Page 191 of Their Cruel Play
I ease back from Caden and rub at the pain in my chest.
She can’t be.
Eli
I get it. I’d be upset if someone told me Luke was the one causing all the problems in my life. But then I would look at him more closely.
Sighing, Harper resumes her seat next to me and Jack. Her fingers tangle with mine. I could be stupid like the others and let her convince me not to look into her best friend because Harper believes she’s loyal.
But if I thought for one second one of these guys was involved in whatever is happening, I’d look into them too. Not because I don’t trust them, but because they’re capable of it. I meet Jack’s eyes over Harper’s head, and he gives me a slight nod. We’re on the same page.
Good.
“The clinger girls would have motive and opportunity.” I squeeze Harper’s hand, and she gives a small smile. “They want what you have and would benefit the most from us breaking up.”
“Do we know if they have any connections to Zach?” Nico asks.
Jack clears his throat. “Isabelle Baker dated Zach’s older brother until he left for college.”
I glance at Harper. She shrugs.
“They approached me after you claimed me. They seem friendly enough, but even Kenz said most people will have a motive for approaching me now. Theirs seems to be popularity. Kenz also said they all had steady boyfriends before this school year, and now that they’re single they want to fuck horsemen.”
I shake my head and lift my hand to her jaw. Her eyes soften as she meets mine. “They’re using you to get to us. That doesn’t mean they want revenge on us, but eliminating you would make it easier for them.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Eliminating me?”
“Getting you out of the picture.” My thumb trails over her soft skin. Most girls I’m rough with, but Harper makes me want to slow down and savor her softness.
“What about Sidney and Ashley?” she asks. “They also think they’ll benefit from eliminating me.”
“We’re looking into them.” Jack trails his fingertips down Harper’s neck, sending a little shiver through her. “It’d be nice if we could shorten the list of suspects.”
“The girls and Kenz are the ones with access to Harper.” I pull my hand reluctantly from Harper’s jaw. “We need to figure out who might be giving our enemies information. Who all knew about our Grant mission?”
“The guys who helped us watch him.” Luke names off the football players’ last names. “Rivera, Carter, Parker, Cook, Walker, and Johnson.”
Harper squeezes my hand at Parker and Walker.
“Parker was sure we’d be done with her after fucking her.” I try to think of what else to add to that. “He’s stupid enough to give someone information, but he’s not a mastermind. And Brandon Walker? He’s a good guy generally, but we can’t discount he might know everything Kenz knows. It wouldn’t be the first time a guy got nervous because we’re around his woman more.”
“He better not have a reason to be nervous,” she mumbles under her breath.
I smile and look down at her. “Something to say, kitten?”
“Again, Kenz and even Brandon have been my friends for years. I can’t see either of them betraying me.”
“Except,” I point out, “Brandon already betrayed you once when he told us he took Kenz’s cherry.”
“Ew.” Harper makes a disgusted face. “Don’t call it that.”
“Even if he hadn’t updated the list, we knew you were the last available virgin in our class.” I tap her on the nose. She just arches an arrogant eyebrow.
“We need to figure out if we have a mole or someone just stupid enough to give away any information we give them.” Caden glances around at all of us. “And we need to keep Harper safe during the game.”
“She should come with us.” Luke rubs the back of his neck and looks serious about his statement. Like she could just come ride on the bus with us because we say so. We’re lucky no one realized she was in the locker room with us at the last game.
“I’m sure Coach would love to have her sitting on the bus with us.” Nico rolls his eyes.
