Page 114 of Ruthless Game

I jumped out of my skin when I felt someone squeeze the back of my neck.

I whirled around to face my brother. He looked haggard, spots of scruff on his face—his facial hair always grew in patches. There was an almost demonic glint in his eyes.

“Em,” he said, opening his arms, as if he expected me to step in them and hug him tight.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped back, suddenly freezing.

I’ll bring something to keep you warm.

It was actually a weird fucking thing to say.

“I know, Jeffrey,” I told him. “I know what you did.”

An amused smirk split his face, like one part of him was my sweet, protective brother, and the other was this frightening stranger I didn’t want near me.

Or maybe he’s always been like that, and you refused to recognize it. Because you thought you owed him.

You don’t owe anyone shit.

I liked the new voice in my head. She was going to keep me strong through this, however it ended.

“And what do you think you know?”

“I know you paid off those girls to assault Max,” I said, my voice as strong as I needed it to be. The accusation shot through the night, louder than the roaring of the white water below us. “I know you took him to the party and got him drunk. What else did you do, Jeffrey? Why did you do it? Why would you hurt him like that? What the hell did he do to you?”

Anger crackled in his eyes, like lightning fracturing the now dark sky.

“What did he do to me? What didn’t he do to me? Do you know how goddamn hard it is, living up to expectations? I was never good enough at anything, no matter what I did. So-so student. Bad at hockey. Couldn’t have the girl I wanted. No one paid attention to me, except to pity me. Poor Jeffrey. Nerdy Jeffrey. Skinny Jeffrey. Weak Jeffrey. Can’t score a goal for his life Jeffrey. And then he comes along, all tall and strong, great at hockey, smart, charming, enchanting our parents. And taking you from me.”

“What?” His words startled me. “Okay, first of all, no one in the world has ever said ‘Poor Jeffrey.’ You have everything. Money, great parents, and a sister who adores you, a girlfriend who would do anything for you … so you weren’t great at hockey, so what? Not everyone can be good at everything, and not everyone is entitled to everything they want. That is no goddamn reason to punish someone else for what you think you’re owed.”

That was it, I realized, staring at this version of my brother he’d hidden from me for so long. I’d known he was spoiled, and entitled, but in a “I’m a rich kid and don’t know what it’s like to worry about having food on the table” way. Not in a “The world owes me everything I want, just because I exist” way. This entitlement had dug itself deep, a rotten root spreading to the whole, sick tree.

Jeffrey looked pissed. He moved toward me, and I backed up, Max’s and my rock behind me.

“Oh, but that’s just it, little sister,” he said quietly. Lethally. “I have every right to punish him for taking what I’m owed from me. Because I couldn’t have everything and didn’t have everything. I didn’t have you.”

I blinked.

“Jeffrey, I’m your sister. I love you unconditionally.”

Although after what he’d done to Max, was that even still true?

“Not in the way I want,” he said. “Not in the way where you’re mine, in whatever way I say.” He switched subjects, stopping only a foot away from me. “I watched you two, you know. Back then, when you’d make out in his truck. And recently, when he touched you on this rock. When he made you wet and cry out and even spit in your fucking mouth. Is that how you like it, little sister? You want someone to force you and degrade you? Because I’m happy to do both.”

What.

The.

Fuck.

Like, what the actual holy fuck was he saying?!

“You can’t mean that,” I said, my voice thick, tight with tears and fear, shock and disgust.

“Oh, I do,” he said, and the smooth lust in his voice crawled up my spine. “I’ve always loved you. Always wanted you, even if I didn’t fully understand how. That day at the orphanage, when I saw your blonde curls shining in the sun, I knew then that you were mine. You’ve always been mine, Em. You just didn’t know it, couldn’t admit it, because society says it’s wrong. But I know, deep down, you want me too. You want this. That asshole was just a placeholder who should’ve disappeared a long time ago. I let you go off to Oxford to have fun and find yourself, knowing you’d be back. And if our parents have an issue with it? Well, there are ways to get rid of them too. Brakes fail, you know. Nothing and no one is going to keep us apart, and it’s finally time you recognized that.”

I stared at him, even though I could barely see his face now, so shadowed in the dark night. “Did you just threaten our parents’ lives? Jeffrey, I don’t know what happened to you, but you need help. Let’s go. I can get you help.”