Page 131 of Let the Game Begin

“Let him go, Logan! This piece of shit doesn’t scare me!” Jared taunted as Neil’s eyes grew narrower and narrower.

“Jared, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Logan insisted. Neil’s pupils were dilated, and his stare was completely devoid of emotion, just like it had been the night before. It looked like he was dissociating, like he was observing himself from outside his body.

“Jared, let’s go.” I took his arm and tried to pull him back with me but he resisted, glaring at me in disgust.

“Don’t you dare touch me!” he shouted at me, and Neil’s hand tightened on the bottle, causing even more blood to drip onto the pavement.

“For fuck’s sake, Neil! Give me the bottle, you’re cutting yourself!” Logan cried, trying to snatch it away from him, but Neil’s fingers held firm. He was clenching his jaw, and his breathing was deep but controlled.

“Neil, please. Just listen to me. Don’t do something stupid here! I know you’re angry right now, but please put the bottle down.” Logan was using a reassuring tone, as if trying to communicate with his brother on a different level. But Neil continued to glare at Jared like he was the only other person in the world.

“Do it for me, please. You trust me, right?” Logan was clearly using hisown well-developed method to get through to Neil. It was obvious when I watched his measured steps, the slow way he stretched out his open hands, his balanced tone of voice, and his compassionate gaze.

“I’m the one person you do trust. So listen to me and drop the glass,” he added softly and Neil finally looked away from Jared and at his brother. He seemed to recognize something in Logan’s eyes. Neil allowed his hand to relax and the splinter of glass fell to the ground. His blood started flowing in earnest, but that didn’t seem to bother him a bit.

“Christ’s sake!” Logan sighed, kicking the bottle away as Jared observed the scene in confusion.

“No one is going to touch me or her, Jared,” Neil told him in an authoritative tone. “No one,” he repeated and his voice seemed to echo in the silence that had fallen over the gathered crowd. In my mind, it was as though the hands of an imaginary clock were ticking, counting down the seconds remaining before Neil’srealreaction.

Brushing by Logan with one arm, Neil advanced on Jared and I broke into a sprint, insinuating myself between the two of them before Neil could completely lose control of himself.

“No! Don’t hurt him!” I mustered up all of my courage, and Neil just looked at me, cold and vacant. I could smell him, though, that satisfying mixture of amber and tobacco that belonged to no one but him. That scent confirmed that it was Neil who was standing in front of me, even if his stare was so dark and menacing.

“Please don’t hurt him. For me,” I whispered, and his golden eyes moved to my cheek. He touched it, and I winced in pain. His touch was warm and tender, though. It felt like he was trying to tell me something but couldn’t figure out how.

His eyes suddenly turned inward, lost in his unknowable thoughts, and he compressed his lips into a bitter line and took his hand away from me. Then, he brushed past me as well.

“Let’s make a bet, shall we? I bet I can hurt you without ever touching you.” He approached Jared and regarded him disdainfully, curling up one corner of his lips. I had no idea what he was planning, and I clung to Logan’s arm when he came up beside me to offer support.

“Did you think hitting me would bring back your girl’s virginity?” A sneering smile was painted across Neil’s handsome, fiendish face as Jared’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“Oh, God,” Logan whispered.

“You know, Jared, there is such a thing as psychological violence, which has nothing to do with the physical kind,” Neil murmured, still moving closer to him. “And, believe me, I am speaking from personal experience when I tell you it’s a whole lot more painful than a punch,” he went on maliciously.

“Oh fuck, this is finally getting interesting!” Xavier cut in before he and Luke burst into laughter. I ignored them and kept my eyes on Neil, who had started speaking again.

“So, Jared,” he put extra stress on his name, circling him slowly. “I suspect that I am capable of destroying you without ever laying a finger on you, but let’s find out,” he said decisively. “Did you think you could come here and somehow erase what has already happened? Yes, I absolutely fucked yourgirlfriend.” He grinned impudently at him.

“Do you want me to tell you all about it? From the very beginning?” Neil proposed, continuing to circle Jared who appeared to be in a trancelike state.

“Where do I even start? Oh yeah, there was the first week, when we kissed. Her lips are so soft and inviting,” he said, pretending to be aroused by the memory. “And when I say ‘lips,’” he put extra emphasis on the word and then paused for effect, “Well… You know what I mean…” He gave Jared a suggestive wink, and I blushed violently. I was going to be sick.

“Then there was her first time, and you have no idea how hot the sound of her moans are,” he continued in that low, provocative voice. He made another circuit around Jared, who stood there with his fists relaxed in shock.

Logan put a hand on my shoulder and tugged me closer to him. “He doesn’t have any limits or inhibitions, Selene,” he said resignedly while I could do nothing but stare at the scene in front of me, wishing it was just a terrible nightmare.

“And then there were her incredible orgasms, which only I have ever given her and those…” he circled Jared again. “Fuck, feeling her come will just fuck up every single part of you. Brain, body, soul… Everything…” hemurmured, his gaze briefly sliding to me with a taunting, arrogant smile.

I leaned into Logan as if I might faint. My legs were wobbling, and my heart was pounding in my ears, and the whole world went blurry and started to spin around me.

“Selene, are you okay?” Logan asked me, alarmed, but I didn’t answer him. I didn’t have the strength.

I glanced around and saw that the people who’d witnessed the scene were starting to send curious looks my way while Alexia and Jennifer were watching me proudly from their place next to Xavier and Luke. The blond girl, in particular, was smiling like a plan had just come together, and in a flash, I knew…

Her threats that day in the cafeteria; she’d talked about my Instagram, Jared, Detroit…

“Should I keep going, Jared?” Neil’s baritone drew my eyes back to him, reveling in the humiliation of the boy in front of him.