Page 35 of Play The Game

It doesn’t happen.

She stands to grab the plate of dinner and shoves it, dish and all, into the garbage. I watch as she grabs everything from the table, all our plates and cutlery, cups and napkins, and shoves the whole lot in the garbage. The shatter of the glass breaking and ripping the garbage bag follows in her wake, but I let her go.

She has to exorcise the demons out of our space, and she won’t be able to rest until they’re gone.

I sit in silence with Ash while Avery tears the kitchen apart. We’re not going to have any utensils left by the time she’s settled again, but who the fuck cares when I have a best friend losing her mind and a boyfriend who’s just told me he’s been the victim of two sadistic serial killers for the last decade? I certainly don’t.

“What do you want to know? I promised you some truths,” I whisper, careful not to touch him beyond the hands we have clasped together around his empty glass.

“Not tonight, Mounty. I’ll take my payment some other time. Can I drink now? I don’t want to become a sulking, morose fuck. We already have one of those in the family, no need for another,” he says, and I tug him to his feet gently, directing him over to my bed.

He frowns at me and says, “I’m not sleeping. I won’t, and Avery is making enough noise that Harley and Morrison are going to hear it and come looking for our corpses. I need a drink to be able to deal with this.”

My lips quirk, but I rest a palm on his chest. “Shh, Beaumont. We’re not functioning tonight. You and me will be nothing in here together.” His eyes stay fixed to my face and they don’t soften at all so I shrug. “If that doesn’t work, I’ll come down to the track with you and sit on the grass while you run until you pass out, but we’ll try this first. I don’t want to have to call the cavalry to carry you back to the dorms because there’s no way I can do it by myself.”

Steady and sure, I wait him out. His eyes stay cold and hard on mine but I refuse to falter for even a second. Eventually, he turns away from me and kicks out of his sweatpants, sliding between my sheets in his boxer briefs. It’s a good reminder that I’ll bake if I don’t do the same, so I wriggle out of my yoga pants before I climb in next to him, flicking my lamp off so only the kitchen overhead lights are on. It kind of feels like mood lighting and I grimace at thinking such a thing while Ash is lying beside me with all of his internal damage on display. I’m surprised he hasn’t hit anything yet. If someone challenges him to a fight tomorrow, I’ll be calling a cleanup crew.

The details of his blood-soaked and fucked-up home life play on repeat in my brain, the monotone sound of his voice making my chest ache, and I start to think maybe alcohol isn’t the worst idea. It’s all just so fucking sick and twisted, and there’s no obvious solution to stop the Devil from appearing on our doorstep. We’re facing the most evil and well-connected men in high society and the slums of Mounts Bay.

I really don’t do easy, do I?

Ash moves to pull me into his arms, shifting me until my back is pressed to his chest and our legs are tangled together the way he likes, and when his fingers brush my thighs, I shiver. His lips press into the soft skin of my shoulder.

“Fuck, I hate being back at school. Who would’ve thought I’d miss that poky little place in the Bay so much? But I’ve barely seen you since we got back here and I fucking hate it.”

I could bitch him out for being so spoiled, but after he’s given me so much honesty, I owe him a little of my own. “I’ve missed you, too. More than anything, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve been very patient while Avery adjusts, but you really need to start sleeping in my bed. What do I have to do to tempt you into our room, Mounty?” he mumbles into my skin, and I wheeze a little as my chest tightens.

The very thought of spending time in their room, choosing a bed for the night, being in their space—I need to get my head around it first. I need to figure out how to do that without dying of both lust and awkwardness. There’s a part of me that also thinks that maybe I need my feet to be a little more steady underneath me first, like the foundations of us need to settle a bit more so it all doesn’t come crumbling down the second I fuck up somehow. How the hell I’ll do that, or be sure of it, is beyond me, and also not the most pressing issue at hand.

There’s something else I need to address first.

“You know I’ve killed people, right?” I whisper, brave now I’m not looking at him. It’ll make it easier if he rejects me and walks out.

“So have I. I told you before, Mounty, you’re not going to scare me off.”

I meet Harley and Blaise for breakfast in the dining hall the next morning after sleeping like the dead.

Avery was still awake when my alarm went off, sitting in what was left of the kitchen with her laptop and a giant mug of coffee. When I hesitantly checked in with her, she informed me that she wasn’t going to class today. She hadn’t finished her room demolition until dawn, and with nothing left in the kitchen or bathroom that wasn’t already nailed down, she’s spending the day on a refit. The amount of money she must be spending broke my brain so I nodded and left her to it. When I tried to wake Ash up, he groaned and rolled over, mumbling something about keeping an eye on her. No idea how he plans on doing that considering his eyes are, in fact, shut, but hopefully he manages to talk her into taking a nap before the spending spree turns manic.

The moment I sit down in the dining hall, I brace myself for the questions the other two will inevitably have and, sure enough, they barely wait for me to start on my food before they’re side-eyeing the fuck out of me.

“She didn’t take the news well then? She never does when Ash is involved,” Harley says, stabbing at his eggs with the type of vehemence that has students giving our seats a wide berth.

“Well, he’s always the one being fucking beaten and targeted so I don’t blame her. Well, almost always,” Blaise mutters, frowning down at his juice like he can magically spike it with a look.

I glance between them both and ask, “Harley told you, then? Thank god, I didn’t realize how draining it is to talk about our impending deaths on repeat.”

Harley huffs at me and then motions his hand at me to continue. “Stop stalling, Mounty. Are they in hiding or did you walk out in the middle of a screaming match because you didn’t want to be late for class?”

Ignoring them both having a good chuckle on my behalf, I sigh. “Ash is asleep still and Avery is… pretending reality doesn’t exist through credit card abuse. It wasn’t pretty but I did get the full, unedited Beaumont family horror story. Hopefully it’s enough to help us figure out what we can do to stop the hit but, either way, Junior and Senior are on my list. After hearing it all, I’m not surprised that Avery needed to scrub some demons out. Be extra nice to her for a while because she’ll probably come back swinging.”

They both stop and gape at me.

“He told you? He spoke to you about his father and Joey? Ash did? Alexander Asher William Beaumont, my best friend and total asshole extraordinaire, told you about what happens behind closed doors at the Beaumont Manor?” Blaise rambles, and I frown at him.

“Yes. It was… horrible. Like, really fucking bad, but now I have everything I need to know to navigate this mess we’re in.” I force confidence into my voice but, fuck, I’m not sure we’re going to be navigating shit. It might be closer to blowing everything the fuck up and praying for the best.