rather nice conversation with Carmel just the other day. Have you met her yet? And then a dreadfully short, unsuccessful conversation with a little Asian boy, though I didn’t catch his name,” she explained. She knew he was referring to Ryan with his question, she didn’t have to be psychic to figure that one out, but there was no way in hell she was bringing Ryan up with him. “Hmm, that could definitely be a part of it. That, and there is no real direction here, no purpose.”
“I have talked to her. Quite the woman,” Reece agreed then nodded about Jun-he. “Choi. He’s an interesting one.” That she didn’t bring up Ryan didn’t surprise him really. “And your recently incarcerated again friend?” he asked. “Cal and I were talking about that, about how we need something. I guess we’ll see what plays out. I know I’m not that guy.”
“She is, yes,” Susanna agreed. She’d respected Carmel to a point, really. “Hmm, interesting is one way of putting it. He lit up in the activity room and didn’t appreciate my pointing out that it is a rather rude thing to do. There was a bit of a language barrier, so he might not have understood when I explained why it was rude.” And she didn’t really care if Reece didn’t side with her on the issue; she still stood by what she’d said to the Asian imbecile. When he asked specifically about Ryan, she leveled a look at him. “Do you really want to talk about him?” she asked dryly. She knew she didn’t. “Hmm, no, I’m really not a get in the middle of things and take charge kind of woman, and who among us would we trust as a leader? We are all convicts. Not the most trustworthy group,” she pointed out.
“I think I ran into the same problem with him. Though he was also drunk,” Reece explained, half smiling a little. “And we were outside so his smoking didn’t bother me. I was doing the same.” Reece watched her, meeting her look when she turn to look at him. “Maybe. I am curious. Given what happened. Did you find out what he did?” Reece couldn’t fight the fact that he didn’t know and he wanted to know. He didn’t trust Ryan, but finding out just what it was he’d done would be useful information. “No we aren’t, but there’s bound to be someone. Or a group of someone’s.” Reece shrugged one shoulder. “Oh and there’s a new guy you should be looking out for. Antoine? He’s trouble. Just keep more than your usual distance.”
Susanna grinned a bit when Reece told her of his experience with the Asian kid. “Well see, the smoking didn’t bother me, and it certainly wouldn’t have outside. I’m a smoker as well. I just have the good sense not to smoke in public rooms.” She’d smoked in her own room, but that was different. Ahhh, and so that was why he was asking. At the question she sighed and rolled her eyes as if annoyed. “No,” she answered, tone just a little frustrated. “He’s very evasive,” she lied smoothly. “But I do not believe his confession any more than I’m assuming you do.” The skepticism on that was bound to be widespread, and so she felt no guilt at all in expressing that. She wasn’t looking to screw Ryan over, but nor could she afford to be seen as being completely aligned with him either. “Antoine, hmm? What kind of trouble is he?” she asked curiously.
“How dare he,” Reece said, slight bit of mocking to his tone. “Evasive. And you’re not worried?” he asked, seriousness slipping into his tone. “Because I’m worried for you.” And part of Reece was wondering if she did know, but he didn’t want to accuse her of lying. Not when he was actually worried about her and Ryan. Too many hurt and dead girls in too short a span of time. “The eating people kind.”
Her expression turned slightly speculative, but she had a moment of genuine surprise when he said he was worried for her. “I don’t know what he did. I wish I did, because yes, I am a little bit worried. But, I told you before, I don’t trust him, though I don’t think he’ll hurt me.” Her brows furrowed a bit in thought at that last part, as if considering the possibility. She wasn’t actually confident on that point. She had a feeling that like her, he wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate someone who became a threat, and considering what she knew about him already, she couldn’t discount that possibility.
Susanna’s stomach rolled at Reece’s answer about Antoine, and the disgust in her expression was completely genuine. “Oh dear God,” she breathed. “A cannibal? That is extremely disturbing! If they would put a cannibal in here, then what other kinds of people?” It was the first time since being here that she’d actually found herself concerned about who she was incarcerated with.
