Page 96 of Heartless Game

Fortunately, he asked an easier question. “Why did you let people think you were sleeping around?”

I sighed. “I didn’t exactlyletthem. Vicious assholes and bitches started the rumors, and while I hated it at first, I couldn’t fight it. You can’t ever fight those things, you know? People are going to believe what they want to believe about you, and the more you fight it, the more they think you’re lying. So, instead of being helpless and angry, I decided to see it as an opportunity I could use to my advantage. Let people think when I was meeting with sources, it was for sex, not for information.”

He stiffened slightly. “So Sebastian?”

“Is just a friend who knows a lot about what happens on campus.”

“Right.” He paused. “He clearly didn’t tell you this, but I almost beat the shit out of him. Threatened him in his apartment. It’s how I found out about your real last name.”

“Ugh,” I groaned. “No wonder why he’s mostly been avoiding me.”

“Mostly?” there was a low, possessive snarl in his voice as he squeezed my waist.

“You can’t hurt him,” I said.

“I can do whatever the fuck I want to him, if he touched you,” Isaac said back.

“He didn’t. I didn’t even see him. He’s the one who… procured the Vice for me, since the team is no longer dealing.”

“Hmm.” Isaac laughed again. “Maybe I should thank him, instead. I should be pissed at you, for what you did, but it…made me free.”

Free.

What I wasn’t.

What my mom wasn’t.

My mom.

I needed to make time to check my burner phone and make sure she was okay. And decide what I was doing with the information Isaac had given me. I didn’t want to hurt him, now, didn’t want to betray him, but what choice did I have? Would my mother ever be safe, if I let it go? Worse, what would she think if she knew I was sleeping with the enemy?

As if Isaac had heard my thoughts, he added, “I still have more questions for you, Tovah. I know there’s a lot you aren’t telling me, and I won’t push for the information now, but I will get it out of you. Even ifIhave to resort to giving you Vixen to get it.”

I stiffened in his arms.

“You wouldn’t.”

His voice was solemn. “I would. I don’t want to hurt you, but I refuse to let anything or anyone take you from me. We’re together now, and nothing will separate us.”

His next words were ominous as he wrapped his arms around me, tight, trapping me against his front.

“Not even you.”

39

Isaac

The next night, I entered the house after hockey practice, resetting the alarm and hiding my car keys—and a secret package—where Tovah couldn’t find them. I needed to trust her, but I…didn’t. I’d been going over and over our conversation the day before in my head all throughout practice, making me play like shit. I’d been so distracted, it had been obvious, and both Coach and my team had let me know they were pissed about it.

But how could I not be? Although Tovah and I had turned a corner, in a good direction, I knew she was still hiding something from me—something important as fuck. The fact that she refused to tell me what it was, that she had secrets, kept us from getting close the way I wanted us to. I could feel the other shoe waiting to drop, and I knew it was going to fuck shit up when it did. I wanted her to talk to me, to trust me, but part of her clearly still thought of me as her enemy.

I needed to smash through her walls, but short of giving her Vixen like I’d threatened, I didn’t know how. And regardless of her giving me Vice, that was something I refused to do to her.

Checking my phone, I noticed multiple missed calls from my sister. I was about to call her back, when I heard low, pained moans coming from upstairs.

The bathroom?

Dropping my phone immediately, I ran up the stairs two at a time. When I reached the bedroom, I found Tovah curled up into a ball, hugging a pillow and whimpering.

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