Page 121 of Their Cruel Play
“No, I’m taking her home.” Eli grabs my hip and drags me in close again. The urge to wrap my arms around him and hold him flows through me, but this time I resist.
His mother’s eyes narrow, but she steps back. “I won’t keep you then.”
Yeah, this woman doesn’t think I’m long for this role. A week ago, I would have agreed with her. But now, I’m not so sure. Elileads me to my backpack and puts it on his shoulder before we head out.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he says as we reach his car. He opens the door for me.
“I know.” I press up on my toes and kiss him briefly. “But if we’re going all in, we might as well be out to all the parents.”
He drags me in close to his body, cupping my ass. His lips brush my ear when he says, “I’m going to fuck you so hard when I have you in my bed, kitten. You won’t be able to sit still in class for a week after.”
It’s official. I’m broken, because that makes me hot. He captures my lips and makes my kiss look like kindergarten. I sink my hands into his hair and tug on it, giving him that little bit of pain. He nips at my lip, and I smile against his.
“Get in the car, Harper.” Eli squeezes my ass and then draws away to round to the other side.
He doesn’t bring up Nico on the drive home, even as we pass his house. I’m grateful. Nico is difficult right now. I don’t like this new jealousy thing he has with Luke. Maybe it’s always been there, and it escalated.
He’s also changing from who he was just last week, and I don’t know if I like who he’s turning into. I really wanted a night to talk to him. To figure out what else is going on in his life because something is stressing him out.
It sounds like his mom is lonely and he hasn’t said much about his dad.
I was all in until he whispered how he was going to make me come harder than anyone else. Especially Luke.
I’m all for competition in making me come, but it sounded vindictive. Like he had something to prove and not necessarily to me.
That type of energy in this relationship could get toxic real quick. So I gave him a time out. Oh, I got off getting him there,but I took away the prize. But I was so done with the game at that point. He took away the fun by being an ass.
The other guys can be asses, but they didn’t come at me by pretending to be my friend in the beginning. Even when they were nice, they were still asses. They were themselves. Yes, they’re possessive and competitive, especially Luke. But they don’t tear each other down to make a point.
I get that Caden and Luke spend more time with me, but it’s just the nature of their home lives. I’m sure both would prefer to have to sneak out rather than having their family abandon or abuse them.
I’m not sure who Nico is trying to be. At least, who he’s trying to be to me? Clearly, we’re not the best friends we once were, but he can’t seem to let that go. He thinks he should be special to me because we were friends before.
We’re going to need to talk, but I’m not giving up a night with someone else for that. Maybe I’ll offer him a date for dinner as a consolation prize, so we can discuss it.
“You okay, kitten?” Eli’s voice is soft. His hand brushes over the back of mine.
“Yes, just thinking.”
“If you need help with Nico, let me know.” Eli pulls into my driveway and parks the car. “We were close as kids because we play the same position. We were competitive as fuck with each other at first, but then we found a rhythm.”
“I’m sure he’s just adjusting to being here instead of New York.” I blow out a breath. “His whole life got turned upside down. What he thought he’d come back to isn’t quite the rosy picture he expected it to be.”
Had he shown up that first day of school, maybe things would have gone differently. Before the horsemen laid claim, he would have been the only one I saw. Even when he showed upto the football game, there was an instant connection that was irresistible. I want that guy again.
“Some of it is wording, kitten. You aren’t starting from the ground floor, but you’re building something new.” Eli pulls our hands to his lips and kisses the back of mine. “I’m sure you’ll find the right words to get through to him. But I’ll see if there’s more going on.”
My chest floods with warmth, and I remember his bedroom. “I really enjoyed playing with you today, sir.”
His smile is a little devious and makes heat swirl inside. “Me too, kitten.”
Dinner is apparentlya family affair all around. Everyone texted when their dinners would be done. Even Nico. I pissed him off, and I’m not sorry I did it.
“So, are we going to talk about your relationships?” Mom sets the casserole dish on the table in front of me. Chicken and rice. She sits in her chair and dishes some out onto both our plates.
I squirm in my chair. This was inevitable. “What do you want to know?”
There are things I’ll never tell her. Some things I might wait until I’m an adult in a stable relationship to tell her. But there are things I could actually talk about now. Especially now that she knows this is more than friendship. I can get her thoughts.
