***
Campus was quiet, most people already back in their dorms or still at bigger parties. The three of us walked slowly, in no hurry to get back.
“That was fun,” Emily said, linking her arm through mine. “We should do this more often.”
“Agreed, but next time, Liam needs to contribute more than one answer,” Noah said.
I grinned. “Hey, that one answer was crucial.”
He turned and laughed. “It was worth three points.”
“Crucial points.”
Emily laughed, squeezed my arm.
We walked in comfortable silence for a bit, passing the library, the student center, the academic buildings all dark and empty.Noah was humming something under his breath—probably still riding the high of telling the poker story.
After a minute, Noah’s expression shifted and got more serious. “Hey, the computer science guy got back to me about the video.”
My stomach dropped. I still hadn’t told Emily about the video and I wasn’t planning on it.
“What video?” Emily asked, looking between us.
“The video of the illegal race with Alex.”
“Noah—“ I started, heat flashing through my chest.
Emily stopped walking, turned to face us both. “What illegal race?”
Fuck.
My jaw clenched. Noah had just thrown me under the bus in front of Emily—the one person I’d been trying to keep in the dark about this. About Alex. About all of it.
I shot Noah a look that could’ve killed and he winced apologetically.
Emily’s eyes went wide. “When was this?”
My heart was hammering. I could feel the conversation spiraling, feel Emily’s attention sharpening like a blade. This was exactly what I didn’t need—her asking questions, digging deeper, connecting dots.
“At the start of the semester,” I said, resigned.
“And that’s what the video is of?”
I hesitated. Noah jumped in trying to save the conversation. “It’s not a big deal. Liam and Alex had a little rival race one morning.”
It didn’t work.
Emily’s mouth opened slightly. She looked at me. “You raced him? Before the official scrimmage?”
“We ran into each other on the water first day of classes,” I said, keeping my voice level. “It wasn’t planned. We just—it happened.”
“And someone filmed it?”
“I guess so... and they sent it to me the other day.”
“So someone you don’t know sent you footage of an illegal race that could get you kicked off the team?” Emily asked.
“Pretty much. Just the one message. ‘Thought you’d want to see this.’ That’s it,” I said.
