Page 18 of Rescued
Hunter sits down beside me, tugging Theo into his lap, and wraps his arms around his stomach. Theo melts into him, then glances at Luca. “What are we playing tonight?”
My heart aches. I’ve been in relationships before. Just nothing that ever stuck. Nothing that I ever wanted to stick, anyway. Not until now. Not until I knew what it was like to love Arlo. Andseeing how open and free everyone else is in their love makes it so much worse.
I’m not sure that I can do this tonight. But I really don’t have a choice, so I lean forward and put on a brave face.
“Anything but Monopoly,” Luca says with a glare in my direction.
Something touches my arm, and I startle a bit, glancing down to find Arlo’s head resting against my bicep.
Everyone in the room falls silent, and four sets of eyes blink at us in shock.
“I think we should play truth or dare,” Austin says after a second.
Hunter and Theo share a look, and Luca giggles. “What are we, twelve?”
Arlo’s pinky brushes my outer thigh, and my heart jumps into my throat. What is he doing? “I think it sounds fun.”
“Hunter wanted to play truth or dare on our first date.” Theo shoots Hunter a grin. “We ended up playing twenty-one questions instead. Sounds fun. I’m in.”
Shrugging, Hunter nods. “I think it could be fun too, but nobody better dare me to do anything stupid.”
“Party pooper,” Luca grouses, sticking his tongue out.
That makes me smile. A genuine smile. Luca has come so far from the traumatized man who was afraid of his own shadow. I love seeing him more confident in himself and in his friendships. Hell, I love that hehasfriendships. He deserves it.
“I’m okay with it,” I hear myself saying. “Who wants to start?”
Luca points at me. “You should. You’re the oldest.”
“Damn. Way to call him out,” Arlo says.
He’s still resting against my arm, and I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but I also know I don’t want him to move.
“He is,” Luca insists, and then he grins. “But in, like, a hot daddy way.”
I nearly choke on my next breath, and Austin bursts into laughter. “Are you putting the moves on Jasper, baby?”
Luca scoffs. “As ifyoudidn’t try to hook up with him.”
My eyes nearly bug out of my head. “I had forgotten about that.”
Austin grimaces. “Yeah, my bad, man. For what it’s worth, I’m not interested anymore.”
I hold a hand up, almost unable to keep myself from laughing. “Me neither.”
After watching me for a second, Austin tilts his head. “Because you’re not interested in men?”
“What?” I glance around, my brows drawing together. “No, because I’m not interested inyou.”
“Told you,” Luca whispers.
“Wow,” Theo breathes. He’s been mostly quiet tonight, which isn’t anything new. He seems the type to just take in the dynamics and try to piece together where he fits into them. “I’m learning so much about all of you tonight.”
“Okay,” I interrupt. “Let’s get this train back on the track. How do we play? I pick a person, and then what?”
“And then that person gets the next turn,” Luca says.
I’m not actually sure if that’s how the game is played, but whatever. Works for me. “Okay. Do we get veto powers? What happens if we don’t want to answer something or do something?”
