Page 90 of Dating and Dragons

Maybe. But highly unlikely.

She tugs me down the stairs. “No more stressing. And remember, I’ve got your back.” But then we both pause again when harried voices come from the basement. She hurries down the stairs, with me in her wake.

Loganishere, and he’s leaning over the game table toward Mark and Sanjiv, his palms flat against the surface, like he’s a CEO of a corporation trying to convince the board to approve a merger. Sloane stands in the far corner of the room looking worried. They all swivel to watch me as I walk in. My eyes go to Logan, but rather than him looking happy or relieved, his face falls in frustration and he runs a hand through his hair.

“What’s going on?” Kashvi asks. “And why is everyone here so early?”

“Sanjiv texted that the router wasn’t working, so I came over to help while you were out,” Mark explains. “We got that fixed, but then Sloane was still having issues with thelivestream, and we wanted to make sure everything went perfectly today—”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Sanjiv interrupts. “Quinn, you’re thinking about quitting D&D? Why would you want to do that?”

My eyes flare wide in shock. What’s going on?

“No, that’s not what I said.” Logan waves his hands frantically.

I spin to him. “Then what were you saying? And why didn’t you text me back?”

“Logan didn’t say you were quitting,” Sloane says, and takes a seat at the opposite end of the table from where they usually sit as DM so that they’re between Logan and me. Their voice is low and cautious, like they know things are about to get out of control and they’re trying to talk us all down. “He said thatifyou brought up quitting today, then we had to promise we wouldn’t let you no matter what. Though he wouldn’t explain why you’d be thinking about it.” Sloane shoots him an accusatory glance. “I thought you were happy playing with us?”

“I am happy—sohappy to be part of this and to be friends with you all.” I slide into my seat and Kashvi does the same. I make sure to look at each person so they can see that what I’m saying is genuine. “I don’t want to quit.”

“That’s great,” Sanjiv says, “but then why are you freaking out, Logan? She’s fine.”

I pin a glare at him. “Why would you sneak over here early when we agreed we were going to talk ahead of time?”

“I don’t know.” Logan rubs both hands over his face andthrough his hair again. “I guess because I thought you were going to do the same thing and I wanted to beat you to it? The way you were talking last night about how you had to do something…I started thinking you were going to come here early and quit before I could stop you. Yesterday you said that was the solution.”

“Wait, so thereistalk of quitting?” Mark asks.

“You should have waited.” My voice is low and my words are only for Logan.

“I know,” he replies, though he doesn’t look remorseful. “But I wanted to take quitting off the table since that was the first place your mind went. And I knew if I said it while you were here, you’d fight me on it, so…”

“So you went behind my back?”

He leans forward, his eyes sharp. “Only because I refuse to let you quitting the group be a possible solution. That is not how we’re solving this.”

“Solvingwhat?” Sanjiv cries, and throws his hands up in the air.

“And did you ever stop to think that maybe we should be coming up with these solutions together?” I snap.

“I would if you’d tell me what was going on inside your head instead of keeping secrets.”

“Okay, someone needs to stop and explain why you’re fighting,” Mark commands.

“We’re not fighting,” we say simultaneously.

“You’d better start making sense or I’m going to make youbothquit,” Sloane says, their annoyance sharp enough to cut.

My heart is racing, and I clamp my mouth shut. Thoughtsspin as I try to decide the best way to explain things without saying anything I shouldn’t.

“It’s me,” Kashvi says matter-of-factly. “I’m the reason she was acting that way. She wanted to talk to me first.”

Logan squints in confusion and the others look bewildered as well, but that’s their natural state at this point. I turn to her and shake my head to tell her she doesn’t have to do this. She only shrugs.

Kashvi lifts her chin to Logan. “You’re cute. I had a crush on you, and I told Quinn, and she didn’t want to tell you my personal business.”

“Oh, I…um,” Logan bumbles, looking deeply uncomfortable, but Kashvi laughs it off.