Page 41 of Tangled in His Game

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” We’re alone in the hallway, and if anyone hears us, I don’t give a damn. “You can’t just share my number like that!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but as someone who sampled your goods, I can see why you want to charge for them. This is the perfect place for you to earn a lot of money. Plenty of rich clients. You won’t even need your degree. But be a little smarter about it and don’t put your number and name out like that. It reeks of desperation and someone might notice.”

I stare deep into his eyes, trying to figure this whole thing out. But there’s nothing to figure out, is there? He’s just an asshole, and he enjoys being one.

“Something’s terribly wrong with you,” I say.

He remains silent.

“What is it that you really want from me? Do you want me to leave? Is that it?” I ask.

“What you do is none of my business.”

“No? Really? Because you can’t seem to stay out of my business.” I cross my arms.

He pushes himself off the wall, pocketing his phone. “You don’t belong here.”

“Why? Because I’m not rich and privileged like you?” I glare at him.

His face turns serious, his lips pressed into a tight line.

“You know you can just ignore my existence, right?” I say. “It makes no difference to you if I’m here or not. I don’t affect you in any way. Emberwell won’t become less prestigious just because I’m here. Why do you want so bad to ruin the life of someone who’s done nothing to you? Someone who has worked very hard to get where she is right now. Someone who has no chance to steal your job from you one day or anything crazy like that. Nothing I do changes anything for you. So why the fuck can’t you just forget I exist and leave me alone?”

“Think whatever you want.” He pushes me out of the way and strides down the hallway.

“Fuck you!” I yell after him. “I’m not leaving. Do you hear me? I’m not going anywhere!”

He walks away from me, not even glancing back. There’s no point in talking to him. He doesn’t care about anything other than himself. If I want to make him pay, I have to hurt him. Really hurt him.

But this time, I can’t fail. I’m not his toy and I don’t exist for his amusement. Injuring him wasn’t enough because all he had to do was play some games in pain, or maybe under some strong painkillers. If he’s using some illegal substances, I doubt I’ll find them. He’s not so stupid as to leave something like that lying around for anyone to find.

But there’s something I want to do. I want to make sure he messes up one of his precious, important games. Then he’ll be worrying about his performance, and his fans and everyone else will be talking about his bad game.

I know how rabid fans and especially competition can get when a big star has a bad day. He’d be the one getting tons of nasty comments. Sure, he sometimes gets them anyway, but they don’t hurt him because he knows his games are almost always perfect.

But if they weren’t... Maybe he’d start doubting himself too. The comments could actually get to him. He might snap at someone. A chain reaction could happen and Victor’s dreams could be at stake. I’m sure he wouldn’t have any time left to worry about me then.

But what can I do to make sure he sucks in the rink? Telling him things doesn’t affect him. Injuring him isn’t a solution because he can either play anyway, or he’ll have to sit out a game, which won’t give me what I want.

Maybe I have a solution. I could put some sleeping pills into his water bottle, enough to make him drowsy. He’ll want to play because he won’t know what’s happening to him, and then he’ll make a fool of himself in the rink.

Hell, maybe they’ll put him under investigation and if he’s using something else to enhance his performance, they’ll figure him out and ban him from playing hockey. That’s just wishful thinking. I’ll be happy if the fans boo him and his opponents laugh at him for being terrible.

Those videos won’t leave the internet and will be there forever. But I won’t get too giddy about my plan because I have to figure out how to pull that off. It’s not like I can walk into the locker room and spike his drink. I’ve seen him carrying his gym bag and the same black plastic bottle everywhere. All I have to do is get to it.

Is my plan all kinds of wrong?

Yup. Yes, it is.

But sometimes you have to become a monster to defeat a monster, and Victor totally deserves whatever happens to him.

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