Page 7 of Their Cruel Play
“So not Grant and not Tanner, though we should still look into him.” Nico tips his face up to the sky. “What about the cheerleaders? They still have some power. What if they set this up? They haven’t done anything to Harper during drop offs. Would they have known about us not being there last night?”
“A couple junior varsity cheerleaders live down my street.” Harper shrugs. “It wouldn’t be a stretch that they’re keeping an eye on my place, but then why didn’t they see Luke come in?”
“I came over after midnight, princess.” Luke’s voice is low, and when their eyes connect even I feel the jolt between them. “They might have stopped watching by then.”
Harper glances at her phone and stands. “We need to get to class.”
Luke holds out his hand, and she takes it to help her get down the bleachers. He doesn’t release it as she reaches the bottom, and she doesn’t tug away. We all follow them, but Caden hangs back with me.
“You okay?” I keep my voice down so only he can hear me.
He grunts but then stops and holds me back with his hand across my chest. The others move on without us. Nico glances back, but I give a slight shake of my head. He gives me a nod and continues with the group.
“What’s up?” I turn my attention from my name on Harper’s back to Caden.
“Something’s not right.” Caden’s gaze never leaves Harper. “Someone knows too much.”
“What do you mean?”
“The fuckers know when we leave her alone.” Caden scrubs his hand over his head. “The day we ignored her was obvious. They slashed her tire. The night her mom worked, they beat on her doors. Luke showed up that night afterward, but we were all at the game when it happened. Again obvious.”
“We’ve kept her with us until last night when we went for Grant.” My mind spins with the possibilities. “The whole team knew we were going after him because we had people lined up to watch him.”
Someone knows her mom’s schedule and ours.
“That means she’s vulnerable when she’s away from us.”
“Like tonight at the game?” Fuck, we can’t protect her if we’re on the field. “If the first attack happened when we were at an away game, it can’t be a football player or a cheerleader,but those two would know our schedule. Enough people have parents that work in the hospital.”
“Think bigger, Jack.” Caden’s smile is grim. “It’s not just one person. We’ve got a spy amongst us.”
His eyes linger on the football field. Someone on the team is betraying us to someone who wants to hurt us. We just have to figure out who on the team and then make them talk to find out whoever is pulling the strings.
My gaze meets Caden’s. I’m worried the mastermind might be Tanner. If that’s the case, we need to be careful because Caden won’t let him fuck with someone else he cares about again and walk away this time.
CHAPTER 3
The Talk
Harper
It’s hard not to scan my surroundings constantly. To check to see if anyone is watching me or maybe looks suspicious. Tanner is surprisingly quiet in Art. Thank god. I definitely don’t have the energy to put up with his bullshit.
Lunch is strained. Jack and Caden prowl around the outskirts of the cafeteria. Nico keeps trying to get my attention, but fuck him. He chose them, which means he’s theirs, not mine.
The wires get all jammed up in my brain because he’s still mine because they’re mine, but he’s not my best friend-mine. He’s a horsemen-mine.
I swear it makes sense in my brain. Eli seems mad at Luke. Is it because he came to my house last night? Because I was good with that. Unlike Eli, who didn’t care that I was sore, Luke didn’t fuck me last night. He just held me and protected me from the intruder.
This is the second time Luke’s come to my rescue. It’s making those fairy tale fantasies spring to life, but I’m sure Luke will find a way to stomp them back into the dirt where they belong.
After all, he’s not Prince Charming. Far from it. He’s Death. He’s the villain of the story. Right?
So I sit and eat and wonder when Jack is going to claim me. He only has until the end of the day, and lunchtime is almost finished. I mean a quickie would definitely not hurt anything. Well, except I’m still a touch sore.
My gaze scans the crowd until I find him and Caden standing against the wall, talking with their hands blocking their mouths. It’s so fucking casual looking that I almost miss that’s what they’re doing.
Ah, Caden, my other dark prince. The fucker. I expect Luke to be ruthless. He always has been, but Caden’s been nice. A bit of a prick every now and then, but the other night was beyond being a self-righteous ass.
