Page 51 of Rivals

Now it’s his turn to look affected by my words. I watch fascinated while he looks around, something like panic crawling over his face before the resignation sets in. “Shouldn’t you be resting like the good girl you are? Wouldn’t want to hurt your head again after that little bump.”

Little bump? Anger flashes through my insides and suddenly I’m not hungry anymore. Little bump. I took a hit from a girl who had her heart broken by him and decided to take her pain out on me. It was his fault for being so careless with everyone’s feelings but his own.

With one last head nod, as if I agree with him or something, Reign stalks out of the cafeteria. Leif and Carter both follow, although Carter at least has the decency to glance back at me to see if I’m alright. I’m not. I can feel the walls around my heart being built back up. This time brick or mortar won’t do. Reign already demolished them once. Oh no, this time they’re being built up with ice. Cold, frigid, and immovable. I quickly take my phone out and pull up the girls’ chat.

ME: Where’s the party tonight?

It takes a few seconds but soon the dots are dancing.

SAM: Wherever we are. *smirking face emoji*

EMMA: I’ve got feelers on a Saint’s party in the Garden. Looks like the invite is open.

The Garden was a fancy term for the mansions that cultivated one neighborhood on the Saints’ side of town. Most kids who go to school there live in the Garden and that is why they don’t need dorms or private apartments off-campus. It isn’t the same neighborhood that Reign lives in or his friends. The kids who live in the Garden are mostly unchaperoned. Their parents preferring to jet set the world rather than be parents.

ME: Let’s go. I’ll meet you there.

I’ve been to parties before at the Garden. Granted it was usually to one-up Reign or he invited me in order to take a challenge. Tonight feels different. My heartbeat is hanging in the air around me. Emma has already asked twice what’s going on, but I refuse to answer. I need to see it with my own eyes, hear it with my own ears, feel it in my chest that this magical fantasy with Reign is coming to an end. That is what this party feels like. The music, the writhing bodies, the people laughing while lounging in the hot tub outside, none of it feels happy. It feels like the end. Only this time I am prepared to walk away with my head held high.

“Looking good, Con-man,” someone yells at me and the old nickname is a slice like a papercut across my heart. My hands fidget on the royal blue material of my long sleeve shirt.

“Well, fuck,” Sam murmurs from next to me. Sensing the change in the atmosphere for the first time.

“Yup. Drinks it is,” Emma adds before shimmying away toward the bar area. Because of course these rich assholes have bars open instead of coolers and a keg.

Running my hands down my ripped distressed jeans, I suddenly feel out of place, and I don’t have Reign’s eyes or hands on me, reassuring me otherwise.

“Don’t fucking go there.” Sam elbows me gently. “You look hot as fuck. If he’s playing games, it’s his loss.”

“Thanks, bestie.” I gently nudge her back. Emma makes her way back to us, three seltzers in her hands, and her face is pale.

“What happened?” I ask, my fingers grazing her arm.

“It’s probably nothing.” She shakes her head and slips a smile on her face. “Your man is back there. Let’s go.”

Sam and I follow her deeper into the house and soon we’re close to the dance floor. A pool table is off to the side, and of course Carter is playing. Leif and Reign are holding court talking to a few other guys from the hockey team. I catch more than a few looks while Emma forces Sam and I to dance. I return the questioning glares with a raise of my brow. I’ve never been asked to leave an All Saints’ party just like we don’t ask them to leave Public parties. The vibe I’m getting tonight though is that everyone is surprised I’m here, that I’m not wanted.

“Oh, shit,” Emma suddenly says and stops moving. Her face pales and her eyes widen. “He’s so fucking done.”

Sam follows her gaze, before her hands grip my shoulders, preventing me from turning around.

“What the hell, guys.” I laugh, but it feels forced. Their looks of dread are making my insides quiver and tighten.

“I saw them earlier but I thought it was nothing.” Emma leans into me, her teeth sinking into her lip. She looks worried.

I glance at Sam, and her green eyes look sad. She’s heartbroken for me. “She’s here. The player from the Rebels.”

“What?” My head moves around and sure enough, there in the crowd, making her way to Reign and his friends is Brooklyn. The girl who was too scared to approach me to my face and instead hit me from behind, trying to ruin my season with an injury. She could have done a lot more damage to me. I was lucky to walk away without anything broken and only needing a few days of rest. I won’t soon forget her. It is not on my bingo card to see her here tonight, her long blonde hair, sleek and falling down her back. Her black pants are so tight I swear I see the outline of her lady parts and the pink shirt she’s wearing is so low cut, all but her nipples are visible. She is dressed to impress and heading toward my boyfriend.

My eyes lift. Then I see it. Time stops. Nothing before in my life prepares me for the feeling that comes when Reign’s lips turn up in a flirty smirk for her. My chest feels ripped open. I might as well be bleeding all over the floor from the pain of seeing her perfectly manicured hand land on his chest. His eyes move from her hand to her face and he doesn’t push her away. He doesn’t stop her as she pushes him back on the couch so she is straddling him. I watch his hands come up, and land on her sides, spanning her waist. It’s like another dagger slicing up my insides, cutting my heart out, and handing it to him. Brooklyn pushes her breasts against his chest, and grabs a fistful of his hair, while gyrating her hips on him, in time to the music that is blasting through the room.

Two things become very clear. At some point Reign and Brooklyn connected after I got hurt. She came here tonight for him. And, this isn’t the first time she’s treated him to a lap dance. She’s giving it her all. I want to puke. I need to get out of here.

“Let’s go, girl.” Emma takes my hand in hers, and Sam furiously wipes under my eyes. I didn’t even realize I have tears falling from my eyes or that I am crying in front of all of these people.

“Why?” I glance between my two best friends and the sympathy and rage on their faces, mix and swirl. It doesn’t make sense. The Reign who has been creeping his way into my heart for months wouldn’t do this. There’s a reason. I know it.

I take my phone out and send him a text. Peeking around the barrier my friends are creating between him and me, I see one of his hands leave Brooklyn’s side as he grabs his phone.

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