Page 120 of Playing Dirty

“I’m glad you’re coming too. This is actually one of my favorites.”

There’s a suspicious look in his eyes when he murmurs, “I never took you for a theatre junkie.”

I shake my head and laugh. “I wouldn’t say that, but I’ve been to all Vaughn’s shows before, so I’ve seen my fair share of plays and musicals.”

“And which one is this?”

“Hadestown.” I grab two playbills from the girl handing them out before leading him toward our seats on the lower level. “It’s based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.”

His brows draw together. “I’m gonna be honest, if I was taught that one, it went in one ear and out the other.”

“Well, lucky for you, one of my best friends could be considered an expert on the subject, and he’s passed that knowledge along to me.”

“You’re gonna give me a mythology lesson right now?” he teases, eyes taking on a playful gleam as we drop into our seats about halfway toward the stage, just in front of the mezzanine overhang.

“I told you I like to impress the guy I’m on a date with,” I murmur with a wry smirk before diving into the tale. “In the myth, Orpheus is this really talented poet and musician who descends into the Underworld to retrieve his love, Eurydice, who had died. Once he finds her, he plans to bring her back to the land of the living, but before they can escape, Hades catches them.”

Theo’s brows shoot to his hairline. “Oh, shit. That’s never good.”

He reaches over when I’m about to continue, but as he starts slowly mapping the pads of his index and middle fingers over my tattoos, my train of thought derails. The little touches—the ones more subconscious than anything else—always get me for some reason. Especially now, out in the open, where anyone could see.

Clearing my throat, I refocus my attention on the tale of ill-fated lovers. “No, the two of them being caught could have ended badly, and it almost did. But Orpheus uses his talents as a musician to kinda…charm his way into a deal with Hades. The god allows Orpheus to take Eurydice with him, but only under the condition that Orpheus must lead his beloved from the Underworld without turning around to look at her.”

His fingers continue stroking the ink on my skin, his eyes fixated on where our skin touches while he asks, “And let me guess. This is one of thoseeasier said than donemoments?”

“That’s one way of putting it, yeah,” I say with a chuckle.

“So does he turn around?”

My lips twitch, and I give him a half answer. “There’s a few different versions of the myth, but they all have the same ending.”

He lifts his gaze and aims a knowing smile at me. “He turns around, doesn’t he?”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

There’s a brief moment where we have a little stare off, waiting to see if the other will fold. But then his hand leaves my arm to reach down and pull his phone from his pocket, all the while smugly muttering, “Or I could just google it for spoilers.”

Laughter erupts from my chest. “One, you’re a menace if you do that. And two, Vaughn would never forgive you.”

“I think you meanyou,”he corrects, doubt dripping from his tone.

“No, I mean Vaughn.” I snatch the phone from his hand and quickly shove it between my thigh and the seat cushion. “If he even knew I told you the backstory instead of letting you go in blind, he’d castrate me for robbing you of the full experience.”

Theo’s gaze drops to where I hid his phone before lifting back to mine. “All right, I’ll play along. ForVaughn’ssake.”

“Thank you.”

And then for good measure, I lean in and kiss him; just the briefest brush of my lips on his, but it still has the ability to create a well of emotion inside me.

Of course, the moment I decide to kiss him is the same one Miles and Torin drop into their seats on my other side, the former letting out a groan of mock-disgust.

“I think I preferred it when you were at each other’s throats. God knows I’d be getting better sleep if you were.”

I smirk and flip him off.

Since the fateful morning we overslept at Theo’s place, he’s been coming over to our side of town for a change, and while I’d love to think it’s because he’s comfortable with my friends now, I think a little bit of it has to be guilt. Both for all the sneaking around, but also now for the Penny Play bit. It does make this thing between us a little easier to navigate, though, having a place to fuck, spend time together, whatever it may be, without worrying about being caught.

I just wish it could be like that all the time…minus Miles’s ribbing.