I stood in the quad, knowing this was my fault because I’d woken up happy this morning.
Me: You need to come to my parents’ house for lunch on Sunday.
Peterson: You’re funny
Me: I’m serious. She wants to meet you.
Peterson: Are you serious?
Me: Unfortunately
Peterson: Tell her it’s a front
Me: So I explain to her it’s a way to stop a pic of you about to suck my dick from being leaked???
Peterson: FFS. What time on Sunday and what do I wear?
I sat in my next class very conscious of the fact that I was getting more attention than usual. Is this how Dante felt when he and Savvy started dating? Why can’t anyone mind their own business? My mind wandered as the lecturer began to talk about market trends. The only person I wanted to talk to about that message — besides Hadley, of course — was Briar.
I’d met her that night, right after Hadley and I were in the street. I’d suspected that she may have seen us. But she had that image of the football stadium... I hadn’t taken a note of the time then. Was it feasible that she’d done both in the short time frame? I needed to talk to her.Reallyneeded to talk to her. I was sure it was her.
After my class finished, I headed to the dining hall for lunch. I sat at our table alone. No Noah. No Dante. God, those two were going to make it a thing. I picked my food up and headed to the dorm room. One or both may be there. If they were brawling it out, at least I had snacks.
When I got into the apartment, Dante’s door was open, but the room was empty. I went to Noah’s room. He was lying on his bed, tossing a stress ball up in the air and catching it.
“Yo.” I leaned against the doorframe, eating my wrap. “You okay?”
“Sure.”
“You missed lunch.”
“Not hungry.” He put the ball on his chest and never moved. “So... you and the reporter.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “It went too far the other night in the street. I lost control a little bit. The one night I fuck up, they have to be watching.”
Noah sat up. “Which means they were either always watching you, or you just got really unlucky.” His eyebrows lifted. “I’d say the former.”
I nodded. “Yeah, me too.” I walked farther into his room. “He knows it was a mistake. He’ll apologize.”
Noah shook his head. “No, he won’t. Because he’s a dick. That’s the second time he’s punched me over Savvy. The first time was because I got to call her Savvy, and he didn’t. He’s a possessive asshole.”
“He can be a little out there,” I conceded, feeling uncomfortable. “But he’s under a lot of strain—”
“Weallare under a lot of strain,” Noah snapped. “Do you think he remembershedragged us into this? He got involved.Wegot involved.Becauseof him. Do you think I really care if the right guard’s getting a B-minus instead of a C-minus?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t give a fuck. I know that my grades aremygrades. Do you think I care if they pay a redshirt to sit on the bench and keep his mouth shut, when the injured first-team player plays when he shouldn’t? No. It’s none of my fucking business.” He stood. “None of this has fuck all to do with me.”
“I’m sorry.” I was. I heard what he was saying; in truth, I agreed. It was really bad to know that this was happening. But it wasn’t happening to us, and I knew I got here on my own merit, and I knew I was a starter because no one in their right mind would bench me. Or Noah. “You can step back,” I told him, and I meant that too. “Use this thing with him and Savvy and take a step back, distance yourself if you want. You were really good at being the strong, silent type.”
Noah’s lips twitched. “I was.”
“And you’re right about the grades, and you’re right about the redshirts. And it really was none of our business.” I paused. “But that’s not all of it now.”
Noah didn’t move.
“There’s a girl,” I carried on quietly. “Somewhere out there, there’s a girl who filed a complaint, it took her three attempts because she was so scared, and it got buried. They pulled Mason Sterling before anyone could talk to him. They deleted the article before it ran.Someonewas in that storage room scratching his name out with so much force they nearly tore through the paper.” I let out a heavy sigh. “And today, I get a photo of Hadley and me on my phone from an unknown number. Which means someone is watching us. Which could mean someone knows we’ve been asking questions.”
Noah’s jaw was tight.
“So yeah,” I told him. “We can step back from the grade altering. We can step back from bench politics and the redshirt payoffs and all of that.” I looked at him, and he met my gaze. “But someone got hurt. They got silenced, and the someone who did that, they’re still out there. And someone inthisprogram knows that, and they’ve been watching us.” I rubbed my jaw. “And absolutelyno oneshould see her like thatever.”