Page 31 of Chaos & Corruption

I cut him off.

“Why does he care if you and I hook up?”

He shrugs his shoulders.

“Beats me. Maybe he’s afraid Mila will tell you what she knows and in turn you’ll tell me.”

I cock my head to the side.

“You mean like I just did?”

“Touche.”

“Mila is scared, Alex. She’s afraid someone is going to kill her. If what you’re saying is true…” My words trail as I recall the night Mila told me what happened to her. She didn’t want me to know because I’d be at risk and now I’m putting Alex in the line of fire too.

“Look, we can’t undo what we did today. Jennings, Webber, and a good portion of the school saw us together. If we’re not the topic of conversation yet, we will be by nightfall. So we go with it. We make sure Webber sees us together as much as possible, that he doesn’t second-guess why we were in his room.”

“Wait a minute, you want to pretend to be a couple?”

“You got a better idea?”

“No but give me a minute.”

He crosses his arms against his chest and cocks his head.

“I’ll give you two,” he volleys.

Bastard.

Eleven

Alex Reggiano

Playing make believewith a smoking hot girl has its perks. For example, I get to kiss her whenever I damn well please, something I negotiated after Webber caught us in his room. Victoria was determined to find out if he was part of the society and I knew she wouldn’t let up, she was going to bring him and whoever raped Mila down with or without my help and seeing how reckless she could be, I decided to take charge of the situation. I’d help her uncover whatever information she wanted so long as she played by my rules.

My first rule was that we stay the fuck out of Webber’s way. In my experience people slip up and make mistakes—bad throws and horrendous plays—when they get too cocky. When they think they’re fucking invincible. I’ve seen it happen with Webber on the field, he gets arrogant and loses sight of things. Victoria and I won’t need to sneak into the locker room and steal his shit. We won’t need to mirror his phone. If we move in silence, if we just keep doing our thing and keep our eyes and ears open, it’ll happen on its own.

The second rule I had was that she couldn’t go rogue on me. With football season in full-swing, I wouldn’t be able to keep a watchful eye on my pretend girlfriend and I could already tell she had the patience of a fly. I can’t be worrying what she’s doing while I’m training or on the field. She needs to keep her head down and stay the fuck out of trouble.

My third rule was that I get to kiss her and take her out on dates whenever time permits. I agreed to help her take down whoever attacked Mila, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have an ulterior motive. I couldn’t shake Victoria from my head and after that kiss I didn’t want to either. A girl can’t kiss a man like that and expect him not to want more.

It’s only been a week but for the most part, Victoria’s been adhering to the rules. I guess the real test of faith will be this weekend, I have an away game and that means she’s on her own.

“Looking good out there, Reggiano,” Coach calls, patting me on the back. I grab my duffel bag from my locker and glance back at him.

“Thanks, Coach.”

He gives me a nod and disappears into his office.

“See what getting laid will do for your game,” Robinson quips. I roll my eyes and bring my attention to him and Webber.

Little do they know I’ve got the biggest case of blue balls in this locker room.

“You gonna come up for air anytime soon?” Webber chimes in, shoving his cleats into his bag. “The girl has been over our apartment every day since I caught you mauling her in my bedroom.”

That’s true, Victoria has been over every day this week and that’s mainly because we wanted Webber to believe our story. But also, Victoria and Mila weren’t speaking to one another. Just as I expected, by nightfall the campus was buzzing with the news that I had taken the ‘new girl’ into the men’s locker room. Mila confronted Victoria the next day and the two had words. Victoria didn’t elaborate, but I could tell it bothered her that they were fighting. Two days later I found her waiting outside my apartment for me with tears in her eyes. I took her inside, and we headed straight for my room. I was fucking exhausted from practice and had two papers that were due the next day that I didn’t start, but I decided I’d stay up all night to get them done and sat with Victoria instead. I listened while she told me all about her and Mila’s friendship and how she feels like she’s failing her. That she has no idea how to help her. I guess that’s why she’s so hellbent on finding out who attacked her. She thinks if she gives Mila closure, she’ll help her heal. I don’t know if that’s how it works but reminding her that we were in over our heads didn’t seem right. So I just let her talk and after she was done letting it all out, that’s when she kissed me for real.

No one was watching.

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