I was free.
My moment of reflection, however, is interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a door slamming. I look desperately at the guys.
"Is it the security guard?" I whisper, as if it made any difference after my fit of laughter.
"Yes. Don't make any noise," Ethan asks, looking around, definitely thinking of a way out. My heart races with nerves at the idea of getting caught. I never pulled anything like this in school, much less in college.
"If we go out the door, we'll run right into him, our only chance is to squeeze into the janitor's closet over there," Logan whispers, pointing to a door in the back, well past all the lockers. Ethan nods in agreement and pulls me by the hand.
The sound of footsteps and jingling keys seems closer and closer, and I catch myself sweating. We don't run, since it would make too much noise, but we walk as fast as possible to the door, which luckily is unlocked too, and we slip into the cramped space. Before Ethan closes the door behind him, I have time to see some shelves full of products and several brooms, squeegees, and buckets together on one side.
When everything goes pitch black, I realize I'm squeezed between the big bodies of the two athletes. I rest my hands on Ethan's chest, feeling his heart beat against my palm, and I give it my all to ignore the fact that Logan's groin is pressed against my back. I try to move to see if the situation improves, but soon I feel two hands on my waist, forcing me to stay still.
"Stay quiet or it's going to get worse," Logan whispers against my ear, and I feel my cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Still, I obey the order.
I immediately stop worrying about that when we hear the locker room door open and a male voice echo through the space.
"Is someone there?" the security guard asks, making the sound echo through the room. "Hello?"
My heart is going a mile a minute out of pure nerves. I feel like a teenager pulling a prank for the first time, and a thousand questions form in my mind. What happens if he finds us? Will he judge me for being in a cubicle pressed between two guys? And what if he finds out about Johnny's locker? Does it count as vandalism? Breaking and entering? Oh my God, could this get me jail time? I wanted a career in computing, I couldn't have a police record!
And in the middle of this anxiety spiral, the worst thing happens: I get the urge to laugh from nerves. I press one lip against the other, trying to control it with all my strength, but it doesn't help much. At the first little sound that escapes, Ethan goes "shh" at me.
"Sorry, it's the stress," I whisper right into his ear.
"Get it together, he'll leave soon," he gives back, and I nod, forgetting he can't see, and feeling like an idiot.
When the sound of footsteps gets really close, I'm forced to cover my own mouth. Crap, I was going to ruin everything for all of us. Ethan pinches me as a reprimand and I feel Logan huff against my neck. It doesn't help my situation, so I do theonly other thing I can think of: I grab Ethan's neck and bring his mouth to mine.
Ethan holds me by the arms, surprised. And what starts with delicate little kisses, to distract me, very quickly becomes a real kiss when his tongue asks for passage into my mouth and I grant it. Would I ever get tired of this guy's kiss? It was simply too good and gave me butterflies in my stomach immediately.
As I get up on my tiptoes to reach Ethan's mouth better, my butt rubs against Logan again.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he complains, indignant, and I come back to the real world, ending the kiss. If it weren't so dark, they'd be able to see my face turning into a tomato.
"Sorry, I needed a distraction," I explain, and I can almost hear him roll his eyes. Logan doesn't retort, but his hands go back to my waist and hold firmly as if to say "now stay quiet!"
I obey, and we spend the next few minutes just listening to the night security guard walk through the whole locker room and only then move away. We wait a few more moments until we're sure he's far enough away, and only then do we leave the tiny storage room and get out of there as fast as possible.
Chapter 23
Charlotte
"Oh my God, that was..."
"Crazy and slightly risky, but absolutely incredible," I finish in Logan's place and go back to laughing uncontrollably. After the little scare with the security guard, I quickly returned to the excited mood over what we did. Every time I imagined Johnny's reaction to opening a locker and having glitter fall everywhere... It would be too good! Shame I couldn't install a camera in every spot to film his face.
"It was the best possible revenge, Peach," Ethan agrees, laughing as he flops onto the couch. I follow him, dropping into his lap. Logan sprawls in the armchair across from us.
"Best dare in the history of this game, for sure," the blond remarks, and I catch sight of the bottle still lying on the rug, where we left it earlier.
"True. You guys want to keep going or should we all sleep?" I ask, turning my head to look at Ethan. He shrugs.
"I've still got too much adrenaline to sleep," he confesses, and I nod in agreement. I turn my attention to the other player, who's already sliding his butt down the armchair until he ends up on the floor, in the laziest way possible. I let out a little laugh, unable to help myself.
"Come on, the night's young and we can still get up to more," the player says, the mischievous look in his eyes gaining a renewed shine. I sigh and agree.
"Okay, but I'm going to grab something for us to drink and what's left of the Chinese food," I let them know, and they both agree eagerly. I grab the little boxes from the fridge, along with the bottle of cheap wine we bought, and go back to the living room, leaving everything on the coffee table. I don't bother getting glasses, so I drink straight from the neck, then hold the drink out to Ethan.
