Page 22 of The Game
My mouth drops open. I had no idea. I suddenly feel guilty and bad. Kate has given me her trust, and at the first moment I could, I broke it.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter. I feel like shit now. The day was amazing, and now I feel like I let her down.
“I gave you my trust, Mila. But now…now you have to earn it back.”
“Are you going to tell my dad?” I ask.
Her shoulders slump forward, and she shakes her head. “No, this time I won’t. This is your only warning. While you’re grounded, you can’t go to their house, and they can’t come here.”
Asher makes a strange sound, like a snort.
It didn’t get past Kate, and she calls out, “And why were you home? You left for school, and then you were back here. The school said you felt sick…are you really sick, or is this something I have to be worried about now?”
“I wasn’t feeling well,” he mumbles.
“Liar,” I mutter, and Kate turns her glare on me. It’s scary, so I bow my head and look at my hands.Shit.
“I have to agree. You’re a terrible liar, Asher. You’re grounded too.”
Asher throws his hands up and storms off.
“I love you, Mila. Goodnight.”
Kate leans over and kisses my forehead before pushing the blankets up around me like a burrito. My heart breaks at the soft and tender touches. I disappointed her, but she still wants to take care of me.
“Night.” My voice cracks as I try to shut down this emotion.
Well…fuck.
TEN
JACE
The Shed is full. I hate this fucking place. I haven’t been here in so long, and now I’m back to help Roman. To help Hunter and Mila. I want this shit to be done, and I need to know how much money it’s going to take to get these assholes off my friends’ backs. I don’t have much to my name, but I will do whatever I can to pay them off.
“Where are they?” I ask Hunter. I want to see these Amato guys, so I know what they look like. So I know what to look out for.
But they could be anywhere in the sea of faces in the building. There are people from all different walks of life here. Men in suits, some in jeans and tees. Hell, even one guy in a Hawaiian shirt. There’s a mix of money and power. The guy standing next to you could be a millionaire or could have nothing to his name. This place draws in all the shady people from every walk of life.
“I’ll tell you when I see them; they rarely make themselves seen. But they texted and told Roman who he was to fight and lose to. It makes me fucking mad, but until I can get enough money to stop them, we don’t have another choice.”
I want to ask him why he doesn’t just ask his dad. Although, after he made Hunter move schools over taking in Roman, I doubt asking him for money for Roman would have a positive result.
Plus, Roman will never let someone pay for him. How many fights? How many football games? Months? Years? It could be endless, and then where would we all be?
I considered the idea of us all leaving, moving away when we all graduate. Fuck college. I can get a job. We can be safe in another state, in another town. The four of us.
Not five.Fuck Asher.
I heard what he did with Mila. Fuck, would’ve been hard not to; I was there when she made the call to tell Hunter and Roman about her encounter in the kitchen with Asher. It makes me angry that he thinks he can just come in and expects she’ll have a spot for him by her side.
He isn’t one of us; he doesn’t wear the blood brother scar on his palm. He hasn’t been with us all these years. There’s no history there. While I want to believe that matters, I know it doesn’t. Not really, in the grand scheme of things.
If anything, Asher could be the perfect guy for Milabecauseshe doesn’t have a history with him. He would be a fresh start without all the bullshit that comes with our past.
I’ve been there for all the good and bad times. Like the time she said she wasn’t feeling well on the way to school and threw up all over the back seat of James’s car. It was gross and made me dry heave. Or when she caught me picking my nose…okay, that happened a lot.
But it’s those things that have made us all so close. All our inside jokes others don’t understand. She was mine first. I loved her first, and I’m going to marry her one day. I told myself that when I was ten, and I still tell myself that. Even through the ups and downs, she’s gonna be mine.
