Page 37 of Cruel Games

I twisted the lock and flung the door open. Gideon stood in the hallway, looking immaculate and clutching yesterday’s hold-all.

“Get inside!” I said.

He strolled to the desk and lowered himself onto the seat. I expected him to wince or something from all that shagging, but he was as poised as ever. The only difference now was his twinkling eyes.

After locking the door, I scrambled to the edge of my bed, practically salivating over the thought of getting some hot gossip. “What happened with that guy from last night?”

“Lachlan?” Gideon’s lips curved into a smile. “He wants to see me next weekend.”

My eyes widened. “Things went that well? Is he coming down to Templar?”

“We’re allowed visitors on Sundays as long as they’ve been pre-booked. Lachlan’s going to drive down and take me out for lunch.”

“Do you think it’s serious?”

Gideon smiled. “It’s too early to tell, but he texted me throughout my journey home. How did things go with Nevis and Deloraine last night? Did you escape their trap?”

I opened up my laptop and showed him the video. It started with the boys standing side by side, removing their clothes. Even though I hated their guts, the possessive bitch in me placed a hand over their lower halves.

When it jumped to the parts where they lay on the bed handcuffed together, Gideon shot out of his seat and turned away.

Straightening up, I stared at his back. “What’s wrong?”

“You must delete this. Immediately.”

I reared back. “But you said—”

“I thought you were planning on a practical joke. Or walking out on them at an inopportune moment.”

Gideon turned around, his gaze flicking to the desk where the video had stopped playing on the laptop. “A video like this could get the boys expelled or disowned. Do you know anything about the Nevis family?”

“No.”

“Orlando’s grandfather owns the country’s oldest and largest distillery. He’s also a staunch Christian and golf buddies with the Archbishop of Scotland. How do you think he will react when videos of his heir naked with another boy are leaked?”

I flopped down on my mattress and stared at my lap. “But they were planning on making a sex tape of me.”

“Which you foiled by confiscating their cameras. That should be vengeance enough.” He lowered himself on the mattress beside me. “Destroy this video. The effects of this falsified version of events are too damaging.”

My shoulders slumped. Last night, I hadn’t thought things through. I suppose the most I thought would happen if the video got out were minor pranks, snide comments, and name-calling, just like Elizabeth, the knights, and everyone else had inflicted on me.

The pain of being rejected by family wasn’t something I’d inflict on anyone. Not even a pair of boys who had set me up for a sex tape.

“Alright.” I walked over to the desk, moved the video to the computer’s recycle bin and pressed empty, then did the same with the footage in the memory cards. “When you put it like that, I really don’t know what I’d been thinking.”

Gideon gave me a pat on the back. “Maintain the higher ground. It’s the only way to survive in a place like Templar Academy.”

Gideon left to catch some sleep. After showering and dressing, I walked to the tuck shop, a classroom-sized space set up to look like a common room with low tables and squishy sofas. Student volunteers stood behind the counter, serving customers sandwiches, chocolate bars, and drinks.

After buying a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel with a bottle of orange juice, I made my way to the nearest exit and opened the door.

The cool breeze carried the scent of roses, and I sucked in a deep breath and stepped out into the gardens. Apart from my room at the bottom of the tower, this was probably my favorite area of the academy. It was sectioned off by low hedges arranged into geometrical borders. I headed down the gravel path where roses climbed over six-foot-tall, wooden pyramids.

Groups of grown-ups—couples mostly—walked with students. I guessed these were parents who had come to see their children. Heaviness filled my heart.

If only I had someone more reliable than Mother. She had come through for me in the end, but the last years of being shunned had been a knife in the back that I could never quite reach.

“Lilah,” said a familiar voice.