“It’s not enough worry for you to stay away from him though huh?” Reece asked, guessing that was the case, especially since she hadn’t denied seeing him. “Really? Because I wouldn’t promise that. There’s certain people here who might not, but him...I get a bad feeling.” Reece wasn’t a cold blooded killer, hell he wasn’t even a killer. And he had sisters whom he’d protected despite being the bad apple on the Conner Family Tree. As old fashioned as it was, you really just didn’t hurt girls. Well, not unless they swung first. Even then you went more for ‘detain’ rather than hurt.
“That’s what the doc says. Said it was in the papers or something, but I’m not much of a news watcher, even less when I got to prison.” Reece gave her a bit of a look, then ran his hand over his head. “Quite a few. The girl whose boyfriend got pulled out apparently went on a bit of a crime spree and well even Wu’s got blood on his hands. I have blood on my hands.” Though that had been quite literally and it was enough for Reece to reach for the bottle again, holding it in his hands for a moment before taking a sip off of it.
Susanna kept her eyes on Reece’s, as if trying to gauge just what he was wanting from her in this. “I’ve not sought him out,” she answered, and it was true enough. The times she and Ryan had been together in the past few days, he’d come to her, he’d sought her out, and she knew that she was far too weak to deny those baser instincts. She lifted the glass he’d given her to her lips, taking a sip of the whiskey. This was a thin line to tread, a balancing act to keep from outing Ryan and yet cover her own tracks at the same time. “There’s no one here that I trust completely to not turn violent, except perhaps Cal and Autumn,” she finally replied. She didn’t know whether or not he’d met Autumn yet, but she just couldn’t see the woman becoming violent.
It was tickling some vague memory in the back of her mind, but Susanna couldn’t quite get a handle on it. She hadn’t been one to spend a lot of time watching the news and such, and so she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t just imagining that she’d heard of this cannibal before. “Hmm, me either,” she admitted, referring to not keeping up with the news. She tilted her head slightly when Reece listed a few people with blood on their hands. She waited until after he’d taken a drink to speak, and when she did, her voice was soft, gentle. “Negligent homicide, right? What happened?” She wondered if he would actually tell her.
“Or turned him away,” Reece said filling in the blanks and shaking his head. Maybe she liked to treat that line, that razor’s edge between safety and danger. He nodded about Cal, but at the same time wouldn’t rule the man out. He was wiry and could probably hold his own if need be. As for Autumn he didn’t know her beyond the journals, though that might be accurate.
Looking back at her, Reece’s mind was warring between the truth and a brush off. The memories were real right now, lingering at the surface where he didn’t want them, which made them harder to ignore. “We tried to rob a bar run by a couple of gun nuts. They shot first, both my friends died.” And he’d been left to take the responsibility for it. He looked at the bottle in his hands instead of her, waiting another breath before taking another sip.
There was nothing to say to that. Susanna wouldn’t insult him by trying to deny it, but nor was she about to talk about her being with Ryan in any way. They were using protection now, and so it was no ones business but their own. And if he did decide to try to hurt her, she was more than confident in her ability to defend herself. In any case, she stayed quiet on the matter, taking a drink and then focusing on the other part of the conversation. “I cannot imagine how difficult a loss that must have been,” she murmured. “It seems rather ridiculous, though, that you would have been saddled with negligent homicide charges for it. But such is the system. It often does not make sense.” If it did, she wouldn’t be here today.
Her silence on the Ryan matter was all Reece needed, and he filed it away as a reminder, no matter how fuzzy his brain was at the moment. “Someone had to take the blame. Happens. I went to jail, I’m doing my time to make up for my mistakes.”
“Hmm, we all have hard lessons to learn in life,” she said softly, looking down into the glass she was holding. “Some of us just take longer to learn them than others. God knows I am.” For whatever reason, she thought it could only benefit her to admit to having abysmal taste in men. If Ryan did go into self-destruct mode, she wanted to be able to come out on the other side of it intact.
“No one said I’ve learned my way,” Reece said, thinking of his own abysmal taste in women, the one sitting next to him evidence enough of that. “What are you learning still?”
