Page 23 of Nerdplay
I turn my head before he can see the drool gathering at the corner of my mouth. Calm down, hormones. You act like you haven’t seen a handsome man’s bare body before. Granted, it’s been a couple years, and the previous body did not compare to this one.
I clamp a hand over my mouth. Am I objectifying someone? Mortified, I hurry to catch up with the others at ring toss before Charlie arrives.
“Where’s the spy?” Bradley asks, craning his neck to see past me. “It probably isn’t safe to let him wander around the campground alone.”
“Relax, he’s getting a snack. Infiltration makes a man hungry.”
Bradley clucks his tongue. “He claims he’s getting a snack. What if he’s planting false evidence?”
“Evidence of what? The camp is actually a meth lab? Give the police procedurals a rest, Bradley.”
Angela shushes us. “Here he comes.”
I turn to see Charlie crest the hill. “Everyone, this is Charlie. Charlie, this is everyone.” I wave a hand airily.
The greetings are chock full of friendly enthusiasm.
“Mind if I join the game?” he asks.
“Step right up,” Ben says. “The more the merrier.”
Charlie ambles closer. “What kind of ring toss is this?”
I hold up a gold circlet. “This is the One Ring.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
His blank expression suggests otherwise. “The One Ring to Rule Them All.”
Realization settles in. “Oh, I get it.” He motions to the target. “And that’s the mountain.”
“Mordor.”
“Right. Mordor.”
“Like it says on your T-shirt,” I point out, grateful that he’s once again fully clothed.
He looks down as though he’s forgotten what he’s wearing.
“You need to throw the ring around Mordor,” I explain. “The team with the most ringers wins.”
“Technically, shouldn’t I be tossing the ring into Mordor?”
I slap a ring in his hand. “Take off your lawyer hat for a minute. It won’t hurt, I promise.”
He mimes hat removal. We divide into teams. The Hobbits versus the Elves. I’m a Hobbit and Charlie is an Elf.
I quickly learn he wasn’t kidding about his innate abilities. He lands every ring he tosses.
“He’s a ringer,” someone shouts.
Still, his team loses when Angela tosses her ring past Mordor. It rolls across the grass and lands in a firepit. I expect sour grapes from Charlie, but he’s a surprisingly good sport and tells us “good game.” I wonder if it’s part of the ruse or if he genuinely doesn’t mind. I hate that I can’t tell when a man is faking feelings. I ought to be an expert by now.
I consider the earlier suggestion to test the limits of Charlie’s commitment to LandStar. Suddenly it seems like the best idea I’ve ever heard.
“You know what, Charlie? You should sign up for Hero 101.”
“Why that one?”
