Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Kei
“Hey,” Shiloh says in greeting as he slides into the passenger seat of my car. He buckles into his seat before turning around and looking into the backseat.
“Hi, Sookie!” Rodney says with a wide smile. “It’s super cool to officially meet you! I’m Rodney. Well, you know that already.”
“You can call me Gayle,” Gayle says with a little wave.
“You guys can call me Shiloh,” Shiloh says right away, looking a little overwhelmed.
Reaching over, I put my hand on his thigh. He startles at the touch, his eyes darting down to my hand. “Maki and Rin are meeting us there.”
“Have you ever been to this place before?”
Shiloh shakes his head. “I haven’t but I’ve heard people at the university talk about it before. It’s a popular place for them to hang out at, especially because on Friday nights, they have a beer special if you have your student ID with you.”
“Oh,” Gayle says, leaning forward in his seat so he can talk to Shiloh more easily. I squeeze his thigh before putting my hand back on the steering wheel. “Are you a student?”
“No, I’m just on campus sometimes. I model for the art department from time to time.”
“That’s super fun,” Gayle says with a smile. “Do they pay you for that?”
Shiloh hums a soft yes. “I’d ask what you guys do but I literally know too much about you all already.”
I can’t help but snort. “Parasocial much?”
“Yeah,” Shiloh says, nodding his head. “And Rodney is my favorite. This has all been a really elaborate plan to meet him in person. Thanks for the help.”
“Take that back right now or so help me I will pull this car around and drop your ass back at home.”
“Wow,” Rodney says, poking the back of my neck. “You sound like a grandpa.”
“Fuck off, Rodney. Don’t touch me while I’m driving.”
Shiloh chuckles and warmth pools in my chest. The last week has been rough.
My rut hit pretty much as soon as I was home after my night with Shiloh.
It was intense, more so than usual because this time I craved someone specific.
Thankfully, I had Shiloh’s hoodie and his shirt which smelled like him.
I came with a fist around my cock and his shirt pressed against my nose. One night, feeling needy, I called him and instead of immediately hanging up on me, Shiloh talked me through an orgasm. That had been the height of my rut and after that, I slowly came back down.
I still feel keyed up, like I want to cover Shiloh in my scent and leave marks across his skin. It’s taking all of my self-control not to run my wrist over his neck before we leave the car and go into the arcade. I want everyone to smell my scent on him.
It doesn’t take long before I’m pulling into the parking lot and finding a spot. Rodney and Gayle leave the car right away, heading over to where Maki and Rin are already waiting for us outside. I grab Shiloh’s wrist, making him wait a second.
“Hey,” I say gently, running my thumb over his wrist. “Thanks again for agreeing to come along with us.”
“It’s whatever,” he says, looking at me with a smirk. “I don’t plan on paying for anything today.”
“You’re such an ass,” I say but my voice goes all soft. “Can I--” my voice cuts off and I look away.
“Just ask.”
“Can I scent mark you before we go inside? I’m still kinda frazzled from my rut.”
“Yeah, okay,” he says, tilting his head back, giving me access. I bite my bottom lip to keep myself from doing something ridiculous, like whimper at the sight.
I rub my wrist against his throat and behind each of his ears. I can’t smell right now because I already took my pills before leaving, but just knowing he smells like me, leaves my inner alpha feeling much more at peace.
“Thank you.”
“It’s okay. Let’s go before they think we’re doing something weird in here.”
I snort, getting out of the car and walking around it. I still have no idea about Shiloh’s past but I can’t deny the pull I feel when I’m around him. I can’t ignore the feelings that are quickly growing inside of me.
I like him. I like Shiloh so much. Whatever we have, it’s something special. It feels like the swirling feelings they talk about in romance novels. I never thought this type of thing was destined for me, but with Shiloh it just feels right.
“Hello, Shiloh,” Maki says, bowing his head. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“You too, Maki.”
“You guys know each other?” Rin asks, looking between his boyfriend and Shiloh.
“Yes,” Maki says, “he referees some of our home games. When I first joined the team, Shiloh once threw out one of the players on my team for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
“I would have loved to see that,” I find myself saying without meaning to. Rodney gives me a knowing look that I pointedly ignore.
“You probably can,” Shiloh says with a small laugh. “I think I went viral for a bit.”
I make a note in the back of my head to look it up later when I’m back home.
The six of us walk into the arcade. To the left of the door is a little hallway that brings you into a bar and dining room area.
