Page 111 of Ruthless Game

He may as well have punched me again.

“Jeffrey?”

He nodded, shoving me off him.

“Jeffrey Schwartz. Look man, I figured you knew by now.”

“I didn’t. Why the hell would he …” I trailed off, my gut sick with the answer.

I’d always known on some level, hadn’t I? And ignored it, because it was so truly fucked up, it didn’t bare thinking about?

As his teammates helped him, Ralphie stared at me.

“I couldn’t tell you, man, except it was fucking weird that his girlfriend looks so much like his sister. Rumor is, he made her wear that blonde wig when he fucked her.” He shook his head.

Before I could say anything else, my teammates were there and Judah and Levi were dragging me off the ice.

The horn sounded.

“You’re out of the game,” Coach yelled, so angry he’d forgotten his rule around cursing. “I swear to fucking god, Lawson⁠—”

I ignored him, glancing back up at the stands again.

Tovah and Aviva were both there.

But Emma wasn’t.

Alarm filled me.

Rumor is, he makes her wear that blonde wig when he fucks her …

Jeffrey had always gone too far with his protectiveness over his sister.

Jeffrey had been friendly to me when I first showed up, until Emma and I got together.

Jeffrey had been the one that night to tell me Emma had wanted to break up with me.

Jeffrey had been the one who’d convinced me to go to the party—only to not say a word to me after Emma left. I always assumed it was because he was pissed at me, but what if it was because he’d gotten what he wanted … to separate Emma and me?

“Jesus fucking Christ,” I muttered.

Calling back to me as he skated off the ice, Ralphie yelled, “Watch out for that guy, Lawson. He gives me the fucking creeps. Smiles like he wants to stab you. And the way he watched when he filmed me fuck his girlfriend … major incel vibes.”

I didn’t even fucking know how to respond.

“Lawson!” Coach hollered.

That was fine. In a horrified daze, I headed inside, followed by my team. Immediately, Judah, Levi, and Asher surrounded me, Jack and Isaac back a step, watching.

“What the hell was that about?” Judah pushed me. “You didn’t even play and you already got kicked out of the game?”

I brushed him off. “We have more serious shit to deal with. Turns out—” I swallowed, the words rancid in my mouth, “—that Emma’s brother, Jeffrey, is the one who put Ralphie up to fucking someone else who was pretending to be Emma. Hell, the other girl is Jeffrey’s girlfriend … but he put a fake birthmark on her. And a wig. And apparently,” I swallowed again, “he makes her wear the wig when he fucks her.”

“I’m sorry, but what the actual fuck are you talking about?” Judah stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

But it was Levi who got it. “He makes his girlfriend pretend to be Emma when he fucks her, or that’s what I assume you’re saying. And he orchestrated the fake cheating and your breakup, right?”

I felt dizzy. “Right.”