Games Boys Play: A Dark High School Romance (Troubled Playthings 2)

’t know you existed before today.”

He probably thought he was dealing me some crushing blow, too. But I knew damn well that being noticed by boys like him—men, now—wasn’t healthy for me. “And that’s how I like it. I have no interest in whatever clout you think my getting into a relationship might offer. My goal here is to get an education and stay out of trouble.”

Tyrell smirked. “Trouble is exactly what you’re finding here, you mouthy bitch.”

Suddenly Steven was next to us. Pushing Tyrell away from me. “How about you calm the fuck down?”

“Oh, here we go,” someone said. There was a crowd gathering around the three of us now, then pushing me aside as Tyrell and Steven got a better grip on one another and started pushing like a pair of warring goats. I didn’t offer much resistance. I didn’t want to be in the middle of that mess, and actually I was a bit in shock that Steven had come back to defend me. It didn’t have anything to do with me though, really. I was just an excuse for him to pick a fight with someone a little more fun to take on.

Suddenly Callie was by my side, touching my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I told her. At least it was nice that she’d bothered to look out for me.

Then Lucas Starling stepped into the fray, coming between Steven and Tyrell like a wedge.

“Ty,” he said, “are you so fucking short on pussy yourself these days you’ve got to harass someone else’s?”

“Excuse me,” I spoke up, “I am not ‘someone else’s pussy’. That is far more insulting than anything he said to me.”

And I should have known Callie was only there because she was trailing her new boyfriend.

“I don’t want this fucking drama,” Steven said. “I’m out of here.”

I pulled away from Callie. “Not before me.”

And we actually crashed into one another in the doorway. Steven flinched at the brush of my arm on his and pushed me aside so my shoulder collided painfully with the opposite side of the doorframe. I used that momentum to push myself ahead and scramble out in front of him. I was going to be well clear of him and on my way to the library before I got caught up in any more trouble.

I felt my shoulder jerking back in its socket. Steven had me by the wrist again.

“What is wrong with you?” I tried to yank myself free and couldn’t budge him. “Would you just let me go already and leave me alone?”

Steven scoffed. “Now you care about leaving other people alone when your presence isn’t wanted.”

“So what are you going to do then, keep me here just to be an asshole?”

He shrugged with his free arm.

I had never felt so much rage towards a person I hardly knew. I yanked on my arm once, then again harder. It sent stabbing pain through my shoulder, and I didn’t care.

On my third attempt, I managed to pull my hand free, and then I swung it forward as a fist.

Steven caught my fist in one outstretched hand and hardly moved backwards a bit. The shock flung me backwards to the ground, but I didn’t stay there long. I was up and flying at him again, and when he rebuffed me casually like it amused him how easy it was, I came back so fast I took him by surprise and slapped his face.

He grabbed me hard around the waist, his fingers digging in. It was my turn to be surprised. He shook me once, then just held me still, bright blue eyes searing into mine with an intensity I felt wriggling down my spine.

“Don’t think I’m going to let you get away with putting your hands on me just because you’re a woman,” he told me, his voice low and somehow shockingly intimate.

“Don’t you think I’m going to let you get away with pushing me around just because you’re so much bigger than me and have friends in high places.”

For a moment his lips moved without any words coming out. “Do you mean fucking Lucas?”

“I mean the whole lot of you. You swan around here like you own the place and you basically do, you wouldn’t have the faintest idea what it’s like for the rest of us.”

“You fucking stupid bitch,” said Steven, but just as I was about to hit him again, someone took hold of my shoulders from behind and pulled me out of range. I was so riled up I was going to fight them off to get back to him, but then I realised it was Ms. Miller… and that I was probably in a lot of trouble.

I’d been expecting Ms. Miller to go off at me once I explained what had happened. To anyone outside of the situation it had to look like I was being unreasonable towards a guy who had actually stepped in and helped me.

But she just told me the minimum I expected—that launching into a fight with a classmate was completely beneath me, and then she said, “How do you want to deal with this?”