Page 128 of Twisted Play

“Something we can do for you, Massi?” Tristan said, his jaw clenched, misinterpreting the tension. His loyalty, and his defense of me, even if I were every bit the fuck up that Massi thought I was, was fucking hot. I bit my lower lip, and Tristan’s eyes slid away from Massi to watch. The urge to drag my hand along his scalp and yank him in for the same sort of kiss I gave Eva tempted me.

Fuck.

Massi rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Come get drinks with the rest of us, like the team players you are. And bring your girl.”

“What do you think?” I asked Eva.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. I’d drown in the depths of the emotion in them if I wasn’t careful. “Is my answer going to change your decision?”

Massi frowned, his eyes narrowing as he watched us. Did she think we were cruel dictators?

I scoffed internally. Yes, of course she did, because that’s exactly the deal we had with her, no matter how sweetly she’d given herself to us the night before or how enthusiastically she’d just greeted us.

“Kitten,” Tristan said, tilting her face away from me and toward him. “If our girlfriend says she wants to go out, we’re going to take her out.”

Eva stiffened so visibly, even Massi saw it. His gaze sharpened. I held my breath, waiting for her reaction. If she gave our deal away, there’d be hell to pay for all of us. My heart pounded as she tilted her head and considered her words.

“We’ll join you in a little bit,” she promised Massi.

The moment he left, I dragged Eva back to me.

“Girlfriend?” she snapped, and I couldn’t tell if she was amused or pissed.

“Fucktoy,” I teased against her neck where I nibbled.

“Goddess,” Tristan said, pressing into her back and shoving his hands between us to cup her breasts.

“Princess, what’s wrong?” I asked when she didn’t melt into us like she usually did.

Eva stepped away. “I’m not your girlfriend.” She clenched her jaw, every line of her body stiff with anger.

“Pretty sure you are,” Tristan said.

“Pretty sure girlfriends have a choice,” she snapped back.

Fuck this. Even if I wasn’t above using a little blackmail to keep her bound to me, she wanted this. Shelikedthis.

“Girlfriend in public then,” I conceded. “Toy in private.”

She twisted her lips, her expression annoyed, and the pressure in my chest tightened. I wanted her to want this. I wanted her to wantme.

I strode over to her and captured her lips with mine, tugging on her braid like I’d wanted to since I saw her in the stands before the game, angling her face so I could plunder her with my tongue.

“Stop,” she whispered, pushing against my chest.

Tristan hovered behind her, his eyes pleading for me to respect her wishes. Fuck.

“I don’t know how to do things halfway,” she said. “It’s not fair to hold my future, and my father’s life, over my head in private, and then expect me to act like your girlfriend in public. You have to make up your fucking mind.”

Tristan didn’t say a word, just wrapped his arms around her from behind and nestled his chin on her shoulder, waiting for me to make my pronouncement, as if he were confident he’d be in her life no matter what.

Jealousy, mean and insidious, wound through me. I wanted her. I wantedthem. And if I gave her a choice, she’d leave. Eva healed something inside me, smoothing over the jagged edges my parents had left, the emptiness I’d tried to fill with pills and alcohol, and the thought of losing her, giving her up—the pressure in my chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.

Eva was mine, and I wasn’t letting her go, even if she hated me for it.

“The deal is, you do whatever the fuck I want,” I said, lifting my chin so I could stare down my nose at the gorgeous, angry little sparrow in my arms. “And I want you to act like our girlfriend in public.”

Eva blinked, then blinked again, her eyes shimmering in the fluorescent light of the hallway. Her breath shuddered against my chest as she failed to control her hurt.