Page 163 of Twisted Play
I turned to leave, but his arm blocked my path.
“How do the boys know?”
I looked up at him, then back at Cole and Tristan, and suddenly, I was tired. I was bone-deep tired of carrying everyone else’s secrets, everyone else’s shame.
“Let me lay this out for everyone.” My voice was steady now, clear. “My father owes Jed Carter a million dollars and can’t pay it because he’s an alcoholic with a gambling problem. Jed is blackmailing me for team secrets in exchange for my father’s life. Cole caught me photographing the team’s files. He was blackmailing me for sex in exchange for his silence about the secrets I’m selling, but then he told Tristan, and now they’re both blackmailing me for sex. Plus, Alek is blackmailing me for blow jobs—he wouldn’t give me my job as a medical assistant until I got on my knees for him. I couldn’t refuse because Jed would kill my father. And if Jed Carter finds out I’ve told anyone, he’ll kill me. For weeks I have been taking it, doing everything you assholes asked.”
The truth hung in the air like a toxic cloud. I watched their faces change as the reality of what they’d done sank in.
“And I even liked it! How fucked up is that?” I pointed at Alek. “I came to you for solace!” I whirled on Tristan. “You made me feel like I fucking mattered.” Then Cole, beautiful, broken Cole, who’d twisted my heart into knots. “And I let you do and say all sorts of horrible things to me becausethey turned me on. And for what? Absolutely fucking nothing. The first time it gets hard, really fucking hard, all three of you think you have a say in how I save my father’s life. How I savemylife.”
Tristan’s eyes widened, but he didn’t speak. None of them did.
I stepped toward Cole, letting him see the devastation he’d caused. “The deal was, you keep my secrets, and I let you fuck me. You told Tristan, and now he’s told Alek. You haven’t kept a single thing a fucking secret, and now my father’s life is in danger again. And so is mine.”
Cole reached for me, but I was already moving, already done with all of them.
I stopped in front of Alek. “You made me think I could trust you with my peace.” My voice broke on the last word.
He reached out to cup my face, and I thought—hoped—for just a second that he might understand. Instead, his grip was firm, almost painful.
“Peace?” His voice was soft, dangerous. “You think you deserve peace after what you’ve done? After what your family has taken from me?” His thumb pressed against my cheekbone, his rage palpable in the chilly locker room air. “You’re Conrad Jackson’s daughter through and through. A liar. A betrayer. I was a fool to think you could be anything else.”
I jerked away like his touch burned. “I’m done.”
The words felt like both a liberation and a death sentence all at once.
The hallway was bright after the dim locker room, and I walked toward the exit without looking back, leaving them with their guilt and their games and their broken promises.
For the first time in months, I was choosing myself.
Even if it killed me.
61
TRISTAN
Neither Colenor I could meet the other’s eyes in the morning. We’d retreated to our separate rooms last night after Eva walked out of the locker room. At breakfast, the rest of the team joked and played around, an obvious effort to lighten the mood after last night’s defeat. Cole and I didn’t join in—normal for him, unusual for me.
Massi slid into the seat beside me.
“Do I look like I want company?” I snapped.
“You okay, cowboy?” He raised an eyebrow, unbothered by my rudeness. “Yesterday was bullshit, but we can recover if the whole fucking team gets on board today.”
I put my fork down and stared at him. “What do you really want, Massi?”
“You better be treating Eva as well as she deserves,” he growled at me. “Where the fuck is she?”
I didn’t know.
I didn’t care, I told myself.
Cole returned with coffee just in time to hear Massi. He spread his legs as if he were ready to fight—the last thing weneeded this morning. I carefully took my coffee from Cole’s hands. “Thanks,” I said, turning my attention back toward the team captain. “See you on the ice.”
Cole and I didn’t say another word as we changed, but just before we were about to clomp out of the locker room toward the ice, Eva slipped in, deep shadows under red-rimmed eyes, like she’d spent the night crying. She beelined for Dr. Parker, who sat with one of our teammates, wrapping his knee, and murmured a few quiet words in her mentor’s ear.
Dr. Parker looked up at her with surprise. Eva shook her head and stepped back, only for Dr. Parker to stand and drag her into a fierce hug.
