Page 73 of My Turn

“And what’s the greatest?” he taunted, matching my position as he leaned forward.

“Money seems to be an issue for you right now. It can’t be easy to take care of Alicia on your own, especially without child support from Jake, income from Hailey, and an ass load ofmoney that belongs to a child who isn’t yours. Does that piss you off, Mike?”

His tough façade fell away and revealed the man behind the curtain. He was weak and a coward. The only things that made him feel powerful a moment ago were his secret plans, which he somehow thought were foolproof.

“Did you know the whole time?” I went on. “Or were you under the impression that she was your kid? Maybe she used you when she found out she was pregnant. Did you start dating when she wasn’t very far along or were you already together when she slept with my brother? It must’ve been so easy to say the baby was yours.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he snapped.

“Happy to. And you’re going to leave Alana alone. Don’t talk to her, don’t acknowledge her, don’t even fucking look at her.”

“Getting me out of the picture won’t make her fall for you.”

“Obviously. She fell for me years ago. What this does is protect her from someone who wants to use her so that he can get access to funds that don’t belong to him. Did you really think she’d help you with anything after she found out who you were?”

“I know things too, you know. Things Hailey told me.”

I cocked my head. “I’m sure whatever you think you know was born of delusion. Hailey was a headcase.”

The door swung open and slammed into the wall. Kyle stood there with a frantic expression on his face. He didn’t spare a glance at me, which I found impressive.

“Mr. Everhart, Patrick and Lucas are fighting. They look like they’re going to kill each other!”

“God damnit.” Mike got to his feet and headed for the door. “I’ll be right back.”

When his footsteps were no longer audible, I moved around to the other side of his desk. The computer was unlocked from what he’d been doing before I showed up. I scanned the icons,trying to figure out which one connected to the gradebook. I figured it’d be easy and say ‘gradebook.’ Apparently, I was wrong.

I pulled up his minimized browser, but it was just his school email. Briefly, I scanned it to see if there was anything interesting. There was one to Alana, which looked like random back and forth conversations during class so they weren’t caught on their phones.

Damnit, I had to hurry. I started clicking on random desktop icons that looked like they could be it. Finally, I found the right one. It was confusing, though. I didn’t know which period Carson was in, which didn’t help.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

I froze with my fingers on the keyboard. Raising my gaze, I took in Alana’s horrified expression.

“What areyoudoing?” I asked. “Another lunch date with micro Dickens?”

She glanced behind her, then hurried toward me. “Seriously, Jayce.” She gasped when she saw the screen. “Tell me what you’re doing right now or-”

“You gonna report me, little… Alana?”

She gave me a weird look but ignored it. I’d almost fucked things up on multiple fronts and it wasn’t even noon yet. This identity thing was a pain in my ass.

“Jayce.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, dropping my head back. “It’s for Ben.”

“Ben?” she hissed. “Why are you doing something for him?”

“Because I owed him a favor. Your cousin is failing and if he wants to play basketball, he has to pass this class.”

“You were going to fudge the grades. That’s insane. You know that’s insane, right?”

“It’ll be more insane when your brother hangs me in a meat locker and sells my muscled thighs to some rich prick cannibals.”

Her eyes widened comically. “Does he do that?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

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