Page 44 of Wanna Play A Game?

Cali must feel it. “Fuck…you.” She sobs.

“Cali…”

“Just kill me. Just kill me or let me go.” She’s turned her face into the dirt. She’s not fighting anymore, and her whole body has gone limp.

I scoop her into my arms. She lays there, not moving. My gut twists more.

I stride back to the house. Sawyer is standing in the yard, arms crossed.

I sneer at him as I pass. He’s fucking with us on purpose. The game has always been to play with our marks. But now, I feel like it’s me he’s playing with, and not in a good way. For the first time since I met him, I wonder if we’re on the same team.

Sawyer doesn’t say anything. He just watches me carry Cali back in.

I take us back to my bedroom and lay her on the bed. She still hasn’t moved.

“Shadow.” I lean down. Her face is pale, and she’s staring blankly at the wall. I clench my jaw. I’ve seen this look before. Mostly on people who were in the military with me and on my mom. Fuck. Sawyer took it too far.

I don’t try to break Cali from it. I lay a blanket over her and leave the room, but not before I cuff her ankle to the bedpost.

I storm back into the living room to grab what Sawyer originally sent me out to get. It’s birth control. At first, I thought it was in her best interest. Now, I feel like a total piece of shit.

Sawyer is cleaning something at the furnace.

I cross my arms and stare at him. He doesn’t look back at me.

“You said!” I yell at him.

“I said what?” He flicks a glance over his shoulder.

“That you wouldn’t do anything!”

His gaze darkens. “IsaidI’d kill her now if you didn’t leave. I didn’t say I wouldn’t mess around. This is the game, Miley. I make the rules. Everyone else plays.”

Exasperation fills me. “That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair!” Sawyer snaps at me. His eyes are wild and unhinged.

I clench my jaw. Something else is going on with him. And has been going on for months. He’s fucked up, and it was bound to spill over at some point.

“I gave her an S.” Sawyer gives a mean smirk. “So you’d remember she’s mine.”

That statement sends a jolt of anger through me so strong that I clench my teeth and taste blood. The three of us have always shared everything before. Why is he making her something we can’t share?

Sawyer watches me closely, a smile on his lips.

I turn on my heel and march back to my room, slamming the door behind me. I instantly regret it when I make eye contactwith the woman on my bed. It’s clear she’s been fighting with the cuff, and she stares at me with a startled, fear-filled gaze.

It makes anger roll through me. I swore I’d never be the kind of man who made a woman afraid. The kind of men I spent my whole life around.

I hold my hands up. “Sorry, Cali. I’m sorry.”

Cali says nothing; she just watches me. I move to the bathroom, wet a hand towel, and come back out. I approach the bed carefully.

She inches away from me.

“I need to wash the burn,” I say. “So it doesn’t get infected.”

“No.” She swallows.