Page 46 of Let the Game Begin

“Don’t say it,” Logan ordered him bitterly. Neil’s actions put a constant spotlight on the family while also unfortunately exposing them to ongoing aggression from the Krew. Neil stared at him, ashamed. The gold of his eyes seemed to soften into a deep well of guilt. In his own way, he did love his brother.

“Don’t say anything,” Logan continued, as though no further explanation was required. For me, however, there were still a whole bunch of things that I couldn’t seem to explain or rationalize.

I knew, though, that I would soon be getting the answers I sought.

12

Selene

Professor Cooper circulated through the large auditorium. I loved studying and taking notes, but on that day I was pensive and distracted. I drummed my fingers on the table and paged randomly through my textbook, bored.

“I’m starving to death,” Alyssa huffed beside me, digging out her phone to respond to some texts. She wasn’t being at all helpful in my doomed goal of processing a single word of the lesson, mainly because every five minutes she was making some new complaint. I glanced down at my watch—just a few more minutes and we’d be out of there.

My number one priority that afternoon was calling Jared and asking him to meet me in person and this time, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

Professor Cooper ended her lecture and reminded us about our next session, and I immediately got out of my seat, examining my copy of the syllabus. I needed to ask some questions, but I wanted to wait until the lecture hall cleared out.

“You’re not coming?” Alyssa frowned at me, and I shook my head.

“I’ll meet you later; I need some information.” I gestured at Professor Cooper, who was intently shuffling some papers on her desk. I waved goodbye to Alyssa and tugged my bag over one shoulder as I descended the stairs.

Unfortunately, my teacher had also left the classroom in a marked hurry,so I had to chase after her. I called her name, but she didn’t seem to hear me. I wound up following her for a long time and stopped only when she fled into another classroom that I didn’t think I was allowed to enter.

“Damn it,” I blurted out huffily. I just needed to ask her a couple of questions; it would really take only a minute or two. I was approaching the cracked door when heard her voice coming from inside. I peered through the crack to make sure I wouldn’t be disturbing her when I spotted a man’s crossed ankles propped up on a desk and an embarrassed-looking Professor Cooper tucking her hair behind her ears. Clearly this was a bad time. I turned to leave but then a voice, masculine and domineering, froze every muscle in my body.

“You’re late, like always,” the man informed her in that seductive, almost hypnotic tone, which was now so unfortunately familiar to me.

I held my breath, praying that I was only imagining that it was Neil’s voice. Then I turned back, compelled by curiosity and crept closer to the door again. My hand on the doorframe was trembling as I leaned closer to get a better look.

There before her stood Neil in all his glory. The white sweater that hugged his masculine torso and contrasted sharply against his tanned skin. The golden eyes that lasciviously examined Professor Cooper and those lips, curved into a menacing grin. I sucked in a painful breath, afraid I was about to witness something inappropriate.

“I just ended my lecture.” Professor Cooper looked at him like she was afraid of him yet wanted him at the same time. I recognized the look because he had the same effect on me.

“Amanda…if you can’t do what I tell you to…” He moved closer to her, grabbing a lock of her blond hair and twisting it around and around his index finger. “I’ll go public with what happened and destroy your reputation forever,” he threatened her with an eerie calm.

Professor Cooper seemed dumbstruck in the face of him. I couldn’t see her expression because she was turned away from me, but I could see Neil’s—handsome and enigmatic as it ever was.

“Neil, please…” my professor begged, her fingers fluttering around her mouth. She was clearly about to cry and fighting it back. Neil, however, wascool and impassive in the face of the woman’s distress.

“Imagine what your colleagues and your students would think. You’d sully the good name of this university and show yourself for what you really are: a slut who fucks her own students.” He brought his mouth right up to her ear and stuck his tongue out, licking first her earlobe then the side of her face.

My stomach tightened as though caught in a vice: Neil was really no different from his awful friends. They were all scheming and depraved.

“And I still remember how you loved it,” he added in an amused tone. I heard Professor Cooper sob and Neil drank in her vulnerability. He sniffed her neck but didn’t kiss it. He restricted himself to fondling her breast instead and grinned, satisfied with the fear he’d manage to generate in the woman.

“You don’t want to let me down, Amanda. You don’t want that at all,” he said, glowering. I stepped back until I hit the opposite wall and decided I had to stop spying on them. I was beginning to think that I had bound myself with invisible chains to someone very dangerous. Someone without a conscience at all.

Had I really imagined that I could trust him? How could I have let someone like Neil touch me without figuring out how dirty his soul really was? And why, despite now knowing for sure what he was, did my body still yearn for his?

I was insane. Just as insane as he was.

I fled to the women’s restroom and splashed cold water on my face. I wasn’t worried about ruining my makeup because I almost never wore any. I stared at myself in the mirror. My eyelashes, long, black, and wet framed familiar blue eyes; eyes I tried to recognize myself with. The old me. The one who never gave into temptation. The one who didn’t lie, who respected other people, who lived her values and believed in her own goodness.

When I was done, I dried my hands with a paper towel and got my phone out of my jeans pocket, hitting the last number in my recent contacts.

“Baby,” Jared answered on the second ring. I leaned against the wall and pressed the phone to my chest, sucking in a breath. Then I scrounged up the courage I’d need to tackle yet another of our conversations and put thephone back to my ear.

“Jared,” I whispered.