Page 13 of All Bets Are Off

Zaiden Hollis.Holding a stack of flyers in his hands, his icy stare is almost as cold as his white blond hair as he looks at me in utter contempt.

It’s such a contrast from the photo where Z’s hand rests lightly on my thigh, just below the hem of the same skirt I just had to choose to wear today. Why did I think that dressing in my favorite skirt would give me some extra strength, maybe a bit of good luck to get through the day? This is bad enough, but being in the same skirt somehow makes it all the worse. My eyes drift over the hundreds of flyers surrounding me. Over the photos are scrawled hundreds of insults. The basic ones.

Slut. Easy. Whore.

And the more creative ones.

Cum guzzler. Dick motel. Popcorn pussy.

And my personal favorite.

Sorostitute.

I do not think the girls of Phi Mu will appreciate that one at all. But I have to give credit where credit is due, it is a good pun. One I would normally laugh at except dread is filling me up, from the base of my spine up to the back of my throat. I know there will be hell to pay for this.

Warm breath hits the side of my neck. “Did you really think the game was over just because you changed the rules?” Eli’s voice is cruel as his hand comes out to hover in front of my face, that damn gold bracelet that started all of this hanging delicately between his fingers.

Before I can answer him, Zaiden is in front of me snatching the bracelet from his hand with a savage smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You know me, I’ve never been one to skip my turn, huh, Sunshine?” The nickname severs any restraint I might have had left as he leans in close and whispers a breath away from my mouth. “The punishment just came early this time, but it’s like you said, all bets are off.”

They have no idea what game they’ve started. They think they’re punishing me, that I’ll be embarrassed enough, to what? Burst into tears and run away crying? Is that what they want? Ashton looks resigned to the situation as he watches on, leaning against the wall, without a trace of emotion on his handsome face. The other three though, they look expectant and full of satisfaction as they openly stare at the red blush creeping up my neck.

Let them think they’ve gotten what they’ve wanted. That I'm humiliated to the point of despair. That the tears that sting behind my eyes and the color staining my skin is all due to their actions. Let them have their petty revenge. I can’t dwell on what brought them here or what they gain from this when I need to go into damage control.

I need to fix this before it ruins all of us.

A hundred embarrassing photos and a thousand insults aren’t enough to break me, not even when it comes from the same guys that used to shield me from the nasty rumors our friendship always sparked. I’ve never cared all that much about my image or reputation, definitely not enough to agonize over a stunt like this.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Carson. The very person who holds all of our fates in his creepy little hands cares very much about image. Especially my image as he tries to turn me into his living trophy. When news of this reaches his ears, well I’m not sure what I’ll be forced to endure to make up for it, but I do know one thing, I’ll take it all, so they don’t have to.

ChapterSix

I never thoughtI’d be so happy to see those blue eyes shine with tears, but pure pleasure runs down my spine as Brielle looks around so helplessly at the chaos we prepared for her.

Her presence is still as intoxicating as it always was, even more so now as I watch the first tear track down her cheek. A craving like I have never known burns inside of me as I resist smudging it against her skin with my thumb, but I don’t dare touch her. That smudge would turn into a caress and that caress would turn into a tight hand around her throat as I made her beg for the air she would need to apologize to us.

Her tears surprise me though, this would be nothing to the old Bri, she’d probably even get a kick out of some of the insults that we’ve scrawled over the photo of us with Hudson. She would have laughed it off and talked us down from ripping some heads off of bodies. Of course, we would have only pretended to agree, but anyone who messed with Bri would become the target of one of our bets in due time. We never let sins go unpunished. I just never imagined her greatest sin would be against us.

The new, flawless Brielle though, she looks ready to crumble at the first hit against her reputation here in the prestigious halls of BSU. Who knew it would be so easy to get a rise out of her? This was only our warm up. Has she already forgotten how far we are willing to go, especially when it comes to her? There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her, I proved that on the night that changed everything, we all did. Now there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make her pay. If she wants to cry at the first hurdle then so be it, but we won’t stop, we can’t, it’s not in our nature. Not without her around to guide us.

The crowd parts to reveal Hudson as he walks up to us, and I find comfort in the four of us all being together. That’s all we are now, the four of us. Bri’s eyes are still locked on the bracelet I hold in my fist, and her own fists are locked tightly at her sides.

She eyes all of us wildly with her glossy eyes before she hisses, “You really shouldn’t be here.” The guys have all already shared that she just keeps saying that to them, and not much else. She can’t be that surprised to see us, that eager to toss us back into her past and forget we ever existed, or can she?

Hudson’s shoulder touches mine as he crosses his arms over his chest, a full grin on his face. One I recognize well, but doubt that Bri does. She’s never been on the receiving end of his loathing before. “You keep saying that,” he taunts her. “And yet here we are. And we’re here to stay.”

She shakes her head, as if denying his words will make them any less real. There’s nothing but fire and rage that burns inside of me. I’ve never been more grateful for being a hothead than I am now or her reaction to us being here may have actually hurt me. As it is, it just pisses me off more.

“This,” I say, gesturing to the photos scattered all around us, “is us just getting started.” I’m sure she has no idea that while she spent a summer with Carson doing whatever, we were plotting all the ways we could make her pay.

I trade looks with Eli and catch the glint in his eyes before he nods. She’s more affected by this than we had anticipated, but she wasn’t our true target. Her tears and flustered words are just a bonus for this step of our plan.

A Cheshire grin spreads over my face, one mirrored by Hudson and Eli as we turn to look down the hallway and find our good old friend, Carson, storming our way. Pure rage lining his face. Everyone knows just how precious Carson Crawford’s image is to him. He’s only ever cared about how others perceive him. It matters to him down to his core. A core I want to rip out and ruin, just like ours were.

He seems dead set on erasing us from Brielle’s past because it doesn’t fit the pretty picture the two of them are trying so hard to maintain. I’ll get my revenge on Brielle, but this was so much more about this moment here. Seeing the look of fury on Carson’s face as we tear down the façade he wanted everyone here to so badly believe. The pretty Montgomery princess and the man who has her on his pedestal. A pedestal we just kicked over with full force, aiming right for the kill.

Brielle isn’t a princess anymore than I am a prince. No matter how much she channels her mother and clings to Crawford’s side, she’ll never be able to erase that she was once just as wild and untamed as the rest of us. And I’ll be there to remind both of them, and everyone they try to lie to, that everything about them and their relationship is fake. A lie.

A flash of familiar blonde hair draws my eyes away from Carson’s furious face. I scoff and Hudson tenses at my side as we watch Bri dart in front of Carson and grab both of his arms, keeping him from coming at us. How disappointing. I’d love to see just how he thinks he can get a handle on this situation. My fists itching to show him exactly what I am capable of when it comes to her.

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