“Whoa!” Pie puts up a hand. “I’m so not yours to command.”
My tone is deadpan. “You literally are. How many times do I have to remind you? Forget never being fucked, he’s never even been kissed, Pie. Kiss the man. Make it good, too. It might be the only one he ever gets.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - PIE
It’s not the dare that has me thinking. I will gladly kiss Tomas. I’m a little bit attracted to him. Have been since I first saw him on that second-story balcony the day I arrived here.
That’s not it.
It’s not that in Pell’s mind, this request falls more along the lines of a my-wish-is-your-command kind of thing instead of a dare in a game.
It’s not even the surprise of learning that Tomas has never been with a woman. Certainly, never been kissed is a little bit of a shock, since he’s so very handsome. But he’s cursed. It’s really hard to meet people when you’re not allowed to leave your monster sanctuary.
None of that is what makes me pause. It’s just Tomas himself.
He looks… scared. Which makes zero sense because it’s me. But before the words are even out of Pell’s mouth, Tomas is shaking his head and waving his hands and saying, “No. No. It’s not necessary.”
And Pell is saying, “This has nothing to do with necessary, Tomas. We all know you’re infatuated with my slave.”
My head swings over to Pell to shoot him a disapproving look regarding the slave comment, but we’re all kind of high on this hookah shit and I’m way too stoned to put any kind of effort into correcting him, so I’m willing to write this comment off as an in-the-moment faux pas instead of malicious ignorance.
“Pie,” Tomas says. I look back over. “It’s not you. I swear. I think you’re hot. I’d… you know. But I don’t want to do it like this.” But here is where it gets interesting. He looks over at Pell then. And it’s a weird look.
“Wait.” I feel like I’m a little bit behind here, but now I’m finally catching up. “Why are you looking at Pell like that?”
Tomas puts on that smile. I might be new here, but I recognize that smile. He’s a good-natured guy. He’s not moody and difficult like Pell, even though out in the real world, that’s the kind of guy Tomas probably would be. He’s far too attractive—like, supernaturally attractive—to be one of those aw-shucks guys.
Tomas has a darkness in him. Though he hides it well. Because I’m only just now noticing it.
“What?” And now Tomas is showing off his innocent smile. “What look?”
I point at him. “You’re hiding something. And if I wasn’t so shit-faced high, I’d figure out what it was.”
Pell groans. “Just kiss the man. I’m dying for my turn.”
I can’t help it, I laugh at Pell. At some point while I was not paying attention he changed position so he’s lying down on the floor, on his back, with his head on the pillow. But he’s backwards. So his legs are pointing out of the circle instead of inward. And his hooves are kicked up on the seat of a red velvet chair.
He’s not even looking at us. In fact, I’m pretty sure his eyes are closed.
This annoys me. “You’re not even gonna watch?”
Pell snorts. Like actually snorts. Then he turns over and sighs, resting his head sideways on his hands, one eye open and looking at me. “Do you want me to watch?”
“This was your idea.”
“Guys,” Tomas says. “There will be no kiss.”
“It’s my dare. I can’t not do it.”
Pell opens his other eye. “Are there penalties?”
“Of course! If you refuse, you are a loser. I’m not a loser.”
Tomas raises his hand. “I’ll be the loser.”
I look over at him. “Why don’t you want me to kiss you?”
And finally, his smile falls. His whole face changes. He’s still hot as fuck. Especially in that dragon chimera body. I’m not totally on board with the claws instead of feet—they look pretty sharp. But overall, I kinda love this look.
“What?” I ask him. “Just tell me what the problem is. Am I not good enough for you?”
He laughs. “No. That’s not it.”
“Then why don’t you want me to kiss you?”
“Because he likes you,” Pell says. “Wake me up when we’re ready to move on.” Then he yawns. A huge, cavernous yawn that shows all his sharp teeth. “I’m bored with this game and at the rate we’re going that door will never appear. All because Tomas is too scared to be kissed by a pretty girl.”
I smile, because he called me pretty, but then frown. “Wait. We have to play the game to make the door appear?” Did I know this? Maybe. I can’t remember. But when I look around, sure enough, there is no door. And this room is not big the way the others were. If we didn’t see the door right away, there were hallways or forest paths to follow and eventually it would be there. But there is nowhere to go in here. It’s just this room and that’s it.