“Gross!” Kinsley throws a napkin at him from across the table.
“I have an idea!” Emery says, pulling her phone out of her purse. She’s tapping away at the screen and pulls up an app. “Let’s play Truth or Dare!”
“Oh Jesus.” Zay chuckles. “With this group, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.” He looks out of the corner of his eye at me before taking a sip of his beer.
“It’ll be fun,” Emery says enthusiastically. “And if you choose to forgo either the Truth or the Dare, you have to take a shot. That’s the consequence.”
“I’ve already had four drinks!” I remind them. I’m a responsible drinker. I hate being drunk. I like to enjoy myself but not push my limits.
Rowan taps my arm. “Well then, you better be prepared for the Truth or the Dare, sweetheart.”
“You said you were going to look out for me,” I mumble and narrow my eyes at him.
He grins at me. “Oh, sweet girl, I’ll make sure you get home okay.” Then everyone laughs.
I swallow a groan. Why do I feel like this is going to be a bad idea?
Six lemon drop shots line the center of our table, and we’ve all refreshed our drinks and have fresh glasses of ice water.
“Ready?” Emery asks, and looks around at everyone, a hint of a challenge in her eyes.
“Let’s do it,” Zay says and rubs his hands together, ready to begin.
Emery beams with delight. “Okay, so we’re going counterclockwise. Rowan goes first, then Saige, then Zay, then Kinsley, and I’m last. We’ll ask you Truth or Dare. If you pick truth, we’ll use the questions from the app. If it’s a dare, we’ll come up with one as a group. Rules though, friends.” She looks pointedly at each of us. “It has to be safe, but it has to push boundaries.”
The guys grumble.
“I refuse to kiss Rowan,” Zay teases.
“You’re not my type,” Rowan jokes back.
“So, Ro.” Emery grins at him. “Truth or Dare?”
Rowan rubs his chin and ponders his two options for a minute. “Truth.”
“I knew he’d go easy on us,” Kinsley says.
“Hey hey,” he chides. “Let’s start off nice and slow. Build our way up.”
Emery taps the app on her phone, and the questions scramble. “Okay,” she says and chuckles to herself as she reads the question before reading it back to us. “Have you ever cheated on a boyfriend or girlfriend?”
“Really?” Rowan raises an unenthused eyebrow. “That’s the question?”
“Yep.” She turns the phone to face him, and he turns up his nose.
“Yes,” he answers, sounding bored. “I’ve cheated on both.”
“What!” Kinsley screams across the table. “You’ve had a boyfriend and a girlfriend?”
“Yes,” he mumbles and takes a sip of wine. “It was a long time ago.”
She drops her head back in laughter. “I need to hear more about this.”
I glance over to where Holt stands with his guest, and we make eye contact again, sharing a brief but friendly smile before I quickly turn my attention back to my friends. Emery is smirking at me, which means she caught me looking.
“No, you will not hear more about this.” Rowan raises his chin in defiance, then snatches Emery’s phone. “Moving on. Saige, truth or dare?”
I glance around the table at my friends and, without much thinking, blurt out, “Dare.”
Oh, shit. My stomach twists into a giant knot as those words fall from my tongue.
Everyone begins hooting and hollering, and I can’t help but laugh along with them. “Remember, safe,” Emery reminds us. “And, friends, let’s be reasonable.”
“Reasonable,” Kinsley snorts. “Okay, let’s put our heads together, guys.” They lean in to the center of the small round pub table, and whisper-yell over the tops of empty drink glasses and finally all sit back in their chairs.
“Bad idea.” Zay shakes his head and purses his lips. “I don’t like it.”
“Well, if one of you disagrees, then maybe you should come up with something new,” I chime in and look at Zay, who looks irritated.
“Not in this lifetime.” Kinsley giggles. “You ready, Saige?”
I swallow hard against my dry throat. “No.”
Truth. Always choose truth. What was I thinking?
“Too bad.” She grabs a shot off the table. “You are going to go ask Holt Hamilton out for a drink.”
“What?” I snap at her. I look around the table like my friends have lost their damn minds. “I can’t ask him out for drinks. He’ll think it’s a date, and dating a superior is strictly prohibited per the company handbook. There’s this thing called ethics in the workplace, people. Have you all lost your minds? Are you all crazy? Are you trying to get me fired?” They all roar with laughter and my heart races.
“First of all,” Kinsley tips her head back and swallows the lemon drop shot, “it’s not against company policy to date a coworker. You cannot date your direct manager. Holt is not your direct manager.” She looks pleased, like she just solved a murder case.
“He owns the fucking company,” I bark at her. “That pretty much qualifies as my manager.”