Page 25 of Brutal Kingdom

Now that’s not something you say unless you’ve had a hand in whatever is going on and know that it’s probably not going to be fine, and you’re suddenly feeling guilty about it.

Frankie has a killer poker face, but he does this quick one eye twitch when he’s stressed. He’s doing it now. I’d like to say I know exactly how far my friends would go to get revenge on Jordanna, but his behavior is making me nervous. Hell, all of their behaviors worry me. First Bella wants to put her in the dungeon, now Frankie’s twitching because Graham pulled her off campus. Even Hal, who never seems to let anything bother him, stares at her like he’s waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

“What’s going on Frankie?”

“Nothing.”

“You can pull that shit with Bella, but not with me. Graham Holt has never come to campus and today he rolled up here and left with Jordanna in the middle of her class? How the hell does he even know who she is?”

“How would-”

“Bella might be in charge, but don’t even fucking think about lying to me. Now spill.”

“I didn’t…”

Advancing on him, I stop within arm’s reach. I reach down, picking up his book bag and pass it to him. He takes it from me, and my hand darts out, gripping his shoulder. Smoothing out my voice, I say, “Do I need to ask you again?”

“Fine okay. Fine. They know each other through me.” He looks around, rushing through the rest of his answer. “Last year we were making the rounds, hanging out at the tracks and casinos, and Graham took an interest in her, okay. I was winning big man.Real big. She was like my lucky charm. Shit, I was up for weeks. I even got a preliminary invite to the back room, but Graham wanted something instead of the buy in.”

“And what’s that?”

“Access to Jordanna. He wanted to date her man, and I said no. You know. You and she were together, and I wasn’t gonna do that to you.”

I keep my voice steady when I ask, “Then what happened?”

“Shit. I don’t know. It was all just… I might’ve been partying too hard at his casino one night. When he walked up to me, I was up, man. I was so up, and I was still trying to reach that next level. You know? And I thought I had it in the bag, man, so I bet. I went all in and he said ‘hey, if you win this pot you’re in the next big tournament.’ The secret one nobody knows where or when. It’s bigger than the world series. You know. And if he won, then I had to do one tiny little thing for him. He promised I’d get to keep my money. Dad’s car. All of it.”

I’m gonna be the one who’s sick. “You lost.”

He nods, his voice shaking when he says, “I don’t even know how it happened.”

I know how it happened. If he was winning as big as he says he was, they brought in a new dealer, one with trick fingers when laying down the cards. “What did you have to do?”

“Logan. Man, I swear it was nothing. I just had to give him some info on Jordanna. Her schedule, her number, where she goes, what she does. And the only other thing he said was not to warn anyone that he was coming for her.”

“You what?” I bellow, loud enough to draw attention from people standing around. It’s one thing for me to be coming for her and something else when a casino owner with ties to organized crime comes for her.

“I didn’t know, man. Okay. I didn’t know he was gonna come up here and yank her out of class in the middle of the day like he owns her.” Nodding and still talking to himself, he says, “But then, it’s good, right?”

“What could possibly be good about this?”

“Think about it. I mean, we found out Jordanna was playing us, to begin with. She didn’t give a shit about any of us. Fucked you over, and was only hanging out with me to get dirt for her file.”

He’s telling me he and Jordy were spending time together last semester, and I didn’t even know it. Not only that, but I guess they spent so much time together that he liked her. Liked her enough that when she betrayed him, he decided it was a good idea to pimp her out to the man he owes money to. He’s telling meall of thisand I can’t react to any of it.

“Did you think about what would happen after you did this small favor for Graham? You know, since we’re supposed to be honoring a truce because of those files you mentioned.”

“She can’t trace this back to us, and Graham doesn’t want anyone to know how he tracked her down, so we’re covered.”

I’m gaping at him, because that’s the kind of shit Bella would say. I walk away, leaving him there to convince himself of the lie he just told.

I press the last number dialed on my phone. When it connects, I say, “I have a job for you.”

Graham Holt is dark, broody, and an asshole of epic proportions when he’s not getting his way. I have enough people coming after me at school. I can’t afford to make another enemy and that’s the only reason I left campus with him two days ago. He avoided my questions about how he knew where to find me. I did the same when he started asking his own questions about the students at school.

I owe them no loyalty, but I don’t know Graham from a can of primer. So there was no way I was about to offer up any details. It could’ve been a trap, and days from now my words could come back to bite me in my ass. No thanks. I’m already hyper vigilante thanks to my anxiety and lack of sleep.

When he finally accepted I wasn’t talking, he dropped me a block away from the mall and I caught a cab back to campus after picking up some new paints. I let my ringing phone go to voicemail. It’s him, and I’m not answering his calls or texts until he tells me how he got my number.

---