Page 32 of Game Night: Truth or Dare

7. Epilogue

About Courtney W. Dixon

Chapter 1

Myles

“It’s my birthday, and what I say goes. The birthday girl always has the first say in what we play.”

Jules Cordell, my best friend since we were freshmen at Washington State nearly a decade ago, stood in the middle of her living room at her apartment with hands on her tilted hips. She was gorgeous, too, if you were straight and into lesbians. Her chocolate-brown hair was parted in the middle and divided into two long French braids at the back. She wore loose denim overalls with a white tank underneath, which blended with her pale skin covered with colorful tattoos.

There were about twenty of us, already half-drunk from celebrating Jules’ twenty-eighth birthday. My head was spinning from some drink that tasted vaguely like fruit punch, but mostly, it was a mixture of alcohol that went down way too smoothly.

“Well, out with it, Jules. What are we playing?” said one of the party members. I forgot his name. I should call him mustache man with that hideous brown mustache. It was thick and uneven. I bet it smelled, too, and it looked like a turd. Gross. He’d be cuter without it. Whoever thought mustaches were in clearly never bothered to ask my opinion. Why was I even thinking about mustaches, anyway?

“Truth or Dare,” she announced proudly, chin in the air as if daring anyone to complain or tell her no. Regardless, half the crowd moaned, and not in a good, sexy way.

“What are we, twelve?” I chimed in just to poke at her. Best friends were allowed to do that.

She raised a dark, manicured brow at me and huffed before pointing at me with a long finger. “Behave, Myles. And, yes, tonight we’ll be twelve. I’m going to be thirty in two years, so I want to live as young as I can until that time.”

I raised my glass in cheers and gulped back the rest of my drink before refilling it. As much as I adored Jules, I really didn’t want to play. No good ever came out of a game of Truth or Dare, only years of lingering humiliation over a dare or telling a truth you didn’t want to. But wasn’t that the point behind the game? Utter embarrassment?

The last time I played was during my senior year in high school before I came out as gay. I supposed because I’d never had a girlfriend in all that time, my friends pushed me onto Monica Rice, one of the prettiest girls in school, making me kiss her for a minute on a dare. The kiss was stiff and sloppy, while Monica tried to deepen it. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. My lack of enthusiasm was evident, and then the rumors started. I ended up taking her to prom to shut people up when really, all I wanted was to take Craig Jefferies, the boy I’d been crushing on for a year, instead.

Yeah, Truth or Dare sucked, but I’d do it for Jules.

“Okay, everyone, grab a drink, and let’s gather in a circle in the living room,” my overbearing, handful of a friend ordered.

She sat down on the carpeted floor and spread her legs so Skye, her girlfriend of a year, could sit there. Skye Fisher was as sweet as could be, with an outgoing vibe. You had to be, being with Jules, who was vibrant in her own right. Skye kept her tight curls cropped really close to her scalp and wore a frilly, bright pink blouse that complimented her darker skin. I adored Skye as much as Jules. They were a perfect match.

When I sat on the plush sofa, Tanner elbowed me and waggled his brows. “This will be interesting,” he whispered.

I scoffed. “I’m sure we’re in for an adventure, knowing Jules.”

Tanner Harlow was my second-best friend, and he was basically the opposite of Jules, being more shy and quiet. But he had no need to be loud with his imposing size of six-foot-four. He kept his bleached-blond hair shaved nearly to the scalp and had large, black gages in his ears. His arms and chest were also covered in tattoos. I was never really into ink, but they worked for Tanner. He had the best eyes, too, which were a pale amber color. Everyone who met him got sucked into his eyes.

Tanner and I had also met in college, but during my junior year. I had been seriously crushing on him when we had ethics class together. Unfortunately, Tanner was straight, so I had to move on quickly before I became obsessed and got hurt. I’d helped him out a few times with homework and tests since he’d been struggling, and he ended up worming his way into my heart as a good friend with his sweet shyness. You would never know it by looking at him. He could look downright scary sometimes.

“Alrighty, who wants to go first?” Jules asked, eyeing everyone in the room.

“Maybe we should come up with some rules first,” Skye suggested.

“Like what?” Jules asked.

“Well, like not touching certain body parts. Nothing illegal, of course. Once they pick a dare or a truth, you can’t take it back. If they pick a truth and refuse to go through with it, we all get to decide what their dare is.”

Jules looked around the room. “Does everyone agree?”

We all nodded and said yes.

Jules’ eyes landed on me, and I knew right then I’d be the first to go. Shit. I braced myself. “Since you’re my bestest friend in the world, I’m picking you to go first,” she said.

Tanner snorted next to me. “You might as well get this over with.”

Too true, but I had a feeling I was in serious trouble.

I rolled my eyes. “Come on. So what if we’re best friends? Maybe we should draw straws or something.”

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