“Play the game, Ash. We’ll figure this out later,” Gray said as he shot me a worried look.
Falling into step with our teammates, we made our way to the cafeteria for lunch. I had three classes this afternoon, and I needed to eat before then. A football was passed easily between us as we walked, and as we got deeper into the campus, I started eyeing every blonde who walked past me.
“Even behind the shades, you look like a perv,” Ash murmured as he caught the ball and threw it back. I smirked despite myself at getting caught. “Play it cool, we’ll figure this out,” Ash repeated Gray’s words from a few minutes ago.
The cafeteria was packed as it would be at lunchtime, and as I looked around the crowded room, I tried to keep my expression neutral. Our usual table was at the very back, positioned with three chairs along one side, with only the wall behind them. It enabled me, my brother, and my cousin to sit and see everything. We hadn’t intended to claim the table on our first day here last year; it had just happened.
The football team knew who we were before we even got here, and just seemed to have migrated to the back of the cafeteria to be with us. It was a thing; it happened throughout school. People wanted to be beside the Santo boys, fuck knows why. I was definitely not a people person, Gray was hostile to the point of violence, and Ash, well, Ash was popular because he was actually the only one who waslikable. Maybe if we ditched our cousin, Gray, and I could enjoy the silence. Even with my temper high, the thought of trying to remove Ash from our lives caused me to smirk. It had been the three of us since we were seven years old. Through elementary, junior high, and then high school, we were inseparable. And now college.
Cardinal Saints College was a D1 college, and as I looked over the cafeteria, I could practically map out the varsity teams at the tables, as each sport grouped together. Like attracted like after all.
Gray, practically vibrating with rage beside me, brought my focus back to my current problem. Pressing my knee into my brother’s to warn him to keep calm, I remained outwardly unaffected. Ash was leaning back in his chair as he surveyed the room coolly. He was equally as angry but hiding it better than my brother, probably better than me if I was honest.
“How the fuck do we hide this from dad?” Gray asked me, his voice low.
“You don’t,” Ash answered quietly as he flashed a smile at a girl crossing the floor. Short skirt, tight top, wide smile. My eyes narrowed as I watched her; her blonde hair wasn’t the right shade of blonde. She wasn’t the girl from Friday.
“Coach has to tell the dean,” Gray answered him with more bite than he probably meant. “And that prick will fucking burst with happiness when he finds out. Dad’s going to be the first one he calls.”
“Coach won’t say shit,” I said to my brother as I saw Ash nod out of the corner of my eye.
“You don’t know that,” Gray reasoned as he jerked his leg away from mine, causing me to turn and give him my full attention.
“Idoknow that, because Coach knows he needs me on his team, and I can’tbeon his team if I fail a drug test.” The three of us sat in silence as we continued to watch and assess every person in the room.
“And you don’t remember what you drank?” Gray asked me with concern as he picked up his chicken wrap.
“I remember a beer,” I replied as I took a drink of my bottled water. “I remember saying I was only having one and then I would move onto water. I fuckingknewthat hangover was shit, I would never drink that much before a game.”
“We all had shit to deal with after Friday afternoon,” Ash said quietly. Gray grunted, his scowl aimed at anyone who was stupid enough to look our way.
“You’re sure that you only had one beer?” Ash asked me as his head turned to look at me curiously.
“I don’t know. It’s fuzzy after that.”
“What a complete shitshow,” Gray growled as he tore a chunk off his wrap. “I don’t even know how this could happen.” He tossed his wrap down on the plate as he glared at everyone and no one. “She better have been a good lay at least.”
I saw Ash glance at me and then quickly to the line of footballers heading our way. “You said you slept with her, but what if you didn’t?” Ash whispered fiercely.
“I did,” I told them as I fought to push down the rising anger again.
“You sure it’s not just your ego talking?” Gray asked bitterly.
“No, dipshit,” I retorted as I smacked the back of his head. “I picked up theevidence, and even if I didn’t, she took the bedsheet.”
“What?” Ash looked at me, perplexed. I had no reasonable explanation. When I returned to my room after the game on Saturday, my bed was made. Finding that suspicious in itself, I had pulled the covers back and found only the mattress staring up at me. What the hell was on the sheet that would incriminate me?
Looking around the room, I took in all the students, watching the ones who sat with friends, laughing, or the ones who sat alone, studying. I noticed what I always did. Almost every set of eyes was at one time or another on the three of us.
Always fucking watching.
“I don’t know what’s happening or why,” I told my brother, my voice heavy with anger. “But I know that someone on this campus spiked my fucking drink, slept with me and took mybedsheet. What the fuck do they want it for? Evidence?” I looked at them both. “I will find them, and when I do, I will take great joy in ripping their fucking body apart.”
Chapter 3: Ava
Leitch officially hated me. I knew it, the class knew it, and he made no effort to hide it. I wanted to die as he stood on his small podium and read my work to the entire class, derision heavy in his tone as he read word for word . . . slowly.
“The wind cracked against the window as the rain fell heavily from the sky . . .” He paused, and in true complete asshole style, he looked at me over his glasses that were perched on the end of his nose. “Ms. Bryant, remind me again what you propose to do with your undergraduate degree in English.”
