Twice Bitten (Love, Lust & Magic #1)

Griff

noticed his roommate from the special entry line he now stood in and waved him down. He could see he was in the middle of a phone call, but wanted to at least get his attention. “Hey!”

“No, everything is still going according to plan,” Darcy spoke into his phone as he approached the stadium’s main entrance and spotted . “You keep her going with your whole, uh—you know, the thing with your eyes—until I can get the goods. Once I have ‘em, it’ll be literally seconds until the big switcheroo we’re looking for.”

At first, Darcy seemed reluctant to join him. “, buddy,” Darcy patted his roommate’s back as he finally approached. “I’m just wrapping up a call with my, uh, new friend from last night. Give me a sec?”

It was apparent to that his roommate was flustered. “Sure. No worries,” he replied.

“Okay, okay. What? ” Darcy spun around quickly, lowering his voice as he cradled his smartphone. “No. That’s not in the plan. Nowhere did I say anything about eating —um, uh, eating all of my snacks at the dorm.”

Now eavesdropping on his conversation, chuckled as Darcy’s face showcased a range of emotions.

“Wait!” Darcy shouted into the phone before the call abruptly ended. He turned to face , a frustrated look on his face. “Oh, my god. Can you believe the service here?”

“Things getting serious with your mysterious friend of the night?” asked with a wink.

“Friend of the night?” Darcy felt suddenly exposed. “You mean like someone who can only come out at night?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, uh, you’re talking about the, um, girl I had over,” Darcy continued. “Let’s just say I shouldn’t have given her my cell phone number.”

“Happens to the best of us,” said with a shrug.

“Speaking of last night, I know we didn’t get to talk about it much. How’d your little excursion to Witch’s Brew go?” an almost too interested Darcy asked.

“Uh, well,” began, an uncomfortable look on his face. “The music we went to check out was good, but then some drunken frat boy bar fight broke out. I saw they had police tape all around the place today.”

“Hm,” replied Darcy, appearing lost in thought before speaking again. “Didn’t hear anything about it. You guys get out okay?”

“Yeah. Uh, things were a little wild after, so Pruitt let me crash on his couch after we ditched the place.”

“ Interesting ,” Darcy said, his eyes narrowing as he examined ’s facial expressions. “You sly little fox, you.”

“Oh, come on . It wasn’t anything like that.” Even now, felt Darcy’s disdain for both Pruitt and Uriah. Although he didn’t necessarily like it, he wasn’t sure he could blame him. He doesn’t even know them. I don’t know if anyone here ever really has.

“Well, he’s looking to be the star of the night tonight, isn’t he?” said Darcy of Pruitt. “You make friends at the top of the local social scene food chain, while I invite some crazy girl from the next building over to come play Rummikub and now she’s stalking me. Perf.”

Still lost in thought around the idea of the facades both Pruitt and Uriah had to create to keep themselves safe, snapped back to reality. “You think I know her?” The words came out as he suddenly remembered his unusual encounter with Ada just hours before.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know,” Darcy’s face turned red. “Her name is, uh, Jessica.”

“Hm, guess not.”

By this point, the line ahead of them had nearly dissolved. Darcy shifted subjects. “Anywhere in particular you’re looking to sit?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” ’s mind raced back to the tickets Pruitt gave to him. At the same time, he knew what Darcy would say when he realized how had them. “I nearly forgot, Darcy. I actually won two VIP seats at this random booth on the Mystic Green today.”

Before Darcy could respond, presented them to a teller at the front gate, who quickly rattled off instructions for the fastest way to their spots.

“Oh, wow,” Darcy said in surprise. “Guess being up close and personal will make it easier to see the game in the dark.”

Speaking of putting on a front, here I am lying to my roommate . Wicked cycle, I guess, thought to himself.