Susanna quirked a brow at that. “I didn’t say you have,” she replied simply. She glanced away at the question, looking down into her glass again before lifting it to her lips and downing the contents. Fucking sipping it slowly. If they were going to keep on this, she wasn’t going to do it with a completely clear mind. “I told you, I have terrible taste in men. It would seem that nearly two years in prison surrounded only by women hasn’t cured me of that.” She held her glass out to him, silently asking him to pour her more.
He watched her for a moment, not filling her glass yet. “You do realize you just insulted me right? And left me curious just what it is about the pretty cowboy that makes him so bad.” Reece was purposefully holding the bottle back now, waiting on her to answer his questions before he gave her more.
Susanna laughed shortly at that, shaking her head. “I wasn’t referring to you at all. But really? It doesn’t say much about me that I couldn’t...” she trailed off, shaking her head again and leaning forward to set her glass aside. “I’ve a history of attracting the wrong kind of men, even before prison. And anyway, you’re not quite the same. You haven’t pursued me in any way or pushed me for anything.” She was going to have to tread carefully now, because even she knew she was getting far too close to hinting at what lay behind Ryan’s charming mask.
Reece refilled her glass when she set it down ,giving her credit for the answer. “So you meant him, unless there’s been someone else.” That much was easy to tell. “Not really the pushing type. Thinking that might not be my best move here.” And it was rare that he thought he had a best move. Plus Mojo had been distracting. “What has he pushed you for?”
She just looked at him for a moment before shaking her head. “No, there hasn’t been anyone else.” And she was going to try to not have there be anyone else now. Things were already complicated enough for her as it was. “Hmmm, I stand by what I said before; you are smart.” Not particularly intelligent, really, but smart wasn’t quite the same thing. She picked her refilled glass back up and took a drink from it, sighing mentally that Reece just really wasn’t letting the topic of Ryan go. “I’d really rather not talk about Ryan,” she replied simply.
He was almost surprised there hadn’t been anyone else, but Reece kept that thought to himself. “No one accuses me of that, but sure, I’ll take it.” He watched her fight him on it, but then nodded. “Too bad. You said he pushes, what’s he pushing for?”
Susanna rather thought that Reece didn’t give himself enough credit at times, though she wasn’t particularly fond of stroking egos, and so she let it go at him accepting it. She shouldn’t have been surprised when he kept on the topic, and she felt a moment’s frustration for managing to talk herself into this hole. Now, how to get herself out of it without completely screwing Ryan over. It was still a bit premature to ruin him. “He wasn’t particularly pleased when I said no, and he pushed until he turned the no to a yes,” she answered, going with as much honesty as she could, shrugging just a little.
Reece went still, eyes turning towards her. “Did the no really become a yes?”
Looking down at her glass, Susanna swirled the liquid around in it, watching as it sloshed around the glass. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes, not really believing there was a right answer to that question. If she said yes, it didn’t say much for her, but if she said no, then she would essentially be naming Ryan a rapist, and she really didn’t want to do that, especially since she hadn’t felt violated in quite that way. “I’m weak,” she finally gave him a rather non-answer all things considered.
She didn’t need to name him as anything, Reece was already starting to think that. “That I don’t believe for a second,” he said watching her. “You’re nothing near that.” Which meant Ryan pushed hard enough to break her. “Do you think he would have ever gotten ‘no’ through his pretty little skull?” Because part of Reece was worrying. That wasn’t good.
This could end very badly, and Susanna just hoped that she would be able to find a way to smooth things over. “Oh, but I am. And he’s very persuasive. I didn’t try particularly hard to push the no,” she admitted, lifting the glass to take a long drink of it. She really ought to slow down, because she could already feel the hint of a buzz around the edges of her mind. She just didn’t drink hard liquor very often.
“You know you don’t have to do everything he says right?” Reece said, remembering that about one of his sister’s boyfriends. Of course they’d reminded him of the same with a good few not-so-veiled threats. “You didn’t answer the second question.”
“Of course I know that,” Susanna answered, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. She really didn’t think anyone could force her to do something she didn’t want to do, or stop her from doing what she did want to do. “Oh, hmm, I’d thought what I did say covered it. I suppose Ryan is a man accustomed to not having to try very hard with women, but that he’s smart enough to know when pushing will lead to trouble,” she answered, slow with her words as she spoke carefully, tone thoughtful and considering as if she was taking the question seriously and not lying through her teeth.
