Page 38 of Twisted Play (Cruel Games #1)

COLE

“What are we doing here?” Tristan growled. I raised my finger to my lips, waiting for his silent nod of agreement before I pushed open the door to the locker room.

“Watch,” I whispered, nodding toward the glass windows of Coach’s locker room office, where Eva was bent over his desk, taking pictures of player files.

She still wore that damnable sun dress, forest green against her creamy skin, dotted with freckles that begged a man to lick paths between them and form constellations with his tongue.

The curves of her breasts crested over the neckline, a delectable expanse of skin I wanted to nip and suck and nibble until I’d marked her so well, no one would ever mistake her for being anything but mine.

I wanted to trace over the scar she never mentioned with my tongue, taste her until she whined with pleasure.

And her hips, fuck—each brush of the fabric against them made me want to dig my fingers into her flesh and leave bruises that would make sure she never forgot who she belonged to.

“What the fuck?” Tristan whispered .

I grabbed his arm when he would have stormed over. She hadn’t seen us yet.

Eva’s fingers shook as she methodically went through Coach’s files, photographing page after page. Her face was blank—no guilt, no triumph, nothing—a mask of emotionless determination.

When she finally looked up, her expression froze before smoothing out again. Her fingers clenched around the file she held before she set it down, her hands trembling until she spread her palms out over the flat surface of the desk.

Her eyes darted between us, lingering for a heartbeat on Tristan’s face before shifting to the door as we both walked into the office and blocked her path. Raw desperation flickered in her expression before her composure slammed back into place.

“Surprised to see us, sparrow?”

Eva lifted her chin, then squared her shoulders, standing straight and proud.

“Show him the phone,” I instructed her.

When she refused, I raised an eyebrow. “What was our deal, Eva?”

Tristan’s gaze snapped to mine, surprise and hurt lighting his eyes. He’d be more hurt by the time we were done tonight.

“Show him the phone.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, as if to hold back tears, but when she opened them again, her gaze was clear. She handed him the phone, unlocked.

Tristan scrolled through the messages, fury sharpening the lines of his face. “Who are you sending these to?”

Eva swallowed hard, and her fingers twitched, but she lifted her chin. Always so proud, so controlled. She’d refused to tell me, so why would she tell him ?

“The bratva,” she said, surprising me.

My incredulity must have been obvious, because she continued.

“They pay well for inside information to make their illegal gambling operation more profitable.” Her tone was mechanical, rehearsed, as if she’d prepared for this moment.

“Liar,” I snapped, but doubt crept in. Maybe she wasn’t.

“Does it matter?” Her voice was icy. “You caught me.”

“It matters to me!” Tristan’s voice echoed in the empty office, anguished. “Everything between us—was it all just so you could spy on the team?”

Eva wove her fingers together, squeezing so tight, they turned white. For a moment, anguish crossed her face, and then she squared her shoulders as if preparing for a blow. “Yes.”

Liar. Fuck, even I could tell how much she liked Tristan, how much it hurt her to see him like this. But that would be admitting weakness, and if there was anything my sparrow avoided, it was letting her fucking walls down.

Tristan’s breath escaped him in a rush. “I—fuck, Eva! I trusted you. I liked you! I was—I was falling for you!”

A tiny sound of pain escaped her, but when she spoke, her voice was calm and cruel. “That was your mistake, not mine. I told you I didn’t date.” Her eyes fixed on a point through the glass windows, past us, as if she couldn’t bear to see Tristan’s pain.

“No, Eva. It was yours. Your mistake was thinking you could get away with this,” I said, furious at her all over again, for her betrayal, for the hurt she caused Tristan, for being so goddamned succulent that neither of us could keep our hands off her .

When she didn’t say anything, I continued. “Tell him about our agreement.”

She shook her head just once, a firm refusal. “Don’t do this.”

“Tell him,” I snapped, “or I will.”

Her jaw tightened, and her gaze returned to Tristan, her expression unreadable. “Cole is blackmailing me—his silence for sexual favors. And he’s a fucking liar, because here he is, telling you,” she finished with a snarl.

That’s my girl—the thought surfaced unbidden as I admired her bravery in the face of what was going to be really fucking unpleasant. On the other hand, she got off on degradation, so maybe not.

An expletive exploded out of Tristan, and his expression turned haunted, then angry. “This whole time?”

“We hooked up before classes started,” she said quietly. “I wouldn’t date him either. And then, at the beginning of the semester, he caught me photographing files.”

