Page 77 of Unwritten Rules

A sleek black dress and a face done up so much that it looked ready for the red carpet was calling to me. I excused myself while Sloane was distracted by some groupie fawning over her. The girl that I spent the night with pulled me in like a magnet. I was the moon that circled her.

And she looked just as gorgeous now as when she tried to make herself unattractive in stained sweatpants. I shook my head of the thoughts as Josh called out my name. Approaching her directly when I still wanted more was a dangerous game to play with the uproar that would be caused by the whiny little devil herself.

If she wanted to kill Fallon, she’d try.

“Josh,” I reciprocated his fist bump and checked out the group of guys prepping a pool table for a round of games. “What’s the wager tonight, boys?”

“Info we have on the families involved. Loser spills. We have whistleblowers here tonight and it’s going to make things interesting to say the least.” Blonde hair came into view after I heard him. Alexander Fitzgerald.

I hated that dude’s guts.

“Ah, a wager I can get in on. Though, I keep my hands clean...unlike some people.” I threw on my nonchalant face, scanning the group of guys to see who I got a rise out of.

Playing poker was fun. Threatening people was more so.

“Fuck yeah, man! That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s play ball–er, pool!” Josh was tipsy as shit, but he was here for a good time. His family was nowhere near wealthy anymore and was just happy to be here.

“Tell us, Vaughn,” Alexander said, “do you have any dirty details on that Garrett? None of the football team showed–like fucking cowards.” He downed his drink and threw the empty cup on the floor, spitting for emphasis. “My parents are looking for any and all minute details they can use to help the prosecution. High profile case and all.”

Yeah, yeah. We loved hearing about his family’s lawyer legacy anytime he was around. He wouldn’t shut up about it wherever he went. Sure, your family was here during the founding of the country, but mine was too. Our families never had any beef between them, but after the incident, we almost did. The guy rubbed me the wrong way as icing on the cake.

“Did I lose a game? I have information, but someone’s going to have to beat it out of me.”

They all leaned in.

I took a slow swig from my flask before tucking it back into my jacket.

“What’re you all looking at? You want to hear about how I live across the street from his little girlfriend or something?”I’m going to need more alcohol for this.

Josh perked up. “We live across the street from her? I might need to make a trip up the street to offer a shoulder to cry on. She’s a hottie.”

That pissed me off enough to beat the shit out of him, friends or not. The thought of anyone touching her like that pissed me off. She wasmine.

“No, you little gnat. She’s top family here. If anyone is introduced to her it’s going to be me. I already have it in the works that she’s going to be mine. She’ll be sure to be interested in my services.” A twisted grin grew on his face.

Great. Maybe I should have done drugs. At least I’d be able to fucking deal with all this talk about the girl that wasmineand would not be touched by the likes of these fucks.Sorry, not sorry, Josh.

But I made a move that I would regret. “Have at it, she seems uptight from what I’ve seen of her. She’s over there if you want to get your head bit off.”

He clapped me on the shoulder and handed me the pool cue, walking in her direction. I dug my own grave with that one and I wasn’t sure I’d let him live through the night if he put his grubby hands on her.

Someone needed to bring another round of drinks. I needed to be drunk for this.

“Alright, boys. Who’s ready to play pool?”

Taking the first shot, I broke the balls and landed two in.

Someone piped up. “So, do we know for sure that Garrett’s family is guilty of what’s rumored? We only have one family identified and sometimes we like to gang up and take out the weaker dog. There’s more than one family getting destroyed at any moment and we need to find out who they are–if that’s even happening.”

I handed the pool cue off, observing the conversation. Keeping my mouth shut with important information was my main goal. Finding out what people knew was the second. Anything I heard at either party was to be immediately reported to the Dictator as soon as possible. Full write up.

“A guy in my class ran out as soon as the text dropped.”

“And who was that?”

The cue came back to me, and I took my shot while listening carefully.

“Oh gosh, uh, was his name pencil? No, that’s not a name. Pens and pencils...Oh! Penn. Is that a name?” He sounded very drunk, but Penn was most definitely a name. Penn was a top family, reigning over whatever they wanted to. They were a political family with an affinity for insider trading.

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