Page 39 of Drop His Mask

He cradled me further into his chest, his bulky arms tightening around me as he carried me to the shower.

“My mind is unravelling,” Maverick admitted, not looking at me. “Raven.”

I startled against him as he stepped into the shower. This time when he spoke my name, it was a plea. A broken, hollowed noise coming from an injured creature.

“There is something I haven’t told the others yet, but you need to know.” He set me down in the shower, my back to his chest. He was careful to angle my stitches away from the spray as his hands made their way to my shoulders.

They were both for his support and my own.

“What is it?” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know. Enzo’s secret had nearly broken me.

“I have run every scenario. I have gone over every past game. They are going to separate us. Turn us against each other as best they can.”

“What do you mean?” Dread clamped a hand around my throat, constricting my airway.

“These teams that we have? It may not be the next round, but soon enough, we won’t be on the same side anymore. Our lives won’t be tied together anymore. How can they be when there are five winners? Why would they?”

We won’t be on the same side anymore.

It made sense. Why would they keep us together if every round they wanted to show how easy it was to turn on each other?

“When?” I whispered, carefully twisting around.

Maverick’s hands dropped from my shoulders as I spun, but he surprised me by wrapping them carefully around my body. Pulling me into a hug.

His chin rested on the top of my head as I buried my face in his chest. We stood like that for several minutes in silence.

The only sound coming from our beating hearts and the patter of water as it hit the tile below.

Maverick squeezed me tighter before finally answering. “Soon.”

Chapter 20

Be Fucking Happy About It

Player 23

Three Years – Eleven Months Ago

“Listen to me, Julian.” Nightingale’s voice grated against every nerve in Player 23’s body.

“Why are you here?” He cast a glance around as he sat up on his metal bed. He had swapped one prison for another. He was in a cell, but this time, he was adorned with a number. He wasn’t just aprisoner,no, now he was Player 23.

Nightingale stood just inside it, blocking his only exit. She arched an eyebrow.

He didn’t even think to run. He was in a goddamn volcano after all. Even if it was inactive, frozen, and technically a caldera, there was nowherefor him to go. He had been awake when they shoved him onto this island. When they discussed how close they were to the rest of the world. When he made his way down the spiraling staircases deep underground.

No, even if he ran, there wasn’t much option for an escape.

He was both closer to and further from fleeing his home country than ever before.

“Because you need to win this. And I brought someone to help you remember that.” Nightingale stepped aside to reveal a masked guard.

Player 23 was confused until his attention saw the child in the guard’s arms.

Shock sliced his skin, burrowed into him, before settling into his gut. An anvil. He shot up from the bed in a trance.

The guard held a baby with raven black hair and icy blue eyes.

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