Page 47 of Wicked Games

“See?” Rhys said, brows lifting. “I told you the door was different this time.”

“For fuck’s sake, man. Now isn’t the time for your smartass bullshit,” Maverick snapped. As he spoke, he opened the laptop lid and gestured for everyone to take a seat at the table. “If one of us fucks up, we all die, so we have to work together,” he wenton, eyes flashing with annoyance. “Just like I’ve been saying all fucking day.”

Everyone grudgingly nodded.

“Carey, it looks like the first question is for you,” Maverick said, eyes lingering on me. “What were the exact charges you were facing before you received the Babylon Prep scholarship?”

“Seriously?” Kiara said snidely. “We already know what she did. She crashed her car into your car, Mav. Big fucking whoop.”

I lowered my gaze to the table, hands twisting in my lap. My cheeks felt like they were on fire. “There’s a bit more to it than that,” I muttered.

“Well, go on, then.” Jasmine waved a hand. “We don’t have all day, in case you hadn’t realized.”

I sighed and listed off the charges for Maverick to type in. “Driving under the influence, reckless driving, and grand theft auto.”

“Wait,what?” Kiara’s brows shot up. “You stole a car while you were drunk?”

“I wasn’t drunk. I had drugs in my system,” I muttered. I didn’t bother explaining all the details. We didn’t have time, and she wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s even worse.”

“That’s quite the list of charges you have there, Carey. You could have gone to prison,” Jasmine cut in, eyes gleaming. “And here I was thinking you were just a negligent driver.”

“The charges were dropped in the end,” I said, cheeks flaming hot.

“Still… you’re a real criminal, and the person who brought us here is a criminal mastermind,” she said. “You know what they say, right? Birds of a feather…”

“No shit.” Tate leaned back, arms folding. “You just shot right back up to number one on my suspect list, Carey.”

“I’m not the Game Master.”

“But you could be helping him.”

“Guys, we don’t have time for this,” Maverick said in an icy tone. “We have to move on to the next question.”

I noticed he was looking over at me with the same old expression of disdain he used to reserve for me at school. A mix of anger, annoyance, and confusion bubbled up inside me.

Fuck it.

As soon as we got out of this room alive, I was going to confront him so I could find out once and for all why he had such a problem with me. I was tired of not knowing what I’d supposedly done to deserve so much hate—surely it wasn’t really over a car?—and if I ended up dying in Icarus Hall at some stage over the next few days, I’d at least like to know the truth before it happened.

He finally dropped his gaze back to the laptop and pressed enter. “Carey told the truth,” he announced. “Our first number is 5.”

“Should I make a note of the numbers in my phone?” April asked, looking around the table worriedly. “I don’t think my memory is good enough to remember all twelve digits by myself.”

“No need. It’s saved at the bottom of the screen,” Maverick said. “The next question is for Evan, but he’s dead, so it’s allowing me to skip it. The code is now 52.”

“Who’s next?”

“Hold on. What was the question? And the answer?” Kiara asked, leaning forward.

Maverick briefly hesitated. “How long have you been making masturbation videos and selling them online?” he read off the screen. “The answer was one year.”

“Oh my god, seriously?” Jasmine’s eyes widened like saucers. “Evan was really doing that?”

“It makes sense,” Hudson piped up. “I heard his parents cut him off a while back over some argument. So I guess he had to pay for himself ever since then.”

“Guys.” April snapped her fingers. “Did you forget we’re on a time limit here?”

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