Going around the circle, the game gets increasingly spicier. Thankfully, that also means that I get to drink less and less. I already have a significant buzz after admitting to things like mixing up salt for sugar in a recipe, revealing a secret I was supposed to keep and peeing in a swimming pool. So when the questions escalate to receiving nudes, flashing someone or having sex in public, I can keep my cup lowered.
I'm still having a great time without getting completely smashed. This might actually be the first time that I feel like I'm really part of a community.
I'm so relaxed that at one point, I completely tune out and find myself staring across the fire at Clayton. He's just so damn handsome and smart and nice that for a moment I forget all the drama. In that brief instance, all that I care about is how the creases at the corners of his chestnut brown eyes deepen every time he smiles and the way his deep laugh can be singled out from among all of the surrounding hubbub.
Then someone says, "Never have I ever had a secret crush," and my attention snaps back to the game.
Taking a drink would mean admitting that I have at some point had a crush on someone. Without any more detail, it's an innocent enough admission, but I still hesitate to lift the cup to my lips.
Is what I feel for Clayton Ward even a crush? That would be silly. He's my superior in both my professional and personal life. And if crushes have at least a slim chance of being requited, then whatever this is certainly doesn't qualify. At most the way this man completely makes me not only ignore every warning I've ever gotten about the opposite sex, but also want to break them means that this is more of an infatuation than anything.
But as nearly everyone else around the campfire begins to drink in agreement with the statement, my resistance becomes more apparent.
"No way you've never had a crush on somebody," Walt says as he lowers his beer bottle and wipes his lips.
If all eyes hadn't been on me before, they are now. Instinctively I look at Clayton, who'd been the only other player that also didn't drink.
Narrowing his gaze, he considers me quietly for a beat before raising his cup to his lips. I swear I catch a slight smile before he drinks.
A burst of heat spreads through my body and my insides flutter. There's no way I can go on like this without making an even bigger scene, so I decide to go all in.
"Heck no!" I exclaim in response to Walt before holding out my cup. "But I do need a top up."
To my surprise, it's Clayton who stands and offers to pour from a bottle.
"We're out of punch, but there's plenty of rum left if that's all right with you," he says with a coquettish tilt of his head.
Gemma's displeased huff from next to him is the only encouragement I need to accept and soon my cup is full again. After a few more rounds of admissions, the campfire and the alcohol are clearly doing their jobs as a bead of sweat rolls down the side of my face. I reach up to wipe it away when my fingers touch the bandage.
Covered by my chunky fringe and a wool toque, the medical tape hiding a small cut I sustained in the weekends' car accident is a reminder that not everything is as hunky-dory as it may feel at the moment.
I had originally wanted to keep the scar and underlying bump on my forehead as long as it took them to naturally heal in order to somehow try to use the evidence to entrap whomever forced us off the road. That's why I refused to change and why Clayton stubbornly also didn't call his wolf even though he'd been more severely injured.
But as we drove back to campus that night, my faith in the slapdash plan evaporated. Who did I think I was? Agatha Christie? I wasn't even Nancy Drew! Of course there was no way I could admit that to Clayton, so instead I've kept the bump covered in public.

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Brotherhood of the Wolf
Paranormal[2024 WATTYS Shortlist] Academia is a different beast all together when a university is run by werewolves and your new dean is a literal Alpha. * * * At twenty-five, Barlow Milligan is looking forward to starting her first job after gr...