Bryce considers for a long moment, studying my face. Then he gives a tiny nod. “I’m not judging. Seriously.” He hesitates, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “I just… we both know what those guys are capable of. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“You mean any more than they’ve already hurt me?” I scoff bitterly. “I just slept with them. There was no emotion involved.”
Bryce gives me a look like he doesn’t buy that for a second. I’m still not sure if I fully do, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
“Seriously,” I insist, nudging him with my foot. “I needed to lose my virginity to get the Dollhouse off my back, and Raf’shot.”
He narrows his eyes on me, cocking his head. “Who are you and what have you done with sweet little Ava?”
“She’s fully grown now and sexually active,” I reply, lifting my chin.
“Love that for you,” he says, cracking a smile. “But… does this mean the revolution’s over?”
I flinch back, scrunching my nose. “No way, it’s just getting started. I’ve figured some things out, and now I know exactly how to put my plan into action.”
He instantly perks up. “Well shit, let’s hear it.” He leans in, then holds up a finger. “But first…” He fumbles in his hoodie pocket, producing a joint and a lighter. “This conversation is going to be a thousand percent better if we’re stoned.”
I snort a laugh. “Thought you were trying to cut back?”
“I am. I only smoke on special occasions.” He sticks the joint between his lips, lights up, and takes a long pull before offering it to me.
I take it, inhaling slow. It burns a little as the smoke fills my lungs, but that’s part of the comfort– like a tiny, private rebellion. I hold it in, then exhale, watching the smoke feather in the air before passing the joint back over.
“Okay,” Bryce says, already grinning. “Tell me your evil scheme.”
“It’s not evil,” I protest. “It’s just…payback.”
He waves me off. “Tomato, tomahto. Now spill, woman.”
A twinge of pain flares between my thighs as I hug my knees to my chest, staring out at the gray sky hanging low over campus. “So, here’s the thing. I realized, after all this, that none of them are actually in control. They just act like they are. But they’ve all got weaknesses, all want something different.”
“Go on,” Bryce encourages with a nod.
I tick them off on my fingers, one by one. “Wes wants to be accepted. Chosen. He’s like a puppy who spent his whole life being kicked, and now he’ll do anything to be loved.” I glance sideways. “Raf wants control. It’s his entire personality, he needs to dominate every situation, and if he loses that, even for a second, he goes nuclear.” I pause, wetting my lips with my tongue. “Ford’s the wildcard I’m still trying to figure out. I don’t even know if he actually feels anything, except maybe loyalty to the others. He’s basically chaos in human form.”
Bryce’s eyes get that bright, laser-focused look that means he’s hanging on every word. “So how do you use that?”
My lips curve into a slow smile. “By giving them exactly what they want. Wes wants to be chosen? I’ll make him think he is. Then pull the rug out from under him at the perfect moment. Raf wants control? Fine, let him think he has it. Then rip it away when it’ll hurt most. Ford…” I trail off, shrugging. “He’s tricky. Maybe the only way to get to him is through the others. Or maybe I just need to turn his own pranks against him.”
Bryce passes the joint back over to me. “That’s… wow.”
“What?” I ask, taking a puff.
He stares at me like I’m a magician who just unveiled a trick. “That’s genuinely diabolical.”
I grin, flicking my hair over a shoulder. “Thank you.”
“But also–” he holds up a hand. “You know I’m on your side, right? I just want you to be careful. Sometimes when you start playing games, it’s easy to forget which ones are real and which ones you made up.”
I nod, taking another slow drag off the joint. “I know. I’ll be careful.”
He nudges me with his knee. “You gonna keep sleeping with them?”
I blow out a cloud of smoke, then laugh. “Probably. Is that bad?”
“Depends,” he says, snatching the joint from my fingers. “If you’re doing it because you want to, go wild. If you’re doing it because you think you have to, well…”
I take a second to actually consider it. “I want to. I mean, I enjoyed it. And it was strangely empowering, having them all over me like that.”
