Page 58 of Play Dirty

I turned, exhaling slowly as my eyes settled upon Grayson once more.

I still didn’t understand at all.

~ 21 ~

HAVEN

By the time we got back to the house, the energy had shifted again. From controlled, to chaotic.

Music was on within minutes. Someone dragged out a folding table, and almost instantly beer pong cups appeared; as if summoned by some sorcerer’s trick.

And the girls — because there were more of them now — filtered in like they belonged there. Which tonight, I suppose, they sort of did.

“Hey Spreadsheet!” Zack called, tossing me a ping-pong ball. “You playing or what?”

I caught it easily, and pushed off from the wall. I’d been hovering near the edge of the action, drink in hand, just watching. Observing. Taking mental notes.

“I don’t lose at games like this,” I warned.

“Oh, I like that!” one of the girls laughed. “Confidence.”

“It’s not confidence,” I said, lining up a shot.

I lifted the ball between two fingers, took aim, and let it go. Cheers went up, as I sank it clean.

“It’s simple math.”

“Math?”

“Differentiation and Integration,” I replied. “The calculation of arcs and curves.”

“Curves,” laughed Caleb, downing the cup I just sank. “Our girl knows about curves.”

“That…” I acknowledged with a shrug, “plus I went away to college.”

The ball came back to me and I sank another one, without hesitating. Straight in, too. No edge of the cup nonsense.

“Okay,” laughed Caleb. “We’ve created a monster.”

I allowed myself a small smile. Just enough, but not too much. When the game ended in victory I played another, mostly because I felt obliged to defend my title. Then I faded back, to watch the others have fun. Puck bunnies and all.

I hadn’t anticipated joining the party, really. It just sort of happened around me. I downed another beer, and stayed just enough to be seen. Long enough to belong. At least for tonight, when the whole house was happy.

Eventually though, the noise started to press in. The closeness, the music, the claustrophobia — it was all just a little too much. I slipped out quietly, in the direction of the staircase. As expected, no one even noticed.

The second floor was darker. By the time I reached it, nature was seriously calling. The attic’s toilet seat would be freezing cold, as usual, so I made the decision to dip down the hallway and use this bathroom instead.

Then — a sound. It was soft. Low. Not music. Not laughter.

Something else.

I slowed down. The door to Dorian’s room was cracked open, just enough for light to spill into the hallway. And there was that sound again. A breath — sharp, drawn quickly. It was followed by a low, broken moan that definitely didn’t belong to him.

I should’ve kept walking. I didn’t.

Instead I stopped just outside the door, my heart picking up speed as I stared at the thin slice of light. Curiosity drove me. Or stupidity. Or maybe both.

Either way, I leaned in just slightly… and peeked through the gap.