Page 33 of Forgiven

“Hey,” Hunter objected.

“Are you any good at pub quizzes?” Dylan asked Callum.

“I’ve never done one before. How does it work?”

“The landlord asks the questions. We write our answers down and then at the end we switch sheets with another team. Simple.”

He picked up their answer sheet, showing Callum their team name, which was Hell’s Dancers. They’d had the same name since before Dylan had joined the team and no one seemed interested in changing it, even though Jared wasn’t a dancer and Michael hadn’t danced in some time. And now Callum was joining them, the guy that wouldn’t even dance in a nightclub, let alone on a pole. Dylan’s imagination immediately conjured up an image of Callum wrapped around a pole, wearing very little. Friends, he reminded himself. They were just friends. He wasn’t supposed to be having inappropriate thoughts about his very cutefriend, but God, would heloveto teach Callum how to pole dance.

“And I win,” Taylor said, revealing his hand. “Again.”

Logan chucked his cards at Taylor. “You’re banned.”

“You love me, really.”

“Not when you’re winning I don’t.”

Taylor laughed, but the sound was drowned out when the landlord rang the bell to signal the start of the quiz.

“I’m writing the answers,” Dylan said, picking up a pen. He leaned towards Callum. “No one would have a chance in hell of reading our answers if any of these guys did the writing.”

“My writing is not that bad,” Hunter grumbled.

“Uh-huh.”

Callum laughed quietly, and Dylan’s insides melted a little at the sound.

“Great timing,” Kyrone said as Michael got back to the table with drinks for the newcomers.

Callum was drinking beer, again. Not only did Dylan need to get the guy dancing, he needed to get him drinking something more interesting, or at least more fun.

“Round one,” the manager said over the speakers. “General knowledge. Let’s start with an easy one. What’s the elemental symbol for lead?”

“P-B,” Kyrone said instantly. “Capital P, lower case b.”

“Why the fuck is it P-B?” Dylan asked.

“It’s based on the Latin name for lead which was plumbum,” Kyrone said. “Didn’t they teach you anything in science lessons at school?”

“Plumbum?” Dylan snorted and laughed. “Seriously?”

“It means ‘waterworks’,” Michael said. “They used to make pipes out of lead.”

They answered the rest of the questions in the round, most of them pitching in answers. Sometimes they argued about them, and Dylan took it upon himself to act as referee and decide whose answer was the most likely to be right. He couldn’t help but notice that Callum stayed quiet, not offering an answer. He did smile as he watched the banter between the dancers. Did he feel like he was on the outside of the group?

When the round was over, there was a short break, during which the bar got packed as people flocked to buy drinks.

“Quiz night is really popular,” Callum observed, looking around.

Dylan nodded. “Busiest night of the week.”

“The landlord brings freshly cooked sausage rolls out after the quiz,” Hunter said.

“Which is all you’re here for,” Dylan teased.

“Damn right, they’re gorgeous.”

“I’d rather have a man sausage in my mouth,” Dylan said, which made half the table snort with laughter.