175\u2013The New Orders\u00a0<\/p>\n
Madeline:\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had come back with a board game box. We had been playing for the past few minutes, and I realized he had not changed at all when it came to being naughty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI forgot how much fun this used to be,\u201d Elgin stated excitedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I remember you used to cheat in this,\u201d I replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As soon as I said that, he frowned playfully.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI never cheated,\u201d he insisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said it with such confidence that I rolled my eyes at him. We both reached for the small wooden tokens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I picked the blue one, while he picked the red one and placed it at the starting point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then he shuffled the card deck with a little too much enthusiasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few cards slipped under his palm. His hand covered them longer than needed, and I narrowed my eyes at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He placed the deck down, but the top card was tilted slightly, as if he had pulled it forward on purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched his hand drift toward the card with slow movements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was trying to be sneaky. Before he could slide the top one up with his thumb, I grabbed his wrist, giving him a firm clap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElgin, you are cheating again,\u201d I told him in a scolding tone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, my hand accidentally did it,\u201d he replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was an excuse he did not even try to improve. That was how he always behaved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I let go of him, and he picked up the dice instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He shook them in his hand but angled his palm in a way that hid the numbers from me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he dropped them, they rolled only half a space before stopping.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElgin, this did not even roll,\u201d I said sternly, my lips puckering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was starting to get annoyed with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt rolled enough, okay,\u201d he said, as he moved his red piece forward four places.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then his finger pushed the piece one extra space as he tried to adjust it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElgin, come on, not every second,\u201d I complained, pointing out that he could not help but cheat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d he replied, but this time he could not hide that he was actually irritating me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We kept playing for a little more time, and he continued to try cheating, and I continued to catch him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He tried to switch his cards with mine, even once when I was not looking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each time I caught him, and each time he laughed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
*75 Boys\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the end, we both realized it was not just about the game or who would win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the fact that we were having fun, and everything felt lighter,\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time in a long while, I felt like a teen again, reliving the days I never got to enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By then we were tired, and it was time to head to bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had placed new sheets for him in what used to be Nina\u2019s room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once he was tucked in, I left for my room. I took a shower and then lay under the covers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was tired and had a little too many drinks. When I lay down, I fell asleep instantly,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Weirdly enough, I woke up without any headache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Usually when I drank and woke up the next day, I had excruciating pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I guessed that because it had been such a pleasant night, I slept like a baby,\u00a0<\/p>\n
I changed into black pants and a grey off\u2013shoulder shirt, leaving my hair loose after blow\u2013drying it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I applied red lipstick, and when I came out, I realized everybody was still sleeping\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before I could go into the room to wake the children, there was a hard knock on the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It sounded too urgent, so I decided to check the door first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I opened the door, the wind entered first, before I even registered who was standing in front of me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two warriors were on the front porch, waiting for me to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The minute I did, they greeted me with a nod and stepped closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They wore the special uniforms used by the council warriors, so I already had a feeling something serious was going on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were SUVs parked outside as well. I began to wonder if they were here to arrest me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remembered the last time they came, which was last night, and it had been about Justin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What if they had found something else and were blaming me for it?\u00a0<\/p>\n
All these thoughts rushed through my head so fast that I could not greet them back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the warriors said my name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMadeline Sawyer?\u201d he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I snapped out of it and nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHello. How may I help you?\u201d I asked, steadying my breath.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I still had not contacted Sawyer, so I did not know if he had ordered Justin to do what he did, or if Justin acted on his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is for you from the council,\u201d the warrior said. Instead of handcuffing me, he handed me a file.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
170\u2013He is facing Mic Kids Behind\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ruby Walker is a rising voice in the world of romance and spicy fiction. With a gift for weaving deep emotions, sizzling chemistry, and unexpected twists, her stories are a blend of passion and drama that captivate readers from start to finish. Ruby\u2019s writing style is bold and irresistible\u2014perfect for those who crave intense, addictive love stories.<\/p>\n
175\u2013The New Orders\u00a0 Madeline:\u00a0 He had come back with a board game box. We had been playing for the past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-daddy-novel-by-novelnozi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19376,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19176\/revisions\/19376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}