Page 66 of Rock Giant

“It’s a team game.Black Halo versus the Ghost Boys.A friendly, obviously.”

“There are six of you and only four of us,” Nash pointed out.Fucking rules lawyer.

All attention turned to the bathroom and the sounds of heaving.

“And one of us isn’t exactly at his best.”

“I’m not playing, I’m adjudicating,” Spook pointed out.“So Black Halo are down their best man too.”

“Ooooh!”The sound was made by a combination of voices, disputing that claim.Although, depending on the measure, Spook was the best among them—best guitarist, best hair, best mediator, best at knots.Both tying and unravelling them.The list went on.

“I can play,” Jodi offered, shuffling forward on the sofa, and accidentally bumping up against him in the process.Just that tiny bit of contact gave him an all-over happy glow.

“She is an honorary Ghost Boy,” Lee confirmed.

“Yay, Jo-Jo.”Balin raised his hand for a high five.

“That’s not fair,” Ginny complained.“I want to join in.I’m as much a part of Black Halo as she is the Ghost Boys.More so, even.”She flashed her wedding band and engagement ring combo.

“Three teams,” Spook proposed.“Black Halo, Ghost Boys, and the ladies.”

“That still doesn’t give an even number of players per team,” Nash pointed out.

Yup, definitely a rules lawyer.

Ginny wasn’t going to be thwarted.She nibbled her lip.Then her face lit.“Dani?”

Dani shook her head and waved her arms before her but was soon pulled from Xane’s lap and drawn into a huddle with her best friend and his Jodi.“And Ronnie can join us and be an honorary lady,” they declared after a quick conflab.“That’s okay, ain’t it?It makes the teams even.”

Ronnie was promptly parted from a glass of what he called a Shoggoth, which was vodka, vermouth and on this occasion, crème de menthe combined with a bag of Golden Bears.Previous incarnations had involved peach schnapps, Tequila Rose, and Appletini.“Well, yes, I suppose.I mean, girls are cool.What are we doing?Is this a sock game that girls are even capable of playing?”

“Ronnie!”Ginny clipped him around the back of the head.

“What?”

“Everybody in the room is equipped with the requisite body parts for participation,” Spook clarified.“And if you’ll all fucking shut up a minute, I can get as far as the rules.”

Luthor sighed as Alle began handing out socks.

“You had the biggest socks.And the biggest collection of socks.You have like forty pairs.”

“A man can’t have too many socks.”

Xane leaned over and gave his boyfriend a kiss.“Especially when he has a girlfriend who steals them in order to read and drink tea in.”

“Said girlfriend always puts them in the wash afterwards.”

Spook clapped his hands together.“Okay, listen up.Rules.”He got a familiar gleam in his blue peepers that sent a shiver of anticipation down Paul’s spine.

“You guys should probably know that despite appearances, he’s a complete sadist,” he said to those in his vicinity.“Let’s hope there’s still some arnica in the first aid kit.Okay, go on, spill.We’re listening.”

“Rule One: everyone take your… shoes off and put a sock on one foot.No, I don’t care which one, just as long as it’s on a foot.Hands don’t count, Ronnie.No, Rock Giant isn’t allowed to put his on his extra appendage.”

That earned him some side-eye from Nash, who maybe hadn’t heard he had a big one.

Spook waited until everyone was done.“Aim of the game—remove the socks from the other participants.Winning conditions—be the last person still wearing a sock.Rule two” —he gestured, raising his index fingers on both hands— “you are not allowed to use your hands under any circumstances to remove the socks.You can use them for other purposes, like balance.Cheating will be met with severe consequences.”Alle passed him a wooden-backed hairbrush, which Spook tested against his palm in a way that made a loud clap.“Okay, go.”

Paul dived into the thick of things, avoiding the temptation to use the game to snuggle up against Jodi.He soon wrestled the socks off two of the Ghost Boys.A combined assault from Ginny and Dani soon put Ash out.Dani soon followed.Then Xane.Then Luthor.He noted the three of them slipping away into one of the bedrooms.No need to ask what for, all this wriggling about and grinding up against other bodies definitely got the blood pumping.