“I hope he does. I know more than one person who’d probably be willing to help me remind him of his place if he forgot.” Because you didn’t do that. No way. Reece left the couch, getting up to pace a little. He had too much swirling in him to not do something. That was why he’d had the bottle out, to try and quell it.
“I really don’t think that’s necessary, but if it becomes so, I’ll let you know,” Susanna replied softly, watching as he got up and started to pace. She really did not have confidence in Ryan’s ability to control himself, and she was not going to let him take her down with him when he did self-destruct.
“No? Shame,” Reece said taking another sip of his drink. Hitting something might actually feel good right now. At least he could control that. Slowing he turned to look at her. “Just be careful.”
“I will,” Susanna replied simply, thinking on his previous response for a moment longer before setting her drink aside and standing up. She moved toward him, her fingers lifting to wrap around the neck of the bottle he was drinking from. “Shame, hmm? Are you looking for a reason to hit him, or just wanting to hit something in general right now?” she asked as she tried to gently pry the bottle from him.
He almost fought her on the bottle, but eventually let her pull it away. “It’s been a bad day Susanna. I get to have bad days.” And he got to want to punch someone. Because on top of all of it, there was a message from Mojo postponing things, not wanting to see him, which sucked since he was actually looking forward to that.
“It has been, and you do,” she agreed, setting the bottle on his desk and turning back to him. “Do you want me to leave?” she asked, taking a step closer to him. She wasn’t feeling particularly frisky, but she understood the physical side of things, and she thought that if perhaps she could push things in that direction, it might help him some. Or it might not. What did she know about normal human emotion?
“Pretty sure if I wanted you to go I would have sent out the door already,” Reece said, making a face. He wasn’t sure what she was angling at but he wasn’t ready to toss her out just yet.
Susanna didn’t respond to that, though she did reach out to him then, touching him for the first time since she’d left his room the last time. Her hands lifted to rest against his shoulders, thumbs rubbing lightly. “Maybe I can help you get out of your head for a little while,” she suggested.
That was where she was going with it. Reece wondered if he would have caught that earlier, if he hadn’t been drinking. Reaching for her hands he caught her wrists, pulling them away for a moment. “Not sure that’s the best idea.”
If there was one thing Susanna did not like, it was being rejected, but she didn’t let that show. She tilted her head slightly, looking up at him through her lashes. “We don’t have to sleep together if that’s not what you want. I won’t push for that, but I would like to try to help you get out of your head. As you said, it’s be a bad day. There’s no shame in getting a little reprieve from it.”
“What kind of reprieve did you have in mind?” Reece asked, not sure why he was asking, but fuck it, he was curious.
Susanna tipped her head back, laughing very softly under her breath as she shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I just know that I want to help.” Which was definitely not a common feeling for her, and she was certain that there must be some ulterior motive for it even if she couldn’t think of one in that moment.
That wasn’t helping anything other than his skepticism, but at the same time, Reece was a sucker too. “Well you took my bottle away,” he said, nodding towards his desk, still holding on to her wrists. Not hard, just keeping her hands against his chest. “But I’m open to suggestions.”
Glancing at the bottle and then back to him, Susanna’s expression turned speculative. She thought on things for a minute before offering a suggestion. “Hmm, a man like you? I’m betting you probably know some good drinking games that would work with even just two,” she told him. Sure, she’d taken the bottle away, but it wasn’t because she’d necessarily wanted him to stop drinking.
“A drinking game?” Reece asked, but he didn’t seem too put off by the idea. “I guess I know a few.” Not that he was that great at them.
“It just popped in my head,” Susanna answered, shrugging slightly. “So what do you say? We can get drunk, and... Just see what happens.”
Reece thought about it then nodded, reaching for the bottle and pulling her back to the couch. “We’ll see what happens.”
Susanna let him pull her back to the couch, though she didn’t miss that he didn’t actually suggest any kind of drinking games. Well then, she could move things along if she had to. “Hmm, have a deck of cards in here?” she asked, figuring that cards were always an easy choice for drinking games.
