Good Losers (Lochkelvin Academy Book 3) by Evie Kady

Author:Evie Kady [Kady, Evie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

30

As the city burns around us, we play cards.

It’s Danny’s idea, as a way to bring everyone together, and I understand that. More than ever, our individual beliefs and politics are pulling us apart just as much as the country. We’re a microcosm of society, a bitter, bickering collective riddled with oppressive hierarchies and unswayable beliefs. The weight of the world fills the air we breathe.

At the same time, I don’t exactly believe the divisions between us will ever be healed by whist. And I’m right. Because the bickering never ends — the casual snipes, the dark looks between Finlay and Luke, Rory closely watching both of them and sticking up for Luke whenever he can, Danny and I quiet and taking the game seriously, trying to ignore the growing chants from the city beyond these four walls.

I manage to distract everyone from the country being in the midst of its biggest political crisis in years by thrashing them all. Turns out my grandmother’s penchant for whist is as ingrained in me almost as much as her dancing.

Part of me wonders if dancing would be a way to unite them. And if not dancing, then sex.

Because it’s on my mind constantly as I sit around this table, dealing out another hand for the four distracting, distracted boys beside me. They’re so achingly handsome, and if they could all just get over themselves for five minutes, maybe we could all have a good time.

But life right now isn’t about good times. It’s about political calamity. It’s about avoiding disaster, an encroaching dystopia. Shunning its zealous, foolhardy believers. The chanting outside is proof of that, and with every hour, the louder the cries seem to grow.

One by one, we retire to bed. Rory kisses my temple and murmurs, “Perhaps there is something of strategy in your veins,” with a curious glance at my last winning hand.

After a moment, it’s just me and Finlay left. I pack away the cards, trying and failing not to watch Finlay. He’s leaning against the window, his arms crossed over his slashed tee, and he gazes intently at the closed curtains. His black hair is a disheveled mess sticking up at awkward angles, because he’s clutched his hair all evening, either when losing whist or checking his phone. There’s a fierce scowl on his face and yet he’s still the most attractive I’ve ever seen him.

Finlay suits righteous anger. It surrounds him like an official robe, a majestic cloak or a royal gown. He toys, pensive, with a lock of his dark hair and broods silently in the corner.

I busy myself in silence around him, straightening out the furniture, although it’s not my duty or even particularly necessary since the room is already neat. I just don’t want to leave Finlay alone when there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over him.

“I’m, uh…” I begin, holding up the deck of cards and searching for its cardboard box. “Have you seen the contain—”

“Am I a bad person?” Finlay asks suddenly, turning those vivid green eyes on me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.