Page 19 of Chaos & Corruption

She tears her eyes away from me and turns to Mila.

“I’m so sorry,” she tells her. “I…I’ll walk you to class or we can ditch and go back to our apartment. My aunts left a bunch of wine in the fridge. We can get drunk, order a pizza and forget all about—”

I cut her off.

“Excuse me, but does someone want to clue me in on what the fuck I did wrong?”

She glares at me from over her shoulder.

“Why are you still here?”

That’s a good fucking question.

I should walk away, cut my losses and put all this energy into my game. Instead, I’m standing here like a fucking idiot, chasing a girl who clearly wants me gone.

“You want nothing to do with me, that’s fine, but at least give me a fucking reason.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“I didn’t say you did,” I argue, my temper rising. I don’t know what it is about her, but the idea of her dismissing me like I’m a piece of shit is driving me mad. I think it’s because I’ve gone out of my way to get in touch with her. I don’t text girls multiple times. I don’t leave Post-it notes on their door. The girl has me wound tight, so tight I lose my cool.

“It’s common courtesy, did they not teach you that in mob 101?”

As soon as those words leave my mouth, I cringe.

It was a low blow and even if I wasn’t already regretting it, the look on her face would make me.

“Victoria—”

“Don’t.” She takes a step closer, propping her hand on her hip as she cocks her head to the side. “You want to go there? Let’s go there. My grandfather did a lot of questionable things that a lot of people would find morally wrong, but he had respect for women and if he were alive today, you and your little friends wouldn’t stand a fucking chance. He’d have you by the balls and take pleasure in torturing you and your friends for your malicious crimes.”

The regret vanishes and the anger returns.Malicious crimes?

“Congratulations, sweetheart, you’re gonna make one hell of a lawyer,” I sneer.

Her brows knit together with confusion.

“I never said I was going to be a lawyer.”

“Well you should consider it because you have a talent for spinning bullshit,” I fire back. “I don’t know what the hell you’re referring to and you know what, I don’t even want to know. I’m done with this shit. Webber was right, I dodged a fucking bullet and it looks like I’m dodging it twice.”

When you play sports you learn a lot of it is skill, but some of it is pure luck and when you’re on a good streak, you don’t press it.

I’m done with Victoria Bianci.

So fucking done.

Seven

Victoria Bianci

“Canyou believe the balls on that guy?” I ask as I enter our apartment. Throwing my backpack on the floor, I leave Mila to deal with closing the door and make a beeline for the kitchen.

I’ve tried so hard to ignore him since Mila filled me in on everything. I deleted every text without even bothering to read them and when I saw him or Webber, even Robinson, I turned and walked in the other direction before they could see me. It was either that or march right up to them and punch them all in the face. Which is something I almost did when I saw him with Mila.

I pluck a bottle of red from the fridge and pull out the cork. Not bothering with a glass, I take a swig.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Mila says, throwing my keys on the counter. I stare at her for a beat, taking another long gulp before I lower the bottle.

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