Page 76 of Twisted Play (Cruel Games #1)

EVA

When I finally forced myself to walk through the door of the locker room, Cole waited on the wooden bench, his equipment bag packed beside him, radiating fury. Tristan slumped against the far wall, golden eyes distant and unseeing.

I hovered in the doorway, every instinct screaming at me to run. But where could I go?

“Hi.” The word came out barely a whisper.

Cole’s head snapped up, dark eyes boring into mine with an intensity that made my knees weak. “Give me your phone.”

My blood turned to ice in my veins.

“Cole?” Tristan’s voice held a warning note.

“Now, Eva.” Cole’s voice was rough, raw, nothing like the commanding tone that usually made heat pool between my thighs.

My hands shook as I pulled my regular phone from my backpack, extending it toward him with trembling fingers.

“No, the one you use to communicate with the bratva.”

The sneer in his voice when he said bratva made my breath catch in my chest. No. Oh no, oh no. He knew, and now my father was going to die because I’d failed at the one thing that mattered.

My fingers found the burner phone, and I handed it over, knowing I was sealing my fate. Cole’s jaw worked as he scrolled through the messages, and I watched understanding dawn on his expression—the photos, the information, all of it.

I stood frozen, chest heaving, watching Cole’s face transform into cold mercilessness.

Cole handed Tristan the phone without looking at me. “We lost because she sold us out—but not to the bratva.”

“What the fuck do you mean it’s not the bratva?” Tristan exploded, pushing off the wall.

The walls of the locker room felt like they were closing in as Tristan examined the evidence of my betrayal. His face went white, then red, then something beyond anger.

“Eva.” My name sounded broken on his lips. “How could you?”

The disappointment in his voice cut deeper than Cole’s rage—Tristan—who’d made me feel like I mattered, who’d called me a goddess, who’d made me believe for a few brief, shining moments that someone could want me without trying to destroy me.

I lifted my chin, forcing steel into my spine. “He threatened my father. It was just one game.”

Liar. It was months of being torn apart piece by piece.

“It wasn’t just a game.” Tristan’s voice dropped to a growl as he threw my phone across the room.

The sound of it clattering against the metal cubicles made me flinch.

“My brother brought three scouts tonight. Three! Do you know how many strings he had to pull? How many favors he called in? This was my one shot! ”

The blood drained from my face. “No,” I whispered. Had Carter known? Was that why he chose this series, of all the other options?

“Yes,” he snarled, backing me into the wall.

He caged me in with his arms, and suddenly, the boy who’d held me like I was precious was gone, replaced by someone who looked at me like I was poison.

“My brother gave up his dreams—he gave up his shot at the NHL for me. He sacrificed everything to get me here.”

My mind went blank, white noise filling my ears. “My father’s life was riding on this game too.”

“That’s your excuse for everything, isn’t it?” The sneer in Tristan’s voice made my heart crack. “Every nasty, cheating, slimy action you take. That’s bullshit, Eva. But you know what’s even worse?”

His fists clenched against the wall beside my head, and I could feel the barely leashed violence in him.

“You looked me in the eyes this morning and wished me luck, knowing you’d already sold me out.

At least have the fucking decency to admit this isn’t just about your father.

You had choices. You could have come to us.

To me. Instead, you chose to fuck over the entire team. ”

Choices. The word tasted like ash. What choices? Report back to Carter or watch my father die? Let Cole blackmail me for sex or lose everything? Kneel for Alek or fail at the one job that might save me?

The fury built in my chest, hot and righteous and long overdue.

Cole stepped forward, mouth opening, but I wasn’t done. The dam had burst, and months of rage came pouring out.

“Fuck you both.” The words ripped from my throat. “Fuck you and your scholarships and your bright futures. Fuck you for making me feel like shit for trying to save my father’s life.”

“Who did you sell us out to?” Tristan asked, his voice barely recognizable, cold and furious.

“Jedediah Carter,” I answered.

“You’re a fucking liar,” Tristan said. “First it was the bratva, and now you’re saying it was Cole’s father?”

“She’s telling the truth,” Cole said, the quiet emptiness in his voice breaking my heart as much as his words. “The Hawks’ captain confirmed it.”

Tristan inhaled sharply. “You were selling us out to Cole’s father the whole time?” Tristan said softly, his voice deadly calm.

I watched understanding pass between the two men. Even now, even after everything, they had each other. They would always have each other.

And I would always be alone.

“Cole’s father is the cruelest man I’ve ever met,” Tristan continued, his voice dropping to a whisper. “And you put Cole, me, and the entire team in his crosshairs.”

“Because she’s fucking selfish,” Cole snapped, but even through my anguish, I could hear the pain in his words.

“Because he threatened to kill my father!” The words tore from my throat, raw and desperate.

“Sure, Eva,” Tristan said, disgust turning his features cruel. “You know how to start apologizing then.”

“Please,” I whispered, hating how small I sounded, how much their regard mattered to me. “Not here. Not like this.”

The fear in my voice fed Cole’s fury. “What was the deal, Eva? Have you forgotten? It’ll take just one word from me. You’ll lose everything. Your scholarship. Your future. Your father . Don’t fuck with me today.”

The shout echoed off the metal lockers, and I felt myself shrinking inward. This was what I’d become—a thing to be used, a problem to be solved, a body to be punished.

Tristan’s expressionless face sliced into my soul. “Bend over,” he said quietly, without any infliction at all. No. Tristan hated hurting me. He wouldn’t.

