“Sounds less fun,” I said with a little nod, noting that they’d given answers that couldn’t be tied to each other. Although I was pretty sure Jonny’s moving house meant he now lived with Devon.
“Stressful as fuck, mate,” Jonny said with a wink as he pocketed his lolly, the pair of them heading towards the canteen.
Next in was Kegan and Frankie, both equally delighted by the prospect of free sweets despite the fact it was so early.
“One thing you did this summer,” I said, keeping the lollies tightly in my grasp in case they tried to pinch one without asking. “Then you can have one.”
“Took my kids to the beach,” Kegan said as he reached for a cola lolly, then frowned. “Wait, can I swap this? I don’t like cola ones.”
“I’ll have it,” Frankie said, taking it out of his hand and grinning at the camera. “And I painted a nursery. Again!”
“Congratulations. Are you okay with me using that on socials? Or did you want to use something else?”
“Oh shit, yeah, good point. We’re not making it public until the baby’s here. Er…” He thought for a second, then looked into the camera again and smiled. “I got to do a cannonball into a swimming pool. It was awesome!”
I snorted and shook my head as Kegan took another lolly, orange this time, and the two of them wandered off, chatting animatedly about their prizes and how they wanted to campaign for a group trip to a water park. I could’ve sworn half of these men were just giant teenagers.
The players started to flood in, mostly in groups of twos or threes, and all of them were very excited about the lollies. They even started to queue so they could answer the question and get their prize.
“I went to Santorini,” Charlie said as he stepped in front of me, casually swiping a lolly out of my hand and making way for Danny…
Shit, Danny.
Why the hell had my brain not put two and two together and realised that doing this meant I’d have to speak to Danny again. Or more like, speak to him in person. Not via the sporadic Instagram messages we’d had going since Saturday night, when I’d accepted his request while four martinis deep and giving Shane advice about anal beads.
When I’d woken up the next day and looked back at the messages, I’d considered telling Danny I needed to remove him because us chatting like that wasn’t professional. Then I’d remembered the way he’d looked at me in the bar and decided to delay the conversation by a day or two.
It was a shit decision really, but I wasn’t exactly the poster boy for making good choices.
One more bad one couldn’t hurt. It wasn’t like I’d agreed to get back together with Reed. If that ever happened, I’d need someone to slap me.
“Danny,” I said casually, dipping into my endless professional experience to stay composed. “One thing you did this summer, and you get a lolly.”
Danny looked between me and the lollies, seeming hopelessly confused for a second. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch, just answer the question and get sweets. Well, a sweet.”
He swallowed, then seemed to remember he was on camera. His cocky bravado returned in an instant as he smiled brightly,turning up the charm to eleven. “Tried a piña colada for the first time. It was pretty good.”
“When did you do that?” Charlie asked with a stunned look, apparently hearing this for the first time. Interesting. Danny hadn’t mentioned anything about Saturday night to Charlie, who he seemed to be attached at the hip to.
“When I went on holiday with my sister,” Danny said, the lie rolling off his tongue so smoothly I almost believed him. “She got me one to try from the swim-up bar at the hotel. It was all right actually. I’d get it again.”
“Well, it’s always good to try new things,” I said as I held out the handful of lollies for him to take one.
“Yeah, it is. Maybe I’ll get another one next time I go out.” He kept his eyes on me as he reached for his reward, and my stomach twisted because if I didn’t know any better, I could’ve sworn he was looking for some kind of praise or reassurance. Or at least an acknowledgement that this wasn’t the first time we’d had this conversation.
Dammit, why did I have such a weakness for men with praise kinks? Especially ones that almost certainly had a bratty side.
“I fucking love piña coladas,” Mason said, appearing behind Danny and slinging his arm around the winger’s shoulders, casually shoving aside all my other thoughts as I instantly focused back in on my job. “They’re so good. Also, why the hell did nobody tell me that cocktails have so much alcohol in them? They’re so much stronger than beer! Some of them are bloody lethal.” He grinned and stole a lolly from my hand. “Also, I finally beatMask of Twilightthis summer, and that is my biggest achievement to date.”
“Should I tell Ryan that?” West asked, the hooker looming over the rest of them with a good-natured but teasing smile on his face.
“Don’t you dare,” Mason said. “Also, you have to fess up to the camera too. What did you do this summer, Westley?”
West glanced away shyly. “Asked Rory to marry me. He said yes.”
There was a round of cheering as everyone around us swarmed him, throwing themselves onto him, thumping him on the back, and chanting his name in celebration. It made my stomach tighten again, only for a different reason, and I fought back the wave of bitterness rising inside me.