“You let him—while you and I—” Tristan’s voice broke, and a chip of my heart shattered at his feet. Eva might be the spy, but I’d set this up, and the responsibility for his heartbreak was mine.

Now I had to convince him to come along for the ride.

“Lock the door to the locker room,” I told Tristan, never taking my eyes off Eva.

She stood perfectly still, but the rise and fall of her chest, those magnificent tits showcased by that damnable dress, made my mouth water.

“On your knees,” I commanded.

Eva shook her head in refusal.

By that time, Tristan had returned. He looked between her and me, not quite understanding our dynamic, as if the deal she’d made hadn’t quite sunk in yet .

It would.

I tangled my hand in her hair, yanking her head back so she had to look up toward Tristan. “You don’t get to say no, remember?”

Eva’s pupils blew wide, with fear or arousal or maybe both.

“You like that, don’t you?” I murmured, stepping closer to her. “Being caught between us, knowing you deserve whatever we do to you?”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked. “Tristan’s your best friend.”

“I don’t like being used, and I like seeing my friend used even less.”

He deserved better than the both of us, but most importantly, he deserved the truth . And we both wanted her.

“Strip,” I told her.

“What?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve gone easy on you, but that’s going to change if you don’t start obeying my commands the first time.”

Her movements jerky and rushed, Eva lifted her dress up over her head, revealing black panties, hips I’d been dreaming of for days, and a lacy strapless bra that served her breasts up to me like fucking dessert.

Tristan stepped back until we stood shoulder to shoulder, watching her.

“This is fucked up,” he murmured but didn’t take his eyes off her, his breath turning choppy as she revealed her gorgeous, freckled skin.

Had he seen it yet? Had he realized that she might hate this, that I might be an immoral bastard for forcing it on her, but that she was as turned on now as she was by his sweet kisses?

“Everything, sparrow,” I rasped, unable to rid my voice of the desperate need sluicing through my veins. I wanted this siren—on her knees, weeping with sorrow, her lips wrapped around my cock—no, with my palm print on her ass as I fucked her into oblivion.

With Tristan watching.

And then participating.

She reached around to unhook her bra, letting it drop to the floor and revealing her perfect, pillowy tits and deliciously fat nipples, hardened to peaks.

Unable to stop myself, I reached up to cup one, weighing it in my hand, humming at the delightful weight in my palm.

God, I’d forgotten how goddamned gorgeous she was.

Why hadn’t I forced her to get naked over the past few weeks?

Eva looked away from me, as if embarrassed, and her entire chest flushed, all the way up to the apples of her cheeks.

“Look at you,” I said, my voice embarrassingly hoarse. “So pretty and naked and ready for us to punish you like the greedy little slut you are. Greedy for Tristan, greedy for me.”

Eva stepped back, her teardrop shaped breast sliding out of my hand. She gasped when her nipple brushed against my fingers, and I resisted the temptation to follow her and tweak it.

“Make up your mind, asshole. Either you’re pissed because I’m leading him on, or you’re pissed because I’m a liar,” she gritted out between clenched teeth.

“I can be pissed about both, sparrow—furious you’re playing with Tristan’s heart, and angry you refused a direct order when you promised to do anything I asked.

” I ignored the unfairness of my demand, that I was punishing her for actions I’d forced her into.

That I was doing this because I wanted to share her with my best friend, because I wanted my best friend and I couldn’t have him.

“He doesn’t take no for an answer, and…” Her eyes sk ittered to Tristan’s before looking back at me, watery with the tears she held back, “it’s so fucking nice to be treated as if I matter for once.”

I didn’t like the pinch in my chest when she said she didn’t matter, and I definitely didn’t like the urge to reassure her that she meant something to me, to Tristan. She was better than this, better than a spy—better than us .

“Kitten—”

“Too bad, slut,” I cut Tristan off, sure he was about to give her the reassurance she sought. “You’re only here to relieve stress. Now bend over Coach’s desk and show me your ass.”

Eva’s eyes widened—her eyes were so fucking expressive, and I wanted to see fear in them, panic as she realized she couldn’t do a fucking thing to stop me from taking what I wanted.

Eva turned, her entire body hunching over, as if with shame. “Please, don’t,” she whispered, but I ignored her, utterly distracted by the glorious sight of her ass, ready for me to seize it with both hands and rock it over me, soft and sweet and jiggling with every move?—