Chapter 62: Are You a Sore Loser?
"I don’t want to play with him," Leah said, her voice a little sulky.
"Then we won’t," Asher said. He started to lead her back to the sofa, but Leah suddenly grabbed his arm.
"Asher, do you want to hear me sing?"
"Sing for me when we get home. A song for me is for my ears only."
"Leah, come on, we’re playing a game," Ethan Shaw called out to her.
Ethan Shaw and the others had a new version of Truth or Dare. They’d bought a set of props for it. The loser of each round had to draw a card from the prop box and follow the instructions written on it. Anyone who refused had to drink an entire glass of liquor on the rocks. The rules were fair, and no one was allowed to get nasty or heckle.
Asher’s words lifted Leah’s spirits. She decided to ignore the subtle yet provocative glances from Morgan and Madeline Sterling and focus on the game.
Madeline Sterling, however, didn’t join in. At first, Leah found it odd that she was just watching instead of playing. It wasn’t until later that she realized the dares in this game... were pretty wild.
Take the dare Riley Sterling drew, for example. He had ten minutes to get his date aroused.
Before Leah could even figure out what that meant, she saw Riley carrying his date over to a side sofa, where he started kissing and caressing her. The sight left her completely stunned.
Asher covered her eyes. "Little girls shouldn’t watch this sort of thing."
Leah quickly tried to pry his hand away. ’Are you kidding me? Why would I miss something this juicy?’
Asher clicked his tongue and whispered in her ear, "If you really want to watch, I can put a mirror in front of you when we get home. Then you can take your time watching us... do it."
His lips brushed almost imperceptibly against the shell of her ear, his warm breath making her blush instantly. She knew Asher was more than capable of carrying out his threat, so she immediately stopped trying to pry his hand away.
Only when Riley was finished did Asher let go with a smile. Riley, meanwhile, announced proudly, "She reacted! I don’t have to drink!"
The other dares were no less intense. After one round, Leah was starting to regret playing. ’This is too much!’ She was getting scared of what would happen if she had to draw a punishment card.
But her turn for a punishment came soon enough. Her heart jolted when she saw the Queen card in her hand.
Her punishment was to kiss someone for ten minutes straight without going weak in the knees. Without a moment’s hesitation, she downed the glass of liquor in front of her.
’Yep. If I drink fast enough, the punishment can’t catch me!’
Ethan Shaw clicked his tongue. "Leah, are you trying to chicken out?"
"I really can’t do this one."
Leah muttered under her breath. ’How am I supposed to do that? Kiss for ten minutes and not go limp? With a guy like Asher, I’d be weak in the knees after three minutes. I’d have to drink anyway, so I might as well get it over with.’
"Sounds like Third Master Keating’s got some serious skills, huh? For Leah to take the penalty that fast," Morgan Sterling said with a smirk, lighting a cigarette.
Asher shot him a sideways glance. "Didn’t she already tell you all about it?"
Morgan Sterling just smiled and shook his head. The game continued, and pretty much everyone ended up with a punishment. Morgan’s date drew a card that required her to pass a drink to someone mouth-to-mouth.
It was only then that Leah noticed Morgan had brought a date. The girl was nestled gently against his side. She didn’t say much, just kept a constant, soft smile on her face.
Morgan seemed quite taken with her, too. He frequently leaned in to whisper something to her, making the girl blush again and again.
When it came time for the dare, Morgan was a good sport. Amidst the jeers and cheers, he drank the liquor and then gave the girl a few extra kisses for good measure. Her face turned as red as a ripe tomato.
The dare Asher drew was the same as Riley’s. He simply downed two glasses of liquor. Ben Coleman complained, "Third Master Keating, are you two just here to drink?"
"I’m thirsty."
But this was Asher Keating, after all, so Ben didn’t dare say another word. Leah knew Asher wouldn’t embarrass her in public. She smiled and playfully hooked his hand with her fingers. Asher turned his head, a smile playing on his lips as he gently pinched her cheek.
Watching the two of them, Madeline felt she was about to go mad with rage. ’Asher would never have played a so-called game of truth or dare like this before.’
’Everyone knew that calling it a "game" was just a nice way of putting it; in reality, it was just an excuse to do outrageous things. And yet, here he was, playing just to keep Leah company. It meant that no matter what dare Leah got, or whether she was willing to do it, he would be right there with her.’
’From the moment Leah walked into the room, Asher’s eyes had been fixed on her. Every casual, intimate little gesture between them was a sharp pain to witness.’
In truth, Madeline’s years abroad hadn’t been easy. On the surface, she was a glamorous superstar, and the Sterling Family was willing to throw money at her career. But in a place like The Globe, there was no shortage of wealthy people.
She had asked to return home many times, but Thomas Sterling had always refused. Then she heard a little "Canary" had appeared at Asher’s side, and she couldn’t bear it any longer.
’In all the years she’d known him, she was the only one who had ever been rumored to be with him. No other woman had ever lasted by his side for more than three days.’
She begged Thomas Sterling to let her come home. Asher’s power had grown so rapidly in the past two years that Thomas, considering the benefits of a marriage alliance between her and Asher, finally relented.
’Before she came back, Madeline hadn’t thought anything of Leah. After all, a man of Asher’s stature would never marry some bar hostess.’
’But on her very first day back, Asher had told her, for Leah’s sake, that it was the last time he would ever help her. That’s when she got the nagging feeling that he wasn’t just keeping Leah around for fun, as the rumors suggested.’
’Tonight, that feeling was even stronger. The look of pure adoration in Asher’s eyes as he gazed at Leah was something she had never seen from him in all the years she’d known him.’
She clenched her fists tightly. ’No! I can’t just sit back and let this happen.’
’Asher’s personality was too defiant. If she let things continue to develop between them, there was no telling if he would actually ignore everything—status, family background—and marry Leah into the Keating Family. She absolutely could not let that happen.’
’The role of Asher Keating’s wife could only belong to her, Madeline Sterling.’
When Leah drew a punishment card again, Madeline quickly spoke up. "Leah, you can’t just take a drink again, can you? Everyone else is being a good sport. It doesn’t look good if you’re the only one who drinks every time."
Leah herself felt a little embarrassed. She had already skipped her last turn by drinking. Doing it again would be hard to justify. She gritted her teeth. "Fine."
As she drew the dare card, she prayed for something that wasn’t too outrageous. When she saw what it said, she let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Find someone of the opposite sex here and do the one thing you most want to do with them right now."
Leah hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Is a kiss okay?"