Page 3 of Callous Shot

“Fuck off.” When my mum laughed, I tutted, shaking my head disapprovingly. “Mother! You’re supposed to parent me. Tell me off for swearing.”

Her brows arched delicately. “Would you like me to ground you while I’m at it?”

“Can you ground your adult son?” I mused.

“She could. Our roof, our rules,” my uncle pointed out with a smirk, and I lifted my hands.

“On that note, I’m leaving. Let me know if you have any luck with the Bellinghams. I’ll see if I can do anything on my end.”

“Play nice with Lincoln until I’ve spoken to Mike, at least,” Neil warned me, and his suddenly serious expression wiped the smile from my face.

“Yeah, okay. I’ll try. It’s not my fault, really. He lives to antagonise me.” Crossing the room to the window, I hugged my mum, dipping down to press a kiss to her cheek. “Love you. I’ll be here for dinner on Sunday.”

“Love you too.” She drew back, eyeing me with amusement dancing in her gaze. “I wonder if Lincoln Bellingham thinks you live to antagonise him too?”

“Mum. I am perfect. You know this. I would never.”

Neil strolled over, clapping me on the back. “Perfection doesn’t exist. There’s always room for improvement. Go on. Back to the prison with you. Good luck in the next game.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll go and find some people who appreciate my perfection.”

That was a lie. As soon as Neil had mentioned Operation Foxglove, I knew what I had to do, and it involved coming into contact with the person I hated the most.

“Hoyton.”

“Bellingham.” My lip curled at the sight of my nemesis. Fucking six-foot, tattooed, lacrosse-playing asshole. Okay, former lacrosse player. Current ice hockey player and bane of my existence. My gaze raked across his stupid head, taking in his deep brown tousled hair and hazel eyes before unwillingly dropping to his mouth and then his defined jaw, currently covered in a layer of dark stubble. I hated that he was as good-looking as me. Maybe even better, not that I’d ever admit that aloud. It was yet another of the many, many reasons to loathe him.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I ask myself the same question every time I’m in your vicinity,” I muttered, my heart rate picking up like it always did in his presence. Fucking hell. He made me so angry. And if you knew me, you knew that I was generally a cheerful person. So this was not normal for me, and it just made me resent him even more. How dare he drag me down to his level?

“There’s an easy solution to that. Fuck off back to your prison.”

I planted my hands in my pockets, affecting a casual pose as I leaned back against the side wall of the Whelford Uni library. “Nah, I think I’ll stay. Wanna give me a campus tour?”

“Fuck off and die.”

“I wish you would.”

He growled under his breath. Visibly exhaling, he met my gaze, his hazel eyes darkening as he stared me down. “What do you want? Stop fucking wasting my time and get to the point. I know you want to be here just about as much as I want you to be here.”

Well. He wasn’t wrong there.

“I want to know what you know about Operation Foxglove.”

His mouth flattened. “Nothing.”

Liar. Pushing off the wall, I stepped up to him, my chest brushing against his. His breath stuttered, and satisfaction curled through me. He liked to pretend he wasn’t intimidated by me, but we both knew the truth. I got all up in his face, so close that I was actually breathing his air. Disgusting. “Try again.”

He shoved at me suddenly, sending me staggering backwards, and then he was up in my face, pinning me to the wall with his arm across my throat. What the hell? I stared at him, temporarily lost for words, and he smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. It was the smile of an evil bastard.

“I don’t know anything. If this is something to do with my uncle, ask him. Leave me out of your criminal schemes. I don’t give a shit what trouble you’re involved in.”

With that, he straightened up, stepping away from me. With the pressure against my throat suddenly gone, I sucked in a shaky breath, rubbing my fingers over my neck. My skin was so hot.

“You could’ve crushed my windpipe.”

“Like you would’ve let me,” he bit out. “You’re so fucking dramatic. I don’t know how anyone can stand to be around you.”