Page 38 of Play The Game

Ash gently pries my numb hands away from my bag and throws it over to Blaise, who swings it over his shoulder easily and walks out of the room with a cocky smirk at our gaping teacher, calling out to her, “Good luck with that!”

Avery stomps after him, tugging Harley with her while he fumes. Ash tucks me under his arm carefully and steers me out of the room, his grip so secure that even my numb legs can’t trip us up.

“It’s just a mark, Mounty, stop gasping like you’re dying. Avery will have it fixed in under an hour,” Ash says as he leads me to the dining hall. None of the teachers we pass spare us a glance, and Ash doesn’t speak again until he has me settled in our usual seats at the long, empty table with a plate of pasta and an iced coffee in front of me.

He’s too damn observant.

I definitely need to eat my feelings, and the pasta here is unbeatable. I wait for a few minutes so my stomach settles and then I eat like it’s my last meal on death row. Ash watches me carefully, like I’m about to break. Great. Now I’m a crazy liability; a shitty mark can set me off into an episode and I have to be coddled out of it. Perfect.

“Stop it!” Ash snaps, and I shoot him a look.

“What?! I’m eating it, aren’t I!” They’ve all become weird about my food.

“Stop thinking about whatever the hell is making you look so fucking miserable. It’s one bullshit mark, given to you by a petty, jealous cunt. What does it matter?”

I put my fork down and glare at him when he scowls at me. I know compared to everything else we have going on it’s nothing but, fuck. I wasn’t ever expecting my grades to factor into this. There’s so little I can actually control in my life, and if I lose this… I don’t know what the fuck I’ll do.

My voice is carefully composed but there’s still a tremble to it that betrays me. “It matters because my whole life, the only thing that was ever going to get me out of the shit-show I was born into was my grades. I’ve never had a B+. I’ve never failed, because I can’t afford to fail. I’m dead if my grades are anything less than perfect. I think I’m allowed to have a minute to freak out over that!”

Ash nods and crosses his arms, leaning back in his seat. I have a little moment of deja vu, having seen him do it a hundred times during our tutoring sessions, but the look in his eyes is new and entirely for me. “Is Harley not worth the risk?”

I flinch back. “Don’t be an asshole, of course he is.”

He shrugs. “Then get over it. She did it because you have something she so desperately wants. Avery will fix it, just like we’ll fix anything else that threatens you. You’re dealing with a whole list of shit for us, why is it so hard for you to accept that we’re going to do the same for you? This isn’t going to work if you can’t trust us.”

My stomach turns and now I’m panicking for a whole new reason. “I do. I do trust you. I’m just still learning how to do this… family thing.”

Ash’s mask is impenetrable and just this once, I wish I could see through it. “I told you that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you and I meant it. If you need that woman to disappear then she’s going to disappear, Mounty, but for now we’ll leave her to Avery to deal with.”

I blush and look away. I need to get a hold of myself. Ash scoots across Avery’s seat to tuck me into his side again, gently squeezing me until I feel my control slip back into place.

By the time we’re all settled around the table back in our room that night, with takeout and assignments spread out around us, there’s a mark change lodged in my school records and a formal apology waiting for me in my inbox. It doesn’t read as sincere at all, and when I show it to Avery, she stares at it with ice cold eyes before pulling her phone out and typing furiously.

“Don’t worry about it, Aves. The mark is all I give a shit about,” I mutter around my dumplings, keeping my sullen attitude out of my tone, but she only hums under her breath at me, distracted by the conversation she’s having. There’s a glint in her eyes that could only be described as maniacal and I start to get a little worried she’s ordering a hit.

Her eyes snap up to mine and I startle, but she breezes past it. “We’re still going to Mounts Bay for the long weekend, right? Are we leaving on Friday after class or Saturday morning? I’m making arrangements to meet up with someone while we’re there.”

Harley and Blaise share a look as Ash sets down his fork with a dark look. “Who?”

Oh, shit.

At least we haven’t replaced the fine china yet because Avery looks at Ash like she’s going to throw a plate at his head. I slip my hand in hers because, well, ride or die. And by the looks Ash and Harley are throwing at us both, there might be bloodshed. Harley’s leg is tense against mine.

“None of your damn business,” she snarls, and I know exactly who it must be.

Atticus Crawford.

Ash’s eyes narrow and I cut in before our dinner is ruined. “Classes finish at lunchtime Friday; we can leave for the city early so you can meet him for dinner. That way if something goes down at the meeting and we have to get out of the city you won’t have to blow him off.”

Blaise smirks, and I shoot him what I hope is a savage look. He doesn’t give a shit. “Maybe blowing him is exactly what she wants to do, Star.”

My quick thinking saves Blaise’s life as I slide my ass into Harley’s lap to stop him from getting up and throttling him. He grunts and grabs my hips to hold me still. I don’t think about why because I don’t need to be blushing like a damn fool right now. Ash is surprisingly more forgiving of Blaise’s smart mouth and just shoots him a look. I mean, it’s vicious enough to carve someone up, but he doesn’t actually resort to violence.

“Right. Now that’s sorted, let’s discuss the party,” I say, and when I try to slide back to my seat, Harley’s hands stop me. Avery does not look happy. In fact, she looks like she’s going to scratch his eyes out.

“I’m not allowed to go for dinner with an old friend, but you can grind on Lips at the dinner table? Get fucked, Arbour,” Avery hisses, and all I can do is pray that I can eat my damn dumplings before she flips the table. I pry Harley’s fingers off of me and settle back into my seat, taking a deep breath, but I’m the only one attempting to clear my head. Everyone else is too busy throwing savage looks around. Yay.

“I think I should go alone. Harley is being targeted by the Jackal, I don’t want to paint targets on Ash and Blaise, and Avery wouldn’t be safe there. Illi has offered to pick me up so I’m going to take him up on that.”