Page 101 of Double Shot

“Oh my, and the vintage leather pants.” Corey placed a hand on his chest when he saw the rest of Nat’s outfit. “Darling, we must go shopping together sometime.”

“Love to,” Nat replied, pushing open the doors into a cavernous, artificially lit room that smelled like rubber and pine floor cleaner. “Followed by brunch at the Xenia Lobby Lounge, obviously.”

“Well, that goes without saying.” The pair of them laughed as if they’d just shared an inside joke they’d had for years.

I followed in silence. Was it really this easy for other people to make friends? Everything about this interaction seemed so weird to me, but apparently this was normal.

Nat and Corey were still talking non-stop as he led us across the echoing space to a dated unisex locker room. The air smelled like a mix of stagnant water and bleach, and voices echoed as everyone piled in to dump their stuff. No one bothered to actually use the lockers, just left bags and jackets on the worn wooden benches as the majority of us shifted into our true forms. Dan didn’t, because he’d struggle playing pickleball without his head attached, and Seb preferred his human form over his werewolf one, which was something I struggled to understand.

I toed off my sneakers and stripped off my T-shirt and socks before shifting into my werewolf form, breathing a silent sigh of relief as I stretched out my back and arms and flexed my fingers to alleviate the little ache that always followed my claws growing in.

“Oh my gods, Bri, are you even taller like this?” Nat asked in shock when I stepped back out of the locker room, gazing up at me with big grey eyes.

“Oh, um…”

“Our Brian is an impressive sight in his werewolf form,” Corey told him proudly, squeezing my shoulder. “And such a beast in the ring. Star quality. I saw it in him the moment he joined our family a few years ago.”

“Oh yeah, I don’t doubt it.” Nat nodded, smiling up at me. “Why don’t you put those muscles to use and help me get out all the equipment?”

“Sure. Of course.” I followed him across the big gym area to a set of double doors, which Nat unlocked to reveal a storage room filled with sports equipment.

“I’ll get it!” Kit suddenly appeared again, slipping past me to get into the room. “I’ll get the stuff.” They turned and peered back at the group slowly wandering out of the locker room. “Hey! Gabe! Why don’t you come and help?”

Nat and Corey had wandered off, still chatting, but I was standing right there, so I hesitantly said, “Um, I don’t mind helping—”

“Great, thanks, Brian. Why don’t you grab the paddles?” Kit grinned at Gabe in a way that instantly made me suspicious when the incubus joined us in the storage room. Then they started whispering to each other, which of course made me even more suspicious. I slowly grabbed a stack of paddles and turned to carry them out of the storage room, but paused at the door and glanced back.

Gabe was taking something out of his pocket and showing Kit. The pair of them snickered. I craned my neck to try and see what it was. It looked a little like a… saltshaker?

Kit grabbed the bag of pickleballs and held it open for Gabe, who upended that saltshaker and sprinkled a brown mystery powder all over them.

“What are you doing?” I heard myself ask, unable to hold back the question.

They both jumped and tensed and whipped their heads around, then relaxed again when they saw it was still me.

“Oh, it’s just you, Brian.”

“Should we tell him?” Gabe asked Kit in a murmur.

Kit waved a dismissive hand. “Brian ain’t no narc.” They beckoned me over, snickering again, and lowered their voice conspiratorially. “So Gabe went to this shady fae magic practitioner—”

“He’s not that shady.” Gabe interrupted with a little huff. “He just lives in a weird cabin in the woods. Okay, maybe all the teeth hanging up on his porch are a little shady, but…”

“Anyway, he made this powder that—” Kit bit their lip. They seemed to be holding back a giggle. “No, I’m not gonna spoil it. You’ll find out soon.”

I frowned. “It’s not gonna make anyone sick, is it?”

“Brian!” Gabe gasped in dismay. “You know we’d never do that.”

“I mean, you are sprinkling a mysterious powder on the balls—”

“It’s gonna be hilarious, Bri, don’t worry about it.” Kit clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Trust. Even Holt will be laughing.”

“Um… okay.” I hesitantly backed out of the room, clutching the paddles. Kit was right—I wasn’t a snitch. I knew they’d never do anything to harm the team, so it was probably just going to be some really, really stupid prank.

One that definitely would not make Holt laugh.

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