Page 47 of Pawn

“Isaac?”

He turns up the volume instead of answering, being a real brat about me taking away his joint.

“Isaac,” I say again, testing the assumption that he knows what this is doing to me.

And of course, he turns it up even louder, accordion on blast.

“Isaac! Can you—” I reach for the screen but he pushes my hand.

“What? Too much for you, Jo?”

“What the fuck is your problem?” My hand braces the dash. “You were joking about her two minutes ago and now you’re being a dick.”

“You killed Marion!” He slams on the break and my head whips forward, stopping in the middle of the road.

BEEEEEEEEP!

A car swerves around us.

“Jesus, Isaac!” My hands are in fists. Damien’s friends are just like him. Jerks. “Are you trying to get us fucking killed?”

“Why the fuck not? Isn’t that what you do? Kill people?”

“Fuck you!” I open the car door in the middle of the street. I’m not dealing with this shit.

Another thing I’ve learned in Eden? Rides from other students are unreliable.

“Jo!” Isaac calls, the music cutting from his car. “Fuck, Jo! Wait!”

I’m on the other side of the street before I hear another honk, when I turn around, Isaac’s dodging a car, chasing after me. His Rover sits in the middle of the road, both doors open. “I’m sorry! Hey! Hold on!” He catches up to me, pulling on my hand, turning me around. “I’m sorry. I really am! C’mon, get back in the car. Please.”

With an arm around me, he pulls me back to the car but I’m cautious climbing in. I know how Damien is. How he used to be. Hot and cold when he wants to be and if Isaac’s as emotional as he looks, I’m hanging on for another mood swing. When he’s in he pulls off, no music.

After a moment of silence, Isaac speaks, his eyes on the road. “I didn’t mean that.”

“She tried to kill us,” I say, my elbow on the passenger door as I stare out the windshield. “She wanted to kill Damien. Hell, she would’ve killed me if we didn’t—”

“Kill her?” He keeps his eyes on the road. “And King covered it up. I guess she’s lucky she doesn’t have any family.”

“She kidnapped my sister and her own nephew.” I don’t know if I’m trying to rationalize what we did to him or myself but I keep going. “When I got up on that roof, Damien was on that ledge. She tried to kill him too. All for fucking money and if that’s not psychotic I don’t know what it is.” That’s probably not going to get him to chill out. “I know you don’t want to see it but Marion did this to herself.” My gut wrenches when I allow that night to come to the forefront of my mind again.

He turns down a road and I can see his eyes getting glossy from where I’m sitting. That makes my eyes blur too and I’m gripping to the door handle for stability, trying to slow my racing heartbeat.

We’re pulling into Damien’s driveway before he turns off his car. With a sigh, his back hits his seat before he asks, “You wanna get fucked up?”

After this conversation? “You fucking bet.”

Thirteen

Damien

You’re a kid, kid.

The CEO’s voice replays in my head.

The fuck does he know?

Sitting behind my driver, my meeting with Victor Shay sits at the front of my mind. Jo’s an inspiration but the new direction I’m taking King Financial isn’t easy.

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