Wilde gazed up at him impassively, then nodded once.
Everyone tensed as Maximus climbed down the tree, more slowly this time. We all waited for his foot to miss, his grip to slip, a branch to break under his weight. When he landed back on the ground, we let out a collective sigh of relief.
“An orphanage.” Wilde spoke with little inflection and no explanation. It took me a moment to even remember what the question had been. Even Maximus seemed confused. Wilde stared at him, face blank, and offered him a single scrap of clarification. “I grew up in an orphanage.”
Silence descended over our group. Wilde glanced at me briefly before facing ahead and continuing through the woods.
Well, we certainly won’t attract monsters now.
I thought the game would end after that abysmal first turn, since Wilde was supposed to ask the next question. So I was surprised, almost fifteen minutes later, when Wilde said, “Fitz.”
“What?” Fitz stumbled, then pointed to himself, eyes wide in shock. He looked between Wilde and I, then asked dumbly, “Me?”
“Why are you always fidgeting with your glasses?” Wilde asked.
“What? I … they’re just—”
“Exchange!” Delilah reminded him.
Fitz gave her an exasperated look, then waved his hand and said, “If you want that information then … run around a tree?”
“Pass,” Wilde said, face still blank.
“Then why did you bother asking,” Fitz grumbled under his breath. “Angelica.”
“Do we even care about this game anymore?” she drawled.
“It’s my damn turn, so yes,” Fitz replied. “How many times have you lost a duel?”
Angelica narrowed her eyes at him. “If you want that information, drop and give me a thousand push-ups.”
“Gods no. Pass.”
While the others tossed questions and challenges back and forth, I slipped through the ranks up to Wilde’s side. His shoulders tensed,signaling that he knew I was there, but he didn’t pull away from time this time.
“I have a question for you,” I whispered in his ear.
“It’s not your turn.”
“I’m skipping ahead.” When he didn’t protest further, I lowered my voice so only he could hear it, “Did you like it when I fucked you?”
He stopped. The air seemed to still around us, the forest quieting, as if giving us privacy for this conversation. He turned to look at me, black eyes glittering dangerously. He raised a hand to my jaw and traced it with a light touch that made my skin feel tight and sensitive. “I can’t answer that question,” he murmured, “because you’ve never fucked me.”
I stared at him, confused for a second. “But you said we—” I cut myself off, stunned by the implication. Wilde was shorter than me, delicate and pretty. Just looking at him, I wanted to make his pale skin flush with desire. To mark every inch of it with red and purple love bites. The orders and haughty attitude made me want to rile him up until he was so angry he couldn’t think of anything but me. From his injured expression when he’d talked about that night together, I’d assumed … And I’d only ever topped, so I hadn’t even considered …
Did I seriously let him fuck me, and then get up and walk away like nothing happened?I was almost impressed with the other Trey, and not a little bit jealous.
Sound and the rest of the world rushed in before I wrestled my thoughts into submission. The others caught up with us, getting more into the game now. Delilah raced past me, ran around a tree three times, and then shouted, “I did it! Answer the question!”
Someone called my name, tried to pull me into the game, but I waved them off.
“Wilde—” I started, but he’d already turned and walked away from me.
Maybe it was for the best. I needed time to reorient our relationship in my head. To understand what I’d done, what he’d done, and what I might want to happen again.
And what I wanted to be different.
Chapter Thirty: Wilde
