Page 106 of Dark Little Game

I expect Oliver to act confused, but he doesn’t. He just nods, looking down at his cider again.

He takes a big swig, and I can tell he’s enjoying the liquid courage from the alcohol.

“Seems kind of impossible not to like Rayne.”

It feels like there’s a live wire in front of me, and I’m not sure the best way to defuse the bomb.

Oliver has information that he shouldn’t have.

But soon I realize that the situation is going to resolve itself for me, very quickly.

“Oliver—”

“I won’t tell a soul,” he says, “but I do want something in return.”

“You’re here to strike a deal, aren’t you?”

He nods slowly.

And despite everything, I can’t help but smile.

“I am.”

I sigh. “You’re going to fitrightin at Onyx, I promise. What deal do you want?”

“I want you to start a rumor about me.”

“That isn’t what I expected.”

“I’m not good socially, and I’m not very subtle. But you clearly have subtlety down to a science.”

“I try. Clearly I didn’t escapeyournotice tonight.”

He smiles. “I want you to help me start a rumor that I’m great in bed.”

I lift an eyebrow. “You think that’ll work?”

“If it’s done right, it’ll work,” he says. “If you think the Confessional is bullshit anyway, then use your paper to write something good about me. Say Oliver gave you the best night of your life. No one will know you wrote it.”

“How drunk are you, Oliver?”

“Very. But I don’t care. The Confessional is anonymous. If you’re worried about them knowing it’s your handwriting, I’ll write it for you, or type it and print it out, I don’t care.”

“If I do this, I’m telling Rayne.”

Ollie gets a pained look on his face. “I don’t want anyone to know.”

I nod. “Rayne is good at keeping secrets. As you can tell, apparently. But I don’t want to live in a world where he thinks I fucked you or anyone else.”

Ollie’s expression softens. “Oh. I didn’t realize you guys were… likethat.”

“Like what?”

“Boyfriends. Exclusive. Sorry. If you’re really worried about Rayne thinking you cheated on him, you can tell him. Butonlyhim.”

I chew my lower lip. “We aren’t exclusive, and we aren’t boyfriends. Why the fuck am I telling you all of this? Oliver, why not just write yourownsecret about how goddamn perfect your dick is, or something?”

“I’m going to. But if it’s just one piece of paper that’s about me, then people will catch on that it’s me trying to pump up my own image. If there aretwosecrets about me, though? That’s the start of a rumor.”