Page 74 of Play The Game

Then he reaches out to grab my wrist, his fingers nearly brushing my skin, and Ash moves faster than I’ve ever seen a fucking human move. I swear right in this second he’s found his superpowers.

Joey is against the wall, pinned by his throat, before his bodyguards realize what’s going on.

“Lay a hand on her again and I’ll fucking bleed you out. I’m done with your games and your little lessons. I’m done toeing the line. Come after Lips or Avery and I’ll destroy you both.”

Joey’s eyes dance around Ash’s face, searching for some hesitance or faked bravado, but finds only the cold killer his father wishes he would embrace there.

Illi gently moves Odie so she’s standing with Avery behind Blaise, then he flanks Harley with that little fucking grin of his slashed across his lips. His movement catches Joey’s attention, but Illi only addresses the bodyguards, dismissing the psycho entirely.

“Do you two really want to die for this dickhead? Because this isn’t going to be a beating; I don’t do beatings. It’s going to be your blood on my hands and your body melting away to nothing in a vat of acid. Is that how you were planning on spending your night?”

Joey’s eyes flash back to Ash’s face. “Do you really think some little gangster queen can keep you safe?”

Avery snorts at him, her tone as cold as ice as she says, “We’ve found bigger monsters than you to call our own. Run along to Senior and tell him that, too.”

Ash chuckles and shakes his head. “He’s not going to run anywhere. I’ve waited a long fucking time for this.”

Harley doesn’t peel him off of Joey until the little fuck is unconscious and unrecognizable.

TWENTY-TWO

Harley walks Illi and Odie back down to their car with me after the school dinner from hell, more at ease now with the two of them to my relief. Odie fusses over me in French, then switches to English when she realizes Harley can’t understand her, and when he shrugs off her apologies with a genuine smile, she fusses over him as well.

“I hope I wasn’t imposing by coming tonight, le Loup, but I’ve been so worried about you. When mon monstre told me about the dinner, I insisted on coming, too. He told me how happy you are, and all about your family here, and I just had to see it for myself.”

I chuckle as I shake my head. “You’re never imposing, Odie, I’ve missed you, too. When I cut contact with you guys, I was… hoping to avoid a war with the Jackal. I didn’t want to drag you both into anything and I thought a clean break would hurt less. I was wrong, clearly, and I’m glad you came. I’m really glad you could meet everyone as well. Did Avery give you her phone number? She really did mean it when she said she’s looking forward to seeing you guys over the winter break. We should try to have dinner somewhere nice… if things aren’t too dangerous by then.”

When she gives me a delighted smile, it’s easy to smile back at her, her hand squeezing mine like she still can’t believe I’m letting her hold it. There’s nothing fake about her, not her words or her actions or even the striking color of her hair. The Odette Illium standing with us today was forged in the hottest fires of hell but not only did she survive it, she’s never let it define her. Even after suffering unspeakable abuse, she knew herself and her real worth. Where others look at her husband and see a gangster, a thug from the slums of the Bay, she saw a good man who would love her and cherish her exactly how she wanted. A man who would hunt down every person responsible for her pain and cut the hearts out of their chests at her request.

Literally.

I’ve seen the collection of glass jars myself, the hearts still looking as fresh now as they were when he first pickled them. I don’t know who taught him how to preserve them like that, or where he gets the chemicals, but I do know that it’s an act of devotion that backs up what I’ve always known; Illi is a good man, in a city with very few of them, and no matter what the rumors say, I’ll side with him.

When we reach their car, Illi helps his wife into it with a lingering kiss before he straightens up and jerks his head at me, leading me over to the trunk without a word. He hands me the giant box of information he’s been compiling with an unusually grim look on his face, before he nods at us both and leaves.

Harley looks at me, puzzled, then he eyes the box like it’s full of rattlesnakes. It might as well be. Illi has already promised me it’s got enough intel to keep Avery and I busy for a solid month and once we get back to our room, I see for myself that he’s right. File after file, all of them bursting with shady shit the Jackal is pulling on the other members of the Twelve, including putting a mole in the Boar’s MC clubhouse. I know for a fact the giant biker will personally wage war with the Jackal if he finds out.

He’s fucking touchy about his clubs.

I wait until the next morning when I have the room to myself, with everyone off at their weekend extracurriculars, before I pull everything out and start compiling priority piles to work through. There’s a small box sitting on top that I check before dropping on my lap for later. When I find the file about me, my gut curls violently as I flick through it quickly. It’s not pretty, and there’s way too much shit in there that I don’t need recorded on paper, but it does give me a full list of teachers on the Jackal’s payroll.

Ash is going to have to quit the track team until we can oust Mr. Embley from the coach’s position and Mr. Trevelen is on borrowed time.

The moment I’ve read it, I tuck it under my thigh to remind myself to stash it in my safe before the others get back because I know better than to destroy it, but that doesn’t mean I want this shit laying around for someone to trip over. God, I don’t even want to think about it, so I don’t. I lose myself in the hunt through the other files instead.

When Avery gets back from her dance class, I’m still wading through the files and she has a quick shower before joining me. I push a huge stack toward her and she dives into it without hesitation.

When she glances at me for the third time, I quirk an eyebrow at her but she’s still slow to speak. “Is there a reason you’re… sitting on one of the files?”

Shit.

I forgot about it, too lost in sifting through the details for the tiny slivers of truth that could save our lives, and now I’ve lost my opportunity.

“It’s about me. I’ve read it and I have notes about the important stuff but there’s no need for you to read it.”

Her head tilts but she’s still being careful. “No need, or do you not want me to?”

I could vomit, and I swallow twice before I answer her. “Both. It’s… bad. It’s really fucking bad.”