Page 38 of Surviving Love

“I’m impressed, Mason,” Jack said. “I thought for sure you’d crumble the second I started accusing you of turning on me.”

“I don’t understand,” I muttered.

Harold put his arm around my shoulders. “You passed with flying colors, kid.”

“Passed?” I scowled.

“We were just testing you.” Harold laughed again.

“What?” I wasn’t sure whether to be angry or relieved neither of them seemed upset with me.

Jack’s gaze was assessing. “Why didn’t you tell me about Harold dragging you into the alliance with Rob and Luciano?”

I blinked at him. “You know about that?”

“Yes.” Jack nodded. “Me and Harold set the whole thing up.”

“What?” I pulled away from Harold. “You mean the whole time, you had no intention of turning on Jack?”

“Nope.” Harold sighed.

“So that whole thing about being mad at Jack was just an act?”

Harold grimaced. “Yeah. Sorry. I felt bad lying to your face, but I needed to see if you were willing to turn on Jack or not.”

“Unbelievable,” I grumbled.

“You never answered me, Mason,” Jack said brusquely. “Why didn’t you admit that Harold was the one who brought you into the alliance with the others?”

I met Harold’s amused gaze. “Because I thought he was trying to help me.”

“I see.” Jack rubbed his jaw. “You swear you didn’t put my name down last night?”

“Yes.”

“Were you trying to warn me yesterday when you said not to trust anyone?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Huh.” Jack continued to watch me. “Wouldn’t it have been easier just to go along with them? It’s no secret you and me haven’t always gotten along.”

“It probably would have been easier, but I wasn’t ready to write down your name yet.”

“Yet?” Jack laughed. “But you’ll be fine doing that in the future?”

“To play the game, I’m assuming I’ll have to write down a lot of names I don’t want to write down.” I frowned. “But I’d promised you I wouldn’t write your name down this week, and I needed to honor that.”

Harold grinned. “Hear that, Jack? He’s a loyal little son of a gun.”

I bristled. “I’m not a pushover. I plan on playing the game hard.” I winced. “I’ve just had a slow start, that’s all.”

“So you’re going to take over the game any minute?” Jack laughed.

“Maybe. I definitely need to make some moves, or I won’t be able to win the game.”

Jack snorted. “Oh, Mason. You’re never going to win regardless.”

“No?” I squinted at him. “Why not?”