I simply had to watch Alexei's game. In the living area, a crowd had already gathered around the people sitting on the floor.

"I like to play this game blind," Alexei announced to his fellow players. Most of them already had bloodshot eyes from the booze, the bong, or both.

He then pulled off his tank top, revealing a strong torso and two pierced nipples. He had a vial of something hanging around his neck and a half sun, half moon tattoo circling his belly button.

Alexei yanked hard at the thin fabric which easily ripped. He made six blindfolds and handed them to the people sitting around him; two guys, and three girls.

"Can I ask the audience to help guide us?" he asked. Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

"I'm way too drunk for this," one of the guys in the circle said. I didn't recognize him from our guest list.

Alexei looked up and our eyes met for a single second. My heart constricted at the thought of sitting in that circle and...

"I'll take his place," Will volunteered. What the fuck? Why?

Everyone had their blindfolds on and a pretty girl from one of the sororities spun first. It landed on a girl with short hair and glasses that I recognized from my seminars but had never met. The audience gently guided them and they gave each other a chaste kiss.

"Boring!" Bobo called from where he was hanging over the upstairs railing.

A second spin had the girl with the glasses kiss a guy called Jonathan or something, he was captain of the champion wrestling team.

The game continued and I was constantly holding my breath. I'd come to care for my roommate and didn't want him to get humiliated in any way. I also desperately wanted to see Alexei kiss someone, finding the very idea of him utterly fascinating.

I knew it was a possibility but I guess my brain didn't want to see the obvious. On Alexei's very first spin, it landed on none other than William Hessington Jr. I sucked in a breath and held it, unable to look away but feeling very conflicted about what I was seeing.

Their heads were brought closer and I was hoping for it to be a quick affair. Alexei suddenly grabbed Will by the back of the head with one hand and let the fingers of the other trail down his neck.

My roommate instinctively opened his mouth and I watched Alexei stick out his tongue before pressing it between Will's teeth. The kiss went far beyond the boundaries of the game. When Alexei let go of Will and removed his blindfold, his eyes rested on me once again. It was only a split second but I somehow knew that he had been in complete control of the situation from the start.

Will just sat there with his blindfold still on, his fingers pressed to his lips. He hadn't even noticed that Alexei had left.

I needed a break and fled upstairs. I walked past Sam and Fred's room, where our master chef's ass was moving up and down, making a blond chick moan loudly in his ear.

Bobo was in his room, sucking on his bong so I sneaked by and disappeared into my own. This Alexei guy was definitely something else but I felt like he was already disturbing our balance.

Actually, it was more like he was playing us.

***

A knock at the door was followed by Will peaking around the corner. "Are you OK?" he asked, carefully.

"Yeah, I am fine. My head was spinning and I just needed a moment."

He came in and sat on the bed. He looked at me for a moment and said, "I kissed a guy for the first time in my life and I was wearing a blindfold."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I wasn't sure why he was here, telling me this.

"Sam asked me to talk to Alexei, in the hopes that he would reconsider our offer. I was trying to be hospitable but now I feel... weird," Will said, looking out the window.

"Weird how?" I asked carefully. I would go for "violated" but I didn't want to put any words in his mouth.

"My folks raised me with an old-fashioned southern backbone which includes a general misunderstanding about..."

"Guys kissing guys," I said, trying to make this easier for him.

"Yes," he breathed in and out before continuing. "I wanted to change my worldview. That is why I am here with you guys."

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming," I said nervously.

"I never had a clear picture of what would happen if I removed the limitations my background put on me," he said. I was very confused as to where this was going.

"According to everything I know, that kiss was supposed to make me feel like I had done something fundamentally wrong. Instead, it made me feel... alive!"

Holy fuck! I did not see that coming.

"I instantly knew that I was kissing a dude but in that very moment, it didn't matter. Nobody ever kissed me like that before!"

I felt special that he was telling me all this. It was very deep and personal.

"Listen, I personally believe that ALL rules are human-made. If we lived in the Greek times, you would be married for status, yet we could easily be friends and lovers without anyone caring," I said, sharing my usual rhetoric on the subject.

Holy fuck, but what did I just say?!

Will was looking at me as if trying to figure out the same. He opened his mouth but closed it again. On his second attempt, he said, "You're probably right."

I watched him stand up and motion for me to get up too. He hugged me again and said, "Thank you for listening to me."

"Of course," I said, meaning it. "Anytime, brother."

"I need to ask you for another favor. There's a sorority girl downstairs that I promised I would text. Can I... get the room?" he asked carefully.

Why did the question catch me off guard?

"Definitely," I said, trying not to look somehow hurt. What the fuck were my expectations?

***

I made my way downstairs and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. It didn't take long for the troublemaker to show up.

"Hey!" he said, leaning against a beam.

"Hey," I answered, trying to match his casualness.

"You like him, don't you?" Alexei asked.

"What are you talking about?" I said, momentarily confused by his forwardness.

"William. You like him," Alexei repeated. He was wearing a leather jacket over his bare chest. He was hot as fuck but right now, I was too annoyed with him to look.

"Why do you care?" I asked defensively.

"I like to know the other wolves in my den," he said with a grin.

"You shouldn't have done that to him! Will is..."

"Yours?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course not! He's probably banging a sorority girl as we speak!" I fumed.

"And how does that make you feel?" Alexei asked stepping closer. Who the fuck did he think he was, my therapist?

"What's it that you are trying to achieve?" I asked, having had enough.

"I told you, I like to know what kind of wolves..."

"Dude, what makes you think that it's your den?" I said, casually strolling past him back into the house.

***

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