Page 59 of Play The Game

“Ash and I both have invitations with plus ones. I’ll take Blaise and Ash will take you. Harley has a swim meet and now that he’s taking his swimming more seriously, he’s going to go. He’ll be pissy, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Well, I could have the Gala date moved, I guess. How badly do you want to see Harley in a three-piece suit?”

I try not to drool at the thought. She doesn’t need any encouragement in her assessment of me. “It’s fine. I’m sure being around you lot there will be other Galas to attend.”

Avery laughs at my fake-ass airy tone and waves a hand at me. “Okay, no more distractions. Walk me through another. I think I’m almost ready to start stabbing my enemies myself.”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Any requests, Miss Bloodthirsty?”

She nods and hesitates for a second. I roll my eyes at her. “Just ask. I’m not going to lose my mind over it and if I don’t want to do it, I’ll say no.”

The door to the gym opens and I don’t have to turn to see it’s the guys. They’re bickering and talking shit loud enough for Illi to hear it down in the Bay.

Avery lowers her voice. “I want to know how you won the Game. How you beat the last two men.”

I stare at her for a second and then shrug. It’s an old memory, not something I think too much about. Why not use it?

Blaise slips his arms around me and tugs me until I’m leaning back against his chest. I smirk at Avery and say, “Sure. We even have volunteers to be our victims.”

Blaise cackles, squeezing me a little, and Harley swoops down to kiss my cheek, murmuring quietly, “I’ll be your victim any day, babe.”

I smirk at them all and pull away from Blaise, ready to get this show on the road. Ash stands with Avery, intent on learning everything I’m teaching her as well. It’s a well-calculated move from him; they all need to know how to read a situation, and no one is better at it than Avery or me. If they’re going up against the Jackal with me, they need to learn when to fight and when to manipulate.

I point at Blaise. “Do you want to be a loud idiotic beefcake or a silent, calculating sociopath?”

Harley cuts in before I finish the sentence. “He’s an idiot. Where are we standing?”

Blaise scoffs but nods along. “If anyone is the beefcake it’s you, dickhead, you’re going to fucking sink next time you get in the pool. Lay off the weights when you’re frustrated at being stuck with the cougar, man, maybe have a wank instead.”

He continues, but I zone out their bickering easier than I breathe air, so I just direct them into their places and then I stand between the twins. Avery cools the arguing off with a single look and I’m a little jealous of her superpowers.

“Right, Blaise is Geordie. He’s made it to the last three by sheer size so far. He’s easily four times bigger than me, he sees me as a nothing job. He doesn’t pay any attention to me at all.”

Avery nods and tilts her head. “He’s focused on the other male contender.”

“Exactly. Harley is playing the part of Xavier. The best way to describe him is to say he was a sober Joey. All of the psychosis, none of the manic.”

Avery shudders, and I squeeze her hand. “Just watch and listen this time. Right, Geordie lunges at Xavier. What’s the plan, Aves? Ash?”

Ash waves a hand. “Let them fight. Then you only have one to take out, and hopefully whoever is left is injured.”

I nod, oddly impressed that he’s thinking it through. I shouldn’t be; he’s always been the level-headed one. Except for the months he insisted I was evil; then he was an emotional asshole.

Avery frowns. “You can’t just watch them though; if Geordie lands even a single hit on Lips, she could be out. You’d have to be watching for an opening to take him out.”

Harley crosses his arms, watching me just a little too closely. “Xavier is the real danger. Joey sees fucking everything, even as high as he is. He picks up on all the little shit that you guys do. If you’re standing there watching, he’d be trying to find a way to throw Geordie at you.”

Avery shrugs. “What did you do, Lips?”

I step up and slip the fake knife we practice with out of my pocket. Harley gets Blaise in a headlock at my directions and I stand behind him.

“I danced around them, never letting them get too close to me intentionally. I knew I had to wait for Xavier to be dealing the killing blow to Geordie. This was before my leg was destroyed, and I was faster than any of them. Eventually, Xavier got impatient and stabbed Geordie, waiting long enough for blood loss to weaken him and then went about strangling him.”

I press the knife into Harley’s Achilles tendon and push him to kneel, dragging Blaise down with him, grunting in protest, but being a good sport overall. Fuck. I didn’t think this one through at all.

I shoot Avery a look and she raises an eyebrow at me. “Remember you asked me to show you. This was your doing.”

She frowns at me, and Ash crosses his arms. “Well, hurry up then.”

Ugh. I lean forward and whisper in Harley’s ear, “Please don’t be a dick about it, Avery will murder us both.”