Page 17 of Awakened Desires

I grimace. “I bet.”

“I can get some for you to try.”

“Don’t you dare,” Hendrix hisses. “I’m never trusting you to make me coffee again.”

Stefan’s smile suggests he’s happy with that state of affairs.

“You like reading,” Preston says.

“Correct.”

I marvel at the dynamics between the group of men. I’m confused as to how they ended up living together. Were Theo, Preston, Stefan, and Quinn couples before moving in here?

“Did you all know each other before you moved in together?” I only realise I asked the question out loud when everyone looks at me.

“No,” Preston says. “Well, that’s not strictly true. Stefan and Beau are twins, and I met Oscar at a nightclub before we moved in. Oscar doesn’t live here anymore.”

“We all used the My Kinky Housemate app,” Stefan explains.

“The…?”

“It’s an app for finding people to house or flat share with who are into kink,” Rory says. “Preston’s friends created it.”

“I used to live with Nick,” Preston says. “He’s one of the co-creators. He’s a kitten. One of our flatmates was pretty intolerant. He made Nick feel unsafe to the point that he couldn’t live there anymore. His friend, Declan, helped him make an app so he could find other like-minded people to live with. But they fell in love and ended up living together. Nick didn’t need the app but knew others would.”

“Wow.” I don’t know what else to say. I had no clue anything like that existed. Why would I? I’m not into kink. “A kitten?”

“Like I’m a puppy,” Theo says, touching his puppy ears. “And Oscar is a bunny. The three of us are into pet play but like being different animals. I can tell you more about it if you want?”

Do I want to know more? Perhaps. To be polite. “Sure.”

“But not now,” Hendrix says. “Preston hasn’t had his turn yet.”

Preston snaps his fingers. “And there was me thinking you’d forgotten.”

“No chance.”

Preston sighs. “I’ve raised over a thousand pounds for charity. I’ve been skydiving, and I want to hire a car and drive across Canada one day.”

“To be clear,” Rory says, “once we’ve worked out which is the lie, that’s game over, right? We’ve all had a turn now.”

“We could keep going,” Hendrix says.

“I think we’re done,” Stefan says.

There’s a nod of agreement.

“Fine.” Hendrix pouts. “Theo, which one’s the lie?”

Theo laughs. “I’m not guessing. That would be cheating.”

“I think the first one is true,” Rory says. “You strike me as the sort of person who would raise money for charity.”

“Correct.”

“How did you raise that much?”

“I grow a moustache for Movember.”