Page 84 of Hate the Game (Playing Dirty #1)

***Savannah***

My hands shook as I opened my laptop and set up the call.

It was beyond time to face the music. I’d been fully embroiled with The Apex Three for a month and I’d put off telling my brothers for long enough for it to start bothering my men.

I could tell they were starting to worry about my intentions to tell my brothers.

Some of the tension was making me wonder if they were even questioning if I’d stay when the semester ended.

It wasn’t anything they said but in the way they held me a little tighter each day, in the way they tensed up at every mention of finals.

I didn’t want to make them worry for another moment.

They spent their days reassuring me, convincing me of just how much they loved me.

When the campus found out about us and I got constant looks from everyone around me they stood proudly beside me.

When those looks made me feel hesitant to have sex in the dorm they’d rented an apartment right off campus.

We had privacy and our relationship felt even more real because of it.

They’d gone above and beyond to take care of me. It was my turn to return the effort.

Sunny sensed my nerves and crawled into my lap, his big body too large to fit more than his head and one arm but he tried nonetheless.

Getting an apartment had also meant we could adopt the big dog.

He was more and more spoiled each day and the guys were starting to joke that I loved Sunny more than them.

What could I say? I was a sucker for a big, strong man with a bit of an attitude problem.

My brothers answered my call way faster than I wanted them to.

I’d been hoping they wouldn’t answer but that was cowardly and I needed to handle things.

Not only were my guys suffering because of my cowardice but so was my relationship with my brothers.

Since the night of the party, I’d talked to them at least once every other day but there was distance between us that had never been there before.

They’d tried to ask about it what felt like a hundred times but I’d never been ready to face their wrath.

Cash’s face appeared first, shoved closer to the camera than necessary until Weston pulled him back. “There’s our baby sister! What’s up, Vannah? It’s been a long time since you called a family meeting. Is this about the article coming out finally? When and where can I buy my copy?”

Hayes wasn’t as jovial. “Or is this about why you’ve been acting funny?”

I rested my hand on Sunny and was about to open my mouth to spill everything when Sunny barked and ran to the door, letting me know one of the guys was home. I hadn’t told them that I was calling my brothers to have ‘the talk’ so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Jax came in calling for me.

“Where are you, dirty girl? Practice was a bitch and I need to crawl between your thighs for my afternoon snack!”

I blushed brighter red than ever before and started coughing in an attempt to muffle Jax’s words but I could see it was useless when my laptop screen showed my brothers’ mouths equally dropped open, and then their quick transition from shock to fury.

Jax still didn’t notice the laptop because he knelt next to where I was sitting in front of our couch and cupped my face. “What’s wrong, Sav?”

I looked frantically at my laptop and he followed my gaze, frowning when he saw my brothers glaring back at us. Instead of jumping off the screen or apologizing he sank down next to me and held my hand. I felt weak at needing that extra support, but it helped me find my voice.

“Hayes, Weston, Cash, this is Jax, my boyfriend.” I swallowed so loud they probably heard it in New York. “And the magazine comes out next week…”

Cash leaned closer again, his face twisted in anger, his focus clearly far, far away from the article. “We know the fucker. Get your hands off our sister, asshole!”

“What the fuck, Savannah? What are you doing?” Hayes yanked Cash back again and then it was his angry face we were looking at. “This is what you’ve been hiding? No wonder you haven’t been able to look us in the eye. Jesus. How big of a fuck up could you have made?”

Jax tensed beside me but I spoke before he could. “I need you to shut up and listen to me. Please.”

Weston was scarily still and quiet but Cash was ready to speak enough for both of them. “Oh, you want us to shut up and listen? What the fuck, Savannah? I can’t believe you would do this to us.”

“I’m not doing anything to you!” My raised voice had them pausing for long enough for me to try to explain myself.

“I tried to do what I came to USC to do. It was wrong, though. I watched the game footage and got to know them. They’re not monsters.

They’re…pretty great. I didn’t mean to but I fell in love with them.

I’m sorry for not telling y’all everything while it was happening but I’ve been so scared of losing y’all.

I love you guys and you mean the world to me.

You know that. But I love Jax, Ryder, and Cole, too. ”

Ryder and Cole came in just before I stated that I loved them and they instantly sat on the coffee table on either side of my laptop, watching me.

“I would never do anything to hurt y’all if I could help it. And if I believed these guys actually tried to hurt you, I wouldn’t be able to be with them. You know that, right?”

