Unleashing Chaos

Chapter Eleven

"Let's do shots tonight."

Cannon's random request causes Jace and I to exchange a concerned glance across the kitchen island.

"Why?" Jace asks, drawing out the word.

"Just because. Haven't y'all ever done shots just because?"

"I mean, yeah, in college, but not in years."

"Desi?"

"Not really," I admit, "But it sounds fun."

Cannon and I lock eyes and then drag our gazes to Jace, who just sighs.

"There's some liquor in the door in the fridge."

Cannon gets to work setting up three shot glasses and filling them with amber liquid. He sets a glass in front of each of us and then raises his. "To a random Tuesday night!"

Jace and I each pick up a glass and raise it and we clink them together, and with a cheers, toss them back.

"Fuck!" I say, hissing as the strong, spicy liquid burns all the way down my esophagus. "What the hell is this?"

Cannon raises an eyebrow and turns the bottle around so I can see the name, and the laugh that escapes me is nearly hysterical.

The cinnamon whisky has none other than a dancing, red devil at the top of the label. What are the odds?

"What's so funny?" Jace asks, his eyes narrowed at the logo. "It's just whisky."

"Oh, I don't know, I—"

"Want another?" Cannon interrupts, and I'm thankful for it.

I exhale and still feel the burn in my throat, but I say, "Yeah, why not?"

Five shots later, the three of us are on the couch with me sandwiched in the middle. A movie that Jace deems as the sexiest science fiction film of all time plays on the screen. I should be paying attention to the blonde who crash landed on an alien planet to save a scientist, but I can't think much past Jace's arm on the back of the couch, his fingertips grazing my shoulder, which is bizarre as fuck, and the back of Cannon's fingers brushing my thigh. The two have me feeling all sorts of ways that make it impossible to sit still.

"You okay, Desi?" Jace asks, looking down at me with an amused expression on his face.

I clear my throat and push my hair out of my eyes. "I—yeah, I'm good," I stammer, shifting my position and pulling both legs underneath my ass. But that doesn't help matters at all because now each of my thighs are resting on theirs and we're touching more than before.

Jace glances over at Cannon and smiles when he notices his hand fully on my bare thigh. Leaning in, he whispers, "Is it the shots getting to you or him or..." He flips my ponytail and I turn my head toward him in surprise.

I lean into him and murmur, my lips close to his ear, "It's a mixture of all three. Assuming the last thing you didn't say out loud is you."

Jace checks to make sure Cannon is still enthralled with the movie and quietly says, "Touch him back. He is clearly still into you, even after whatever happened on your date last week."

I narrow my eyes at him. "How did you know about that?"

He winks at me, and I'm shocked at how relaxed and unfiltered he is acting. "You know how the saying goes: bros before—"

I place my fingers over his mouth, stopping his slurred quote. "I know how the saying goes. I'm the only girl with six brothers. I got it."

Looking back at the TV for a moment, I gather my courage before slipping my hand down my thigh and on top of Cannon's, intertwining our fingers. Cannon grips them and smiles down at me, moving in so there isn't much space between us.