Reece didn’t want to let go of her, not really but wound up nodding towards the desk. “Top drawer,” he said focusing on pouring her another drink and keeping the bottle for himself.
After retrieving the deck of cards from his desk, Susanna went back to the couch, sitting with him and getting the cards out, pulling out the jokers and putting them back in the case before setting it aside. She handed the cards to him before taking her glass.
Reece looked at the cards for a moment then shuffled them a couple of times with ease. “High and low then. Lower card drinks, aces are high.” He cut the deck in half handed half to her then flipped over his first card, a ten of clubs.
“Simple enough,” Susanna said, taking the half of the deck offered to her. She flipped the top card. “Four of diamonds. My drink,” she murmured, lifting her glass in a little mock toast before taking a sip of it. Flipping the next card, she watched him, wondering where he would fall next to her nine of hearts.
Reece’s next card was a six of spades, which meant it was his turn to drink. “Simple works,” he said before tilting the bottle up for his own drink. “We won’t forget the rules after a while.” He flipped another card, queen of hearts. How fitting, he thought.
There was truth in those words, definitely. Susanna was content enough to play the game, taking rather small sips of her drinking when it was her turn as she didn’t want to get completely trashed too quickly, and she knew all too well that it wouldn’t take too much to get her drunk. It was risky to do this, but she hoped it would smooth over things a little bit between her and Reece. It was a while later when she actually spoke again, feeling rather tipsy now. “Has there been anyone else for you?” she asked curiously, not even a hint of jealousy in her tone. She truly didn’t care whether or not there was, she was just curious. Reece was an attractive man, after all.
“Ever?” Reece asked flipping over another card, waiting for her to flip hers. “Because that’s impressive if you thought I was a virgin the other day.” He was a little tipsy himself, but fine with the happy buzz that had settled.
“Yes, ever,” Susanna retorted with thick sarcasm. “I’m not an idiot, thank you very much. I meant here,” she clarified, since apparently he wanted to be a difficult ass right now.
He laughed a little, not quite a full of humor, but there was a little there. “Not really. Not like that. A potential, but we will see.”
“A potential, hmm? Who is it?” she asked, wondering if he was drunk enough yet to tell her.
Reece gave her a look then leaned back more on the couch. “Are you jealous?” he asked, letting his thoughts drift to Mojo and that show she’d put on for him by the pool. All too perfect. “Or just looking to size up the competition?”
Susanna looked at him with a small smile, taking another drink as she drew the lower card again. “Jealous? No, certainly not. Merely curious. As for competition? I’m not the fight over a man type,” she informed him. It was too much of a hassle, really, and for all of her affairs, she’d actually rarely been the other woman.
“And yet you want them to fight over you,” Reece said, noting the double standard there. “Maybe you’ll figure it out on your own.”
Laughing at that, Susanna shook her head. “A momentary lapse in judgment. Besides, we slept together once, and neither of us have exactly tried to do so again.” Barring her sort-of-offer earlier, but that hadn’t really been trying. “Hmm, maybe I will,” she agreed, and she did think she would be keeping an eye out.
“Does that bother you? That it hasn’t happened again?” Reece asked, curious where her head was at with that. “I will gladly answer if you guess right. Seems only fair.”
The question was actually a bit surprising, and Susanna took a moment to decide how to answer it. “I wouldn’t say it bothers me, no,” she answered honestly. After all, she wasn’t being left unsatisfied thanks to Ryan. “But I still wouldn’t say no to doing it again. The way I remember it, we both enjoyed ourselves,” she pointed out. It was another small surprise that he said he would tell her if she guessed, and she went through a mental list of the women she’d met so far here. There really weren’t many; just Autumn, Carmel, Caroline, and Mojo. “Carmel?” she asked, though somehow she doubted that one.
“I think I remember it that way too. But you’ve got the other toy right? No need for me.” Reece wasn’t too bothered by it, but it was there. When she asked about Carmel he shook his head. “No, though I wouldn’t be against that. Sharp lady.”
