“Yeah, he’s beaten almost everyone in this room,” I say with a short laugh. “You want to get drunk trying to beat him too?”
Moon smirks. “I was the beer pong champion at my academy.”
“Oh yeah? You’re up next then, Mr. Champion,” I say, grinning wide.
He grins back—and something flutters in my chest. His smile is magnetic. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it aimed at me.
When Louis inevitably loses, we refill the cups with wine, and Moon takes his place.
To everyone’s surprise, he sinks every single shot on his first try—beating João fair and clean in under three minutes.
João manages to hit four of Moon’s cups, but he’s already pretty drunk, and it’s clearly catching up with him. When he finally loses, the whole room cheers—because someonefinallybeat the guy.
João walks over to shake Moon’s hand, then Derek steps in to help him over to the couch, since he’s barely staying upright at this point.
Moon turns to me with a triumphant little smirk tugging at his lips.
“Come play with me, Mark,” he says—and my heart does a stupid flip.
“Are you trying to get me drunk?” I ask, smiling.
He smiles back, eyes gleaming in the warmth of the lamplight.
“Maybe,” he says, “Let’s play best of three.”
My pulse spikes, because now I’m pretty sure he has some kind of plan.
“Sure,” I say, even though I know mixing gin and tonic with wine might be a terrible idea.
As expected, Moon wins the first round against me just as easily as he did against João—making me drink all ten cups while he only downs five. Then we play again, and this time he sinks nine out of ten before actually losing to me.
And yeah, I’m pretty sure he missed that last cup five times on purpose—just to push us into round three. Which, of course, he wins again—hitting every single cup on his first try.
I’m not drunk yet, but I can feel the warmth spreading through my body. Moon, on the other hand, got tipsy way faster—even though he drank half as much. He’s not as big as I am, so it kind of makes sense. His cheeks are flushed, lips red, eyes bright—and he’s grinning at me, shameless.
And honestly, it’s kind of ridiculous how fast I’m getting turned on just looking at him.
When we leave the wine pong table, Nina and Maya step in to take over.
As we head toward the buffet table where we left our glasses, Moon stumbles on the carpet and I catch him by the elbow. He grabs my arm to steady himself—and doesn’t let go right away. My skin burns where he’s touching me.
“Are you okay?” I ask, glancing down at him.
“Sorry,” he mutters, ears flushing. “I didn’t eat much today. I think the wine hit me faster than it should’ve.”
“Didn’t you just come from your mom’s?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“I did,” he says, looking away. “But I…was too nervous to eat.”
I know he means nervous about coming to the party, so I just nod.
“You should eat then,” I say, gesturing to the stack of plates at the end of the table.
Moon nods, then grabs one and starts filling it with whatever’s closest. I watch him for a moment, kind of mesmerized—thinking how stunned the me from eight months ago would be if he saw this.
Eric’s probably thinking the same thing, because when I glance over at the bar, I catch him watching me. He and Nick are mixing drinks for Andy and Tasha. I pick up my own drink and walk over just as they hand them their glasses.
Once they’re gone, I look at Eric.
