Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Griff

“Pruitt Mondamin, you say?” asked a surprised Darcy.

felt a hot stinging feeling in his face as his cheeks beamed a crimson color. He felt like he had just revealed the name of one crush to another potential crush. To top it off, the dorm was officially dry now, evident by the empty champagne bottle in the nearby trash bin. “Um…”

“Like ‘ Pruitt, the man ,’ Pruitt?”

“Well, yeah,” answered . “I actually bumped into him on my way back to the dorm earlier tonight.”

“Oh? You didn’t strike me as much of a college football fan,” said Darcy.

“No? Because you’re going to be upset when you see I already filled our shared closet space with my top fifty favorite sports jerseys,” shot back . “All bedazzled, of course.”

“Hey, man, whatever floats your boat,” replied Darcy, clearly in on the joke.

“But yes. It was him and this other guy. Tall like him, fair skin, kind of a bad boy with?—”

“Uriah Black?” Darcy interrupted almost too fast.

“I think so, yeah,” nodded. “Do you know them?” Because it sure sounds like it.

“Like I said, my friend, Mystic Hollow is the town where everyone knows everyone,” began Darcy as he rose from ’s bed and migrated to his side of the room. “And then some.”

“You went to high school with them?”

“No, actually,” continued Darcy. “Even though they stuck me with a freshie like you, I’m a sophomore, so they’re the same year as me. Well, Pruitt is anyway. I didn’t even know Uriah still went here—at least in terms of, you know, actually attending class and not just partying all night. If I were you, I would avoid those guys like the plague. Two stuck up, up-to-no-good creeps they are.”

The room went silent, a sign to that perhaps he should quit asking about them. Both of the roommates adjusted and fiddled with their sheets as they each settled in for bed.

“You mind if I hit the lights, pal?” asked Darcy.

gave him the thumbs up.

Slipping off his t-shirt and the gym shorts he had changed into, disappeared beneath his sheets with bated breath. It was like Darcy’s entire mood just changed as soon as I mentioned those two, he thought to himself.

Both Darcy and laid back in their beds, shifting and turning to get comfortable.

“Hey, ?”

turned to look at Darcy. Even with the lights off, he could see his roommate tracing the room’s patterned ceiling with his eyes.

“Sorry about that,” said Darcy. “I—um, I just have my own personal biases. That’s all.”

wanted to play investigator. And bad . But something told him that maybe it wasn’t the right moment. Did Darcy have some kind of history with Pruitt? With Uriah? asked himself. He’s acting almost like he’s—well, almost like he’s jealous .

“Oh, I was just saying I had bumped into them. That’s all,” fibbed , who already was frantically scrolling through his smartphone to dig up more information on both Pruitt and Uriah. Whoops .

Darcy didn’t say another word. Neither did .

Wait. Does this mean I need a new tour guide? thought to himself with a sigh. Retiring his phone to his side table, he laid back on his bed.

As he tried to juggle looming thoughts of classes and homework, ’s mind couldn’t help but wander back to not only Pruitt and Uriah, but Darcy’s apparent disdain toward them. It’s true, I’ve probably met less sketchy guys off of the Internet, but what can you do? Besides, they’re both straight, I’m sure, and I’m just a horn ball.

As ’s mind wandered, he missed the distant light of a motorcycle curving up the roads leading to Lovers' Lane Lake—a view framed perfectly by his dorm room window.