Page 159 of Game Night: Truth or Dare

“You’re avoiding me.”

“Sure am.”

“TK.”

I rise abruptly from my spot, instantly missing the warmth of Dash’s hand as it falls away.

“No. You know what? If you don’t want to be here, then don’t. I don’t need you to take care of me. If you want to go stay with mom, have at it. This ‘fragile, broken family’ doesn’t need you to hold it together.”

The last thing I want is to have this out in front of Dash. For him to know how fucked up and codependent I am.

Because no one in my life has ever stayed.

No one except for Link.

Now he’s leaving too.

If I can’t even keep my own brother, how the hell am I supposed to keep someone like Dash?

Chapter 7

Dash

I’ve never seen TK’s demeanor change so quickly. One second he’s soft and open. The next he’s closed off and rigid.

The soft pitter patter of water drizzling around us kicks up into a steady pour. Not full blown open skies, but more an ominous warning of what’s to come.

TK clenches his fists at his sides, hair flattening to his forehead in seconds, obscuring ocean blue eyes and the emotions hiding within them.

There’s a beat of pure silence, and then it breaks on the distant sound of thunder.

TK takes off up the building steps, flashing his keycard at the door and storming inside.

I’ve never met TK’s brother before. Heard about him in passing the same way I’ve heard the stories with Teddy and Kai growing up. They bear a lot of resemblance to each other except for the thick scruff on the older Kingsley’s jawline.

“Sorry about him,” the man says. He stuffs his hands in his pocket and scrunches his shoulders, only enhancing their similarities.

“He sure is passionate,” I say, propping my elbows on my knees to better watch him. “Must have really pissed him off. Teddy is the calmest person I know.”

Confusion wrinkles his brow, but he shakes his head and smoothes it out. “You two friends?”

I seesaw my hand. “Roommates. Teammates.”

“You call him Teddy.”

“That’s his name.”

“It’s actually not.”

I stand up and cross my arms. “Excuse you?”

He chuckles awkwardly under his breath and crosses from the sidewalk to the stairs.

“Actually, it’s Theodore. TK is the name he picked out for himself. I’m the only one who gets away with calling him Teddy.”

I think back to the day I first met TK, when we first became roommates. Everyone on the team, everyone at administration called him TK. It took a game of truth or dare and a lot of peer pressure to find out what the initials stood for. And even then, he’d whispered it to me like it was supposed to be some kind of secret.

It’s not like I’ve never called him Teddy in front of the team, but I’m not actually sure anyone else ever has. Surely Kai has?

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