Page 45 of Heartless Game

Isaac scowled.

“I’ll leave you to say goodbye to your…friend, Tovah. I’ll be waiting for you in my office,” the professor said, departing and leaving us alone in the lecture hall.

“You don’t say a word to him about what’s going on,” he warned. “You will not like the consequences, Tovah.”

“Heard,” I said, relieved as the tension in my body began to ease.

“I have an Italian test, so I won’t be able to come with you to your newspaper meeting, but Judah and Levi will be escorting you. Donotcause them any trouble.”

With that, he bent down, wrapping a hand in my hair and tugging my head back so he could kiss me. It wasn’t a light, gentle kiss like before. No, this was all tongue and teeth and ownership, a declaration to anyone watching that I washis.And god help me, but it felt so fucking good, and he tasted so good, the orgasm he’d been teasing me with exploded, so intense and sharp I saw stars and swooned. I probably would’ve fallen if Isaac hadn’t caught me, tugging me tight against him and capturing my cries in his mouth, growling against my lips in response as the orgasm crashed over me, wave after wave after mind shattering wave.

Finally, it ended, leaving me sweaty, shaking, trembling in Isaac’s arms.

He pulled away, looking down at me with what would’ve been awe in another man’s eyes.

“You’re so damn responsive. Coming from a kiss?” He was about to say more, when something caught his eye and he released me so fast I stumbled backward. Clearing his throat, he chuckled, even though it sounded forced. “Playing with you is going to be fun as fuck, little snoop. Don’t you dare touch yourself.”

With that, he inexplicably picked up my chafed wrist and dropped a kiss on the pulse point before swaggering off.

I turned to see Judah and Levi standing there, Judah’s hands in his pockets, Levi’s arms crossed. Judah had a shit-eating grin on his face. Levi looked like he was seeing right into my soul, and he didn’t like what he saw.

Judah whistled. “You two put on quite a show there, Tovah Kaufman.”

I relaxed slightly at the implication that Isaac hadn’t told them who I really was. Trying not to blush, I took slow, deep breaths, then gathered my notebook, textbook, and pen and shoved them back in my bag, lifting it to my shoulder and walking past the twins.

“I need to go to my professor’s office so I can get yelled at for zoning out during class, and then I have a newspaper meeting. I’m not waiting for either of you, so hurry up.”

Judah threw his head back and laughed. “Isaac has his hands full with you, doesn’t he?”

Levi said nothing, readjusting his glasses so he could watch me more closely.

“He has no idea,” I said with saccharine sweetness, heading out the door as Isaac’s teammates laughed and followed.

18

Tovah

Like I’d suspected, my professor had called me into his office to give me shit for not paying attention during class. The retired elderly investigative reporter had probed me with question after question to figure out why I’d acted so strangely today. Was I sleeping alright? Was it my boyfriend? He wasn’t treating me poorly, was he? Because if he was, there were options available…

I sidestepped all of his questions. I certainly couldn’t tell the professor the truth. It would make him a target, too—and risk my safety and my mom’s. Instead, I told him I was tired and stressed with my workload, and he reluctantly let me leave.

I was a good liar, after all.

The conversation with my professor made me late to my newspaper meeting with the other editors. Our editor-in-chief, Toby, glared at me. We didn’t have the best relationship. He was a pretentious douche with a stick up his ass, but his great grandfather had foundedThe Daily Queenin 1872, which meant that the board would let him get away with anything. Including making me senior sports editor when I’d wanted to be managing news editor—and letting people believe we’d been sexually involved when I wouldn’t touch him with a thirty-foot pole.

It didn’t help that Veronica Lucas, the vindictive former friend who’d started the rumors about me, had badly wanted the senior sports editor position and felt like I’d stabbed her in the back when I’d gotten it…even though I’d never in a million years wanted to steal it from her. If I hadn’t accepted the role, Toby would’ve kicked me off the paper entirely—and then no news outlet would hire me after I graduated. All I’d ever wanted was to be a journalist, to search for the truth and bring it to light so powerful men were brought to justice. It was the one thing my mother and I had never been able to do—yet—and I was determined to build a life around helping people in that way.

Veronica didn’t believe that, though, no matter how hard I tried to explain it. She thought I was just an “opportunistic ho,” as she’d told me multiple times.

In the present, she glared at me, glancing at my two giant babysitters standing in the corner of the room.

“I heard you were fucking Isaac Jones. I didn’t realize you were fucking the whole hockey team, but then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Especially when you fucked Toby to get sports editor,” she hissed.

Judah’s and Levi’s faces turned thunderous.

Toby, the asshole, didn’t even come to my defense. He’d never dispelled the rumor, and even though I’d wanted to punch him multiple times for it, I told myself that it was fine. It was all fine. It didn’t matter that people thought I was fucking every guy on campus, right? Who cared what people thought, if it served my purpose? One day I’d have a Pulitzer, and all this college social hell would be nothing more than an ugly memory.

But for some reason I didn’t want Judah and Levi to think that. Like their opinions of me mattered.

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