Several drinks later the atmosphere had lightened and they sat around the table making small talk. They hadn't closed up 'til late tonight so it was after midnight.

"Does this remind you of being a teenager?" Kyle asked. "When you'd stay up all night talking and playing truth or dare?"

"Yeah kinda, minus the alcohol of course," Denny said, throwing another shot down.

"Not me," Ash said, "I've been on the turps since I was fourteen. I used to take my grandma to the bottle-o to get booze for me and my mates."

"You did not!" Denny admonished.

"Yeah I did, she adored me, she was happy to do it."

"I always picked truth," Denny said, "that way it was only my friends I'd be in trouble with."

"I was a dare man," Ash said, "happy to do anything as long I didn't have to reveal any secrets. Dares are over and done with but those truths can last forever."

"What were you hiding?" Kyle chimed in.

"What?"

"The secrets. What was so secret you couldn't tell your friends?"

"I don't even remember now," Ash lied.

"Was it about your secret crush?' Kyle pressed, "some girl you were worried wouldn't like you back?"

"Look at me. You think I'd need to keep it secret?"

"I'll bet it was. Denny said you've got one now."

"I never said that," Denny defended.

"You said you know for a fact he likes someone..."

"That doesn't mean it's a secret," she squirmed.

"So who is it then?"

"Doesn't matter," Ash said, brushing the question aside.

"Ah-hah! See? You're doing it right now." Ash rolled his eyes.

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"Not yet. Let's play. Truth or dare?"

"Seriously?" Ash challenged, heat creeping into his voice. "Anyway, how dumb do you think I am? Why would I pick truth now when you're obviously trying to get information out of me?"

"It's your idea Kyle," Denny stepped in, "you go first. Truth or dare?"

"Alright, fine. Dare."

"Okay, let's see..." Denny pondered. "Okay. I dare you to kiss one of us." She grinned at him, Kyle didn't grin back.

"Seriously? What are you? Fifteen?"

"Maybe, but at least I'm not chicken."

"Fine." Suddenly Kyle leaned across and popped a kiss on Ash's cheek. "There. Happy?"

"That's how you kiss your grandma," Denny laughed.

"So? You said a kiss. And that's a kiss. You shoulda been more specific if you wanted more than that. Or maybe you're just jealous?" Now it was Kyle's turn to grin.

"In your dreams Braxton."

"Okay, you next," Kyle said to her, "truth or dare?"

"Dare?"

"Oooo, stepping out of the comfort zone huh Denise?" Denny shrugged. "Okay, I dare you to tell me who Ash likes?"

"You can't do that!" Denny protested, and was rescued from an argument by an interruption.

"Hey guys."

"Oh hey Andy," Denny answered, "what are you doing up here?"

"I heard noises so I thought I'd come check it out. You guys having a party?"

"Kind of, wanna join us?" Ash asked.

"We've got booze, my shout..." Kyle offered.

"Well when you put it like that," Andy accepted. He pulled up a seat between Denny and Kyle.

"What are you still doing here this late?" Ash asked the gym manager. He'd given Andy a hard time when he'd first arrived in town but he actually kinda liked the bloke now. Not that he'd tell him that, stirring Andy up was way too much fun.

"I was going over the books, I want to make sure everything is on track for Brax."

"Hey," Denny said, "did you guys ever play SEVOL?"

"No..." they all told her.

"Well you've been missing out. Who's got some paper?" Ash produced his order pad and pen. "Right. Let's do me and you Kyle, just so I can show you how it works." On the paper Denny wrote her full name followed by the letters S, E, V, O and L and then Kyle's name. "It's a love test. SEVOL is just 'loves' spelled backwards. So you count up each of the five letters... so there's one S in both our names..." she wrote a 1, "four E's, no V's, one O and 3 L's." On the paper she'd written 14013. "Now you add the numbers next to each other..." on the next line she wrote 5414, "and you keep doing that until you get a percentage." The number she came up with was 16. "Sixteen percent, looks like we won't work Kyle."

"You're breaking my heart here Den," Kyle joked.

"Do another one," Ash said, "you and Andy." She shot him a conspicuous look but complied. She went through the process again. "Ninety-four percent," she frowned.

