Locked Away - Book 1

Chapter 12

"Uno!" Bode shouts at the top of his lungs.

"Draw Four." Kinsey places the card down and Tyler starts picking up, giving her an evil look. "Blue."

"Your turn." Nina looks to me.

I place down a blue four.

"Draw two." Bode looks like he was just given a $100,000 hospital bill for a nose bleed.

There's a small knock on the door and Bode jumps up to his feet.

"Hey! It's your turn!" Kinsey shouts, but Bode clearly doesn't care.

Nina and Kinsey both get to their feet and start walking away.

"It's Duncan and Bryan." Their uncle and his husband if I remember correctly.

Tyler stands up and I let him walk out. I take a second to just breathe, enjoying a moment of being alone in silence. I calm myself. I breathe. I let it all just go away. Then I stand up and they all start walking back in.

"Hey! You must be Eliot. I'm Duncan. I'm sure you've heard nothing about me."

"Hey. I've only a few deep dark secrets, but nothing I'll be telling the police.." Duncan starts laughing and my heart starts beating faster.

Why is it so hard to act like myself?

"Well thank you. This is my husband Bryan."

"Hey." We shake hands.

"So what do you think about Matheson so far?" We all walk over and take seats.

"It's interesting. Small. Has a weird underlying darkness that I can't quite place yet, but it's only been a week."

"Wow, well you're not wrong." I instantly see Kinsey, Tyler, and Nina and shoot Duncan a look. "Yeah. Well, there was the one time someone stole the school mascot. It was quite the dark and crazy time around here."

"Wow. Yeah. That sounds scary. Almost like the time I got shot at a nightclub in L.A." Everyone looks horrified. "I'm joking." Everyone, especially Tyler, sighs a big breathe of relief before laughing.

"So what's the next game?" Duncan looks around. "Monopoly?"