Page 67 of Forbidden Game

They put my current white heels to shame. Which would be expected given the price difference here. Plus, my current pair were still ruined from the beach. I hadn’t been able to fix the water damage and was probably going to need to toss them.

Wait.

My heart pounds as I entertain a lofty thought. The corners of my lips tug up in a smile as my chest flutters.

“Bug, you still there?” My dad’s voice grounds me.

“Yeah, sorry.” I carefully return the pointed heel to the box. “I have to go, Dad. But I’ll chat with you later.”

“All right.” I hear the hesitancy in his voice, but he drops it. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Send me pictures of your fishing trip.”

“Will do.”

I hang up and continue to stare at the shiny shoes in front of me.

My mind whirls up the memories from the beach. The warm afternoon sun on my skin. The salt on my tongue. The sand beneath my knees. The stolen kisses on my lips.

The excitement has me feeling like a giddy schoolgirl, and I scold myself.

These shoes are too much.

It’s not like anything serious is going on between us. It is just…

I don’t know what it is.

Fun?

Fun.

Everyone seems to think I need more fun in my life.

What is Parker Covington if not fun?

Something thick and dark swirls in my stomach at my light dismissal of our connection. But I need to keep it light. If I don’t keep some distance between us, it will put me in danger of letting him in. I can’t afford that.

I can’t afford the pain of loving someone like Parker, someone who brings sunshine into my life. Because when you lose that sunshine, the world becomes so dark. And crawling out of that darkness is dangerous and difficult.

I’m not sure if I can do that again.

I shut the lid on the shoes and tuck them under my arm as I grab my phone and leave my apartment to ride the elevator up to the penthouse.

Silence greets me as I trek into the boys’ space, which is expected because they are all gaming right now. When I make it to Parker’s streaming room, I open the door slowly so I don’t spook him.

Except the room is empty.

I frown into the blue abyss.

I shut the door before weaving my way back to the entrance and to Aleks’ streaming room.

When I come face-to-face with another empty cavern of red, dread begins to coil in my gut.

I spin around and open Jackson’s streaming room on the opposite side of the hall.

A small slither of relief hits me when I spot the titan leaning back in his gaming chair, black hair tied in a bun at the nape of his neck, skin shining in the green glow of his room.

He chatters away into his mic, and I walk in to see two familiar girls gracing one of his monitors. Jackson, Deer, and Lee are playing the latest co-op scavenger horror game that people are obsessed with. It’s done wonders for his views, and Mathias is peeved that Parker won’t cave and play with the rest of them.

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