Page 86 of Mark
“By one?” Max asks, his eyebrows narrowing. “Count them again.”
“I assure you, it was by one,” he swears.
“I want to see,” Max growls.
The woman announcing laughs. “Can we get through to the runner ups?”
“I can wait,” Max confirms, letting Lake pull him down from the chair.
“Jesus, you weren’t lying,” Freya muses. “I thought he was going to throw his pint at that guy.”
“It may still happen,” Faith admits on a breath.
The woman on the stage glances down at the piece of paper, her eyes widening. “Well, this is a first,” she muses. “Taking second place, we have a tie.” Another guy runs onto the stage, whispering something in her ear. She nods and lifts the mic back up. “But we are told you’ll all get to share this prize, which is an excursion for everyone at your tables.”
I sit on the edge of my seat, pressing my hands together as Liam yells, “Come on, tell us.”
“In second place,” she begins as the drums begin to play, “are tables six and seven.”
I stand, lifting Freya up off her seat to spin her around. “We fucking did it.”
She laughs as I place her on her feet. “Aren’t you glad Faith listened to someone who knew what they were talking about?” she asks.
“Why are you bringing that up?” I growl, holding her close.
“You heard her. There was only one point separating us from the winner. If we had listened to you, we would be coming in third.”
I cup her jaw. “Then it’s a good job no one ever listens to me,” I reply, then reach down, kissing her, tasting her.
She clutches the back of my neck, pressing her delicious body against mine.
When I pull back, her eyes are glazed over, her lips swollen. “Yeah, we aren’t staying for the tribute band. You got a problem with that?” I rasp.
She shakes her head, so I kiss her one last time before I turn to the others. “Who did we tie with?”
“Dad’s table,” Faith answers.
“I fucking told you to listen to me,” Hayden snaps. I turn to see her jump on Liam’s back, smacking his head. “I’m going to drown you.”
“It’s not my fault,” he cries. “Stop going for the nipples!”
“I told you Dolly Parton sang ‘I will always love you’ first,” she yells.
Clay, without blinking, wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her back. Liam straightens his shirt, wisely stepping back. “I thought it was Whitney,” he growls.
“You added in brackets, ‘and Billy the goat’,” she snaps, going for him again, but Clay tugs her back.
Liam throws his hands up. “I didn’t know the goat’s name.”
“It’s a bloody gif. The goat wasn’t even involved in the song. It was something someone put together as a joke,” she cries.
Liam stops moving back, his eyebrows pinching together. “He wasn’t? Are you sure?”
“Oh, I am going to hit you so hard, Google won’t be able to find you.”
“Jesus, you blame me for everything. I’m always the scapegoat—”
“Liam, I wouldn’t have done that,” Clay warns.