“Are we really getting into that again?” Susanna asked, sighing a bit. The alcohol was definitely loosening her tongue a bit, and she heard herself saying, “You two really couldn’t be more different in bed, so it wouldn’t make sense for one to render the other unnecessary,” completely unable to stop the words. She was amused at Reece’s response to Carmel’s name. She really didn’t think it was Autumn, since Reece was not a gorgeous blonde female, and Caroline was hardly in the running now, which only left Mojo of the women she knew so far here. “Mojo?” she guessed next.
“We could. I doubt he’s that good,” Reece said a little too tipsy to hold that back. When she guessed Mojo he glanced at her, nodding a little. “How’d you know?” Wondering if it was obvious, if someone else had seen them.
“He’s different,” she replied simply, not about to go into details of how he was different from Reece. She smiled a little wider when he nodded, pleased that she wouldn’t have to try to remember names of people she hadn’t actually met yet to keep on guessing. “I didn’t. I was just going through the names of women I’ve met so far,” she answered honestly, pouting just a little when she flipped the lower card and had to take another drink. If this kept up, she really was going to be drunk in no time.
“So you met her?” Reece asked, wondering what that had been like. He’d seen her talking to Susanna, but that was it, just from a distance.
“Hmm, yes, the day we got the pool,” Susanna answered, remembering how they’d talked over swimsuits, essentially. “I liked her. She’s... clever.” It wasn’t completely true; she really didn’t have any strong feelings toward the girl at all, but she figured it couldn’t hurt to appear favorable toward her.
His mind stuttered over the pool part, but they’d been alone, or at least mostly. Someone was probably watching. “She is clever.” That was a good word for her. He thought it fit better than anything he could come up with.
It was interesting to her that he was into Mojo, and she wondered if that was why he didn’t seem bothered that they hadn’t slept together again. Maybe he was holding out for whatever might happen with Mojo. Oddly enough, it made her want to get him in bed again even more. Susanna stayed quiet though, just continuing on with the game. The more she drank, though, the more she found herself wanting to take things further, wanting the relative gentleness that she was confident would come from him in comparison to the aggression she usually sought out.
They’d been playing more than long enough for her to feel drunk, and after a few more turns of having to take a drink, she set her cards aside, downed what was left in her glass and leaned over toward him. “Reece,” she said softly, eyes flickering between his eyes and mouth.
Reece was fine playing along. He was a step before drunk when he stopped, but that didn’t surprise him. He’d always been good at holding his liquor and despite the dry spell due to being arrested, it was like a nectar his body readily took once he had it again. So he watched her finish her drink and lean towards him, not quite moving. “Yes?”
Well, he really was going to make her do all the work, wasn’t he? Oh well, Susanna thought. She could play that game. She lifted one hand, brushing it lightly over the side of his face as she leaned in closer, clearly about to kiss him. She wasn’t even sure why she wanted to; he wasn’t particularly warm and welcoming, but she wasn’t one to ignore what she wanted, and right then, she did want him. She didn’t want him to turn her away, not now, but she still gave him time to before she did finally kiss him.
He didn’t push her back, not sure where she was going with things. Or well, not sure if she would follow through. Reece was still sure he wasn’t completely sold on them, or things, but he was willing to let her kiss him, willing to give into that for the moment at least, kissing her back. He wasn’t perfect and he was still pretty close to drunk.
When he didn’t push her away and did in fact return the kiss, Susanna took that as all the encouragement she needed, shifting closer to him and deepening the kiss a little. Her hands lifted, fingers pushing into his hair, nails scraping lightly over his scalp.
As much as Reece wasn’t sure he wanted jump back in bed with her again, there was no denying that that felt good. So he went with it, deeper kiss, nails scratching, all of it. Hell, he was even leaning in a little more.
There was no ulterior motive in Susanna’s mind in that moment, just a want to feel good. She so rarely got drunk, and there was a reason for it; it made it difficult for her to think things through, to keep her focus. It made feelings buried so deep for so long that she didn’t even know they were there start floating to the surface. They were things she couldn’t name, things that she wasn’t sure she would name even if she could. Her hands slid from his hand, finding his own hands by feeling her way down his arms even as she continued to kiss him, tugging on his hands in a silent request for him to touch her, or at least hold her. She wanted his hands on her, even if it didn’t go any further than kissing on the couch.
