The Wrong Playbook (For The Arena #3)

1. tallulah

TALLULAH

SUCCUBUS

I spent way too long carefully clicking through the BDSM and Kink Exploration Quiz.

Those kinds of quizzes always made me nervous. They’re too open-ended. I was never quite sure how to answer some of the questions. Do I like the idea of public sex? How public is too public? How much public is not enough?

Ugh. That wasn’t what I was actually worrying about.

I peered over my laptop, tucked away in my corner.

Tonight was the end-of-spring-semester slumber party, the third slumber party I’d ever been invited to, and my first adult one.

The smell of nail polish and fruity lotion perfumed the air, trays of greasy nachos and bottles of Tequila covered every surface.

It was a celebration—we survived another semester at Marrs University.

June Basil was hosting—the June Basil. The popular homecoming queen who used to run everything before she took a step back to focus on her law degree. She sat behind her laptop, clicking through the same quiz as everyone else, cracking jokes with the rest of the giggling college girls.

The. College. Girls.

The ones who could be spotted at every major party. The girls with sparkling lip gloss, vacation stories together, and inside jokes that’d always confounded me. All of them were dating Marrs athletes. Championship-winning girlfriends by proxy.

And then there was…me.

Me, Tallulah Walker. Me, who used to date the best goalie on the hockey team. Used to. It'd been three months since that relationship fizzled out. I wasn't in the “club” anymore. I didn’t understand why the girls kept inviting me to things as if I was one of them.

Were they trying to round out the numbers? Did they feel sorry for me after the breakup?

My stomach clenched, anxiety swirling inside. One day, somebody would realize I didn’t belong here. They’d figure it was time to cut the dead weight. When that happened, there went the invitations.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, it was time for a new fear. To everybody else, the BDSM quizzes were so funny. They were just a joke. The girls laughed over the degradation scale while I bit my lip, fingers hovering above my keyboard.

I’d already clicked through the questions, but what if everybody found out how I answered the quiz?

What if they judged me for it?

“Only one quiz left—who’s still taking it?” a drunken girl interrupted my thoughts, shots of Tequila slurring her words. “Hurry up!”

More laughter followed, more teasing. The girls wanted to find out who was stalling.

Were they talking about me?

Before they could investigate, I hurried to click submit. The girls wouldn’t find out how I answered. Goodbye, kink quiz. My embarrassing answers were lost to a formless cloud—

“Guys, guys, quiet,” June urged, standing in front of the projector. She placed her hands on her hips, a mischievous glint in her eye. “So…who’s ready to hand out the trophies?”

I froze.

Oh no.

“Welcome to the kink awards! I’m going to read them off!” June said. “And we’ll print them, we’re definitely keeping these!”

It was my worst nightmare—my hands were instantly clammy. I fought to calm down, fought to breathe steady. The first award appeared and everybody teased one of the girls for being voted “most vanilla.”

Would they call out everybody?

I crossed my fingers, praying my name would be skipped.

“June?” Zariah called over her shoulder. The hockey captain’s girlfriend was leaving soon for an internship at a TV studio in Atlanta, another cool girl at the party. Another girl not like me. She frowned. “The printer’s not working. The quizzes aren’t coming through.”

“Might take a minute,” June replied, clicking the next award. Everyone giggled over who was voted “most likely to fuck in a car.”

Each award was more risqué, and everyone treated it like a game show.

I couldn’t believe how casual they were being about this.

But for as embarrassing as this was, at least I liked these girls.

If anyone outside of the party stumbled in, I’d be liable to stick my head in the sand and never come up for air.

“Ooo…” A grin curved June’s lips. “There’s a succubus among us.”

“Succubus?” half a dozen voices asked.

“A succubus is a class all her own.” June held a hand over the projector’s light to keep the mystery, reading from her laptop.

“Sexy and confident, she’s sure of herself, down to try anything, and loves to flash her claws to take control.

A succubus isn’t satisfied until she has her partner worshipping at her feet. ” June raised her eyebrows. “Tallulah.”

Eyes flickered my way, necks were craned, and my mouth fell open.

Did…did she say my name?

Me? Tallulah Walker?

I had no idea what June was talking about, I wasn’t someone who “flashed her claws.” That wasn’t me! I was the girl who brought my pair of extra fuzzy, bright pink Marrs University pajamas, a pill organizer with my vitamin supplements, and two books just in case we had downtime to read.

I wasn’t a succubus.

“There’s—there’s no way,” I blurted out.

“June?” Zariah asked, confused. “Girl, this printer isn’t showing anything—where’d you send the quizzes?”

June double-checked her laptop. She winced. “Oof. The computer lab.”

My heart lurched. “Downstairs?!”

What if someone saw my quiz?

Someone I knew?

Face burning, I shot up, stumbling over the pile of sneakers by the door. Behind me, one of the girls knocked over a bottle of blue vodka. The power strips crackled, the smell of smoke hitting the air. I could hear the rest of the girls rushing to clean up, while I flew to the door.

