The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (102)

“Why’d you take off this morning?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, which caused me to drop my textbook. The sound was loud, slowing gaits, lowering voices, and redirecting gazes. As usual, Ever ignored his admirers as he retrieved my textbook from the floor and placed it in my locker. The moment his hand cleared, I locked up and took off for the computer lab. I knew I was being a tad bitchy, but I couldn’t stand being pitied right now. The computer lab was empty, so I sat in the first vacant seat. I didn’t realize I was being followed until Ever sank into the empty seat next to me.

“Don’t you have class?” I questioned as I booted up the computer.

“Don’t you?”

I sighed while keeping my gaze locked on the computer screen. “I can’t do this right now, Ever.”

There was a pause and then, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“No, you wanted to be controlling.”

My chair scraped the floor when he jerked it sideways until I was facing him, and if that weren’t enough, he grabbed hold of my chin and forced me to look him in the eye. Bastard. “The last thing I’m feeling right now, Four, is in control.”

And I believed him. It was right there in his eyes. The last thread unraveling. I pulled my chin from his hand, but I didn’t look away. The plea in his eyes had won me over. “I took off because I didn’t want to face you, so please don’t make me.”

The plastic groaned when he gripped the sides of my chair and leaned forward. “You think I give a shit that your mother’s a cunt?”

I made a noise that sounded like desperation and despair. “Rosalyn just thinks she’s protecting me.”

“Enabling her doesn’t make you a better daughter. It doesn’t make you more worthy of life. It just makes you her prisoner. Last night wasn’t her illness talking. It wasn’t about love and protection. It was Rosalyn being selfish.”

“I don’t care if she kicks me out or never speaks to me again. I actually think she’d be better off, but what if I’m wrong? What if I do this, and she goes off her meds? I’ve always been the one to put her back together, not tear her apart.”

“You aren’t the reason her head is fucked up. It’s no one’s fault, but the choices she made were her own. Don’t let her stop you from making yours.”

“I’m not backing out.” I didn’t miss how the tension left his body at my assurance. “I just wish racing didn’t come with such catastrophic consequences.”

He unfolded my fist, and I realized I had been digging into my palm with my fingernails. Ever kissed the abused skin. “Don’t fret, princess. We just need a game plan.”

“We?”

The late bell rang, but we both ignored it as his hands slid around my hips and cupped my ass. We were close. Close enough to kiss. Close enough to become one. “I know what I want, and nothing’s going to stop me from taking it. Can you say the same?”

I leaned in until our foreheads touched, wanting nothing more than to feel his lips pressed against mine. His eyes gleamed, daring me to take what I wanted—racing, Rosalyn or what’s right be damned.

But then the door opened.

And the chorus of laughter that followed suddenly stopped.

My back was to the door, but the whispered curse that fell from Ever’s lips told me what I needed to know.

We had been caught.

Ever leaned back in his chair as his hardened gaze followed the whispering group heading for the back row. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the glances and snickers gave me a pretty good idea. This was not good.

“Don’t worry about them,” Ever dictated. I tore my gaze away from the group, expecting to see his cool demeanor firmly in place. Instead, there was calculation and a burning urge to do damage control.

“You first.”

He rose with the grace and authority, resembling a king rising from his throne, and dragged me to my feet. “Let’s go.”

As if we didn’t have an audience, he led me with his hand on the small of my back all the way to my classroom. I was thinking of an excuse to give my teacher when Ever pushed me against the wall and took the kiss we’d been denied.

My heart was racing. Because someone could catch us at any moment and also because he was sending a message with his lips and his hard body pressed almost desperately against mine.

He wasn’t backing down.

He needed me.

Maybe as much as I needed him.




My stomach growled when I walked into my Women’s History class, and I immediately regretted skipping breakfast. I still had another hour until lunch, but there was no way I was going. Getting through second period without spending it locked in a bathroom stall had been hard enough. Word about my almost-kiss with Ever had spread quickly, and for once, it wasn’t just a rumor. There was no mistaking the compromising position we had been caught in.

My phone vibrated just as I took my assigned seat, so I fished it out of my back pocket and flipped open the screen.

MICKEY: In your backyard with ten in the pot and counting. You in?

My palms began to sweat as I read Mickey’s message for a second time. There was no pretense of concern or friendship or even small talk despite the fact that I hadn’t heard from him in over a year. For Mickey, it was business as usual.