He gave into the touch, reaching out to pull his hands around her, drawing her closer. That much he could do, even just a little bit. His hands found her hips, giving him control of how close she got but still giving her something she wanted.
Susanna sighed contentedly when he finally gave in to what she wanted in that moment, her hands going back to his hair. This was... When was the last time she’d just been with someone like this? Just kissed with no real expectation for anything more? Had she ever? Whatever the answer, she didn’t want to think on it, didn’t want to think at all, and so she didn’t. She just let herself get lost in the moment.
Reece kept her there, distantly realizing that neither of them were pushing for more. He was almost sure of what his reasons were, that he didn’t fully trust her, that he didn’t want to be the light to Ryan’s dark, and that Mojo, despite her teasing, were still lingering in the back of his mind. He didn’t pull back until he was dizzy, needing air and a moment to right the world around them, looking at her, head tilted while he caught his breath and waited for his eyes to focus despite the booze. “What do you want Suze?”
Although she was pretty sure she could have spent quite a bit longer just sitting with him kissing, Susanna recognized the need to actually breathe when he pulled back. She kept her eyes closed until she heard him speak. Only then did she slowly open her eyes, trying to focus on him even though things were pretty fuzzy. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking beyond the moment,” she answered honestly, disappointed that he was sullying the moment with talking.
He wondered for a moment if he should have expected that answer. It didn’t quite seem like her but at the same time it almost seemed honest. Nodding a little, Reece watched her eye as best he could before pulling her closer again, almost holding on to her. “Okay.”
It seemed as if he was accepting her answer, which surprised Susanna, but she wasn’t going to question it. When he pulled her closer, she settled in against him, resting her head against his shoulder, letting her eyes slip closed again. “It’s been so long...” she whispered, completely unaware of the thought filtering out even in its incomplete state.
In a moment seemingly unlike himself, Reece let his fingers trail up and down her arm. “Since what?”
Susanna shivered very faintly at the feel of his fingers moving over her arm. “Since...” She tried to find the words, but she just couldn’t formulate them even in her alcohol-hazed state. The more she tried to find them, though, the more aware she was of what she was thinking and feeling, and it didn’t take long for her walls to shift back in place. “Since I made out with a guy like a silly teenager,” she finally answered, deflecting from what she’d actually been about to say.
His fingers stilled as she tried to explain it, when she got stuck with it. “Sometimes it’s not a bad way to be.” Reece wondered if that was what it was that she’d been thinking. She seemed to have shifted, even slightly and back to more the girl from the start of the night, not the one who’d kissed him.
A certain kind of anxiety was coursing through her, something Susanna really didn’t want to look at too closely. She felt vulnerable all of a sudden, and it was a feeling she detested more than almost anything. “No, it’s not a bad way to be,” she agreed. She had the urge to flee, to hide out in her room until this feel, whatever it was, retreated back to whatever dark hole it had climbed out of, but she made no move to do that.
“Are you planning on staying?” Reece asked, not sure why, but the question was there in his mind and he’d had enough to drink for it to actually get asked. He was curious if she wanted to, if that was her plan. He might actually be alright with that, if only to not be alone for a moment.
The question surprised her because it fell so closely in line with her own thoughts, and she bit her lip against the conflicting feelings in her. “I didn’t have a plan, but I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me,” she answered, mentally cursing herself for the answer that so conflicted with that desire to flee. Damn alcohol. She wasn’t going to take it back now, though.
He went back to trailing his fingers up and down her arm. “As long as you want. Gonna leave that up to you.” But it was there, in his tone, that he wasn’t looking for more. Not tonight. Not with Caroline’s lifeless face too close to the surface. His friend’s blood leaking across his hands.
“All right,” Susanna replied softly, not even needing to hear that tone of voice to deter her from trying for more. She hadn’t intended to seek him out for sex in the first place, and she was resolutely not thinking about how soothing and comforting it was to just sit with him in that moment. She would stay a little bit longer before excusing herself, so that it wouldn’t look like she was fleeing precisely, and then she could pretend that... whatever it was had never happened.