Page 41 of Drop His Mask

Jayce, Enzo, and Levi were all lounging together.

Levi and Enzo were playing a game of chess.

“What are you doing?” The question left me before I could stop it.

Three sets of eyes settled their attention on me.

Jayce and Levi quirked their lips in amusement, but Enzo heaved a sigh.

“So that’s where you went, Mav. Do you feel better now?” Enzogrumbled harshly.

Levi whipped his fist across the chess board slamming it into Enzo’s shoulder.

“Fuck, I get it! Sorry!”

The world felt a bit topsy-turvy as Maverick helped me onto the couch next to Jayce, offering me a soft kiss to the forehead before moving to the empty seat next to Levi.

In the beginning, I thought Enzo was the nice,kindbrother. But I was beginning to suspect neither were that.

They were just varying degrees of traumatized and fucked up and they used different coping mechanisms.

I didn’t blame them.

Jayce wrapped an arm around me, tugging me into his side, and I welcomed the solace. Jayce would always be a home for me to return to. “They announced the eight remaining teams while you were uh,preoccupied, but not the winner.”

Shame and embarrassment threatened to heat me, but I squashed it down.

“Sorry,” I murmured.

My eyes flashed to Levi, but he was smiling reassuringly in my direction.

Stamping down the billowing emotions threatening to swarm me, I attempted to reconfigure my mind. Before this game, I had been a pro at placing a firm wall between myself and anything that could hurt me.

But I was aware enough to admit that these men were now my weak spots.

“Who’s left?” Maverick cut in.

“Our teams,” Jayce advised.

“Obviously.” Maverick steepled his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees.

Jayce chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. Ivan’s team, unfortunately. 197’s and 32’s made it out too though. And the three other teams I didn’t recognize, but hey, have you all thought about how most of the teams don’t add up to five? How are there going to be five winners?”

His statement caused me to stiffen. Needing the support, I shifted closer into Jayce’s embrace.

Maverick inclined his head. “Tell them.”

My heart beat into my throat as I relayed Maverick’s suspicions. “Maverick thinks—and I agree—we don’t think we’re going to remain a team.”

“I could certainly see that, darlin’.” Levi’s steady voice thrummed with emotion. “But that won’t change a damn thing. I don’t plan on coming for any of y’all.”

“What if they don’t give us a choice? What if we have to?” It would make the most sense to turn us all against each other.

Jayce readjusted, gently tugging me into his lap and wrapping his arms around me. His head falling to the crook of my neck as he breathed in and out a few times. “Don’t be a martyr. There’s always a loop-hole.”

I didn’t believe him, didn’t agree with him, but I also didn’t argue.

“Well, Enzo.” Levi readjusted, abandoning the chess game. He crossed his legs and shifted his ankle to his knee, bouncing it. His arms stretched behind him. He almostappearedrelaxed, but tension rolled off of him in waves. “I think it’s time you tell us why the Creators of this deemed you the guilty party.”

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