Page 102 of Brutal Game

“I don’t hate it,” he said, voice husky. “No one’s ever made me speechless before.”

And then he was out of the chair and across the room, one arm wrapped around me, one in my hair, and kissing me like he’d never kissed me before. He didn’t need to speak, his lips and tongue spoke for him. He wanted me, more than he wanted to breathe. Needed me more than he needed oxygen.

And I felt the same way.

“We’ll take it,” he called, pushing me into the locker room.

“Jack, it must be like a million dollars.”

“Little fury, it could be a billion dollars, and I wouldn’tcare. This dress was made for you, and I was made to take it off of you,” he said, closing the door behind him and dropping to his knees.

“Jack—”

“Do you get to say no?” he taunted.

“Jack!” I protested, angry now.

“Shhh, we don’t want her to hear us,” he said, and then he was pushing the dress up over my hips and his mouth was on me and I lost the will to argue with him. In fact, this timeIwas the one who forgot how to breathe.

But who needed to breathe, anyway?

33

Jack

Aweek later, I was adjusting my tie in front of my mirror for the alumni dinner and thinking about Aviva in that dark red dress. About the taste of her pussy that morning, and almost every morning after. Things were…different between us. I’d called her my girlfriend because I’d meant it, although “girlfriend” was too tame a word for how I felt. But although things had stabilized between us, I wasn’t sure if she’d be with me if she didn’t have to be. We were still on shaky ground, and I couldn’t help but feel like something bad was coming for us.

I jerked on the tie. It was too tight.

She was going to meet Coach tonight, face to face. And I, Jack Feldman, confident about everything, wasn’t sure how that would go.

“Jack,” Isaac called from outside my room. “We’ve gotta leave.”

Time to face the fucking music.

Aviva was waitingoutside her building when we arrived. The gate was broken. I hated that she didn’t live somewhere safe. I’d need to have someone fix the gate, add extra locks to her door. Or take Marcus up on his offer to buy me a condo and move her in with me. That was an appealing idea. Absolutely insane, but appealing nonetheless.

I put the car in park and got out of the car, going around and opening the passenger door for her. Judah, Levi, and Isaac were crammed in the backseat.

“Feldman, you’re cunt-whipped,” Judah quipped, but I ignored him.

Aviva watched me with wary eyes, worn gray peacoat wrapped around her, as she walked past me and I helped her into the SUV.

She needed a new coat. New York winters were cold. What if she didn’t have something thicker? I was going to buy her a new coat tomorrow. No, ten new coats. She’d never ever feel a slight chill again if I?—

“You didn’t have to get the door,” she said.

I shrugged, a little embarrassed at where my thoughts had gone. “I wanted to.”

I wanted to do a lot of things, but those things required being alone. Worry filled me—everything felt like it was going to go wrong. Maybe I could skip the dinner, maybe we could stay home, maybe?—

Except I was giving the opening speech before introducing Coach. I wasn’t a weasel, and I wouldn’t be unreliable. It would be fine. In fact, Aviva wouldseefor herselfhow trustworthy Coach was, and drop this nonsense mission to get her brother justice he didn’t actually need.

Reassured, I closed the door behind her, went back around the car, and got in, cranking up the heat on a chilly late October night and pulling out of the spot. Impulse overtook me, and as I steered one handed, I took Aviva’s hand with the other, gripping it tight, so she couldn’t let go.

If I got my way, she’d never let go.

The beginningof the dinner passed by in a blur. Alumni approached me, wanting to shake my hand and take pictures with me. I gave them my best Jack Hat Trick Feldman, charming and funny and a little cocky, a little bashful. They ate it up. The whole time, Aviva stood beside me, her eyes on me, barely speaking. She was uncomfortable, maybe even angry, and I wanted to reassure her, but I didn’t have time.

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