Page 27 of Envy

He smiles, but it’s not friendly. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

I arch my brow. “Could have fooled me.”

“Yeah, now everyone thinks Rose likes to watch you get it on in the library,” Amy chimes in my defense. “Looks serious to me.”

Garret shifts in his seat and faces Amy with an unreadable expression. “And you are?”

“Amy,” I reply. “She’s in my Lit class. We’re catching up. We have to study for our current reading assignment.”

“Is that right?” he drawls, still looking at Amy. She shifts in her seat under his scrutiny and grabs her beer, chugging the rest in one go. “What do you want, Garret? Don’t you have someone waiting for you to nail them to a cross?”

He chuckles darkly. “What a great idea, my little Darkthorn.”

“I’m not your anything,” I sneer, my tone curling like smoke. I’m done playing this game with him. I won’t let him ruin my every waking moment. I have enough with John and his shit. I don’t need to add Garret to my mountain of fears. “Hurry up with your little friend,” he says dismissively. “You have class tomorrow.” He gets up, grabs my half-empty glass of beer, and walks off in the direction of the bar.

“What was that about?” Amy asks after a few seconds.

“I don’t know.”

Garret heads to the pool table area where Cassie and her friends are hanging out, drinking shots. He says something to her, and judging by the look on her face from where I’m sitting, she isn’t thrilled. She glares in my direction when he walks away and heads back over. “I think I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say as I get up.

“Sure.”

I stop the waitress when she passes by. “Can I have the bill, please?”

“Oh, your boyfriend took care of it,” she announces with a smile and a wink before she walks off with her tray. My eyes dart to Amy. “Don’t stay up too late,” she beams, as if I’m going to hook up with a celebrity. If she only knew.

GARRET

“She doesn’t havethe right blood, Garret. You know the rules.”

“Neither did Veronica,” I reply.

Alaric’s gaze hardens. I struck a nerve. He hates when another man speaks his beloved wife’s name. But I saved her—more than once. Not in the way he would like. But in a way, she saved me.

It’s true. She was supposed to be in the dorms, but the sadistic bastard her mother married wouldn’t allow it.

“True,” Caruthers agrees. He’s the oldest one in the room so he gets the final ruling when it comes to Prey.

But I can see the wheels turning in the old man’s head. He’s playing right into my game. And he doesn’t even know it.

“And what do you propose?”

I don’t hesitate. “She stays with me.”

“Absolutely not!” John roars.

I smirk. It’s not up to him. No one but Caruthers and the others—the real players in this game—know why I have to be involved.

Valen and Reid watch me with interest. They haven’t decided how they want this to end. But I have.

Rose is mine. I want to peel her apart, layer by layer. She only gives me glimpses. But she’s pulling away. I can see it in her eyes— She’s giving up on me. A girl like her doesn’t stay interested for long. She’s taught herself not to trust. It’s what people do when lying is their only choice.

“It’s not up to you, John,” Caruthers says. “It’s up to me. You’re lucky we don’t kill you for the deception.”

John’s face darkens. “She gets nothing.” He looks at me triumphantly.

I want to laugh in his face. “You think I’m conspiring, John?” I grin. “I have more money than your entire pathetic existence—your forefathers included—sitting in my bank account. I wouldn’t burn through that amount if I died four times and came back. So please, don’t insult yourself. I can smell your shit from here.” I glance at Caruthers. “She stays with me. Until I see fit.”

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