Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 219

Chapter 219

Daphne’s POV

After the awkward moment passed, I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.

Julie clearly had more up her sleeve, and I wondered how long she planned to keep pushing.

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She reached for a fork, tapping it against the stem of her glass until a sharp, crystalline ring silenced the chatter.

“Listen, everyone,” she announced, her voice lilting as she sat up and crossed her legs. Her eyes swept over the group with a calculated brightness.

“Since we’re all here, why are we sitting in silence? Let’s play something. Let’s make the night interesting.”

David and I locked eyes. In that brief, silent exchange, the atmosphere turned brittle.

I could sense the trap, a jagged edge to her proposal that had nothing to do with innocent fun.

But the others were oblivious, their faces lighting up with a sudden, infectious enthusiasm.

J

“Yes! A game!” a woman nearby chirped, flashing a wide, polished grin. “It’s been ages since I played one.”

Julie’s gaze immediately found David and a slow, triumphant smile spread across her face.

“Great,” she said brightly. “Let’s gather around.”

“So, what game?” someone shouted over the din of the party.

A chorus of suggestions erupted instantly, but each one was met with immediate pushback.

Someone yelled out ‘Charades,’ and a wave of groans rolled through the circle.

Another tried to suggest ‘Never Have I Ever,’ but it was shouted down with a chorus of boos.

For nearly a minute, the group devolved into a back-and-forth of protests, the mood teetering between bored and restless.

Then, a man sitting across from me leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

His gaze swept over the circle, his eyes glowing with a mischief that made the hair on my arms stand up.

“Alright, alright, settle down!” he barked, holding up his hands. “I’ve got it. Since we’re all adults, let’s stop wasting time with high-school stuff.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a sleek, obsidian-colored deck of cards.

He fanned them out, the edges glinting under the lantern light.

“We’re playing “The Veil,” he said, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial pitch.

“It’s simple. We go around the circle. You draw a card-if it’s black, you answer a question from the person to your left. If it’s red, you perform a dare assigned by the person to your right. But here’s the kicker: the questions have to be about the people in this room, and the dares… well, the dares are meant to be performed with someone in this room.”

A smirk spread across his face.

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9:30 am p

Chapter 219

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“Secrets are currency here, folks. And tonight, we’re burning every boundary we’ve got. No vetoes. No passing. You play, or you drink the rest of the bottle.”

A hush fell over the deck, followed immediately by a surge of hungry excitement.

I felt the air tighten in my lungs. This wasn’t a game; it was a psychological trap designed to tear down our defenses.

“Sounds perfect,” Julie said, her voice a low, honeyed purr. She didn’t look at the cards; she looked straight at David.

“I love a game where the truth finally gets a chance to breathe.”

David’s jaw tightened, a small, hard muscle pulsing near his ear.

The game had begun. The first red card landed face-up on the table with a soft slap. My stomach compressed into a knot as I stared at it.

There was no way out of this circle now. I was trapped, sitting here with the others, waiting for the moment the game would finally turn on us.

The first three rounds stayed light. Someone confessed an embarrassing childhood story. Another person had to do a silly dance.

Laughter rippled around the circle. But by the fourth round, the atmosphere had shifted.

The dares grew bolder, the truths sharper. The laughter started to sound a little forced, and the air felt thick, difficult to breathe.

Then, it happened. A card was drawn, and it landed directly in Julie’s lap.

She stared at it for a long moment, savoring the anticipation, then slowly lifted her gaze to David.

Her eyes were dark, filled with hunger and viciousness.

The dare,” she whispered, her voice carrying easily through the suddenly quiet deck. “I have to kiss someone here for thirty seconds. Someone I have a history with.”

The silence that followed was heavy, stifling the laughter and the music alike. Every pair of eyes in the circle turned toward David.

My skin went pale, and I felt a stinging, ache hollow out my chest, a precursor to the nausea rising in my throat.

“David,” her voice dropped to a sultry whisper.

I gripped my thighs, my fingernails digging into the fabric of my dress until my knuckles turned white. My skin felt like it

was on fire.

Julie rose to her feet, moving with the slow, intentional pace of a predator closing in on its prey.

David remained perfectly still. She was only a few paces away now, and the sight of her encroaching on our space was more than I could endure.

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