Page 65 of Playing By Their Rules

I call Chance. “Get over to my office. Bradley’s here. We need to talk about Maisie…and Mina.”

Voice grim, Chance says, “I’ll be there in five.”

* * *

Maisie

I wake to grimy sunlight coming through the cabin windows, surprised that I was able to sleep at all. Mina’s behavior is concerning, to say the least. She insisted on sleeping in front of the door “to protect us,” but I’m pretty sure it was to keep me from running off while she was sleeping.

But where would I run? We’re out in the middle of nowhere. She has the keys to the car.

Once, when I woke up in the darkness, she sat up immediately. I’m doubting that she slept at all.

“Hey,” she says, all smiles when I sit up. She’s kneeling in front of an ice chest—one she must have had in the back of the car, because I’ve never seen it before. “We have some hard-boiled eggs and our favorite fancy coffee drinks. Also muffins, if you want more.”

She holds out one of the bottles of coffee and I muster up a smile for her. “Thanks so much. I’ll wait on the eggs, though.”

“Yeah.” She gives a brief, longing look at the inside of the ice chest and adds, “We don’t usually like to eat first thing, do we?”

“Mina, if you’re hungry, you should eat.”

“Nope, nope, I’m good.”

She waits until I open up my coffee and take a sip, and then she takes a sip of hers.

I try to shake off the feeling of weirdness that comes with it and take another sip, watching as she does the exact same thing. Now that I’m watching for it, I can’t not notice. Her hair is like mine—similar cut and style, same shade of deep black. Her outfit isn’t identical to mine, but it’s close—jeans and a university sweatshirt.

The copying used to annoy me, but I let it slide because I felt bad for her. We’d been each other’s support system when we lived with Percy, and I had known—although at the time, I didn’t know details—that her placement before Percy’s was even worse.

It didn’t bother me that she clung to me, because I was clinging back just as hard.

But she never stopped clinging. And apparently, it’s been getting worse.

I’ve been the frog in the water, the heat slowly increasing, and I had no idea. Now, I’m about to be boiled.

I take another drink, looking away when she mirrors the action. Surely, I’m being melodramatic about all of this. It can’t possibly be as bad as I’m making it out to be. Mina admires me—she always has. And that’s okay.

Sure, keep on believing that. Keep being the frog in the water, a voice in my head whispers.

“So, what’s the plan for today?” I ask.

“I thought we could hang out, talk. Maybe go for a swim.”

I laugh at the idea of swimming in that murky, algae-covered water, but I stop when I realize Mina isn’t joining me in the laughter. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were joking,” I say.

“No,” she says flatly.

“It’s just, the water looks kinda gross. I don’t think I want to get all the way in it.”

“Well, we can listen to music and study, I guess,” she says. “Maybe go for a hike later on.”

“Sure,” I say. “After that, I really need to get back to the city.”

“Maisie, this is our retreat. You don’t need to go back.”

I squash the spike thorns of irritation rising in my heart. “Actually, I do. I promised to hang out with Ethan and Chance. They’re waiting for me. But how about we make plans, you and me, for the night after that?”

“That’s not good enough. I arranged all of this for us.” She gestures at the cabin like it’s some fancy rental she reserved. “It wasn’t easy to set up all the food, all the time off, and make sure it wouldn’t conflict with our coursework.”

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