Page 26 of Set Me On Fire

“Veto?” Brian peered at the word owlishly. “What does that?—?”

“The ability to say no to a challenge.” Millie shot Noah a measured look. “I remember that from ancient history.”

“Got a bit of ancient history, do ya, love?” Mick asked with a leer.

“I don’t have to answer that, not unless I land on ‘hot seat.’” Millie replied, picking up the coin and flipping it, only lookingwhen everyone started to roar. Her coin had landed right where she said.

“So what does that entail?” Charlie was sitting back in his chair, arm slung over the back, and that had me watching closely. He was a regular Energizer Bunny normally, so a calm Charlie was a dangerous one.

“I have to answer one question completely truthfully,” she replied. I didn’t watch her face but her fingers as they traced the line of the glass stem. Dave sucked in a breath and so did Noah, but Charlie was there before him.

“How do you know Noah?” he asked, his eyes glittering. She was about to answer, but he clarified his question. “I know you went to school together, but…” His finger pointed to her and then Noah, moving back and forth. “Anything juicy there? Teenage sweethearts?”

Dave snorted at that, remembering Noah’s lack of game when it came to women, but I… I found myself leaning forward, wanting to hear the answer more than any of the other shit people might have to say. Millie just shrugged at the attention, sipped her wine, and then let her arms rest on the table.

“He was supposed to be my first kiss.” I wanted to put a stop to things the minute she confessed that. Brian started to put shit on Noah, but the tense mood in the room seemed to stifle even that. Every eye was trained on Millie, waiting for the punchline. “I thought we had… something. It seemed like it was going to happen at a party we were at, but…” She smiled, but there was no real heart in it. I don’t know why I thought I was such an expert in her smiles, but I was certain of it. “But it didn’t, we didn’t… do anything. He never spoke to me again, not until now.”

Noah was too pale and too flushed all at the same time. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was about to be sick, sweat prickling across his forehead. The red spots in his cheeks,they told another story, glowing bright as he cleared his throat, ready to explain.

“Well, any dickhead who pussied out on kissing you isn’t worth your time,” Dave said, picking up the coin before flipping it my way. “Your turn, Fort.”

I snatched it out of the air and held it for a second, imagining that I could feel a trace of Millie’s warmth on the metal.

Chapter 15

Charlie

What the actual fuck?

I loved Shenanigans. Give people a few drinks, a piece of paper, and a pen and the pricks stopped pretending and became who they really were. I just didn’t expect this Noah, this Millie, to make an appearance. All the stories I got about Millie were delivered in drunken rambles, often with Noah stalking her social media profiles. I figured it was a teenage romance gone wrong, the girl that got away or something.

Not a girl he didn’t even try to kiss.

That hurt Millie. She was cool and fun and was prepared to go where angels fear to tread, playing this game with a bunch of men she barely knew, but still. I knew the sound of pain when I heard it. It was like their voice was twisted tight like fence wire and the pain had it vibrating, changing their tone. She covered it with a smile, waving people’s belated calls for more information.

“I land on ‘hot seat’ again, you can ask me for the deets,” she replied firmly. “But I’m done. Knox?”

Did she know what she was doing? I saw nothing studied, nothing deliberate in her. Her focus returned to Sally, the twoof them gossiping about something, so she missed it, the way Knox looked at her. We were informed about the psychological nature of our job. Rescuing people from fires, that could have an intense effect on members of the public, especially pretty girls, but this time, my very big, very surly team lead was the one who caught feelings. He tossed the coin negligently, which was 100% Knox. He never gave a shit about anything.

Except he did now.

I grinned as I watched the coin fall, somehow knowing exactly where it was going to go. Sally’s eyes widened as it landed on her dare.

Sing a song in your underwear.

I’d fallen victim to it many a time, having done a fairly convincing rendition ofHit Me Baby One More Timein the past. People hummed it for weeks later at work, so I couldn’t help but grin right now. Knoxy usually noped out when the Shenanigans got real. Instead, he stood up, unzipped his fly with a theatrical air, which forced me to look away. We’d all had to shower together at some point, so I knew what he was working with. It was the ladies’ gasps that caught my attention, but not theirs. They stared openly as Knox stood up and sangTwinkle, Twinkle.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”

Knox’s voice was rusty and off key, but that didn’t bother the guys. Mick had his phone out, ready to film this moment, when I knocked it out of his hand.

“The fuck…?”

“What happens in Shenanigans stays in Shenanigans,” I told him.

“And we aren’t staying.” Jase got to his feet and then slung his wife over his shoulder, her shriek one of amusement not alarm. “You want to look at some bloke’s dick while he’ssinging? I’ll sing the national anthem naked and you can see if you can ‘raise the flagpole.’”

“That what gets you going, mate?” Dave cackled, him and his team pegging plastic cups at the couple. Their uproar almost drowned out Knox’s song, not that Millie noticed. She watched him like he was some famous rock star or something, and Noah? He watched her, taking in the way she stared at our teammate.

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