“Bend over,” Tristan said, gesturing toward the bench, “and fucking count.”

This is it. This is how everything good between us ends. With me bent over a bench in an empty locker room, taking their anger and their punishment because I had nowhere else to go.

Before I could move, the door slammed open.

Alek filled the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights, and the vice around my lungs loosened at the sight of him. Even after everything, even knowing what he’d done to get me this job, he was my safety.

“Eva,” he rumbled, taking in the scene.

“Sir,” I whispered, the word automatic.

“What’s going on?”

Tristan laughed, bitter and sharp. “Eva sold us out to Jed Carter.”

I stared at Tristan, feeling something fundamental break inside me. Just like that, he broke his promise to keep my secrets.

They’re all liars.

“She’s been sending him team secrets all season,” Tristan continued, and I watched Alek’s face carefully, looking for some hint of understanding, some recognition that I’d had no choice.

Nothing.

“She sent him your playbook. That’s why we lost today.”

“Is that true?” Alek asked, his accent thick.

I looked Tristan in the eye, letting him see exactly what his betrayal had cost me. “You asshole,” I snarled. “You complete and utter shit.”

“Eva,” Alek continued. “Is it true?”

The fight drained out of me all at once. What was the point? They’d already decided I was guilty. They’d already decided I didn’t matter.

“Yes, it’s true.”

Alek’s fists clenched, and his expression transformed into pure, incandescent rage. “Jed Carter, baby girl? Tell me they’re lying. Tell me you didn’t hand him a program I spent the last decade defending from his rapaciousness.”

Baby girl. The endearment that used to calm me felt like a slap.

“He threatened to kill my father.”

His laugh was bitter, cruel. “Conrad Jackson? The same Conrad Jackson who destroyed my knee? Who ended my career when I was younger than these boys?” His accent thickened with fury.

“You want to talk about threats, baby girl? Your father took a metal pipe to my leg sixteen years ago and ended my hockey career.”

The blood drained from my face. Dad’s limp. His nightmares. The way he flinches when hockey comes on TV. Oh god, what else don't I know?

“Sixteen years proving I could coach despite what your father did to me. Ten years I’ve spent building this program back up from nothing. And you handed it all to Jed Carter on a silver platter.”

The silence stretched between us, heavy with a history I’d never known existed.

“Was any of it real, baby girl?” His voice dropped to something soft and deadly. “Or were you just finishing what your father started?”

The question shattered my heart. After everything— after I’d knelt for him, after I’d found peace in his commands, after I’d trusted him with my surrender—he thought it was all fake.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” The words exploded from my lips. “You’re asking me whether any of what happened between us was real? After what you made me do to get this job? I’m so fucking done.”

I turned to leave, but his arm blocked my path.

“How do the boys know?”

I looked up at him, then back at Cole and Tristan, and suddenly, I was tired. I was bone-deep tired of carrying everyone else’s secrets, everyone else’s shame.

“Let me lay this out for everyone.” My voice was steady now, clear.

“My father owes Jed Carter a million dollars and can’t pay it because he’s an alcoholic with a gambling problem.

Jed is blackmailing me for team secrets in exchange for my father’s life.

Cole caught me photographing the team’s files.

He was blackmailing me for sex in exchange for his silence about the secrets I’m selling, but then he told Tristan, and now they’re both blackmailing me for sex.

Plus, Alek is blackmailing me for blow jobs—he wouldn’t give me my job as a medical assistant until I got on my knees for him.

I couldn’t refuse because Jed would kill my father.

And if Jed Carter finds out I’ve told anyone, he’ll kill me.

For weeks I have been taking it, doing everything you assholes asked. ”

The truth hung in the air like a toxic cloud. I watched their faces change as the reality of what they’d done sank in.

“And I even liked it! How fucked up is that?” I pointed at Alek.

“I came to you for solace!” I whirled on Tristan.

“You made me feel like I fucking mattered.” Then Cole, beautiful, broken Cole, who’d twisted my heart into knots.

“And I let you do and say all sorts of horrible things to me because they turned me on. And for what? Absolutely fucking nothing. The first time it gets hard, really fucking hard, all three of you think you have a say in how I save my father’s life. How I save my life.”

Tristan’s eyes widened, but he didn’t speak. None of them did.

I stepped toward Cole, letting him see the devastation he’d caused. “The deal was, you keep my secrets, and I let you fuck me. You told Tristan, and now he’s told Alek. You haven’t kept a single thing a fucking secret, and now my father’s life is in danger again. And so is mine.”

Cole reached for me, but I was already moving, already done with all of them.

I stopped in front of Alek. “You made me think I could trust you with my peace.” My voice broke on the last word.

He reached out to cup my face, and I thought—hoped—for just a second that he might understand. Instead, his grip was firm, almost painful.

“Peace?” His voice was soft, dangerous. “You think you deserve peace after what you’ve done?

After what your family has taken from me?

” His thumb pressed against my cheekbone, his rage palpable in the chilly locker room air.

“You’re Conrad Jackson’s daughter through and through.

A liar. A betrayer. I was a fool to think you could be anything else. ”

I jerked away like his touch burned. “I’m done.”

The words felt like both a liberation and a death sentence all at once.

The hallway was bright after the dim locker room, and I walked toward the exit without looking back, leaving them with their guilt and their games and their broken promises.

For the first time in months, I was choosing myself.

Even if it killed me.