Page 88 of Playing Dirty

“Catan,why? Would the game choice change your answer?”

His head bobs back and forth before murmuring, “No, but I’m alsotoo competitive to walk into this blind. And I’m sure as hell not making an ass of myself in front of your best friends.”

I laugh. “Yeah, well. At least they aren’t gonna see your ass naked.”

Twenty-Three

Madden

“Dude, can you relax?” Miles chides from where he’s sitting on the floor of our living room.

I frown, not sure where the statement is coming from, but when he reaches over and grabs my ankle, stopping my leg from bouncing up and down, I put the pieces together.

“You’re gonna give me an anxiety attack if you keep doing that.”

Torin and Vaughn do their best to contain their laughter but fail miserably when I just start bouncing the other leg that’s out of Miles’s reach.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he gripes while releasing me.

I can’t really help it, though. I’m oddly nervous, which doesn’t happen often. Or ever, really, so the last thing I need is these three giving me shit for worrying about how game night will go with Theo joining the mix.

Shooting my glare between the three of them, I mutter, “You guysbetter not make me regret this.”

“When have we ever?” Torin asks, arching a dark brow.

Vaughn frowns, and his gaze darts around the room. “Um. We haven’t?”

Torin rolls his eyes. “That’s my entire point.”

“Maddy Boy’s acting like we’re gonna do something to run off stepbro. But why would we do that when we bought the expansion pack just for tonight?” This comes from Miles, and he reaches for the little red box containing all the extra pieces for Theo to prove his point.

True enough, but even if these three are on their best behavior, it doesn’t automatically mean this is going to end well. It’s two different worlds colliding for the first time, and anything could happen.

Sure, Theo has technically met Miles and Torin once before, but it wasn’t a situation where he stuck around to make idle chitchat with them. Quite the opposite. And he’s been hard pressed to do more than pull up outside the duplex since. That’s something I want to change.

I want Theo to like them, to be comfortable being here—and vice versa.

Even if I’m ready to murder them at this particular moment, which is a thought I don’t have time to verbalize because my phone buzzes on the couch beside me, instantly pulling my attention down to the screen.

Theo: I’m here.

I jump up from the couch like a hot potato, and I hear Miles chuckle from behind me, which earns him a swift middle finger.

“You call him stepbro a single time while he’s here, and I will make your life a living hell,” I promise the three of them before I open the front door.

Theo’s seafoam eyes lock with mine the second it’s open, and immediately, the anxiety welling inside me starts to dissipate. Though, from the wary way he glances through the opening behind me, his nerves are still very much alive.

I step out onto the porch with him, pulling the door closed behind me.

“Hey,” he whispers, his lips forming a shy smile.

“Hi.” The word comes out on an exhale, all the tension leaving my body in that singular breath.

Slipping my hand around the back of his neck, I pull him in for a kiss that’s meant to be quick, though it easily becomes anything but. I lose all sense of time whenever our lips meld together, falling into a parallel dimension where the only thing that matters is me and him. But unfortunately, I’m very aware of the people waiting for us inside—and even more aware of the absolute nightmare they’ll be if they catch us making out on the front porch—so I break away.

Theo swallows roughly and drops his forehead to mine, whispering, “I almost bitched out about a dozen times since waking up.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I murmur back.