"That's all but a guarantee," Ash appreciated, giving her a wink.

"I've had enough of this game, it's dumb anyway," Denny declared.

"One more," Kyle insisted, "you and Ash."

"How 'bout you and Ash," Denny shot back. She ignored his protests and began the process. "Kyle Braxton SEVOL..." Denny lapsed into silence as she wrote Ash's name. She curled her arm around the paper to hide what she'd written. "Sixty-eight percent. Really could go either way."

"What does that number even mean?" Kyle questioned. "Is it how much they love you? Or a compatibility rating?"

"I dunno," Denny shrugged, "it's just something to giggle about when you're fourteen and get eighty-six percent with the cute boy in class you have a crush on."

"You suck at picking games Miller," Ash decided. "How 'bout we play a drinking game? 'Never Have I Ever...' is a good one."

"I'll start," Kyle offered. "Never have I ever been to prison." Ash and Andy lifted their glasses and drank. Andy went next, glancing at Denny before he spoke.

"Never have I ever worn my hair in a ponytail." Ash rolled his eyes at Andy's obvious attempt to get Denny drunk, before swallowing a mouthful of alcohol himself.

"Never have I ever been arrested," Denny said.

"We've already had that one," Ash protested.

"No, we haven't," Denny countered, pointing his attention towards Kyle who was drinking.

"You? Seriously?" Ash found it hard to believe, Kyle was so down the line with everything he did. "What'd you do? Jaywalk?"

"I was charged with kidnapping actually."

"But you were innocent?" Ash asked, trying to reconcile the man he knew with this new information.

"No, I did it. It woulda been a murder charge if I'd had my way."

"Okay," Ash said. "Start from the start. I don't believe you'd ever do something like that."

"You barely know me," Kyle scoffed, "I was in a dark place then and I wanted revenge. I was gonna kill the bloke that killed my Dad."

"What happened? What stopped you?"

"Brax stopped me. It was Casey. I kidnapped Casey and tried to kill him. I'd've gone down for it too if Brax hadn't convinced Case to drop the charges. We mighta met under very different circumstances." That thought scared Ash, he couldn't imagine Kyle having to deal with life inside. Not that he exactly thought Kyle couldn't handle it, it's just that he knew how shitty it was in lock up and he didn't want anyone he cared about to go through that.

"Never have I ever been infatuated to distraction and not made a move." Ash didn't see what the others did, he was too focused on his own glass that he held raised in front of his face. Did he drink or not? Was that what this thing with Kyle was? Why didn't he make a move? Was it because this was Brax's brother? Or could he make that move now? What was the worst that could happen?

"Never have I ever been surfing," Kyle said, interrupting Ash's thoughts. Ash drank and then realised what Kyle had just said.

"You're a Braxton and you live at the beach."

"Did you miss the part where I'm a late edition to this family? I tried to kill them, remember?" Kyle was just full of surprises.

"Never have I ever kissed a bloke," Andy said, apparently still on his mission to make Denny consume as much vodka as possible. He had no idea about the awkward position he'd just put Ash in. Ah, fuck it. Who cared? Ash threw his head back and finished his drink.

"Never have I ever kissed a girl," Denny countered quickly, hoping to distract Kyle from asking the obvious question. She was the only one who didn't drink.

"Never have I ever been in love," Ash said. Immediately Denny downed the rest of her drink. Andy didn't touch his glass. But that was in Ash's periphery. His gaze was fixed intently on the captivating man beside him.

"I don't know."

"If you don't know you haven't been," Denny said, and so Kyle didn't drink. He still looked conflicted about the decision though. Denny started scribbling on the notepad again.

"Wow. You guys are morbid drunks," Andy observed. Denny ripped a page off the notepad, scrunched it up and threw it at Andy's face.

"You're right," she said, "and it's getting late."

"C'mon then, I'll take you home," he offered. It was the best idea, Andy'd definitely had the least to drink, she'd be safest with him driving. They all stood up. Ash pulled Denny into a hug.

"See you tomorrow chickie." She said goodbye and followed Andy out the door. Ash looked around at the mess as he turned to Kyle. "I'll help you clean up."