Playing the Game (Providence University #6) - Ali Parker Page 0,68

I didn’t like the way she looked when I left and hated knowing she was hurting because of me. Sure, I hadn’t done anything, but because of me, this had happened. That was enough.

I tried to call her, but she didn’t pick up. I hoped she had called someone to look after her, and the only reason I didn’t call Clara myself was because I didn’t know if Avery was still upset with her too.

I had drunk three beers by the time Will Tanner showed up. I saw his smile in the mirror behind the bar as he pulled up a seat beside me. “You look like you had a rough night.”

“Yeah, more like a rough morning.” I wasn’t planning to confide in him about my problems. I still wasn’t sure he didn’t have a thing for Avery.

“Too bad. I hate that you missed that killer party last night. It was so wild. You should have been there, man. Everyone was asking about you.” He looked at the bartender. “I’ll have what he’s having.”

“But I wasn’t there. And I didn’t want to be.” Not that anyone would believe me. Once the rumor mill got wind that Avery and I were broken up, they’d have the story turned around to where I was there, partying as usual. After everything that happened with Avery, I didn’t want to be anywhere but alone.

“What’s gotten into you lately, man? Just because you’re seeing Avery doesn’t mean you have to ghost everyone else in your life. Although I have to say, I’m kind of glad you weren’t around last night.”

“Oh? Why’s that? Did you finally get to be the belle of the ball?” The guy craved attention and had been known to cause a lot of trouble to get it.

He chuckled. “It was a whole lot easier to get Britany’s attention. That’s for sure.” He grinned, wagging his eyes as if he had scored big with her.

I stiffened, the drink in my mouth turned stale as it slid down my throat. “You were with Britany Burns?”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “She took some convincing. She had to get you out of her system first. Man, was she hung up, but don’t worry. I banged that out of her.”

“She asked me to come to the party, you know? But I didn’t.”

“Yeah, I told her to invite you and that you wouldn’t show up. I told her you were with Avery now and to give it up, but she bet me she could change that. She lost. I won. The rest is history. I just dropped her off at home.”

“What do you mean she lost? Aside from sleeping with you?” The jab was too easy not to take. Will had a way of setting himself up. And I had a feeling he was about to set himself up for an ass beating.

“Funny,” he said before taking another drink. He shook his head as he swallowed. “No, she said she could break you up. I told her to give it her best shot. When you didn’t show, she came to my room.” His tone was so matter of fact like he didn’t care whose lives he fucked with. He was clueless.

“You played games with Avery and me to score Britany? Dude, you have no idea what kind of trouble you’ve caused us.”

“Man, I didn’t do shit,” he said, still with a big shit-eating grin on his face. “She was the one talking all kinds of shit about you and her. But don’t worry. By the time I was done with her, she had other things to do with her mouth.” He laughed and took a sip of his beer.

The anger built inside me until I saw red, and knowing that asshole had something to do with me and Avery splitting up made it so much worse. I turned and pushed him off of his barstool, spilling his drink until the bottle crashed to the floor.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he asked, scrambling to his feet. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. I’ll beat your ass.”

“I could say the same to you. You and your stupid whore fucked things up with us last night. Playing your fucking games. Am I a fucking joke to you?” I swung, but he ducked, and when he swung, he missed me too.

The bartender was yelling for us to stop, but there wasn’t much of a crowd, so he eventually stepped back to see what happened next. “Dammit, don’t break anything.