Playing the Game (Providence University #6) - Ali Parker Page 0,69

I don’t want to call the fucking cops, but I will.”

Will balled up his fists. “If you and Avery have problems, that’s on you. She’s too good for you anyway. Everyone knew you’d fuck it up eventually.”

“Oh, is that so? I suppose your broken, junkie ass is better for her? I know you have something for her. You’ve been sniffing around a little too hard. You decided to have my leftovers instead. I bet you played your little game to break us up and thought you’d come in here to gloat.”

“Fuck you, that’s my past. And if I wanted Avery, I would have had a better chance than you did.”

“Right, tell yourself that. But if drugs are your past, cheating is mine. You’re pathetic. You encouraged Britany to hit on me just so I’d refuse her and you could get her in the sack.”

Will shrugged it off. “Jealous?”

I took another swing, that time connecting. My fist throbbed with pain that seared up my arm to my elbow, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to do it again.

Will’s nose started to bleed, and he wiped it away, his eyes focusing hard as he blinked several times. “I’m going to waste your ass.”

As he came forward, I decided to show the guy what an ass whooping looked like. It wasn’t a sparring contest in a ring with helmets, mouthguards, and gloves.

I had learned to fight the hard way by getting my ass beaten daily by my old man. Bryan and I learned to fight to protect our mother, and as I swung at Will, my father’s face was all I saw.

By the time I was done swinging, Will lay on the floor in a puddle of his own blood and spit. He moaned when I got up, but he lay there, breathing hard from his beating.

I rose up and looked at the bartender who held up both hands. “It’s on the house,” said the old man. “Just don’t break anything else on your way out.”

When I got outside, I jumped in my Jeep and hoped the bartender wouldn’t call the cops. I wasn’t going to be around if they showed up. I started the Jeep and drove out of town, not slowing down and not looking back.

Chapter 25

Avery

At the start of the next week, I was well enough to go to class. I hadn’t seen Seth. Other than one text asking him to please leave me alone, I hadn’t talked to him either.

I hadn’t told Clara about what had happened yet, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before she learned the truth about us. Everyone would. It just didn’t feel real, and I guessed part of me was still hoping for a miracle, even though I kept telling myself to give him up for good this time.

Thinking that gave me pains, but it was a wound that would take time to heal.

The morning after he left, I had called Abi, and seeing me in that state, she had threatened to call Clara. I had begged her not to.

“You have to eat something,” she said. “Is that your food?” She pointed to the stuff Seth had left for me.

“I’m not eating that.” I walked over to throw it in the garbage. “I’ll make a sandwich. I am long past taking my medicine. I figure it serves me right for giving Clara such a fit.”

“Are you absolutely sure this is all true? I was at the party, and Seth wasn’t around as far as I could tell.”

“When did you leave?” I’d asked her.

“Two, two thirty.”

“This happened after that. She probably waited for you to leave, and when the coast was clear, she called him up.”

It seemed like a good theory, and as I played the rest of the day in my head, it didn’t get any better.

I had cried myself to sleep that night and made up my mind that I was not going to let him get me further behind.

Luckily, I had only one class to make up for, and that was the one class I’d shared with Abi, so she was going to let me study her notes. I was on the way to her dorm when she met me outside. “Hey, you. You’ll never guess what I just heard.”

“If it’s about Seth, spare me.”

“Well, sort of, but you’re going to want to hear this.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” The rumors were already starting.

“He beat the shit out of Will Tanner. And from what I