Page 38 of Hate Game

My fight with Red temporarily forgotten, I swat away the hands coming at me, hop onto my feet, and put my fists in front of my face.

“Do that again, and I will take you all down.”

The guys laugh.

Looking each one in the eye, I swipe my thumb across my lower lip. “I mean it.”

They break out into more laughter.

“Rue, you should get into acting.”

I’m snatched by my waist and lifted off the ground.

“Put me down, Isaac.”

“Not until you say the magic word.”

“Please.”

“Try again.”

“Pretty please.”

“Not it. Should I tickle it out of you?”

Oh, God, no. I shake my head.

“Are you sure?”

A hand goes for my armpit. Laughter bursts from me.

“That’s better.”

Isaac puts me down. I face him with my hands on my hips.

“Laughter isn’t a word. It’s a sound.”

“Semantics, but you can’t deny laughter is magical.”

If I had eyes in the back of my head, I’m betting the guys are rolling their eyes so hard their eyeballs will get stuck in their heads.

“What can I do you for, Rue Lee?”

I tilt my head at his bedroom door.

He extends his hand to me. I set my hand in his. He leads me inside his bedroom and shuts the door behind us.

“That bad, huh?”

My fight with Red. Malice’s hot-one-minute, cold-the-next treatment. I have to do better. I must keep the line a solid black. Otherwise, everything everyone’s said about me is true: I will amount to nothing.

His parents hired me to keep an eye on Malice, not get inside his pants. I cannot let them down. The whole point of my job proposal was to give me a place to stayandget over Malice. Will living under the same roof as him help me get over him? It’s an insane move, but if I can do this, I can see him at their family’s get-togethers and not cry when Malice shows up with a girl on his arms.Ifme and Red are still friends.

I mutter a pathetic “yes” and sit on the bed. Isaac takes a spot next to me. I glance sidelong at him, in awe of how handsome he is.

Six foot three. Lean. Dyed dirty blond hair. Gray eyes. A prominent nose that looks like it belongs to a Greek god. Cheekbones as sharp as a newly sharpened blade. Isaac would be an anime fangirl’s dream come true.

“Want to talk about it?” He takes my hand and toys with the promise ring, a mystic moonstone mood ring. “Beautiful like you, Rue.”

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