Page 110 of Ice Bet

“You don’t get it. He…threatened me.” That sounded way worse than it actually was, so I backtracked. “Kind of. He insinuated that he could fuck up my future if I betrayed his trust.”

Ford seemed to have an ah-ha moment. His head tilted before he turned away and nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Does she know?”

I shook my head.

We both leaned against the railing of the stairs.

“Does Sully?”

I laughed sarcastically. “Fuck no. I don’t think I have to worry about him, though. If he tries to take me down, he’ll go down too. Plus”—I shrugged—“during the game, I think I showed him that I have more pull with this team than he does.”

I pulled my attention away from Riley and looked for him.

He would be here. I was certain of it.

“Sully already left.” Efrain slipped up beside us, knowing who I was looking for.

“He did?”

His mouth twitched. “He left with that girl you always fucked.”

I paused, thinking over his words. It was like now that I had Riley, I forgot there was anyone before her. “You mean Liv?”

I’d been avoiding her.

She was smart enough to know why.

Efrain snapped his fingers. “Yep, probably his attempt at messing with your head.”

He was sorely mistaken if he thought sleeping with a previous puck bunny was going to mess with my head. I should warn Liv about him, though. I made a mental note to do that next time I saw her. Graham Sullivan had poor morals. That much was obvious.

We stood back against the stairs and watched the girls take off to the living room. It was hard to keep track of them between all the dancing and before I knew it, one song turned into three, and my beer was empty.

Grabbing Ford’s and Efrain’s bottles, I headed to the kitchen to replace them, but they followed me. “I think I can handle grabbing some beers,” I joked.

Efrain tugged on my arm. “Wait, stop. What’s going on over there?”

I followed his line of sight. Sutton and Taytum were slack-jawed, and their eyes were beady. Riley’s face was hidden behind Sutton’s head, but I knew with the way they were looking at me, it had to do with her.

Taytum rushed over to us, and we met her halfway.

“Tay, what’s wrong?” Ford grabbed her by the arm, and instead of her usual annoyance with him, she looked scared and maybe a little pissed.

“Riley said she feels off. She’s a little wobbly. Like she’s drunk, but she only had a few sips.”

No way.

The room slowed as I pushed forward and found Riley leaning against the wall. Her breathing was shallow, and her blue eyes were unfocused. Her dainty fingers dug into Sutton’s arm.

I zipped around and found the cup I knew she’d put up to her lips when we first came downstairs. It was sitting on top of the mantel above her head. It was half-empty.

“Who gave her that drink?” I asked, unlatching Riley’s fingers from Sutton’s arm. There were crescent-like marks left behind.

“I don’t know,” Sutton replied. “I asked her the same thing.”

I held on to her tightly and noticed how quiet she was. My gaze swung around the party, and everyone else seemed fine. Sure, there were hazy looks and drunken laughter, but no one was stumbling around or causing a scene.

I met the eyes of Ford and Efrain. They were already rounding the troops.

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