Page 29 of Vexing the Viper

Mateo and Sam take their turns, and soon we're all a pretzel tangled mess of hands and limbs everywhere. Sam tries to spinagain, but isn't able to make the transition and falls, taking Mateo down with him.

"I'm going to get some water. Wanna come with me?" Mateo asks Sam. From the corner of my eye, I see them take off, acting as if they’re the only two in the room.

"How much do you want to bet they aren't coming back anytime soon?" King says, huffing as he stretches to grab the spinner they’d tossed by the couch. His shirt rides up his body, and I bite my lip at the happy trail that disappears behind his waistline.

"Do you think they realize they’re crushing on each other?" I ask, spinning and moving my body into position. The only way for me to get onto my dot is to put my chest up close to his, so I do that, our bodies dangerously close together.

"No. I don't think either of them realize it yet. To them, they're just friends." King makes his next move, his arm reaching over me to land on a dot behind me.

"What a shame," I murmur, the scent of sandalwood hitting my senses. Leaning in, I take another sniff, my eyes rolling into the back of my head. Fuck, he smells so damn good. I bet he tastes just as delectable.

My body stills when the thought flits through my mind. Gazing up, our eyes lock, and electricity flows between us. My hands start to get sweaty, the mat slipping under them. Breathing heavily, I grab hold of his hip as my hand slips and I go tumbling down. His weight lands on top of me, but neither of us move. Hell, I don't even know if either of us are fucking breathing.

His hand slides up, caressing my cheek, and I lean into his touch, closing my eyes. My snakes fall into a trance, letting me have this intimate moment with King. His other hand squeezes my hip and my eyes fly open. Oh, Medusa, he's beautiful. The gold flecks in his brown eyes are so welcome and inviting. Heleans his head down, a ghost of a kiss fluttering against my lips, but not yet touching.

"Kingston," I whisper, ready to give in and claim his lips as mine.

"Who's ready for round two?" Mateo and Sam come barging back into the common area, and King jumps off me as though his ass is on fire. He rests on his heels, breathing heavily and staring at me with a confused look on his face that I know is eerily similar to the look on my own.

Clearing my throat, I sit up avoiding looking at King. "Let's play."

14

KING

Standing in my room,I look at myself in the mirror again, making sure I look okay. Tonight is Will's party at Scare-aoke, and I want to make sure I look alright. It has nothing to do with the fact Niko and Mateo have agreed to come out with us tonight. Or the fact Niko and I haven't had any time alone since the Twister incident last week.

God, the way my body was vibrating with the need to capture his lips was overwhelming. If Mateo and Sam hadn't come in, I would’ve done it. The way he leaned into my touch lets me know he wanted me as much as I wanted him. Going from him disliking me to how close we’ve gotten should have given me whiplash, but for him, I’m finding I don’t care. And I know I shouldn’t try to do anything with him since he’s the coach’s son, but I don’t think I can stop myself.

"Are you guys almost ready?" Mateo yells down the hall, drawing my attention away from my mirror and my thoughts of Niko.

"Coming!" I yell back, giving myself one final glance. Instead of wearing my signature sweats and cut off tee, I'm styled in apair of dark blue jeans with a black polo shirt. I look more like Mateo at this point, but I wanted to look good tonight.

I spot Mateo in the common area when I walk out, sitting on the couch with Sam. Sam decided to meet us here so we could all head over together. I sit down next to them, waiting to see how much longer Niko is going to take.

Pulling my phone, I scroll on Fangstagram, not tuning in to their conversation. They're not including me anyway, so whatever. Sam giggles, and I roll my eyes. Hard. I have never heard him make that sound before, and now here he is, giggling up a storm.

Footsteps sound down the hallway, and my eyes nearly pop out of my head when I see Niko standing in front of us. He's wearing skin-tight black pants with his signature leather jacket. Of course he's wearing his beanie, but his snakes are out and playing around. He's happy. The aura that's radiating off him is pure joy, and I can't look away.

"Alright, let's do this." Rubbing his hands, Niko walks over to the door before turning his head around. "You guys coming?"

We follow Niko out the door and through the dorm building. Since we don't know how much we may or may not drink tonight, we decide to walk to Scare-aoke. Niko and I are side by side, while Sam and Mateo stroll in front of us. Occasionally they'll turn around and include us in the conversation, or Niko and I will make a joke about them and they'll turn around to glare. This little group of four we have is pretty great, and I'm thankful we all found each other.

I step into Scare-aoke and laugh at all the different things I see. There's a group of monsters in the back corner singing badly to a Lady Gaga song, while a group of humans are in the booth next to them wilding out to Britney Spears. I scan the room, looking for Will and the rest of the team. A loud whoop has me whipping my head to the side. When I spot my teammates, Ithrow my head back in laughter, seeing Will at the front. He's wearing a crown on his head with a microphone in one hand. He's grinding the air while singing, the whole team cheering him on.

We join in with the antics, cheering and hollering as we walk up to the booth. Will gives us a high five, but keeps singing, not letting us distract him. Niko and Mateo head over to the bar to grab us a couple of drinks while I snatch the song book off the table, flicking through the sheets of music available.

When Niko returns, he sits right next to me, the heat of his leg touching mine. He leans over, and I turn my head, inhaling his scent. Coby hisses in my ear and nips at me, causing me to laugh and turn away.

"Are you going to sing anything?" I ask, not wanting to draw attention to the fact Coby caught me sniffing him.

"Probably not. I'm here to watch you all make a fool of yourselves."

"Oh, I can one hundred percent guarantee that will happen tonight."

Niko laughs, tossing his head back and exposing the column of his throat. I can only imagine what it would be like to suck on his creamy skin. Knowing Niko is here to watch us all look like fools has me wanting to put on a show for him.

"What song are you going to sing?" He turns the page in the book, scanning the list, then looking back at me.

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