Page 102 of Devious Knight

We talk some more and it’s just like old times. Then it’s time to leave for the game.

Raventhorn is playing New Hampshire tonight. We arrive at their stadium a few hours early so we have enough time to get ready.

Coach McKeithan leads us in a good training session and all the guys are fired up to win.

Soon it’s time to go onto the field. When we get there, the first person I look for is her—Isabelle.

Something lifts in me when I find her in the front row, staring back at me.

Tonight she’s in some midnight black Wednesday Adams getup that makes her look like she’s going to a funeral, but I’ve never seen her look sexier.

Her cheeks flush when I stare at her for longer than I should. The soft rose color looks angelic against all that darkness she’s covered herself in.

The match begins and I switch my focus to the game.

Dmitri and I are vicious out there, obliterating anyone who gets in our way. Like the Incredible Hulk, he clears my path by keeping the defense team on their toes. When I get the ball I run like The Flash.

We score two goals before halftime. The crowd goes wild on that last one.

I look at Isabelle and annoyance fills me when I see she’s looking at Parker.

Not merely looking at him, she’s fucking gawking.

What the hell is going on with her and him? The insanity of obsession pushes me to walk over to her and make her talk, but I can’t fuck around like that when I have a game to win.

I do my best to focus but no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop my gaze from drifting back to Isabelle. Every time I do, she’s looking at him.

My lack of focus allows New Hampshire to score a goal but I pull it together near the end and score two more times. The last is the winning touchdown.

Raventhorn fans lose their minds, electrifying the air with their chants of victory.

The team crowds me and we cheer together. I live for moments like these. But the euphoria dulls when I look back to Isabelle and see she’s gone.

Her seat is empty and I can’t spot her anywhere.

The fact that I looked pisses me off, but I’m not mad at her. I’m mad at myself for wanting her to be there. But I’m always fucking wanting her regardless of the reason.

I give myself a break for the night when I get back to Raventhorn. I do the same the next night with the hope of balancing my mind.

It doesn’t work because I can’t get Isabelle out of my head.

The next night, after the mission briefing with Caspian and Thorne, I find myself heading to Isabelle’s apartment.

When I see that her bedroom window is open, I take my position in the grove of trees where I can see her but she can’t see me.

She’s painting again.

She’s working on that painting she was working on the other week. The one of the woman standing by the sea that reminded me of her. I can see the woman’s face now.

She does look a lot like Isabelle. But I can see clearly now that it’s not her, although the resemblance is striking.

The woman is her mother.

I remember her face from the files Dmitri got me on Isabelle. The files explained that her mother was killed in a random act of violence because the man who shot her wasn’t linked to the Knights.

It was thought that he was a hitman because he had no connection to her mother and he’d killed in the same manner before. However, there was no evidence of who hired him.

Isabelle was twelve at the time. There wasn’t much in the records about her specifically, but the way it was written suggested things about her had been left out on purpose. I supposed that was because she was a child and her father was protecting her name. It made sense, especially if they couldn’t find the guy who was working with the hitman.

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