Talon slumps back in his chair, palming his forehead before his eyes go wide, a bit like a lost puppy.
Jay exhales, tossing a sympathetic cringe towards Talon. He drums his fingers along the table. “Remember when we used to play hide-and-seek in college?”
“We’re thirty,” Bohdan says flatly.
“Thirty years young.” Talon nods enthusiastically, before his gaze swings back and forth between the rest of us, expectant.
Tia gives Jay a look. “Yeah, we played hide-and-seek in your shitty house that—”
Jay scoffs, interrupting, “It wasn’t shitty.”
Tia purses her lips before continuing, “You just had the biggest room. As I was saying, those were very contained games. We only hadyour shitty housewith its sticky floors to contend with. This is a giant ship.”
Talon looks around, lower lip extending thoughtfully before his eyes brighten from chocolate to amber, and he points the marker to the top deck of the ship. “What about if we just play on the top deck? It’s smaller and less crowded up there.”
Tia nods, tapping her finger against her nose. “That’s not a bad idea. Everyone’s probably going to be watching that highly sophisticated ... contest.”
“I always liked hide-and-seek.” I offer Talon an encouraging smile.
“Yeah, because you and Bohdan would ‘hide’ in his room,” Jay mutters with a roll of his eyes.
“Do you want to play?” I blink up at Bohdan.
His fingers drum against my shoulder and he looks down at me, sharp lines of his face too serious for the fact that we’re discussing a children’s game, but he softens when he winks down at me. “If you do.”
I do, actually.
It’s a beautiful, bright day. My heart and my brain feel beautiful and bright, too, and tomorrow isn’t here yet.
Maybe if I hide well enough, it’ll never come.
“Not it,” I say, scrunching my nose before looking back at everyone else.
Talon says it last, too busy angling his head so he could study the top deck of the ship with a shrewd expression that tells me he was trying to scope out possible hiding spots.
“Fuck.” He groans, scrubbing his face before he swings his finger between all of us. “Ten minutes to hide, or you’re all disqualified and I win by default.”
My hiding spot leaves a lot to be desired. I picked the place anyone would be most likely to find me—the library—found a book about the excavation of Pompeii, slid down against the shelf in the furthest corner of the room near a supply closet that might have made a better refuge, and tried to stay out of sight. It’s also the place Talon would be least likely to look. He’s neverbeen a good seeker—he takes it too seriously and never thinks to look in the obvious places.
But someone else looks for me.
“Thought I might find you here. What are you reading?” Bohdan’s words skitter across my skin, my heart skips in my chest, too loud and too awake, and I glance up, away from my book.
He looks more beautiful than usual, features shadowed from the low lights, hair almost bronze against the reflection off the rows of mahogany shelves, imposing and taking up all this space with the stretch of his shoulders in this quiet corner of the library.
“Excuse me.” I push to stand, shoving at his chest with my book. He doesn’t move. “This is my hiding space.”
“So?” He grins, dropping his head against the bookcase. “I like the library as much as you do.”
I point my book at him before sliding it back into its rightful place on the shelf. “You’re supposed to be hiding, too.”
“I am,” he says, voice a bit rough.
“Hiding alone, Bohdan,” I emphasize, pressing back against the stacks of books when he moves to cage me in, ropes and cords of muscle in his arms popping when his palms lie flat on either side of my head.
His eyes strike matches over my cheeks, little fires starting to burn everywhere they touch. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Bohdan,” I warn, pursing my lips to hide my smile, about to make a show of ducking under his arm, but he shifts with me, one thigh coming between my legs, trapping me between him and the shelf.
