Dorian’s voice answered quietly, “Yes.”
There was a short pause before Josh asked, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Dorian didn’t even try to deny it. “Yes.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“So, should I take the tape off this one too or…?” Lane questioned the room.
Hayes answered, “Please don’t.”
Lane’s eyebrows raised. “Wow, you’re capable of using ‘please’?”
Hayes leveled a bored look at him, then turned to ask my husband, “What games are we playing?”
Ro smirked. “I know we’re all very excited, but let me introduce you to our… game pieces? Party favors?” He tapped his fingers against the table, then pointed to the one who’d just yelled. “That is Jeremiah DeLeone. He’s forty-two, and on his third wife. He not only scams his elderly clientele out of thousands, but he’s also been reported to HR a million and one times for workplace sexual harassment of the young female interns. Not that those complaints ever go anywhere.” Ro sighed, looking down his nose at the man.
Pointing at the second man, he continued, “This is Mills Stanley. Thirty-four. Not affiliated with DeLeone’s firm. They just happen to both be accountants. I didn’t actually plan it that way. Mills was a trust fund brat who used his rich white kid status to weasel his way out of three separate rape charges back in college. And I highly doubt that those were his only victims. Once a rapist, always a fucking rapist.”
Lane grunted his agreement from where he’d returned to sit on Grey’s lap.
“Now,” Ronan said, “as for the games.”
Hudson leaned forward eagerly. “Yes. Finally.”
Ronan held up one elegant finger. “Game one,” he announced, “is Pin the Tail on the Donkey.”
Half the room appeared confused, while half of them grinned.
Josh spoke up first. “Um… like the kids’ party game?”
Ro laughed, then pushed back from the table and stood, gesturing for everyone to follow. “Mostly. Come see.”
Curiosity—or bloodlust—won out quickly.
Chairs scraped across the floor as everyone stood.
Even Oliver rose from between the twins, brushing off imaginary dust from his cardigan before trailing along beside them.
We all followed Ronan into the adjoining living room, where he’d hung a large foam board on the wall. Several paper “tails” sat neatly on a side table beside a stack of blindfolds.
Lane clasped his hands together. “Oh my god,” he whispered, delighted. “Yesss!”
Greyson huffed out a quiet laugh into his hair.
Ronan leaned casually against the table. “The rules are simple,” he said. “Each player gets blindfolded. You’ll be spun around a few times, then you must attempt to pin the tail as close as possible to the donkey’s… tail region.”
Hayes tilted his head. “What happens to them while we do this?”
“They’ll both be standing against the board. The foam is so that if someone somehow misses, our walls won’t be ruined.”
There was a beat of silence, then Hudson started laughing. “Oh, that’s so good. God. Truly, we do not deserve you, Ronan.”
Josh looked horrified. “You’re going to let themstabthem while blindfolded?!”
“They’re paper tails,” Ronan said patiently, blowing out a breath.
“They’re attached to knives!”