Right in front of us in the arcade, an open space filled with games.
This place is for adults so it’s filled with college-aged people hanging out and playing games.
To the right is a little hallway that’ll bring us to the laser tag arena.
“This place is huge,” Shiloh murmurs, looking around with wide eyes.
“That’s what she said,” Rodney says. Then he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. “Nope, that didn’t even make sense.”
Rin wraps an arm around Maki’s waist as we walk down the hall. “I’m totally kicking your ass.”
“I thought we were planning on being the same team.”
“Right,” Rin says and I can’t help but chuckle.
“You’re all so dumb.”
“I was told you are what you surround yourself with,” Shiloh says with a shrug, giving me a little private smirk.
“Oh,” Rodney says, looking between me and Shiloh. “I like him, Kei. Please don’t fuck this up, okay? We need someone around who can go barb for barb with you.”
“I’ll do my best.” I say it like a joke, but in reality, nothing could be closer to how I really feel. I want to do my best when it comes to Shiloh. I want to make sure he’s never hurt again, even from myself.
The six of us walk up to the counter. There’s a woman waiting for us.
She has us sign a waiver, saying this place can’t be held accountable if we hurt ourselves while in the arena, the same type of thing you’d sign if you were going to a paintball arena.
Since this is an adult place, the arena is set up to actually take a beating.
There’s walls we can climb, things we can hide inside, the whole nine yards.
The employee helps us into our vests and explains how the guns work. Then she gives us a rundown of the arena and the different ways we can play.
For our first round, we decide to couple up, two on two on two. The point of this round is to take down as many people as possible. Once hit, you have to make your way back to your castle before you restart. We declare no camping the spawn areas.
We also have a limited amount of shots and if we want to refill, we have to head back to the castle.
All six of us enter the arena, walking into the middle and looking around. There are ramps and walls and hallways. It’s almost like a tiny village, each corner of the room containing a giant castle.
“The fourth castle is off-limits,” Rin says. “Maki and I will take that castle, Shiloh and Kei will take that one. The last one is Rodney and Gayle. Let’s all go to our castle and I’ll count us down. Team with the most kills after ten minutes wins.”
“Got it,” Rodney says, grabbing Gayle’s hand and running away, already talking strategy with his boyfriend.
“Come on,” I say with a sigh, pulling Shiloh towards our castle.
“You’re pretending to be annoyed but I can tell you’re excited.”
“Am not. Can’t prove it.”
Shiloh snorts. We walk under the arch of our castle. Once inside, there’s a back wall that shows everyone’s stats. Right now, everyone has zero kills, zero deaths. That’s quickly about to change.
“Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Go!”
“Have a plan?”
“Sure,” Shiloh says, nodding his head. “Don’t die?”
I’m tempted to shoot him in the back but just barely resist the urge. Just then, I hear someone running in our direction. Before I can actually do anything, Shiloh is grabbing the back of my vest and hauling me in front of himself, using me as a shield.
“Fuck off,” he yells at Rodney who shoots me, my vest buzzing and letting me know I just died. Using me as a shield still, I feel Shiloh place his gun on my right shoulder, shooting at Rodney. Rodney’s vest flashes and he curses.
“Not fair!”
“What the hell, Shiloh,” I hiss out, trying to get myself out of his grip.
“Not yet,” he says, right into my ear. That’s when Gayle jumps out, trying to get a shot on Shiloh. Shiloh maneuvers me, still using me as a shield and dodging all of Gayle’s shots.
“What the hell?” Gayle yells out. His gun stops working and he stares at it with wide eyes. “I’m out!”
“I’m not,” Shiloh says with a cackle, shooting Gayle straight in the chest. His vest flashes and he pouts as he runs up, grabbing Rodney around the middle. The two of them make their way back to their castle to reset their vests.
Shiloh shoves me towards our castle. “Go reset and get back out here,” he says, running down the hallway in the direction of Maki and Rin’s castle.
I can’t help but smile as I do as I’m told, my chest feeling far more affectionate than I thought possible.
After resetting my vest, I wander through the streets, keeping my steps as quiet as possible. I can hear a scuffle happening a few streets over but I don’t rush to check it out, wanting to find Shiloh instead.
A soft whistle catches my ears and I look up, finding a familiar head of dark hair looking down at me from the top of the wall. He points at the climbing wall to the side, gesturing for me to climb up and join him.