Thorne in the Side

Chapter 13

When Seth walked into the restaurant for breakfast, he saw that he was actually the last of the Shield group to arrive. Lucy had beaten him down there, and Roman and Dean were already halfway through their meals. He guessed that he must have spent longer than he had realised getting changed and packing his case ready for when it came time to leave. After piling the items he wanted onto a tray, he walked over to the table where they were sitting. Seeing Lucy chatting away to the guys, he was glad that they had made an agreement to keep quiet about their night together. He reminded himself to act like he hadn't seen her since they had parted ways at the reception desk after checking into the hotel the previous evening.

"Morning," he greeted everyone at the table as he sat down next to Dean.

"The wanderer returns," Dean said. "Where did you disappear to last night? I had to resort to taking all of Roman's money off him instead."

"Yeah, right," Roman said dryly. "I seem to remember coming out well ahead of where I started."

"I thought you said all three of you were going to play poker?" Lucy asked. Even Seth couldn't have picked up a hint that she knew more than she was letting on.

"So did I," Dean said, feigning an accusing tone at Seth.

Thinking on his feet, Seth came up with an excuse that he was reasonably happy with. "I had to call home. I kind of had a fight with my mom on the phone the other day over something stupid, and I wanted to call her a put it behind us."

"How did that go?" Roman asked after swallowing a mouthful of ham.

"Fine," Seth said. "I knew it would, I just wanted to get it out of the way. You know how stupid things like that can play on your mind."

Dean looked up from the pancake he was working on to make eye contact with Lucy, who was sitting opposite him. "What about you? What were you doing that was better than our company?"

Sipping from her cup of coffee, Lucy said, "The last thing you want is me playing poker with you, Dean. It's the one card game I actually know how to play, and I'd wipe the floor with all three of you."

"Keep dreaming," Seth said. "These two can tell you, if they're honest, that I'm the best poker player they know."

"Maybe, but they've never played with me yet, have they?" Lucy fired back with a grin.

"You didn't answer the question," Dean noted, still looking at her.

For a second, Lucy wondered if he was already onto the fact that there was more going on than he was being told. "Nothing. That's what I was doing," she said simply. "I went up to my room, took a shower, then I went to bed. I was fucked."

"We've got a fucking lightweight on the team," Dean said deadpan, obviously believing her story.

With her concerns about being caught out dispelled, Lucy said, "I'll tell you what. I've still got to come through on the night I promised to pay for. How about Monday night after Raw we have a poker night in my room? I'll take all your money off you and use it to pay for the drinks."

"You're on," Dean accepted for the group.

With that, Roman changed the subject. Lucy and Seth were in the clear after their first night together.

Soon after proposing the poker night after Raw, Lucy had made the decision that she would not spend another night with Seth until then. She realised that if they rushed into spending every night together right from the start, they would be busted before they knew it. There was no way they could avoid Roman and Dean's company every night without them asking a lot more questions; questions that wouldn't have answers. Hell, asking questions wouldn't even be necessary; it would be blatantly obvious to them what was going on. To spice things up a bit, she had decided not to let Seth in on her line of thinking, hoping that being denied any intimate contact with her would be driving him crazy with desire. Controlling her own hunger for him was hard enough, but it was all going to be worth it when the payoff came, she had told herself.