Page 4 of Dared

“Finn.”

I smiled. “Hi, Erik.”

“Fuck,” he whispered. “I’m—I need to go. Today’s been— I need to sleep.”

“Okay. Speak to you—” I began, but he was already gone.

3

“What am I doing here?” I wondered aloud as I took in my surroundings. I’d never been to this part of campus before, and this performance studio was unchartered territory for me.

“Weare here supporting our bestie, as you well know.” Ander, my LSU football teammate, cuffed me around the back of the head. I shot him a mock glare.

“Watch it. JJ’s not my bestie. I barely even know the guy. He still holds a grudge because I ruined his trainers back when we were freshers.”

“Yeah, so you being here now will make up for it,” Ander told me with a decisive nod.

“If you say so.” Maybe he was right.

JJ had sent Ander a text asking him if he’d watch his dance showcase rehearsal and bring some of the football team so thedancers could practise in front of an audience. At the time, I’d been at the student union with Ander, his boyfriend Elliot, and their housemates Charlie and Levi. Ander had basically bribed us all into coming with promises of beer, and so…here we were.

Settling into my seat, I dug my phone out of my pocket and tapped out a quick message to Erik to let him know I’d be online later. That done, I killed time browsing through my social media while I waited for the rehearsal to begin.

We didn’t have to wait for long. JJ appeared on the stage, along with a cute, smiling blonde girl and a guy with tousled red hair who was staring at the floor, looking as if he’d rather be anywhere than here. JJ introduced himself and the others—Alyssa, who would be dancing first, and Leo, who would dance second. After JJ’s dance, they’d finish up with a group dance, and then I’d be free to make my escape and playLesath Legends.

Speaking ofLesath Legends, I was impatient to speak to Erik. He’d texted me about half an hour earlier, asking me to wish him luck for putting himself through something he referred to as potentially the scariest thing he’d ever had to do. He’d told me he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it beforehand, but he’d give me all the details afterwards. Ever since I’d seen his message, I’d been on edge, needing to know what it was and hoping he was okay, whatever it was he was doing.

But when the lights dimmed and the spotlight came on, I temporarily forgot everything else, transfixed by the first performance. It wasn’t even that Alyssa was hot and wearing tight clothing that showed off the athletic curves of her body, but it was the way she moved. Fucking incredible.

“Hey, Ander.” I leaned into him after she’d disappeared off the stage. “Maybe we should bring in some dance-style warm-ups to our football practices. Some of the team could do with loosening up. Moves like that—we’d be fucking unstoppable.”

Ander’s brows flew up. “You just watchedherdancing likethat, and what you got from it was that we need to incorporate the moves into our football sessions?” He shook his head. “You’re a lost cause.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you were watching a hot girl with some fucking hot moves, and you’re thinking about football? Yeah, I’m in a relationship, and no one will ever be as hot to me as Elliot is.” He paused, spinning in his seat to press a loud kiss to Elliot’s cheek before he returned his attention to me. “But I have eyes. Yours, my friend, are dysfunctional. I know you’re straight because you said so last semester when that guy was trying to get your number at that pub quiz.Andyour ex-girlfriend looks a bit like Alyssa, so I know she’s probably your type. So, again. You’re a lost cause.”

“There’s a reason we split up. I was only with her for about six weeks, and it was right at the start of our first year, so it’s hardly worth mentioning. And I don’t really have a type, FYI.”

“Wasn’t she a dancer?”

“She did yoga, like, once a week.”

“Athletic girls. See. My point still stands.”

“Whatever. Yeah, Alyssa’s hot. Maybe if I saw her out and about, I might think about it. But my whole life doesn’t revolve around women, okay? I know that’s an unusual concept for you, with the way you were pre-Elliot.” Patting his shoulder, I smirked at him.

“For someone who’s hot—and I’m qualified to say that with my status as a modern bisexual man—a footballer, and reasonably intelligent, you’re wasting your talents.”

“Yeah, but that’s stereotyping, isn’t it? Hot plus athlete equals a player with a different girl every night. Okay, some people are like that, but I never have been. I guess living with myparents has kind of made it difficult to do that anyway, but for me, gaming holds equal, if not more, importance than girls.”

His jaw dropped as if I’d shared some life-changing news, but he recovered quickly, a smirk replacing his shocked expression. “Oh. You like fictional women. I get it. You want those game characters with massive tits and?—”

I clamped my hand over his mouth, feeling him grin beneath my palm. “You’re stereotyping again.”

When I pulled my hand away, he sighed dramatically. “Such rude behaviour. I expected better from you.” His gaze flicked to the front of the performance studio. “Look. Leo’s up now.”

I returned my attention to the stage. As the guy stepped into the spotlight, I could see his body shaking, his green eyes wide and scared. Fuck. I pushed down the automatic urge to comfort him, my brain instantly going to Erik, knowing what a hard time he had going up in front of people. From everything I knew about him, I couldn’t imagine him ever being on a stage and doing something like this.

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