Page 193 of Let the Game Begin

I flinched when I heard a female voice, then I turned and found Harley Quinn before me, leaning against another door that probably let to the attached bathroom.

“Aw, did you think you were gonna be alone with him, princess?” Jennifer sneered, walking toward me. I looked at Neil, who had yet to utter a single word. He stood a short distance away from us with his usual arrogant posture—his body rigid and imposing, his expression serious and austere.

“What’s going on?” I managed in a low whisper, so shaken that not only did I not know what to say, I didn’t even know what to think. Neil didn’t answer me, except to grab his leather belt and open the metal buckle before sliding it out of his belt loops.

Jennifer looked at him and bit her lower lip. To me, however, his movements seemed cold, distant, domineering. The actions of a man who was going to do what he was going to do, no matter who objected.

“You thought he was going to fuck you, didn’t you?” Jennifer brushed past me, wafting her irritatingly sweet scent my way and closed in on Neil, taking the belt from his hand. She set it down on a nearby piece of furniture and then turned her attention back to his body.

She was devouring him with her eyes, and soon she was going to do it with her viper’s mouth and her siren’s hands.

“It’s a game,” Neil said in a faraway tone and the blond girl grinned enthusiastically. She turned to me and swayed her hips on her way to the bed.

“The game is simple: whoever can seduce him gets to have him. Alexia and I are the ones who usually play. I don’t understand why he’s chosen you,” Jennifer explained, sitting down on the bed and patting the space next to her with one palm. I kept staring at her like I was watching a scene from a horror film.

Why had Neil set up a…a trap for me?

“Join me, princess, if you have the guts to play.” Jennifer needled me with the wicked grin that I’d done nothing but hate for too long.

“He’s not an object. He’s not a trophy up for grabs for anyone who plays a stupid, pointless game,” I snapped, turning to Neil because he was the one I really wanted to talk to. Though I was shaking all over, I went to himimmediately and stared into those eyes. Eyes that, at the moment, communicated exactly nothing.

“Why are you acting like this?” I asked. It felt like I was trapped in a nightmare. He couldn’t be treating me like that, like something else to play with along with Jennifer.

“If you don’t play, that means you forfeit and he’ll spend the night with me.” Jennifer’s voice behind me struck like a whip. The idea that someone else would get to touch him, take pleasure from him, kiss him, and use him as though he were a sex doll made me feel unbearably sick to my stomach.

Normally, I would never participate in a game like that, and as I looked at Neil, I realized that he knew that. After all, he knew me. I could practically see in his eyes that he was sure I’d refuse. It almost seemed like that’s what he wanted me to do. But if that was so, I couldn’t figure out why he’d engineered this whole insane situation to begin with.

“I’ll play,” I declared, continuing to stare at Neil, and I didn’t miss the flicker of surprise in his eyes, which now looked unsettled.

What was Neil’s real purpose here? That I watch him with someone else? That I understand I meant nothing to him? That I get another reason to leave and go back to Detroit?

I stared at him, full of disdain and anger, and then I headed for the bed where the Queen Bitch waited for me with a sly smile on her face. She was the person I hated most in the world at that moment and the one upon whom I was about to take my revenge.

“May the best woman win,” she offered, a mocking challenge as she lay back on her elbows and made herself comfortable.

I waited patiently to find out how this stupid game was played, sitting on the edge of the bed with my legs pressed together. I tugged down my skirt. The positions Jennifer and I had adopted illustrated the vast gulf between us: I sat there, nearly motionless and trembling like a helpless baby chick while she half-reclined and waited with feverish impatience to spread her legs, like a cat in heat.

My thoughts were interrupted by Neil, who approached us at a slow, measured pace. His gleaming eyes met mine as I lifted my chin, silentlybegging him to either send Jennifer away or leave with me because whatever was about to happen was only going to hurt me.

But he pretended not to recognize my wordless request and instead grabbed me by the back of the neck, leaning down over me. There was something deeply unsettling in his kiss, and it occurred to me just how hard it would be to really escape his allure.

As if to illustrate that thought, my lips parted in spite of me and chased the aggressive movements of his tongue. Then, Neil forced me down with his powerful body. He crawled over me, slow and elegant, never breaking our kiss, which became increasingly greedy.

I squeezed his hips between my knees and he arched his back, making me feel every inch of his massive hard-on against my groin.

I allowed my fingers to roam over the smooth fabric of his shirt and I felt his breathing deepen when I drifted down to his glutes. But just as I had managed to forget about Jennifer’s presence right next to us, Neil’s lips pulled away from mine. Jennifer had grabbed his arm and she lunged for him, drawing his attention away from me and onto her.

Neil kissed her exactly the way he had just kissed me moments before. He migrated slowly into the center of the bed, positioning himself between us. He propped himself up on his knees and forearms, never lying down next to anyone because he wanted to remain distant. Impersonal, dominant, the one who decided how the evening would end.

Though I was aroused, the sight of him and Jennifer kissing passionately made my stomach clench so hard that I felt nauseous from the jealousy that was slowly poisoning my body, like the venom from a snake.

Suddenly, I no longer knew what I was doing. Instinct told me to get up and get away from that room, but reason along with my desire to strike back at Jennifer in some way told me to stay right there. I wanted to show Neil that I was the one he wanted, the one he made love to without a barrier, the one he’d lost himself inside.

Jennifer began to moan loudly, likely in an attempt to further excite Neil. She reached between his legs with one hand and used the other to bare her breasts.

He took note of the bold gesture and kissed down her neck, across hercollarbone and then, finally, to her nipple. He pressed it between his lips and sucked, coaxing more moans from her. Meanwhile, I just watched it all as though I’d lost the ability to move.

I should have played the game, tried to lure him over to me, used him like an object and got one over on that blond bitch. But whatever there was between me and Neil, it wasn’t a game. He wasn’t a thing, and what’s more: I suddenly realized that I didn’t care about “winning” against anyone.