Page 10 of Ruthless Game

I sipped my drink.

Opening his eyes, he shrugged. “Well, I warned you,” and fiddled with his phone before holding it in front of my face.

On it, my brother, Jeffrey, was talking to some sketchy looking guy in a hoodie. Jeffrey looked over his shoulder, handed over a big wad of cash, and the sketchy guy gave him a large baggie of injectable solutions and creams.

“Performance enhancing drugs,” Lawson explained, disgust in his voice. “Your brother never could do anything of his own merit. He’s paying off his professors, too, by the way.”

“Don’t talk about Jeffrey that way,” I snapped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Had the video been doctored? I knew all about doctored videos. And how Lawson was hellbent on believing them, regardless of the truth.

“I’ll talk about him however I want. In fact, I’ll talk about him to his coach at Tabb, and to the NCAA Committee on Infractions, and to his dean, and to the media. Do you think he’ll play hockey ever again, if this gets out? Get to graduate college? Oh,” he added, like an afterthought. “I’m sure your parents would love to know, too. Linda and Will are completely okay with illegal drug use, aren’t they? Wait, no, they aren’t. It’s always been a dealbreaker for them, especially when it comes to their kids.” He tsked. “Seems like your brother will lose everything, unless you do what I say.”

It was like a balloon deflated inside me. I curled into myself, trying not to panic. What was Jeffrey thinking? Even if this was fake, the video was incriminating enough to destroy my brother’s future. I owed Jeffrey everything. Years ago, when I’d been a little girl in that horrible group home, he’d been the one to save me. My parents had been planning on adopting a boy, but Jeffrey came right up to me, picked up one of my braids, sniffed it, and announced, “Her. I want her.”

And so I went home with them. And my entire life changed.

Taking out my own phone, I texted my brother.

Emma: Are you using PEDs?

The answer was immediate.

Jeffrey: No. Who told you that?

Emma: And if they did a drug test right now, would they discover differently?

Dots danced across my phone screen, and finally he responded.

Jeffrey: What do I have to do to make this go away?

Oh god, Jeffrey. For a moment, I was so angry that he’d make such a bad choice, one that I was paying the price for, but I stopped in my tracks. Jeffrey had had a hard time growing up, always trying to fit in, and he’d never been as good at hockey as he wanted to be. He’d always been in Lawson’s shadow, and he’d hated it. I could see where he’d gone wrong, and why. He couldn’t handle being mediocre.

Emma: You don’t have to do anything

I do

Jeffrey: Then do it. I’d do it for you, Em. I love you.

I bit my lip, hurt that he’d let me take care of his problem and clean up his mess without even asking what I’d have to sacrifice.

You owe him, I reminded myself.

Lawson snatched my phone out of my hands.

“Hey!” I protested.

“Ah. Your brother is the same selfish coward he’s always been. Why am I not surprised?”

“Don’t you talk about my brother.”

“Same old Starburst.” He shook his head mockingly. “Ready to jump to defend Jeffrey, willing to throw yourself under a bus for the people you love. Still a doormat, after all this time.”

His words sliced through me. A doormat. That’s how he’d seen me back then, and I’d never known.

Because you were, a voice in my head said.

The voice was right. I had been.

“Too bad for you, I’m not a doormat anymore.”