Page 63 of Embraced in Ink

"Maybe you were better at charades as best friends, rather than an engaged couple," Aaron said, and Marcus frowned as the other man went pale. "Sorry. Forget I said anything. That was fucked up."

"Yes, it was," Bristol said before sliding off of Marcus's lap to take her seat on the couch.

"It's fine," Marcus whispered, not wanting to get into a fight with any of the Montgomerys just then. He and Bristol had been a little bit on edge ever since the concert. He wasn't sure why. He wouldn't have noticed but Bristol wasn't talking with him. Oh, they were at the Montgomerys having a fun game night since they hadn't wanted to go to a bar or out in a large group. Except it was as if the two of them were drifting apart, and he didn't understand why. Maybe their game of charades was the reason for him noticing.

She wasn't talking to him about anything. She was focusing on work, but they weren't mentioning the fact that they were engaged. They had no plans other than that they would figure it out. And it was getting to the point where he felt like they were playing make-believe rather than living in a real relationship. And perhaps that was the problem. What if this was just a dream, something fake to play with like a promise when they were kids? Rather than something authentic.

The fact that he didn't know the answer to that worried him.

"Okay, I guess it's my turn," Holland said, standing up.

"All right. But you're going to kick ass at this," Aaron said, clapping his hands in front of him.

"Holland, baby, you can't let Aaron beat us," Ethan said, grinning at his woman.

Marcus snorted.

"Oh, Aaron and I are going to kick your ass. Lincoln's, too. I mean, I love you both, but mama's going to win."

Marcus snorted and reached out to squeeze Bristol's knee. She smiled at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. Damn it, they needed to fucking talk. The time for figuring out exactly where they started and how they were going to make this work had long since passed. This wasn't the bright sparkle of a new relationship or whatever the fuck people called it these days, this was real, and they needed a fucking plan. No more sweeping it under the rug and pretending that they knew what they were doing. Clearly, they did not.

He kept telling himself there was no going back, but maybe there needed to be. If he didn't look back, he was terrified there would be no moving forward. And that scared him more than anything. As it should.

"Okay, get ready for me to beat your ass," Holland said.

Marcus didn't even have to look in the trio's direction to know that they were giving each other heated looks while Liam and Aaron both covered their faces with their hands, and Arden and Bristol laughed.

"I don't need to know these things," Bristol said. She looked over at Marcus. "Why aren't you wincing?"

He tried to study her face but could only see the Bristol he knew and loved. "Sorry, how dare you guys talk about charades in front of your poor baby sister."

"That's not what I meant, dork." She elbowed him in the gut, but it didn't hurt.

He knew this was only a game, but it felt like more. So, they would play, they would laugh, and he'd try to understand where exactly things with him and Bristol were going wrong.

Arden and Liam won charades.Marcus still couldn’t quite believe it. Sweet little Arden with her innocent little face and her quiet and broody Montgomery just happened to kick all of their asses.

“It’s a sham, I tell you, a complete sham,” Bristol said, tapping her foot to the beat of the music in the car.

Marcus looked over at her before turning a corner. “I don’t know. I think it’s always the quiet ones.”

“But you’re my quiet one. We always win.”

“I think it’s because you’re competitive as fuck,” Marcus said honestly.

“You’re secretly competitive, too.”

“I will never beat you, and I’m perfectly fine with that. However, I think Arden and Liam came to win.

“And we didn’t?” she asked, her voice soft.

“I don’t know. Maybe they just had a good night.”

“And we had a bad one.”

There was an awkward silence there, and Marcus didn’t like it. They never had awkward silences. At least not until recently. What the fuck was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he figure out what he wanted?

Did he want things to go back to the way they were? He didn’t think so. But he needed what they had to move forward. He was tired of waiting. It felt like he’d been doing that for his entire life.