Page 31 of Twisted Play (Cruel Games #1)

TRISTAN

Eva leaned against the wall, playing on her phone, when I emerged from the locker room, still damp from my shower, water dripping from my freshly rinsed cornrows.

I took a moment to appreciate the curve of her hips under her athletic pants, her gorgeous tits stretching her t-shirt obscenely over her chest, and fuuccckkkkk, an ass that begged for me to dig my fingers into it.

Cole stomped out behind me, rubbing his golden hair dry, muttering about the inconvenience of taking her home. I stopped him with an arm across his stomach, ignoring the way I wanted to run my fingers over his hard abs. “Hey, I appreciate you doing this.”

He looked at me with surprise. “I wasn’t going to let her go home on a bus.”

“I don’t think she likes you.”

Cole’s sly smile told me there was more to his relationship with Eva than met the eye, but we didn’t have time to delve into it.

I cleared my throat, and Eva looked up at us. For a second, her eyes dragged over both our bodies, and I knew she still wanted me, no matter what she might pretend. I just had to convince her I was worth the trouble.

“Ready?”

Eva nodded, and before she could sling her tote over her shoulder, I grabbed it. She couldn’t quite hide her surprised smile. Fuck yes—I’d break through those walls if it was the last thing I did.

“Where do you live?”

She named a neighborhood on the other side of town—a bad neighborhood.

“That’s—”

“Where I live,” she interrupted me before I could say something stupid.

When we arrived at Cole’s sleek sports car, she grinned, her eyes bouncing between him and the car. “Compensating for something?”

To my surprise, he laughed and opened the passenger side door, indicating for me to climb into the back seat. “Sparrow, you and I both know I’m not compensating for anything.”

Oh yeah, there was more to that relationship than met the eye.

Insidious jealousy wormed its way under my skin.

We’d never competed for a girl before. He didn’t have to.

Why would someone as smart and classy as Eva choose a scholarship kid who could barely tie his own shoes, when she could pick someone like Cole, heir to billions and already drafted by an NHL team?

Eva climbed into the front seat, and Cole reached over to buckle her in.

“I can do it,” she protested. His lips tilted up into a smile that took my breath away, and it wasn’t even directed toward me.

“Sure you can,” he agreed, buckling the seatbelt then standing.

He’d encouraged me to ask her out, and now he was flirting too?

Fuck, it wasn’t fair. The one time I wanted something for myself, and Cole—well, Cole was being Cole—sneaky and smart and taking no prisoners to get what he wanted.

He was playing games, and if I wanted Eva, I’d have to figure out the winning play, with him and with her.

His words from the bar the other week played through my mind on repeat. What does Cole want?

Eva’d been clear she didn’t date, that she didn’t want anything serious with me. She’d been even more clear when she’d stopped reading my text messages.

And yet.

I hated that Cole got the time of day from her and I didn’t. She acquiesced to him but refused to date me.

“Enter your address,” Cole ordered, handing her his phone.

She looked at it with amusement. “You’re handing me your phone unlocked?”

“Go through it if you like.”

She wouldn’t find much—desperate messages from puck bunnies, a couple of group chats, and a whole lot of nothing else. Since rehab, Cole’s life was hockey, hockey, and hockey. No girls. No distractions. No fuckups.

We sat in silence as the computerized voice led us further and further from campus. First, the fancy chain restaurants disappeared, then the coffee shops, until more stores had bars across their windows than not. Eva sank lower in her seat with each block.

Finally, Cole pulled up in front of a dilapidated row house.

“Here?” I asked from the back seat. I recognized the signs of poverty—the carefully mended screen door, meticulously clean windows despite their age, the way someone maintained the tiny front garden, despite a rickety wooden porch that had seen better days.

Eva didn’t say a word, but before she could open her door, I said, “We’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

Cole whipped around, his jaw clenched in annoyance, but didn’t contradict me.

“What time do you have class?” I asked her.

“I’ll take the bus.” She shoved at the door until she realized Cole had locked her in. “Let me out!”

“What time do you have to be on campus tomorrow?” he growled, repeating my question.

“Don’t you have morning workouts?” she asked.

“Great,” I said. “We’ll be here at 5:30.” Plenty of time for us to get to campus for the 6:30 session.

“I’m taking the bus,” she said mulishly.

Cole’s chest rumbled, an unfamiliar sound. “You won’t,” he said softly. “Because I don’t want you to.”

Eva deflated, slumping against her seat. The car door unlocked, but she didn’t move. I wished I could see her expression.

I let a fantasy of Eva sweetly obeying commands from the both of us rush through me before tamping down hard on the want. It wouldn’t do me a damn bit of good if Cole’d decided she was his.

“Okay,” Eva whispered. “Don’t be late. I can’t afford to be.”

I followed her to her front door, my hands in my pockets, determined that if Cole was going to shoot his shot, so would I. This was a shit neighborhood, and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t walk my girl to her door?

One of the steps to the porch wobbled under me, and she looked over her shoulder. “You don’t have to come up.”

“I want to,” I murmured as I reached her side. This kitten had her claws deep into me, and I didn’t intend to let her go.

The porch light flickered, and Eva turned to look up at me, her green eyes unreadable. “Thank you for driving me home,” she whispered.

“Oh, Eva,” I sighed, cupping her cheek. “All you have to do is ask. All you ever had to do was ask.”

She scoffed. “Don’t lie to me,” she whispered. “It’s already so fucking hard—don’t make my life harder.”

I didn’t want to make her life harder. I wanted to give her the whole world, if only she would let me in. But how could I communicate that to her?

With a sharp nod, I backed off and jogged over to the passenger seat of Cole’s sports car, where we both waited for her to enter the house before speeding off.

Tristan

Sweet dreams, kitten.

*Tristan added Cole Carter to the chat*

*Eva Jackson has left the chat*

*Tristan added Eva Jackson to the chat*

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cole asked, eyeing the notifications that flashed at the top of his car’s touch screen.

“What’s going on between the two of you?” I asked him, point blank. Cole played mind games as easily as the rest of us played tag—like he’d been doing it since he was a kid.

“If I wanted to talk about it with you, I would have,” he said quietly.

“Are you fucking her?” I asked, taking the knife edge of jealousy in my chest and squeezing until I bled.

“Not quite,” he murmured after a moment’s hesitation, and the possessive note in his voice made my stomach clench.

“Are we competing over a woman?”

Cole slammed on the brakes so hard the seatbelt locked. I jerked forward, sure I’d have a bruise in my chest when I woke up tomorrow.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Have we ever let a girl come between us?”

“No.”

“Then what makes you think we’re competing now?”

“Eva’s a good girl,” I said. “She’s not the kind of woman who’s into being shared because it’s hot and sexy.”

“Are you saying that because you think she’ll say no, or because you don’t want to share?” Cole shot back as he navigated the city a hell of a lot faster than he’d driven to get Eva home.

I thought about my answer long and hard. Would I share Eva?

“I think that’s a question for her, not for me,” I said finally. “Because I’ll take whatever I can fucking get.”

Cole’s grin startled me with how open and free it was compared to his normal scheming.

“Good.”