Page 42 of Puck My Life

But halfway through, my throat closes up. After a couple more moments, I start to choke.

Deacon sits on the bed and leans back, tilting his head as he looks up at me, while Mal snickers behind him.

I keep going, but with just a line or two left, I lose my cool and stop, doubling over, laughing hysterically.

Raynor grins at me. “You couldn’t do it.”

I point a finger at him. “You knew I couldn’t. You damn cheat. That song has too many memories attached to it of Maria getting ready for Karaoke Saturday. I still remember you guys dressing up in her clothes and the look on her face when she came home early and caught you. ‘What in the name of Ms Bell’s foul strudel do you three morons think you are doing?’ Mal, I believe you were caught with the garter up around your groin at the time? Didn’t she burn it? She made you wash dishes for half a year.”

“Moi? Cheat?” Raynor sets his guitar aside and leans forward. “I’m offended. But it was Deacon with the garter, Mal had her granny panties on.”

We laugh for a couple of minutes until I remember the consequences and look apprehensively at Deacon. “So?”

“Take off your shoes, Vae.”

I frown, confused. “My shoes?”

“Yes. This is going to be a long game.” Deacon leans back on Mal’s chest, looking far too confident.

I groan. “We have work and jobs tomorrow, we can’t stay up all night playing games.”

“Who says we can’t?” he tosses back. “Your shoes, Hook.”

“Fine, Pan!”

I toe off my shoes and stare at him. “Whose turn is it?”

“Oh, no. It’s us versus you.”

“What? You can’t just change the terms of the game!”

“Yes, we’re one team, and you are the other. So, it’s your turn.”

I glower at him. What am I going to get him to do? And…Mal is wearing shorts. Just shorts. Oh, crap. My brain goes white before I’m able to pull myself together again.

This could be a teaching moment. Should I?

“Truth or dare.”

Deacon cocks his head to the side, his eyes glinting. He looks like he’s already won, but I’m not down and out yet.

“Dare, Hook, always and forever dare.”

“I dare you to learn to cook a meal with me.”

The silence is deafening. They were not expecting that.

“Now?” Deacon scowls.

“Yes, now. It will take half an hour, we can eat and continue. What do you say, Pan?”

His brows lower and then, with a graceful unfurling of his limbs, he stands up and keeps eye contact as he drifts out of the room. A predator who is determined not to lose.

Shit.

He’s so damn potent, but the way they are behaving feels like I’m under siege. This is strange. It’s almost hostile, but still with the familiar edge of play and something that I can’t quite understand.

I follow him out but pause in the doorway, looking back. Mal is standing in the middle of the room, and, as I watch, he inhales deeply. His eyes flicker towards me and hold me in an iron clad grip.