Page 59 of Rules of the Game

“You do have me. You know that, right?” I lowered my tone, making sure he knew I meant it.

“I’m good. Just had a little too much fun with the guys. College hockey parties are wild.” He shrugged dismissively, and I let it go for now. It wasn’t that I didn’t know college guys partied. There was just something off, and Lucas had noticed it too. Jax was family, and we took care of each other.

He raised his brow, and I changed the subject.

I gestured to the object in his arms. “What’s with the board?”

He held it up. “You don’t recognize this?”

“Should I?” It didn’t look like anything special.

He shrugged, walking to the wall and pulling down a piece of art I had no doubt was left by the previous owner. He replaced it with the mysterious board. That was when I caught the letters at the top. The Hunt.

Jax wrote each of our names. Jax, Alex, River. I swallowed hard when he wrote Lucas next. He switched from a blue marker to green and started adding numbers under the guys’ names. My chest burned from holding my breath, and I didn’t release it until the spot under Lucas’s name remained empty. I took another drink of my water, and Jax chuckled, giving me a knowing look that had a blush crawling up my neck.

He then put a green six under his name twice as large as the others.

I choked on my water. “You’re disgusting. It hasn’t even been a week.”

Jax waggled his brows. “Some girls know how to share.”

My nose scrunched. “Gross.”

My attention snapped to Lucas as he stepped from his room, wearing a pair of black basketball shorts, a gray shirt, and a backward cap. I swallowed against my dry mouth, suddenly thirsty, before noticing the gym bag hung over his shoulder.

He didn’t look at me, instead giving Jax a dismissive wave. “I’m out.”

“What’s your count?” Jax called to him before he could leave.

Lucas turned back, the tendons in his neck pulled tight. “What are you on about?”

“The Hunt, asshole. I’m putting up the score.” Jax turned back to the board and wrote Piper in clear letters, and my eyes went wide when he marked a one underneath.

Lucas made an almost pained sound before bursting out of the back door toward his car and slamming it shut hard enough that the board rattled on the wall.

My mouth hung open, but Jax’s laugh snapped me out of it.

“What the hell are you doing?” I got up to wipe the number off, but he moved in front of the board to stop me.

He tilted his chin down and raised his eyebrows in a look that was just shy of condescending. “You went on a date?”

“Yes.” I shook my head. “Jax, I didn’t sleep with Eric.”

“No shit.” He choked out a laugh.

“What?”

“You’d have to be an idiot to think you were actually playing this game.” Jax bit his smile, and his dimple deepened. “Thank fuck he’s an idiot.”

* * *

I arrived at my Supply and Logistics class and dropped down into the seat beside Sidney. The room was quickly filling up. I’d been running late after taking an entirely too-long shower thinking about the other night. It definitely should not have happened, but I had to admit I needed it.

For a brief moment, I forgot all the crap around us and let Lucas take me over the edge. And God, did he ever. That man knew exactly how to pull me apart. Unfortunately, that included physically and mentally.

“Morning.” Sidney smiled at me. She’d already set up her desk in the precise way she liked.

I went to ask her about last week’s notes, but Eric sat in the seat beside me. The floor dropped out of my stomach. How did I forget about Eric?

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