Page 146 of Let the Game Begin

I looked away to hide my blush and noticed the desk. A few crumpled pieces of white paper caught my eye, and I thought about riddles again, about Player 2511, about…

“What did the third riddle say?” I turned to look at him; he was focused on grinding out the cigarette butt in a black ashtray shaped like a skull on his bedside table. The guy was really committed to weirdness, even when it came to home decor.

Then, Neil sighed and ran one hand through his hair, the other stroking his…

Goddammit!

I’d been trying not to look down, and he must have noticed because he smiled, delighting in my discomfort.

“Do you know what I want from you right now?” he asked in a seductive tone as he continued to rub himself. Abruptly, he bent one knee and left his other leg stretched out in front of him. I continued to do everything I could to avoid turning my gaze in the direction he clearly wanted it to go and instead stared seriously into his face, waiting to hear this new perversion of romance.

“It’s one of those things you’d never do because it goes against your morals,” he said mockingly, so I knew that it was something depraved. I tossed my hair over one shoulder, allowing the ends to tickle my right breast and his ravenous eyes immediately relocated to that spot.

“You have a very low opinion of me,” I answered back challengingly because I was proud of who I was. I’d rather be me than any of the many iterations of Jennifer he’d been with before.

“I do, because you like to talk and I like to act. It’s a clear mismatch.” He balanced his elbow on his bent knee and finally stopped stroking himself. I breathed a sigh of relief because, if he had continued, he might have succeeded in distracting me.

“So, considering that you’d rather beactingright now, tryactinglike less of an asshole and start doing something important, like answering my question?” I gave him a confident, one-shoulder shrug to emphasize my words.

He pulled his back away from the headboard and leaned his face closer to mine, ready for an argument.

“Every time you act naughty, I just want to shut your mouth with my cock,” he whispered impishly, breathing against my lips. I held my own breath because imagining him doing that to me both frightened and thrilled me. I couldn’t even tell which was the predominant emotion.

“And I’d let you, if you’d only start trusting me,” I answered softly, staring into his eyes and trying to wordlessly tell him that he could let his guard down with me. I was an ally, not an enemy. I wanted to feel his soul, not just his body.

Neil, however, got serious again and stared at me as though I’d just said something astounding. He slid away from me and sat on the edge of the bed with his back to me.

And then he retreated.

He retreated the way he always did whenever I got too close to the bright red line that marked a boundary I could never cross.

“There was a picture of you along with the rest of them in Player’s envelope,” he said, not looking at me. I couldn’t see anything except the sharp muscles of his back and those broad shoulders that spoke to all his potent strength.

“The riddle had a padlock symbol on it and a weird, blasphemous poem thing. There was also a threat on the back of the pictures.” He got to his feet, displaying the perfect musculature of his tight backside and stooped to put on his boxers.

“Everyone around me becomes a target for him. All of you are targets, even though I’m the one he’s really after. He wants to play with me, and he’ll use you to do it.” He turned to look at me, and I was stunned by these revelations.

“I had my suspicions before, but now I know for sure.” He ran a hand over his face and sighed.

“I don’t know what to say.” I lowered my gaze to the comforter I still hadclenched in one hand. Honestly, there were a lot of things I wanted to say, but they only would have added to his stress and I didn’t want to do that. I would rather be useful to him and stay close.

“I don’t know your history, Neil, and I don’t know what that lunatic wants from you, but whatever happens you won’t face it alone,” I promised, pulling his golden stare to me. He stared at me like he wasn’t sure if I was real or if he’d heard me correctly.

But I was very real and he understood perfectly. I wasn’t scared, and I wasn’t going to abandon him either.

“You’ve got nothing to do with the situation.” He tossed his head, growing agitated. I could tell from the way his muscles bunched up in tension and his voice, which got deeper and more forceful.

“You said there was a photo of me in there too, right?” I said, trying to conceal some of the terror I felt at finding myself in the crosshairs of some anonymous psychopath. “So, whether you like it or not, we’re in this together.” Voicing this conclusion out loud only increased my fear because my mind was finally able to accept the danger. “And quit looking at me like that,” I scolded him when I noticed that the was staring at me like a man who couldn’t accept the reality of the situation.

“I’m going to make sure that nothing happens to any of you,” he whispered, a stormy, frightening light in his eyes. My shoulders slumped, and I had a feeling of foreboding.

“How?” I needed him to explain more to me because Neil acted on instinct and tended to do the wrong thing, driven by impulses he could not control.

“I’d sacrifice my life to save any of you, just like I did before…”

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Neil