Page 56 of Forbidden Game

“Good car. Expensive car. Go very fast. Very nice,” I say in a caveman tone as I start up the engine and begin pulling out of the spot.

She huffs out a little laugh, the corner of her lips twitching up in the smallest of smiles as she rolls her eyes.

Thank God.

Her tiny smile turns into a screech as I hit the main road and switch from the electric mode to sport mode on the car and rev it, increasing my speed by the second.

“Parker Covington, I do not need another heart attack today.”

“Come on, Syd, live a little.”

“Parker, I’m serious. Slow down. I saw that champagne bottle on your table.”

“All right, all right.” I ease off the gas pedal, not wanting to upset her. “In my defense, I’m well within the legal limit. I barely touched the champagne even though I paid out the ass for it.”

“Then why’d you even buy it?” she mutters, looking out the window to the ocean.

There’s something off about her tone, but I don’t push it. Not yet. Pushing Syd to open up normally results in her doubling down. She’s like those sea creatures with the little tentacles that, when you poke them, close in on themselves.

“Because they wouldn’t let me stay in the restaurant otherwise.” I shrug.

“How’d you even know I was there?”

“Phone tracker.”

Her head whips to me. “What the hell, Parker?”

“What? You do it to us all the time.”

“That’s different,” she defends.

“Not really.” I reach forward and fiddle with the map on the digital monitor to make sure I’m headed the right way. “What were you meeting Justin about anyway?”

“Oh. That.” Her eyes narrow with irritation and her entire mood dips like she was dunked in ice water.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Except you did.” She points an accusatory finger at me. “You joked to that waitress in the airport lounge that I was your girlfriend, and she took a photo of us and sent it to Gamer Weekly in an exclusive.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, ‘oh.’” She flops back into her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. “And then he tracked down more pictures of us snapped throughout the airport when we touched down in Colorado with your arm slung all over me. The whole thing didn’t look good when pieced together. You’re lucky it was an easy story to kill because Justin knows you guys, knows me, knows I wouldn’t risk everything to date someone like you.”

Her words lance me like a sharpened blade in my back.

“But he still could have run with it just to mess with us if he felt like it, especially after Aleksander blew off that interview. Everyone has their eyes on you with this upcoming championship. You need to be smarter, Parker.”

My gut churns uncomfortably as nausea mixes with anger.

Nah, fuck this.

This isn’t what I deserve.

I’m not going to let her disguise her panic with poisoned words.

I press on the indicator and speed the car three lanes to the left before pulling into a mostly empty beach car park. I throw the Lambo into park and switch off the engine.

“What are you doing?” Sydney’s head swivels as she looks around us in confusion.

---