All Chapters of PLAYING THE PLAYER (M×M): Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

~ ALISTAIR ~Bait.Wait.Strike.As soon as we step foot into the locker room with me leading the line, I turn and yank Gunner by the collar before descending on him and throwing a punch to his stupidly sweaty face.I can feel hands trying to yank me off his miserable body but I hold still, transgressing my anger on him.“What the fuck, Tae!” I hear my teammates gasp as they try to pull me off him. But I wasn't having any of it as I leaned my weight on my knee which was pressed deep into Gunner's stomach while he grunted as if he was about to vomit the water he'd drank on the field.He should vomit the fucking thing.I throw punch after punch to his disgusting face, cutting off his fruitless attempts to hit me back until he's a gasping bloody mess below me. That's when I finally yielded to the yanks, chest heaving.“Won't you consider my offer to visit an anger management class?”My head snaps to Ray who'd spoken, gritting my teeth.“Bastard.”Then, I turn and match deeper into the lo

~ CALVIN ~As soon as I step foot into the façade of a manor, the smell of cigarettes pierces my nostrils. I groan, tugging my hoody over my head as I try to walk without being noticed.But yikes!His eyes land on me the moment I step in.Father smiles, showcasing his brownish teeth and the cigarette dangling between his lips.“Welcome son.” I nod, not in the mood to keep the conversation going. I want to scream at him again, want to warn him. But no, he never listens. How can someone diagnosed with chronic kidney failure continue to take substances that have caused it? You know what? Fuck this shit.“How was school?” He asks again and I turn to him, brows raised.“What do you want, father?”He chuckles, swatting the air as he blows the poisonous smoke into the air and I hold my breath. “It's just that the money you brought has finished. I would like to have another one. Oh, and your mother’s too, she told me she'd not eaten.”Knowing him, he probably forced her to hand over her mone

~ ALISTAIR ~I squint my eyes, focusing hard on the words, trying to grasp them before they flicker and disappear before I can pin them down, my brain scrambling to make sense of them.Is it ‘from’ or ‘form’? ‘B’ or ‘D’? ‘Was’ or ‘saw’? The harder I try, the worse it gets. Like a cruel joke dumb me couldn't grasp.This is not helping.I have a secret. One that if let out will tarnish the family name. I'm dyslexic.The Moranos are supposed to be brilliant. Ruthless. Untouchable. A fucking legacy.But me?I'm the broken link in a perfect bloodline. The failure no one talks about.They saw it. They knew. But instead of helping me, they buried it like it was some shameful disease. Moranos don't need help from doctors for a weakness like this. They don't need help. They just… win. It runs in the blood. And if they can't… They pretend.Like me.I zoom the words in, adjusting my glasses on the bridge of my nose as I try to read the whole sentence while trying to push back a looming headache

~ CALVIN ~“Are we going to be doing it here?” He asks stupidly, his eyes darting around before he pulls out the chair opposite me and drops on it casually like he owns the place.“What better place than here?” I reply, not bothering to look up from my book.Right now, Morano and I are tucked in a secluded part of the library on the fourth floor - the last floor. This is the only place I could think of for our first coaching session. The place is too dusty and quiet but it's the best spot to keep nosy idiots out of my business. I'm not about to let Morano and his bad luck ruin my spotless reputation just because he's too dumb to keep up with his courses.He snickers as he pulls out a tablet and a stylus pen, like that's supposed to impress me or something.“You read with that?” I ask, arching an eyebrow. His straight black hair falls over his face and he smoothens it back, showing his straight aristocratic nose.He shoots me with a glare. “You got a problem with it?”“No.” I say cool

~ CALVIN ~I push the door open, my nose suddenly getting assaulted with the foul smell coming from inside. But I know it will only take a little time before I get accustomed to it. Again.My eyes land on the woman sitting on the couch, staring at the place the TV used to be before it was pawned off. My brows shoot up at her swollen face, my hands clenched into fists as I rush to her before bending down by the sofa near her “What the fuck mom?!” I snap through clenched teeth.She turns to me slowly with a dazed look in her vibrant green eyes which had lost their austere since when I was ten, her lips and face bruised. “Honey, you are back.” She whispers, staring through me as she rakes her fingers through my hair.I seeth. “Did he hit you again?”She sighs and turns away. “You don't need to worry about it Cal. I angered him. I should have just given him the money.”I stand up, seeing fucking red. That bastard hit mom again.“Where's he?!”“There's nothing you can do to him. Hitting