The Play (Briar U, #3)(50)

Hunter tried to warn me. He found the courage to tell me what he saw at the party and—

I abruptly turn to Corinne again. “Was that you at the frat party?” I demand.

She blinks. “What?”

“A couple of weekends ago, the party at the Alpha Delta house on Saturday night—were you there with Nico?”

She rapidly shakes her head. “No, I swear I wasn’t. I’m in a study group with Kyler and Ahmed and we meet Saturday night.”

She gestures to the two guys, who are quick to back up her alibi. “We were all together,” Kyler says awkwardly.

“Then how long has this been going on?” My voice is cold.

“It only happened once,” she blurts out. “Just one time, I swear.”

My stomach roils again. I don’t want to hear anymore. I’m done.

Gulping hard, I spin on my heel and stomp toward the door. Nico chases after me, his pleading voice echoing through the small apartment.

“Demi, please, stop! Let me explain.”

“Explain what?” I roar, whirling around. “You cheated on me with my friend! And then again with some other girl at the party! Who was she? How many goddamn women are you screwing?”

“I didn’t cheat on you. She’s lying—”

“Hey!” Corinne flies forward. “I am not lying!”

I flick my gaze her way and glimpse a flash of outrage. It’s directed at my boyfriend.

“I’m not lying, Demi,” Corinne says quietly. “It happened.”

And I believe her.

“Pippa,” I say in a wobbly voice. “Get me an Uber. Now.” I’m fighting tears, because my phone’s dead and I’m trapped here in this stupid apartment with my traitorous friend and my cheating boyfriend and I just want to crawl in a fucking hole and die.

“On it,” Pippa tells me.

“Demi.” Nico tries to grab my arm.

On instinct I swing my other arm and clock him in the face. His head rears back, a bitter curse ripped out of his mouth.

My fist caught him on his left cheekbone. With a wounded expression, he cups one hand over it. “You hit me.”

“You bet I fucking did, and you deserve a whole lot more, you fucking asshole.”

“Uber’s two minutes away,” Pippa announces.

I jab my index finger into the center of Nico’s chest. “Do not follow me,” I warn him, and then I run out the door.





17





Hunter





It’s Friday night and my roommates and I are playing an inane board game called Zombies!? Exclamation mark included.

Hollis is home for the weekend, which means we get to listen to him and Rupi bicker over the latest development in the game. Hollis just drew a Sacrifice card—this requires him to sacrifice someone in our collaborative group in order for the rest of us to get closer to safety. Only problem is, the most advantageous move would be to get rid of Rupi. If she dies, we don’t lose much. Everybody else is too valuable to the group. There are two crossbows in my arsenal, for chrissake. What does Rupi have? Nothing.

“Dammit, Mike, finish her off,” Summer bursts out, and damned if I don’t crack up hearing someone as angelic-looking as Summer advocating for the fake killing of one of our friends.

“Summer!” Rupi gasps in utter betrayal.

“What?” she says defensively. “The whole point is to get the most people to the research station. There’s only one Sacrifice card in the deck. Only one person in the group is gonna die and it has to be you.”

“Has to be you,” Brenna agrees, taking a sip of the hot chocolate that soon-to-be deceased Rupi prepared for us.

“Mike,” Rupi warns. “If you kill me, I swear to God…”

“Babe,” he says.

“Mike.”

“Babe.”

“Mike.”

“Babe,” he sighs, and then places the Sacrifice card in front of her pile.

Rupi shrieks loud enough to shake the coffee table. “I cannot believe you did that!”

“I had no choice,” he protests. “It was best for the group.”

“What about what’s best for me?”

“You’re being very selfish right now, babe.”

“Why? Because I want my boyfriend to protect me from harm? I don’t believe this! After we’re done with this game, I’m going to—”

“You are done with the game,” Brenna interrupts dryly. “He killed you.”

Rupi huffs and flounces off in traditional Rupi fashion. The girl is a drama queen.

Luckily, she found true love with a drama king. Hollis stands up and throws his frazzled arms up in the air. “Do you see what you made me do?” he accuses the rest of us. “This is why I never play board games!”

He hurries after Rupi.

“And then there were three,” Brenna says indifferently, flipping through her arsenal cards.

“We can’t go on without him,” I tell her. “He’s the only one who has the antidote for the second mutation. Oh, and the only one who can skin a rabbit.”

“We’ll redistribute all the assets,” Summer suggests.