Page 93 of The Playbook

He immediately caught hold of my hand again and tugged.

“Now, Grace. We need to leave.”

“What the hell’s your problem?” Ryan demanded. “Where’s the damn fire?”

“This whole fucking place if I don’t get Grace out of here,” Logan snapped back.

I shook my head. “Where were you, Logan? You still haven’t answered me.”

“Let’s go, and I’ll tell you.”

Sighing, I gave Ryan, Andy, and Marissa a wave. Then I let Logan lead me across the patio. We hadn’t made it to the sliding glass doors before Nikki’s voice called out from her living room.

“I think it’s important for everyone to see this,” she shouted, the music going silent.

“What’s she doing?” Ryan asked, pushing past us to go into the house.

Logan tightened his hand on mine, a muscle thrumming along his jaw. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to be considering something. He must have finally came to a decision because he dropped my hand and strode straight to Nikki. I followed, feeling confused.

Andy and Marissa entered, the look on Andy’s face making my stomach twist with worry. I glanced from him to Nikki who was standing in front of a massive flatscreen TV mounted on her living room wall. The party had stopped, and all attention was focused on her and the screen with a frozen image of Logan on it.

“Don’t do this,” Logan snarled at her. “Whatever you’re planning.Don’t. You fucking promised, Nik.”

“So did you,” she said, moving from in front of the TV and nodding to Piper and Abby. “This is what you deserve.”

The girls began handing out packets of papers. My breath caught in my chest as Piper shoved a packet against my chest with a wicked, little smirk. I stared down at it and saw I was holding a photocopied book entitledThe Playbook.

I flipped it open with shaky hands and stared at Logan’s familiar scrawl.

Grace Matthews is the worst girl they could pick . . .

“Gracie, don’t,” Logan choked out, trying to snag the book from me.

But I pulled back and clutched it to my chest, hoping this was the worst of it yet somehow knowing shit was just getting started. People laughed as they flipped through their copies. I tried to drown them out as a video played on the screen.

“Grace, please, let’s go,” Logan begged, reaching for me again.

I shoved his hands away, knowing I needed to see whatever the hell was going on. He looked helplessly at me as the video continued to roll.

Logan and his friends laughed on the TV.

“Logan Walker. We all know him,” Nikki said loudly. “Everyone loves him.”

The video showed him smiling. Playing football. Swimming. People in the crowd cheered as video Logan strutted out of the pool all wet and sexy. I swallowed, not liking wherever this was going.

“In fact, everyone loves the clique. We’re the elite. We rule Oakwood,” Nikki continued as the video played on, showing the popular crowd partying and having fun. “Everyone wants to be us. We like that. But truth be told, we get bored.”

The film showed a few shots of the guys pushing Devon Rice, an AV kid, into a locker.

“That’s where the playbook came in. Andy Stephens and Logan Walker made a bet. The clique would pick the girl and each guy would have to get her to fall in love with him and fuck him. Winner takes all.”

My heart plummeted.

“Marissa Waters,” Nikki said, the screen changing to show various photos and videos of Marissa walking across campus alone. Photos of her crying by her locker. Videos of her eating lunch alone. I searched through the crowd to find Marissa’s cheeks flaring red and Andy looking murderous.

“And Grace Matthews.”

I snapped my attention back to the video. Me playing drums. Eating lunch alone like Marissa. Wearing fucking nachos courtesy of Nikki that day in the cafeteria.

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