Playing Heart Games

Level 47: Tell Him How You Feel

VIOLET

Friday rolled around, and I was still in a daze.

I'd barely seen Alissa since her outburst, but her words still filled my thoughts.

This isn't my family, it's yours.

Hadn't I thought the exact same thing? Was it possible that she felt as much of an outsider as I did?

The school bell rang overhead.

I looked up from my textbook. Outside the library windows, dusk was beginning to settle.

Which meant that was the bell to warn students that the custodian was locking up.

I stood. "Crud."

I glanced around the library. It was empty. How long have I been here?

I glanced down at the textbook I'd been reading. I didn't recognise the page I was on. Had I been so out of it that I'd just sat here for hours?

I shut the book, stuffing it and the others into my bag, then jogged towards the door. Relief poured through me when I realised it wasn't locked.

A breeze hit me as I stepped outside. The parking lot was absent of cars. Most students would have left hours ago.

"You finally came out."

I spun.

Leaning beside the doors to the library was Dakota Johnson.

I stepped back. "What do you want?" I glanced around. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't speak, studying me.

Panic roared through my veins. "Look—I didn't tell him, okay?" I rushed out. "I did what you asked. You can't ruin Axel's life—"

"You don't know."

I faltered. "Don't know what?"

She snorted, her eyes scanning the parking lot. "You'll find out eventually." Her gaze returned to mine. "By the way, I lied."

My brows furrowed. "What?"

She pulled out her phone, turning it towards me. A video—

CCTV camera footage of the school

I stumbled back. "I did—"

My throat tightened as two figures raced across the screen. I frowned as the video continued, my confusion growing.

"The camera didn't capture your faces."

The video stopped playing. I was frozen. She tucked the phone away.

"And even if it had, it wouldn't have mattered. The school doesn't press charges against its students. Especially not against a Ryder."

Her words echoed, bouncing off the surface of my skull.

"Not when Vincent Ryder pays so—"

"You lied."

She blinked. "Yeah."

My mind went blank.

She lied.

She made me break Axel's heart.

Over a lie.

"Why would you do that?" I rasped.

"I thought I could fix my mistakes." She snorted. "Axel...is so hard to win over. But when you do..." She gave a wry smile. "He worships you. You must know how that feels." She shrugged. "But you screw him over once, and he's done with you."