Rocco sighed and drank while Nico laughed. But then Rocco and Dario stared at Celeste.
“What?” she asked.
“Celeste,” Rocco said. “Drink up.”
“I will not!”
Dario groaned. “We know it was you and not Rocco’s dog.”
“How could you know that?”
“Because I know what he looks like when he farts,” Rocco said. “Not to mention the fact you scared him away. We all saw how he ran out of the room. I found him hiding under the bed.”
“That’s absurd,” she said. “He did not.”
Rocco grinned and glanced over at Nico. She couldn’t contain her laughter.
Dario was having a difficult time too. But he did his best to squelch it when Celeste gave him a dirty look.
“Cellie,” Dario said, placing his hand on her arm gently. “Come on.”
Celeste jutted her jaw and had yet to lift her glass.
“There is no way for you to know it was me. You should accept that it wasn’t, given I told you it wasn’t.”
Rocco and Dario looked at each other.
There was a pause.
And then in unison, they said, “Uh, no.”
“Fine,” Celeste spat, taking a drink. Once she’d slammed her glass on the table, she added, “I did that under protest. I admit to nothing. I just did it so that the two of you would shut up about it and we can move on.”
The game continued.
Most of the things they revealed were lighthearted and funny. They’d all used a fake ID to get into a bar, and while at a bar, they’d all given a fake phone number to someone who’d asked for it. Everyone but Celeste had worn something from their dirty laundry. Nico and Celeste had laughed so hard they’d peed themselves. Dario and Rocco had forgotten where they’d parked their cars, and Celeste and Nico had faked orgasms. Although Celeste made a point of reassuring Dario she’d never done it with him.
And then there were the times when only he and Nico took a drink. Dario was the one to make those never-have-I-ever statements, knowing full well Rocco would have to drink. But Rocco would bet he hadn’t expected Nico to drink as well. He knew he hadn’t. Like when Dario had saidNever have I ever slept with someone whose name I didn’t knowandNever have I ever called a sexual partner by the wrong name when in bed with them.
When this started happening, Rocco began to think that as much as he was enjoying himself and as much as he didn’t want to end the evening, they probably should—and soon.
“My turn.” Celeste shot an evil grin across the table at Rocco. Clearly, she had something in mind that would require him, and him alone, to drink.
“Never have I ever had a black eye.”
He rolled his eyes as he lifted his glass and took a drink. But as he set the glass down, he saw a look of shock on Celeste’s and Dario’s faces. They were staring at Nico.
“Nico!” Celeste exclaimed. “I’m sorry.”
She laughed, but it sounded false. “Don’t be.”
“But if I’d known, I never would have— I only did it to tease Rocco, because, well, he and Dario can tell you the funny story when he got a black eye.”
Nico looked around the table at each of them. She looked okay, but damn if those eyes of hers weren’t dark. Too dark for him to really tell.
“It was an accident—something stupid,” she said. “My fault, actually. Something so dumb, I’m too embarrassed to tell you.”
She placed both hands flat on the table. “My turn to buy the next round.” She stood up and walked over to the bar.
