Page 106 of The Hunt

JJ swallowed hard. “She walked in on it,” he said, averting his eyes again. “The only reason she didn’t call the cops was because the maid didn’t want her to cause any trouble. But eversince then, she’s been trying to bait me. Trying to get me to admit what I did so she can nail me with it.”

“Is that supposed to make me see her as the bad guy in this situation?” I said, scornfully shaking my head.

“You don’t get it!” JJ said. “Ev is…wasmy best friend. I trusted her with everything. I even told her why I did it! There’s something wrong with my head, and I thought she’d at leasttryto understand it after all those years together. But she didn’t care. She fucking abandoned me anyway, and now she’s waiting around for the chance to tell the whole world—”

I couldn’t help myself. I plunged the knife into JJ’s other leg, just above the knee. He shrieked in agony, and a damp spot appeared on his khaki pants as he pissed himself. Pathetic little coward.

“Let me get this straight,” I said loudly over his cries as I yanked the knife out again. “You attacked a woman who was too frightened to turn you in. Then your girlfriend caught you, and you were afraid thatshe’dtell the world what a piece of shit you are, so you signed her up to die in the Hunt. Is that about it?”

“Y-yes,” he whimpered.

“How the fuck did you do it?” I asked, shaking my head. “The Patriarchs have to sign off on every player. Confirm their background stories. And the players themselves have to sign a whole lot of shit too, so they know what they’re getting into.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” JJ muttered.

“Huh?”

“Everly didn’t sign anything, okay?” he said shakily. “I… I managed to fake it all. Got her signature off something else and invented a fake backstory for the Patriarchs. I told them she was involved in a hit and run that killed three kids.”

“Bullshit.” I sneered at him. “There’s no way you managed to do all of that. Too much could’ve gone wrong.”

“I had help, okay?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Oh, no,” I said, slowly shaking my head. “Don’t fucking tell me you actually managed to convince yourfatherto arrange it all for you.”

JJ’s father, Peter Jennings, was the High Patriarch—the very pinnacle of The Wild Hunt, holding the ultimate authority over the society’s clandestine operations.

“I came up with the plan myself, okay?” JJ said indignantly. “Dad just helped me with the arrangements and made sure things went smoothly.”

My nostrils flared. “I can’t believe he would do something so stupid,” I said in an acid tone. “Does he honestly think the other Patriarchs won’t find out that the two of you orchestrated a plot to install your fuckingex-girlfriendin the Hunt, all because she dumped you and might tell people the truth about you?”

“The others won’t find out.”

“Oh, theywill,and the consequences will be fucking dire for both of you,” I spat out.

“Actually… I’m pretty sure they won’t care all that much.”

“They will. There’s a code in The Wild Hunt, and you know it.”

“That’s what you think,” JJ mumbled.

I sneered, head slightly shaking as I stared down at him. “You really are the most pathetic fucking coward I’ve ever met.”

I expected him to keep glowering at me. I didn’t expect him to fuckinglaugh.But he did, tipping his bleeding head backward as his mouth dropped open in a low, mocking chuckle.

“Look at you, Rhett. Up there on your high horse,” he said. “You know you can’t do shit to take me down. Or my father. You’re already in too deep.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

His lips curled in a mocking smile. “Remember our first-year proving ceremony? Where we had to confess our deepest secret to the whole society?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, rubbing my jaw. “I’m guessing yours was bullshit.”

“Doesn’t matter. My point is, I rememberyours,’ he said, smile morphing into a cold sneer.“We all do. We all know what happened to you when you were a kid.”

“So fucking what?”

“Well, you know what they say about abused kids. They often grow up to be abusers themselves. And you really proved that one right, didn’t you?” JJ said, tilting his head. “You’re a predator. Just like the rest of us.”

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