Page 71 of Wanna Play A Game?

Oh fuck, she asked a question.

I purse my lips like I’m thinking. “I had a cat as a kid. I loved it.”

Cali gives a tiny smile as she looks at the ground. I don’t think she even knows she’s doing it. She looks so goddamn beautiful. It chases the darkness away for a brief second, and I want to see it again.

I continue, “Well, it wasn’t really mine. It followed me home from school every day, so I called it mine. I named it Raisin Bran, ‘cause that makes sense when you’re seven.”

“You walked to school at seven?”

I shrug. “I did everything at seven. Raised my brother, too.”

Cali pulls in a breath and shoves her hands in her pockets. The smile is gone from her face, and I don’t like that. I want it back.

“I snuck Raisin Bran inside a few times and fed him hot dogs. He loved them.”

There, a bit of light comes back to her eyes. She chuckles. “I would have been whipped within an inch of my life if I tried that.”

A yucky feeling moves through me. Who the hell was whipping her? She belongs to me. No one touches her, even if it was in her past.

I want to get that look off her face, so I keep talking like an idiot. “Yeah, well, one of my mom’s…” I pause before adding, “clients tried to kill him one day, so I never did that again.”

Her voice is soft. “Oh.” But she doesn’t pry further.

We keep walking in the darkness, listening to the crickets. I relax a little.

Cali asks softly, “Who is taking care of Halloweiner?”

I tense. After I took her, I couldn’t just leave him at her apartment. “I took him to the shelter.”

“The animal shelter?” Cali whirls on me. Even in the darkness, I see the fear in her eyes. “What if someone adopts him? He belongs to me!”

I say nothing. There is nothing to say.

She shoves her small hands into my chest. I barely move.

Cali yells, “He’s mine!”

Something uncomfortable curls in my stomach. Am I feeling…guilty?

I can’t see her perfectly, but I think I see tears in her eyes.

Fuck. She can’t make me feel like this! I haven’t felt this in a very long time. It makes me want to crumble. My voice comes out rough, “Stupid girl. You should know better than to show weakness.”

Cali whirls so she’s no longer facing me. “You know what? You’re a horrible person, Sawyer.”

The feeling curls deeper in my stomach. I grunt, “Just trying to teach you something. Someone will always take advantage of you.”

“Whatever.” She walks faster. Her shoulders shake, but she doesn’t make a sound.

I feel sick.

I’m not wrong. The world will eat you up and spit you out. The sooner she learns that, the better off she’ll be.

So why does this feel wrong?

Chapter 32

Ryder