Cheating is a tactic of the loser, unwilling to be bested by someone better.
And I stand here,better. Better than men.
I stand here nonviolent and loving, but fierce and unmovable.
I stand for something while he stands only for himself, fragile.
Men in this game will always cheat to win.
If they can’t have us, no one will. If they can’t play, no one can.
But his rules are outdated. Obsolete, like him.
I’m not going to flip the board.
I’m already winning.
He doesn’t realize it yet, but
I’m playing an entirely different game.
6
Satisfied with the draft, I send it to my email to save and slide my phone back inside my pocket. My heart is still racing as I grab the bags and head over to meet Jackson as he exits the store. He holds out a bottle of water to me, and I take a cool sip with a shaky hand. Jackson pauses with his bottle at his lips, watching me, and then twists the cap back onto his drink.
“What happened?” he asks.
“We should go,” I say, reaching to take his bottle to hold it for him. He gives it over but doesn’t move.
“Not until you tell me what happened,” he says.
I turn to him, once again surprised that he’s not letting me decide every part of our interaction. I’d gotten used to him just going along with me. Now he’s invested, he’s part of it. He wants a share of the responsibilities, and it’s harder than I expected to give him that option.
“I got a phone call,” I say, leaning closer. When I meetJackson’s dark eyes, see his concern there, I let go of my control a bit. “Winston Weeks is pretty upset with us.”
Jackson’s jaw tightens, and he quickly darts his gaze behind me, checking for anything suspicious. “Do we give a shit?” he asks. I sniff a laugh and take another sip of water.
“Not really, I guess,” I say. “I mean, he claims we’re dead without his protection, but at this point, what has his oversight ever really gotten us?”
“Exactly,” Jackson says, shaking his head. “And fuck that guy. He doesn’t realize that you got this. You girls are fierce. Hell, I’m scared of you half the time.” He smiles at me to let me know he’s joking about being afraid of me. Now, Leandra… He’s terrified of her.
“There was something else,” I say, my heart sinking. “He told me that Raven has been working with Anton all along, since we left the academy.”
“That can’t be true,” Jackson says, his brow furrowed. “She didn’t even know about you. Or, at least…” He pauses, seeming to think about. “If she’d really been working with him,” he adds after a moment, “Anton would have found you weeks ago.”
“Good point,” I say. “Winston could be lying.”
“Could be?” Jackson asks. “He’s a liar. That should be our default assumption about every word he says.”
“I agree,” I say, tightening the cap on my water bottle to place it in my bag. “Well, Winston doesn’t seem to know where we are—not yet. We’re going to have to deal with him eventually. And not just him. Even if we get the funding pulled from the corporation, we still have a rogue analyst tracking us. Not to mention Petrov himself.”
“One monster at a time,” Jackson says. He reaches for me, and I step into him, hugging myself against him. I hold on too long, unwilling to give up his comfort.
“I can do this for you,” Jackson offers, his voice in my hair. “It might not be the way you want it handled, but… but I can do it. I can find the investor, and… I can do it.”
I pull back and look at him. His expression is fearful but determined. “I don’t need you to kill anybody for me,” I whisper. “If that’s what you’re suggesting.”
Said out loud, the idea sounds ridiculous, and Jackson and I both choke out a laugh.
