The Deceitful One

Almost two hours later, Andrew angrily got up from his seat and threw his hole cards on the table, "Fuck! Bryan, are you cheating?"

Olivia, who was always expressionless, now had her eyebrows furrowed together as she too looked at Bryan intently.

Elijah and Henry simply had dejected expressions on their faces as they continued to finish their drinks. Although they knew they would end up losing to Bryan, it felt really disappointing when it did happen.

Meanwhile, Bryan had a smug look on his face as he grabbed all the money on the table and brought it closer to him.

Completely ignoring Andrew and Olivia, he started counting the money with relish. Looking at Bryan's pleased expression caused Andrew and Olivia to get even more annoyed.

"Fuck this! I need a drink." Andrew stormed out of the room in frustration.

"Hmph!" Olivia too snorted at Bryan and left the room.

Elijah could only shake his head as he sighed, "Bryan, do you really have to sprinkle salt on their wounds by acting so smug?"

This was a frequent occurrence. Every time they played, Bryan would always end up winning and Andrew would always hurl curses at him—although Andrew never really meant it.

Bryan chuckled, "Kekk, I really like teasing them, especially Andrew. And it's not like they're actually mad at me."

After finishing counting his money, Bryan got up from his seat and gestured to Elijah and Henry, "Come, let's have a few more drinks."

The trio then went back to the living room and joined the rest of the people.

In his exasperation, Andrew kept chugging drink after drink. Bryan couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw this.

Andrew then challenged Bryan, "Bryan, you son of a bitch! Let's have a drinking contest. You should at least give me a chance to win back my money."

Bryan's lips curled up into a smirk, "Interesting. We'll bet 30 pounds each, then?"

"Heh," Andrew grinned, "You're on, punk!"

Elijah couldn't help but sigh as he raised his right hand to massage his temples, 'You were supposed to be my wingman tonight. How are you gonna do that if you're shitfaced, Bryan?'

He then turned to his side to inform Henry that they might have to take care of Bryan and Andrew once they got too drunk. But Henry was nowhere in sight.

Elijah looked around the room for a few moments and finally found Henry who was currently flirting with another blonde lady.

His eyebrows couldn't help but start to twitch as he wondered, 'Now what the fuck do I do?'

A little less than an hour later, Bryan and Andrew, as expected, were drunk out of their minds.

At this point, they had completely forgotten about the drinking contest. That didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was if there was enough alcohol to go around for the both of them.

Midway through their drinking contest, Elijah was confused as to what to do. He didn't have the guts to approach any girl.

For that, he needed to be a bit drunker. So he too joined Bryan and Andrew. And now, it was safe to say that he was even drunker than them.

"Bryaaan… you promussd me to be my wngmaan tonight." Elijah started slurring his words as he put his arm around Bryan's shoulders in order to stand straight.

His alcohol capacity wasn't that great, to begin with. And drinking alongside Bryan and Andrew wasn't really a good idea because they forced him to drink quickly so that he could keep up with them.

Bryan looked at Elijah strangely and asked, "Ahh?? What are you on about, Eli?"

"Hahaha, wingman! He's asking you to—hiccup—be his wingman!" Andrew, who was standing right next to Bryan laughed out loud as he took another swig of his drink.

Bryan was enlightened. Then his lips curled up into a smirk as looked at Elijah, "Eli… come, let's all get laid, hehe."

He then led Elijah and Andrew to where Celine's friends were chatting and drinking. These were the same girls that Celine had introduced him to at the beginning of the party.

There were exactly three girls standing in one corner of the living room and they were secretly glancing at Bryan, Elijah, and Andrew when they were having the drinking contest.

Bryan had acutely noticed this at the time, even in his drunken state. And now he was finally going to strike up a conversation with them.

Three guys and three girls. It was as if the universe was guiding them into making love with each other. This was what went through Bryan's mind as he approached the ladies.

"Hello, ladies! Would you like to hang out with us and have some drinks?" Bryan tried his best to prevent his words from slurring as he put on a gentlemanly smile.

"Sure, we'd love to!" One of the ladies who was wearing a cyan dress that had a halter neckline replied with a bright smile. The group then introduced themselves to each other as they started to chat and drink together.

Bryan was the most talkative out of the bunch as he cracked a few jokes to ease up the atmosphere. Andrew too followed along, however, Elijah was too drunk to even stand straight, let alone speak.

Celine who was on the other side of the room chatting with her other friends noticed this and couldn't help but smile playfully.

She nudged Ron, who was standing beside her, with her elbow and whispered, "Looks like your co-workers will be having a lot of fun tonight."

Ron followed Celine's gaze and looked at Bryan, Elijah, and Andrew who were flirting with Celine's friends. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Well, boys will be boys. Let them have some fun."

He then looked around for Henry. After a few moments, he found him sitting on the couch beside a blonde lady and talking happily. Seeing this, Ron couldn't help but smile warmly.

Livia had already left and Olivia and Emma were also drinking and having fun with Celine's friends. The only person missing from the Strike Team was the captain, Robert. He had refused the invitation since he had some work at HQ.

The party continued as people laughed and drank together, making the atmosphere inside warm and jolly. Outside, the snow continued to fall as the temperature turned colder and tempestuous.