“What the fuck do you mean with all this they and them talk? Jax had better be getting progressive with his goddamn pronouns, Savannah.” Cash scowled and shook his head. “I don’t know anything about you anymore, Savannah Ford. You’re screwing all three of them. Jesus Christ.”

Jax growled and I looked up at him, pleading for him to stay calm. “Please, Jax. If you fight with them, I’m going to be even more torn.”

He huffed out a sigh and nodded. “Fine. They don’t get to disrespect you, though, Savannah.”

Sunny came back and laid across Jax to rest his head on my thigh. I stroked his head and begged my brothers to understand. “I know you’re angry. You have every right to be angry. I hid this from you and-”

“Enough, Savannah.” Weston sat forward finally, resting his elbows on his knees with a disappointed look on his face.

“Give us time to process this and then maybe we’ll be able to have a calmer conversation.

That fucker next to you might be an asshole but he’s right.

We have no right to be disrespectful to you. ”

“How much time?” I knew I sounded as panicked as I felt. “West? How much time?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we’ll talk more when you come home.”

I felt my guys stiffen and knew I had to upset my brothers even more to reassure my men that I believed in what we had. “I’m not coming home.”

Cash looked like he was going to murder everyone. He glared at me through the screen and shook his head before jumping up and leaving. Hayes held up his hands and wouldn’t even look at me. He directed his comment towards Weston. “You deal with her.”

It hurt but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t expected.

“I’m sorry. I’m happy here, with them. When I came home the night of that rager, I realized that I felt less at home there than I did here at USC.

I’m staying. Not forever. Just through school and…

until we figure things out after school.

And I’ll come home for visits… If y’all still want to see me. ”

Weston swore and got close enough for me to see the frustration glisten in his eyes.

“Of fucking course we’ll want to see you.

You’re still our sister. We love you. This is just fucked up, Savannah.

You got in bed with the enemy and we have no way of protecting you from whatever bullshit they have planned. ”

Jax stayed calm as he sat forward. “The only plans we have are to love your sister for as long as she’ll have us and to make sure she’s happy.”

Weston swore once more before the screen went black. The silence that followed was loud. I slowly shut my own laptop and slumped back against the couch.

“Well, that sucked.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and then squeaked when Cole scooped me off the floor. Sunny made unhappy noises as he was dislodged and it only took Jax and Ryder a second to surround me as Cole held me to his chest.

“You’re staying.” Cole sounded emotional as he pressed kisses all over my face. “Fuck, that feels good. You’re ours, Sav.”

I put my sadness over my brothers on the backburner so I could fully enjoy my guys being so happy to have me.

I really understood my worth to them and seeing them express it always made me want to scream at them about how much I loved them.

“Of course, I’m staying. What did you think was going to happen?

I was just going to leave and go back to Texas? ”

Jax peppered kisses across my shoulder and groaned. “I’d already talked to Dad about quitting. We were just going to follow you to Texas.”

Tears filled my eyes. “You were going to go to Texas for me?”

Apparently, I didn’t completely understand the way they loved me because the idea of them going to Texas for me was bigger than anything I’d imagined. They really loved me.

Ryder stroked my hair and smiled. “We have a child together, woman. Nothing breaks that up.”

That child was pissed when he was locked out of the bedroom a few minutes later. He howled his displeasure as usual but my men made damn sure I was louder.

Later that night when we were all close to falling asleep and I’d been worn out more than a few times, my phone rang. It was late and my heart instantly jerked. Something had to be wrong.

The guys had the same idea because by the time I reached over Jax to grab my phone they were all sitting up and watching me as I looked at the screen. Jax jumped up and started dressing as soon as I said that it was Blaire calling.

“Blaire? Are you okay?” My heart was in my throat as I waited for her to answer and received a loud, pained groan in return.

“The baby’s coming! And it’s being an asshole about it!

” Blaire’s voice broke and then grew stern as she directed it to someone else.

“Hey! I planned for a natural water birth! If I can’t have that, the least you could do is not try to get me in the worst position ever to birth this little monster! ”

“She’s in labor.” I raced through getting my clothes on. “Blaire, babe? Where are you? We’re coming.”

She spit out the hospital name and then growled at me. “Get here fast, Vannah, because I’m going to get thrown in jail if these people don’t start listening to me!”

Once we were in Ryder’s truck on the way to the hospital I looked over at Jax. He looked terrified so I squeezed his hand. “She’s okay. She might be possessed, though. I’ve never heard Blaire sound scary. I can see the family resemblance now.”

His frown twisted as he fought a laugh. “I’ll be sure to tell her you said that.”