Page 40 of Thorns of Malice

"Fuck off," I mutter under my breath.

Ivy puts her hand on my thigh and leans into my ear. "Don't worry, we'll still have our conversation."

I turn my head. Her lips are inches from mine, taunting me. All I want to do is run away with her. It's what I should have done years ago. I should have gotten her as far away from these people as possible.

"Let's go have our talk now," I urge.

She purses her lips and shakes her head. "No, Dax. We're at a charity event. Let's honor the occasion."

Honor the occasion? Like I give a shit about this occasion. I doubt Ivy does either.

"Yeah, Dax, we need to make sure that there's money raised for this wonderful university," Lilly chimes in, then rolls her eyes and finishes her champagne. She motions to a server across the room, and he brings another tray over. He hands her a full glass and takes her empty one.

Avery reaches for another.

"Haven't you had enough?"

"Shut up, dickhead," she says, then takes one from the server and grabs another one off the tray. She downs the glass and hands it back to him. "Thank you." She pats him on the ass as he leaves.

He jumps.

"You're so crude," I state.

"Avery, do you want to join Ivy and me tonight? You too, Lilly," Dyer adds.

"Shut the fuck up," I threaten again.

His cockiness shows on his face. I have to stop myself from reaching over Bobby and punching him.

Dyer and I have had a bad relationship since everything went down with Ivy. To this day, I don't know if anything was going onbetween them. Ivy had insisted nothing happened when I caught her in his arms after the sex video streamed all over campus.

I tend to believe her. But Dyer? He's always gone back and forth on it. So I don't know what to believe.

I've never played a game with him since. I've stayed far away from him and everyone else, only going into his office if I needed something. And because he's an employee of the university, I've always had him by the balls. Yet Ivy is one thing he's always held over my head, one time telling me they did nothing, and another tormenting me and claiming he's had her.

I don't know the truth, and it drives me nuts. Yet part of me doesn't want to know because if he really did sleep with Ivy...

My insides quiver.

Dyer, Bobby, Avery, Lilly... All of them need to keep their paws off of my Ivy.

"You can play too, Dax," Dyer says.

"What about me?" Bobby asks, with a twisted excitement in his voice.

It's all too much. The air in my lungs turns stale, the toxicity suffocating me.

"Maybe we'll see what the night brings," Ivy suggests, and my heart sinks further.

I slide my arm around her and lean into her ear, murmuring so only she can hear, "Stop playing this game. This isn't you."

She looks at me in surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do. And this isn't how to get back at me."

"Get back at you? What's she going to get back at you for? She said let bygones be bygones," Dyer states.

I realize I spoke too loudly. I don't tear my gaze off Ivy's, silently begging her to end whatever she's trying to accomplish.

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