Page 100 of Devious Gambit

Jace

Like hell, it’s over.

Like hell, I’m going to let her go. When she stood there in the snow with the tip of her nose pink from the cold, her bangs cut just above her dreamy green eyes, hugging her literature books, I was floored by how much I wanted her. She’s the most beautiful girl I’d ever met. The thought of another guy touching her milky skin and cracking jokes in an attempt to make her smile made me split my liver in anger.

If a smile was a rarity, then laughter was an endangered species. I knew what to do to make Rhys Gallagher smile. I knew what to say to make her laugh. I knew how to touch her to make her sigh and quiver, and open up for me. Only I knew. She was mine.

I get it. I understand she’s terrified that I’m going to hurt her again and she still, for fuck’s sake, doesn’t believe my feelings are genuine. Fine.

I’d been watching her from a distance since I got back from Maui. She’d blocked and ghosted me, so instead of rushing in like a charging bull to seize her, I decided to cool it. I stood back and just assessed her from a far. Change of plans.

The day I arrived back to KVU, I spotted her walking arm in arm with the math geek towards Kepler Hall, where he lived. I had to scrutinize their behavior to ascertain whether it was more than friendship, until he turned to kiss her on the lips. Every time I saw her, she looked sad, even when she was with him. She’d show him a fake smile, then when he looked away, her cute mouth turned down. I saw it, Rhys. You can’t hide the truth from me.

As I stated before, I enjoyed a challenge and Rhys Gallagher was a big challenge in a lean, sexy body. Jace Luxon had to prove his worth, luckily, he knew what he had to do to achieve this. I had unfinished business. I still hadn’t fulfilled my end of the bargain with Rhys.

I knocked on my dorm mate, Darryn’s, bedroom door on the third floor. He was sitting at his desk, tapping away on a laptop and glanced up. “Yeah?”

“Can I have a word?”

“Sure.” Darryn was a year older, a junior and wide receiver in the Hawks. I figured I’d start with him, but I had to be smart about it.

Speaking quietly, “You know this attempted rape that occurred a few weeks back.”

“Yeah.”

“The police still haven’t arrested anyone and it looks like they’re down two members of the hazing group. So I was just wondering if there’s likely to be another one organized?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you saying you want to join a group of rapists to hunt down another girl?”

I shrugged my shoulders, indifferently. “I’m not sure who to ask about it and they failed their task, didn’t they.”

He grunted. “You like the idea of a nice little rape, do you?” I was struggling to read him. Was it sarcasm or was he being for real? Alarm bells went off in my head, urging me to shut the fuck up.

“Let’s just say, it’s a fantasy I’d like to actuate. But forget I said anything.” I heard footsteps on the floorboards in the hall and noticed a figure waiting outside with his arms folded across his chest.

“I don’t know who organizes those little trysts,” Darryn said, “but you’re an idiot going around asking people about it.”

His words bounced about in my mind, striking a chord of suspicion. “Do you know something?”

“No. And I’ll tell you right now, you’re not going to get anything out of anyone with the police sniffing around.”

I walked past the guy waiting in the hall, who was another dorm mate, Oliver. I had little to do with him, he mostly hung out with Darryn, and a couple of other guys, and was pretty quiet. I heard he had a learning difficulty, dyslexia, and Darryn helped him out with his studies. Like the rest of us in the Vault, Ollie was in the Hawks, came from a wealthy family and was a member of the S&C society. I guess he and Darryn were no more suspicious than anyone else was in this place, including me.

Once back in my bedroom, I shoved the rape into the back of my mind and contacted my dad’s PA to organize a meeting with him. It had to be an official business meeting in his Luxon office and no feelings spared. Spending time in Maui and the short conversation I had with Rhys on Christmas Day, urged me to do this. Gallagher might’ve stopped me from pulling the trigger, but it was my responsibility to make sure it’s a life worth living. To achieve this goal, I had to rid myself of the impending gloom moving closer to infiltrate my soul to stifle every inch of happiness. Fuck it, a touch of drama never hurt anyone.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” Ridge’s voice trembled through the walls.

I swung around on my chair. “What?”

“I heard you asking about the Friday night attack.”

“And so?”

“Man, you’re stepping on dangerous ground,” he growled.

“Do you know who’s involved?”

“Let’s just say, it’s bigger than it looks. So I suggest you drop it now, before you get your head smashed in.”

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