“Tallulah?” June asked. “Where are you going?”

Most of the girls were so drunk, they couldn’t be depended on to throw those BDSM quizzes into the shredder. I couldn’t risk my quiz getting out.

I took to the stairs, refusing to wait for the elevator.

The embarrassment washed over me in waves. If anyone found that quiz, if anyone I knew found that quiz—

Yanking the door open to the computer lab, running too fast to pay attention, I slammed into a wall.

The wall grunted, both of us crashing to the ground. A million papers flew into the air. I sucked in hard breaths, head swimming, and stared into the eyes of possibly the worst person I could’ve run into.

My ex’s best friend—Nicholas Kurosawa.

Number twenty-five, left winger for the Gladiators. Nick was six-feet-tall with jet-black hair and a cocky grin almost all the time. I purposely never noticed him like that while I was dating Fridge but there was no denying it—Nicholas Kurosawa was insanely attractive.

His old reputation proved it. My ex, Felix “Fridge” Fowler, told me that Nick was labeled a lady’s man at his past school.

And…I guess things changed?

His teammates had stories of Playboy Nick when he first got to Marrs, but for some reason, his player antics ended before I got to know him.

Playboy Nick became Celibate Nick. I certainly never spotted him with a girl, never saw him even look at one.

Fridge said Nick made the decision to go celibate for some kind of mental thing.

I didn’t understand it. Nobody did.

All I knew was now that Nick wasn’t sleeping with other people’s girlfriends, he fit into the hockey team so easily. He was a jokester, naturally calm and laid back, beloved by his team.

Everybody liked him. He liked everybody…

Except me.

And I had no idea why.

Whenever I’d spend the night at Fridge and Nick’s, Nick refused to stay in the dorm.

Instead, he’d sleep out in the lounge, blankets piled high on the crappy couch.

When Fridge tried to convince him to join us for a double date to “get Nick out of the dorm,” I’d overhear Nick laugh and say that’d literally never happen.

Whenever Nick and I were forced to be near each other, he went out of his way to avoid getting close to me.

It was like I had a disease he didn’t want to catch.

It hurt so much.

Even after Fridge and I broke up Nick hated me.

The Gladiators made it to championships in February, and I’d originally planned to go with the team.

By then, I wasn’t dating Fridge, but we were still friendly.

I wanted to show support. But Nick cornered me in a hallway and told me in a voice that offered no alternative that I couldn’t come to the game.

Why me? Me?

What could I have possibly done to make Nick dislike me?

Well, that was a moot point. With me tripping into him like an idiot, Nick now had a legitimate reason not to like me.

I pushed up on my elbows, throat tightening. These papers weren’t just the BDSM quizzes—we were surrounded by his papers for class. He must’ve been printing out homework and I crashed into him, ruining everything.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” I stammered.

Nick—funny, joking Nick—remained silent and began to pick up the papers.

I hurried to follow suit. I found a few of the quizzes from the slumber party. Our papers must’ve been the printer’s last attempt, the ink was clearly running out. With each quiz, more and more of the words were obscured.

I lifted a few more, desperate to find mine. “There’s—there’s a quiz—”

Nick’s dark eyes met mine. For a moment, he was silent, tapping papers in his hand, sliding them into his backpack. His voice was clipped, strangely robotic. “What kind of quiz?”

The last time he spoke to me he told me not to come to their championship game, his tone cold. This was different, but no less intimidating. I didn’t know what to say. What could I say? Of all people, I couldn’t tell Nick Kurosawa that I was frantic to find my list of kinks.

I’d already reached the end of my pile, my quiz nowhere to be found. Maybe the printer didn’t get to mine?

Maybe? Please?

“Did you see anything with my name on it?” I whispered.

Nick was silent. His gaze prickled me with goosebumps, trailing them across my skin. Intimidating, yes, but also…I wasn’t sure what to label it, the way my heart ker-thunked in my chest.

I swallowed down the knot in my throat. “Nick?”

The door opened, June and Zariah stepping through, and Nick stiffened, turning away from me. The intense energy between us evaporated.

June was apologetic. “Tallulah, I’m sorry, I had to find a bra and everyone’s tipsy—” Her voice brightened. “Hey, Nick!”

He gathered the last of his papers, heading for the door. “Hey, June. Hey, Zariah.”

I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t acknowledge me in his goodbye, or answer my question, and I’d known him as long as he’d known the other girls. Another pang deep inside—another shot of insecurity.

What did I do to make Nick evade me?

I finished stacking the papers and nodded through June and Zariah’s apologies.

June crouched down. “We didn’t mean to embarrass you, I promise, I was only kidding—”

“It’s okay,” I reassured them. My mind wasn’t on the conversation, I was still mentally with Nick. His dark eyes and the sudden way he’d disappeared. I twisted my hands. “My quiz didn’t print anyway. Don’t worry about it.”