“Bullshit,” I snap, about to lunge for him when Coach’s voice booms through the arena.
“What’s going on here?”
Daddy to the rescue.
I seethe at Jack, daring him to tell his dad the truth. Coach won’t be too happy to find out what his son has been doing online. I could break his nose, and he wouldn’t snitch—except there’s one monumental difference between us: he has a get out of jail free card and the full force of the Serpents to clean up his digital mess. I don’t.
Jack offers his father a blasé grin. It’s well practiced, made to fool. It took me years to see through it. “Nothing, I just bumped into him.”
He switches on the charm so easily it makes me sick. My parents fell for it, just like everyone else. How can no one else see through his bullshit?
Jack was the well-behaved good boy who could do no wrong in my parents’ eyes. He was like the son they never had, stayingfor dinner, commandeering our guest room like it was his own, and attending family events.
He never got into trouble. Me? I wasn’t the best-behaved student. I sure as fuck couldn’t twist things the way he could. I was too stupid to see that he wasn’t just trying to turn me against people; he was trying to turn my own parents against me.
And it worked.
“It was my fault.” I’m not going to let Jack bail me out. I’ve made that mistake before. Any inch I give him is an inch he can manipulate and use against me. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.” I refuse to owe him anything.
Mitchell nods. “Duval’s knee is giving him grief.”
Fucking snitch. “The tendon’s tight,” I say before Coach gets any ideas.
He narrows his eyes at me, flicking between me, Mitch, and Jack, as if to say:I smell your bullshit from a mile away.Respectfully, if he could, he would’ve figured out that his son was skimming cash from him when he was younger.
The few people still in the gym give me much the same look as Coach—no surprise there—but they’re not about to point out my lie when I can call them out for their messages. The wound is still too fresh for them to get away with it just yet.
“Whatever happened between you three, fix it. I don’t want to see any of it on my team.” There’s the fatherly voice that doesn’t bode well with me in an employment setting.
What happened is that Jack crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed. Out of every sin he’s committed, this is the gravest, and he doesn’t realize the magnitude of what he’s done.
Making my parents choose him over me is one thing.This?Those messages?
I hardly tolerated him before—just enough to keep the peace—but not anymore.
“Yes, Coach,” we take turns saying, like one poorly rehearsed symphony.
Jack’s dad heads off, and my second getaway ends as poorly as the first.
“Leo—”
I crowd into Jack’s face, keeping my voice low so our audience doesn’t hear. “Never speak to me again, you obsessive little fuck.”
He scoffs, rolling his eyes as ifI’mthe dramatic one. “You think this is about me? You’re one of our best players. The whole reason you were brought here is to get us the Stanley.” I’m aware. The dollar signs are proof of what he’s saying. “My dad pulled every goddamn fucking string he could to get your ass here. The last thing I want is for you to fuck it up because you’re distracted.”
Distracted?
He thinks I’mdistracted?
I huff. “Understood.”
The rope wound around me that’s stopping me from giving the hounds what they want requires another sacrifice. It was always going to be inevitable. Jack’s the one who’s pushing me over the edge.
I was going to start with dinner, maybe even a trip to the lake. Something to ease into my future when I’ve felt I’ve learned enough to be able to strategize.
I’ll show him what distracted looks like, and she’s going to be my willing accomplice. He better not have fucked it up for me, or else he’ll find out what happens when the string snaps.
CHAPTER FOUR
