Game On

Chapter 18: The Call

Nick's point of view:

I stare at Peter, my eyes seeing everything in red as the words slip out of his mouth one more time. He's the liar, but why would he lie? Why would he try to kiss Alex when he knows she belongs to me, that she's mine.

I don't understand, but right now I don't care either.

I've never been good at controlling my anger and this time is no exception.

Alex shifts her gaze from Peter to me, then back at Peter with her mouth slightly opened and eyes widened, waiting for the next move.

I rose up from my seat across from Peter and in a few steps, I'm in front of him, clenching my hand into a fist and punching him right across his jaw before he has time to react.

Peter gives out a moan in pain and his hands immediately reach up to his now sore jaw, and Alex flinched at my move but quickly put back her emotionless face again. The sight makes it twitch in the corner of my lips because I know that under that mask, she's afraid. And I like it, I like to know that she is afraid even though she's putting up a damn good act and fight in her attempt of not showing it.

I like the feeling of power it gives me, I like being in control and I want everything to go as I want to and therefore, I'm now literally pissed off on Peter.

He broke our unspoken bro code; never touch someone else's girl.

As I think about it, my gaze turns back to Alex who is watching me intensely.

Damn, she's so hot... and those eyes of hers...

I don't regret taking her, not even for a split second.

She might hate me right now, but the thought entertains me more than it makes me annoyed. I sure do love a good challenge and Alex is certainly giving me one, it's just one thing she doesn't know. I never lose.

If there is something I've learned in life, it's to live it to the fullest and don't look back, and that's exactly what I'm doing. Living to the fullest.

Do I want something, I take it.

Do I want to say something, no matter how inappropriate it might be, I do.

Do I want to hurt someone, like Peter, I'm gladly doing it.

And the greatest of it all? I don't feel any remorse.

As I grew up, I learned to not be sorry, because all it will do is making you feel like crap and acting helpless. You have to fight back and show that you're the one in control, and trust me, that's exactly what I've done. But the past is in the past, no need to bring it up.

I like to live in the moment and in this moment, I want Peter to feel sorry for what he has done. Only because I don't have anything common with remorse, it doesn't mean the people around me feels the same.

And thanks to Zeke, I know the perfect punishment.

"Alex", I called, "go back to our room and stay there, if I find you anywhere else, you'll get punished too, got it?"

I meet her intense stare as she bit her lip and shakes her head.

"No...", she mumbles almost inaudible and I clench my fist even harder, trying to control my anger and annoyance. I do want to release it all, but not on her.

Peter confessed, and that means Alex is innocent, but if I had to put money on who I did think was lying before I knew, my money would have gone on Alex. I mean, her escaping isn't such an unexpected thought, I know she's going to try if she gets the perfect moment, and that's why I'm not going to give it to her.

But Peter, he had sworn he didn't have a thing for Alex, I've made sure to ask him before since he's been a part of us guys for almost three years now, and been hanging out with Alex since she started in his class about a year ago.

I didn't take any notice of her at first when he named her in passing, but as time passed I started to actually listen to what he said about her.

Yeah, he did ask us to specifically not take Alex or anyone else of his so called 'friends' from high school, but he knows as well as all other of us, that if we really want someone, we take her, or him. And I just happened to really want Alex, but she's really getting on my nerves at times, like now.

"What did you say?" I ask her even though I did hear her. I just want her to repeat it, I want to see how far she's willing to go against my will.

She takes a deep breath and gives me a glare, which she immediately wipes away as she remembered what I said about that behavior.

I thought she would shut up to and do as I told her, but no, she holds my gaze and somehow manages to show all the hate and disgust she feels without glaring.

"No", she repeats, this time with a stronger and louder voice, and I groan loudly.

"Fine", I mutter under my breath and look at Zeke, who hasn't said anything in a long time. I still don't trust Alex, and I don't know if she was honest when she came into the living room before and said she wanted to talk to Peter.

"Can you watch her for a while?", I ask him and he gives me a nod and a questioning look.

Before he asks me where I'm going, I answer him.

"I'm going to do a phone call to his little girlfriend if you don't mind?" I know Zeke's the one who makes all decisions, but we're more like brothers than colleagues and as expected, he just gives me a nod and I reaches out my hand towards Peter.

"Your phone, now", I growl, and he looks at me with pleading eyes.

"No, please don't. She doesn't need to kn-"

I snap the phone out of his shaky hand, he knew better than not listening to me with Zeke in the room, so he had reluctantly picked it up from his pocket.

Knowing Peter code, I put in the digits and searched for his girlfriend's name in the contacts. As I do so, he is pleading and begging me not to call her, but I'm not in the mood to listen to him and snaps at him to shut up.

"You know what?" I say as I find her number, "just because you're so annoying, I'm gonna stay here and call her, letting you hear every single word I'm telling her. I wonder what she will think when I tell her about you helped getting one of her friends kidnapped? And since you practically threw yourself over Alex, I'm not going to punish you as much as I would want to." A growing smirk is plastered on my lips and Peter looks at me with widened eyes full of terror.

"What are you going to do?" he breathes out heavily with glossy eyes. Seriously, is he crying?

"Oh, Peter", I almost sing, "I'm not going to punish you for touching my girl because I've realized it would be so much funnier if your own girl took the fall for you."

I smile to myself at the thought of my idea, which I really liked by the way.

"Oh, the irony", I think out loud, "you've told the truth because you didn't want Patricia to get involved, and look where it got you."

Peter is now screaming his lungs out, and I hush him as I look down at the screen to press the green phone icon. Just as I'm about to press call, a high pitched scream tells me to stop. I turn my head towards the source of the screaming and look at Alex as I feel the annoyance grow bigger inside of me.

"And why would I stop?"

Her bottom lip is actually trembling, and she give up her tries of getting out of the grip Zeke's holding her in. I've seen him taking a hold on her shoulders as I took Peter's phone, and I think Alex would have run up to me by now if it wasn't for his grip.

"Because", Alex says in a voice barely above a whisper, "if you bring Patricia here, you won't just hurt Peter, you'll hurt me too. Patricia is my friend. Please, Nick, don't call her. Don't bring her here."

I look at her with a face blank of emotions. As I said before, I don't feel any remorse.

"Sorry Alex", I say without meaning it, "but maybe you have to learn too."

I pressed call and Zeke put a hand over Alex's mouth, suffocating her screams. Patricia can't know Alex's here, not yet. She will just have to see it with her own eyes.