Page 69 of Brutal Game

“Now,move.”

And then the professor was standing, dusting himself off, and trudging up the stairs, and it felt like I could breathe again in his absence.

I glared at Jack.

“You okay?”

Confusion filled me. Was this possession, or protection?

It didn’t matter. Either way I hated it.

I hate you,I mouthed.

He slammed the glass one more time.

“Mine.”

It felt like the word echoed through the arena.

It certainly echoed throughme.

“Well,” Tovah said. “Shit.”

I sat back down, aware of dozens, maybe hundreds, of eyes on me.

“You can say that again,” I muttered.

“Well. Shit.”

21

Jack

Iwas starting to think of life as Before Aviva and After Aviva. Before Aviva, I rarely got angry. Micah said that anger was a wasted emotion, and I agreed. But ever since I’d met her, anger had become an unwelcome companion. Before Aviva, I never felt possessive or territorial. Now, my body was consumed with the need to mark her, brand her, prove to the world—and her—that she belonged to me.

And make sure creepy fucks like Dylan Johnathan kept their goddamn hands off of her.

Somehow, even with my mind as fucked as it was, we managed to win the game. As the team celebrated, I looked up at the stands. Aviva was gone.

Hell no.

I followed the team back into the locker room. I saw her everywhere; on her knees in front of me, on the bench as I ate her. Would I ever be able to be in here without remembering that first time with her?

Fuck. Imissedher. I’d changed partners in psych class partially to punish her, and mostly to get a response out of her. I barely had, of course, because Aviva wasn’t the type to let something like embarrassment or rejection distract her from what was important to her. Namely, her brother.

What would it feel like, to be that important to her?

“Jack.” Isaac shoved me. “Wake the hell up.”

“She was sitting withhim,” I said.

“I know. The whole fucking school knows, plus everyone from Tabb will hear about this soon. You know Mason and Emory can’t keep their damn mouths shut. We’ll handle Dylan Johnathan. But you realize everyone now knows you have a weakness, right?”

“Bullshit.”

He shook his head. “You literally yelledminein front of the whole arena. You may as well have stood with your back to a firing squad. You’re fucked. And if you’re fucked, it means we’re all fucked.”

I rubbed my face in my hands. He was right.

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