“What happened here?” the taller guard, a Black guy with a piercing stare and a shaved head, asks.
“He hit me!” Mike yells, climbing slowly to his feet. His jaw is bright red, clear evidence to support his claim. “There were witnesses.” The asshole has been blackmailing my girlfriend and talking shit about her, and yet he still has the audacity to look outraged. “I want to press charges.”
That escalated quickly.
The security guard turns to me. “Sir, I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“What? No.” Piper rushes to stand between the guard and me. “You don’t understand. He was defending me.”
“It’s okay, darlin’.” I squeeze her shoulders and drop a kiss on top of her head, before I cut my gaze at her TA. “I have no regrets.”
Hell, I’d do it again. No disparages my girl like that and gets away with it.
She whirls to face me, panic etched in the soft lines of her face. “What about the game?”
“It’s just a game, Piper.” I take her hands in mine and bring them to my lips, brushing a soft kiss against them. “I love you. You’re what matters.”
Her cheeks go pink and for a second, I think she’s going to return the sentiment. Our heads are clearly in two different places though because she just shakes her head. “Your mom and grandma came all this way…”
“They’ll understand.”
The guard clears his throat. “Sir, I need you to come with me now.”
I nod and release Piper’s hands as Coach Collins lays into my teammates, his face the color of a cherry.
“Get your asses on the bus! We’ve got a game to play.” He shoots me a dark look and I swear my balls shrivel up. “But first I need to deal with Vaughn.”
Coach Walker appears at his side and whispers something inaudible. When he’s done, Coach Collins throws up his hands. “Fine. You deal with this mess, but you better be on the sideline before kickoff.”
“I’ll get Vaughn sorted out,” Coach Walker promises, giving no guarantee about kickoff. “Do me a favor and tell Davis to be ready. It looks like we’re going to need him.”
Fucking fuck.
Davis is the second string left tackle. The kid is a decent ballplayer, but he’s only a sophomore and he hasn’t seen nearly enough game play.
For the first time, the impact of my actions truly hits me.
I may have saved Piper, but I screwed my teammates.
38
PIPER
The security guardshaul Brady away like a criminal, and there’s nothing I can say or do to stop them. This whole mess is my fault. It never would have happened if I’d just kept my mouth shut, but no, I had to lose my shit and confront Mike McConnell just hours before kickoff.
If only you had a time-turner, you could fix it.
If only.
Nausea roils in my belly.
If it weren’t for me, none of this would have happened.
I’m the one who kept secrets. I’m the one who couldn’t walk away when I saw Mike pounding a beer in the lobby. Now Brady’s going to pay the price.
It’s bad enough he’s going to miss the game—win or lose, he’ll beat himself up for letting the team down—but assault charges? That’s serious.
Those charges will follow him for the rest of his life, all because of me.
