The Other Game (The Perfect Game 4)

wanted us to stay with her.”

A loud hoot of laughter came from Jack. “And she believed that? Shit, she would have never believed that coming from me.” He stood there, shaking his head and grinning at me.

“That’s because coming from you, it would have been a lie.”

“But it was a lie! So,” he said, jabbing me in the chest with his damn hard finger, “you lied to Gran. How does it feel? Are you going to cry yourself to sleep tonight?”

I turned to walk away but stopped at the door to Melissa’s bedroom. “You’re an ass. It’s not like I could tell her the truth. She would have made the three of us stay there all weekend and put us on lockdown until school started Monday morning.”

Jack nodded, sobering. “No, you’re right. You’d better hope she doesn’t find out what happened, or she’s going to flip.”

“It’s okay. If she hears anything,” I said with a smirk, “I’ll just blame you. She’ll believe this was all your idea.”

“I’m impressed. Now go to bed. Love you.” He gave my shoulder a squeeze.

I smiled. “Love you too.”

“Cass already put some Advil on the nightstand in the room for you. There’s a couple water bottles in there too.”

“Tell her thanks for me.”

I had just lay down in Melissa’s bed as my phone beeped.

Melissa: I’m sick over everything that happened. I just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you, and I wish I was there to take care of you.

Damn. I wish she was here to take care of me too.

• • •

My eyes opened as soon as I realized I wasn’t in my firm bed at home. Instead I was lying on something that felt like a cloud, surrounded by fluffy pillows that hugged my head and body. I blinked a few times before the room came into focus, and the memory of last night came crashing back to me.

I was in Melissa’s room. Melissa wasn’t here. And some guy broke a forty over my head and punched Cassie in the face.

When I sat up too quickly, my head spun and I felt woozy, so I lay back down, allowing Melissa’s pillows to cradle me in a fluffy hug.

My head ached; my brain beat like a bongo drum inside it each time my heart beat. When I could no longer stand it, I grabbed the bottle of pain reliever and poured a few into my palm before tossing them into my mouth, and washed them down with some of the water Cassie had left on the nightstand. Please, let them work quickly.

Jack and Cassie’s voices filtered through my closed door, and I was thankful they were already awake.

I moved slowly, not wanting to encourage the pain in my head as I padded toward the bathroom. Looking around at the floor, I realized that I didn’t have anything to wear other than what I’d showed up in last night, so I reached for my shorts but left my bloody T-shirt in a heap on the floor.

When I stepped out into the living area, the scent of bacon assaulted my senses, triggering some major drool. I followed my nose into the kitchen.

“Mmm, bacon.”

Jack turned from the stove and raised his eyebrows at me. “Dude. Shirt?”

“It’s all bloody. I don’t have anything else to wear.”

Cassie hopped up from the bar stool at the snack bar. “Jack has some shirts here. I’ll go get you one.”

The bruises on her face had deepened in color, and I found it hard to look at her without getting upset.

“I can’t believe you’re cooking,” I said to Jack.

“He won’t let me do a thing, Dean!” Cassie came back to the kitchen to hand me a plain black tee, and I nodded a silent thank-you. “He’s been babying me all night and morning.”

“It’s called taking care of you,” Jack said. “And I’m trying really hard, but you’re being a pain in the ass about it.” He pointed at her with a greasy spatula before turning his attention back to the sizzling bacon.