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She bit her lip, glancing between Eli and me. “I don’t have anyone to pair up with.”
“You can play with me.”
The voice made ice rush through my veins. Both Eli and I spun around, and I sucked in a breath at who was staring back at me. The ball fell from Eli’s hands as his shoulders tensed. Anger churned in my gut, wondering how the fuck he had the balls to show up here tonight.
River Ward. The three of us used to be inseparable. We leaned on each other to chase the demons that our birthright summoned. At least we used to. Until River fucked us over and left town when we were sixteen. I still wanted to know how the hell he managed to convince his mom to let him leave Braidwood.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Eli hissed, his eyes dark with danger.
River shot us his lopsided grin that brought up memories I’d rather forget. His black hair was in messy waves, and new tattoos poked out from under the black T-shirt he was wearing. Murmuring ran through the growing crowd as people began to recognize River. They didn’t know what happened, only that he had left town.
“I have as much right to be here as you do.” River focused on the girl. “What do you say, gorgeous? Want to play together and beat these two assholes?”
My jaw clenched as I focused all my willpower on not beating the shit out of my former best friend. The Wards were a founding family. Even if I hated him, we had to show a united front when we were around other people. My eyes fell back on the mystery girl, and I ground my teeth when I saw that her face was pale.
“Do you know him?” I growled, not enjoying the suspense surrounding her anymore.
“Nah, we don’t know each other,” River answered. “I just thought I’d offer since I need someone to play with me.”
“You’re not playing,” Eli snapped, stepping forward until he and River were nearly chest to chest. “This is only for people who live in Braidwood. That doesn’t fucking include you anymore.”
River tilted his head. “Haven’t you heard? I’ll be going to Braidwood University for my senior year. Better make room on the basketball team. I plan on taking your captain spot.”
So much for having a great senior year. With him around, we were going to be on high alert. We didn’t trust him anymore. My heart thrashed in my chest, wondering what all this meant.
“Your mommy forcing you to come home?” I asked quietly enough to keep my words between us. “Still under their thumb like we are, huh?”
River’s grin faltered for a moment before he shook his head. “You can’t make a scene here. Don’t want the town to know the founding families want to kill each other, so let’s forget the threats. Tell me how much the buy-in is. I’ll even cover my new teammate.”
Eli blew out a breath, forcing himself to calm down. River was right. There was more at play here than just a basketball game. Taking our silence as approval, River bypassed us and slung his arm around the girl’s shoulders as he winked at us.Fucking dick. He steered her away as she tried pulling from his grip.
“Good luck,Bell,” I called out to her. “You’ll need it with him being your teammate.”
She froze and glanced over her shoulder. “That’s not my name.”
“Seeing as you won’t tell me, I need to call you something.” I shrugged. “Unless you want to give in and just tell me your name.”
She ignored me, letting River drag her to the other side of the court. My body was jittery with nerves from seeing River. He was the last person I expected to see tonight. Or ever again.
“What do you think he’s fucking planning?” I asked Eli as my thoughts raced. “He didn’t come back on his own. Not after what he did.”
Eli was still staring across the court. “We’ll find out. Call your uncle. I want him to come out.”
“Why?”
“I told you that girl is trouble. And we’ll find out if I’m right tonight. If I am, then we need a plan in place.”
I hesitated, not fully agreeing with him. But I pulled out my phone and shot a text to my uncle anyway. Eli’s hunches were almost always right. If he didn’t trust the purple vixen, there was probably a good reason for it. Eli walked to the edge of the court and grabbed the basketball.
“Let’s make sure we win tonight.” He glared at River, anger radiating from every inch of him.
Well, I agreed with that. Braidwood was our town. Our college. We’d endured the burden that came with being part of the founding families after River fled. He had no fucking right to come back and act like he shared in that pain. Eli passed me the ball and I shot, hearing the ball swish through the net.
We’d play ball tonight and deal with River tomorrow, when we weren’t surrounded by the college kids of our town.
CHAPTERTWO
What in theever-loving hell was I thinking?
