Sam genuinely looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole and die. “Sweetheart, that livestream… How many people were watching? Can we delete it? This isn’t the image I’m trying to project.”
“Twenty-thousand people, Sam! I can’t just delete it, you idiot! God!” She didn’t even bother looking back at us as she stomped away. “I knew I should’ve married that old guy who started that tech company! Scott said football fans would carry me over the million subscribers threshold, though! God, this whole fucking state smells like cow!”
I pressed my knuckles to my mouth to keep from losing my fight with the hysterical laughter attempting to sneak out. It wasall too insane. When a giggle bubbled out and Sam shot me a furious glare West slammed his fist down on the table.
“Don’t look at her like that. Don’t fucking look at her at all. You pathetic piece of shit. The bullshit you’ve tried to pull this week has been so pathetic that I’d feel sorry for you if you weren’t such a fucking asshole. You’re done. Whatever you were hoping would come out of this isn’t happening.”
Savannah stood up, glaring at her dad instead of me for once. “You knocked up a girl two years older than me and then married her in some misguided PR stunt to make yourself relevant again? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The fact that you would drag us here as pawns in your stupid game is sick. Why are you like this? Why can’t you just be a normal person for once in our lives?”
“You look like a fool. Was that what you wanted?” Cash let out a bitter laugh. “But don’t let us do all the talking. How about you tell us how you think that went?”
“You’re all a bunch of ungrateful little bastards.” Sam scowled at his children like he hated them and paced a few steps away from the table.
“We’re ungrateful? You’ve been making a living off ofusfor years!” Hayes threw his hands in the air. “You really believe you’d still be getting invites to the games if we weren’t playing? Everyone avoids you. Look around next time you’re in the stands,Dad. People can’t stand you. You only exist in this football world because of us. So maybeyoushould be a little grateful.”
“Oh, you think you’ve got this shit figured out? You think you know so much? Let me just clarify how fucking much you don’t know. Cash doesn’t want to play football. He plans on quitting after this season. And you, Savannah, you’re not better than your mother, running off and fucking people who tried to destroy our family. And you, you smug little bitch.” His grin wasevil as he looked at me. “You’re only here tonight because I told them to bring you. And they brought you because if they didn’t I would’ve released the video of them fucking you all around my property and they would’ve lost any chance at a future in football.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Cash isn’t quitting football.” Hayes turned on his brother. “What’s he talking about?”
“Video?” I was going to throw up. “What video?”
“There’s video? Oh, god. How desperate did you get, Cass?” Savannah returned her focus to me but I couldn’t think. I couldn’t make sense of anything.
“Cash, what’s he talking about?” West joined Hayes in focusing on the football part of the conversation instead of the video footage part.
“Is this another stunt to get Cole’s attention?” Savannah moved closer to my end of the table. “You can’t be serious. A sex tape? A fucking sex tape? I knew you were going to hurt my brothers. I knew you were no good.”
“This was stupid, Cass. You were never this stupid before. What happened to you? What were you thinking, linking yourself to the Ford’s like that? I can’t believe you thought dating them or making sex tapes with them would make us jealous. You’ve ruined yourself to try to win us back when there was never a chance of any of us being yours. We love Savannah. You need to accept it and move on. We were friends once, Cass, and I don’t want to see you ruin your life more than you already have.” Cole spoke loud enough to be heard over Sam and Hayes shouting at each other. “You look like a joke, man. Running here to these assholes when you’ve been cheering for us for years just makes you look fake and de-”
“No, I don’t want to fucking play football after this season! I’m done! Okay?!” Cash shoved away from the chair, sending his chair flying. “Fuck you, Sam, for telling them like this.”
“How dare you use my brothers in your games, Cass. My brothers are infuriating and complicated but they don’t deserve to be used by you! How could you risk hurting them all for a chance to get back with a guy who doesn’t want you? You’re sick.”
“I don’t want-” I couldn’t get a full thought out without someone else screaming over me.
“Fucking hell, Sav! She isn’t using us!” West seemed like he was coming to my defense finally and I was so thankful. I was too tongue-tied and hurt to get my words out.
“Bro, she is.” Jax shook his head. “It’s fucked up that I’m starting to feel sorry for you. You fell for her bullshit but the truth is this is what she does. She always pulls something to get to Cole. You’re just another method in a long line of things she’s done.”
“I’m sorry, y’all, but she’s just going to hurt you.” Savannah’s expression was full of sorrow as she looked at her brothers. “Maybe we aren’t as close now but I still want to protect y’all.”
“You fuckers think she’s obsessed with you but this has nothing to do with you.” Cash jumped in finally. I looked at him, full of hope that he’d say the thing that finally made Savannah and Cole realize I wasn’t doing anything with them in mind. “We’re fake dating as a PR thing to keep us from looking like players after that picture came out. It’s not fucking real. She’s not using us because it’s allfake! Even if she was trying to use us, you can stop worrying about us because it’s fucking fake, Savannah. It’s just a big PR thing. Our sensitive feelings are safe. Jesus.”
“How is there a video if it’s all fake?”
West rolled his eyes. “You think we’ve been in love with everyone we’ve ever fucked?”
66
***Cass***
Istumbled back a step.No. They couldn’t mean that. I waited with my heart in my throat for them to clarify what they meant.
“But it was so nice of y’all to be so worried about our feelings. Especially after you nearly ruined our careers.” Hayes twisted back to Cash. “Maybe you wouldn’t have minded, though? Since you’ve been hiding the fact that you fucking hate football.”
“Get the fuck over yourselves! You’re playing again this year! You’re going to a championship game! What the fuck is the problem?” Jax tugged Savannah into his arms. His mouth kept moving but I couldn’t hear his voice over the sound of my blood rushing in my ears.
They all kept shouting at each other, arguing about football and Savannah. The things they didn’t say were loud in my head. Since declaring I’d just been a fake stunt and a meaningless fuck, no one had mentioned me. I’d ceased to exist.
