Page 29 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

Sebastian, on the other hand, has maintained his reputation as the wild one. He’s always up to something, on and off the field. Less trustworthy, more fun. In a dangerous way, like holding a rattlesnake and hoping it won’t sink its fangs into you.

“Alistair,” Hale greets me.

Sebastian has stepped up to the other side of my treadmill.

I eye Hale and lower the speed. If they want me to talk, I’ll need to be able to breathe—not sprint like my life depends on it, as I was before they walked in. “Devereux. Redmond.”

“Tell us about Lucy Page,” Hale says.

I narrow my eyes and say nothing. I don’t know why they’re asking about her, but I sure as fuck don’t like it. I hide that, though. Hale would see it, and Sebastian would act on it.

Or maybe they already know?

Know what, though? That we have a push-and-pull relationship? That we love to torment each other?

“She’s cute.” Sebastian says it in an offhanded way, but I sense he’s trying to judge where I stand. “I think I might ask her out.”

I snort, shoving down my annoyance. “Good luck.”

For a moment, all that fills my ears is the whir of the treadmill and my footsteps.

“Who is she to you?” Hale asks.

I hit the stop button and jump off. Patting my face and neck with a towel, I glower at him. “What the hell did she do to leave such a lasting impression, Devereux? And better yet, why are you running to me about it?”

He smiles. “She has a nice photo of you.”

I still. “What?”

“In her portfolio. You were smiling at her. Haven’t seen you smile… hell, maybe ever.”

My mind tries to catch up with all the pieces of information they’re giving me. If they both saw it, then they were in close proximity to her—and it. In her room, then? Why? And why the fuck would she show them?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say instead. “She and I went to middle school together, and then I transferred schools.”

“And now you’re back together,” Sebastian says. “Well, maybe not together…”

“I’m not really sure I like where you’re going with this.” I cross my arms. It’s getting harder to wrestle my emotions under control.

“Just checking to see if you laid claim on her,” Sebastian explains. “But it sounds like that’s a no?”

“As I said: good luck with that.” I shake my head.

I’m going to kill her.

Or them.

“Wait,” Hale snaps.

I contemplate ignoring him, but the season has barely begun. I can play nice with their weird mind games. So I tilt my head and wait patiently for his question. Or statement. Or whatever threat might come out of his mouth.

The stories that precede Sebastian Redmond and his best friend… enough to make some lesser men think twice about playing football at LBU. They’re not opposed to using force to get their way. I don’t know how the rumors reached me, but I’ve got to respect it. My friends and I operated the same way. Bulldozers on the lacrosse field. Pot stirrers. If there was a fight to be had, one of us was bound to goad it out of the opposing team.

“Do you know what photo I’m talking about?” Sebastian asks.

I try to think back to a time when I smiled at her and she caught it on camera, but my mind is blank. A football game, maybe. Ah. It hits me. We were playing Lion’s Head and scored, which cinched our journey to the state championships. I felt lighter than I ever had, and I instinctively looked over at the Lion’s Head side, to where Lux was standing with her camera.

She didn’t seem crestfallen that her team lost by one fucking point. She was staring holes in my head, her expression weird, and then she slowly lifted her camera to her eye.

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