His pale face turned red as his fury doubled.“Are you stupid?”
I flinched at the venom in his tone.
“That’s what you have to say after what I just heard?Don’t tell Sixx.Why the fuck not, Ali?You don’t want me to spill the beans on you sneaking around with a freaking teacher?You’ve been cheating on him.”
“Now who’s being stupid?”I cried.“You think I’m cheating?Oh my god!Are you for real?No.Just no!”
“Then explain it to me!”
Something detonated in my chest.He wanted me to explain it.Because he thought I was cheating on my boyfriend.Did he not know me?
For the longest time, he stared down at me, his jaw clenching, his eyes blazing, not even a flicker of a sign of the sweet boy I usually saw when he looked at me.Blowing out a harsh breath, he finally shook his head.“Do you even realize how this looks?I thought you were hooking up with Coach.It would explain so much shit I’ve shrugged off lately.”
Flinching again, I released his leg, wrapping my arms around myself as my shivering got worse.Had I led Gaviria on?Evan almost thought that I had, that I would screw my teacher.
No, not almost.He did.It was there in his voice.The condemnation, the judgment.His revulsion.He wasn’t simply worried about me at first.Maybe he hadn’t been worried at all.Evan thinks I was screwing my teacher.My friend didn’t seem to know me at all, yet at the same time, it made me wonder if I’d truly done anything to make Gaviria think I was into him.
But Evan could go fuck himself.I knew I’d messed up in a lot of colossal ways, but I’d never once done something that would disrespect my relationship with Sixx.
From the moment we could talk, Sixx and I told each other everything.Sixx would only keep a secret from me if it put me in danger.And I was protecting Sixx, the same way he always protected me.
Because when he found out about everything I’d been going through, he would hunt Gaviria.He’d fight him, maybe try to kill him.
Eight dead.Fight club.PCC.Eight dead.Eight.Eight.Eight.Oh god, please don’t let Sixx become the ninth victim.
Another heave made my stomach cramp.There was nothing left to come up, not even stomach acid.Tears and snot mixed with spit, smearing across my face.I tried to curl into a smaller ball, to hide from the disaster I’d created, the fear of more unknowns stacking up on top of the pressure already weighing me down.
I was protecting Sixx.
Our future.
Evan didn’t understand that.He couldn’t see that loving someone so unconditionally meant you would willingly destroy everything to keep them safe.Even if that meant destroying yourself in the process.
Sixx
I walkedout of practice with my gym bag slung over my shoulder, giving the cursory nod to a few of the younger students I’d been assigned to mentor over the years.Most of them were kids with severe ADHD like me.When they’d first started “strongly encouraging” me to coach the beginner classes, I’d pushed back.I shouldn’t be used as an example in any scenario if the end result was expected to be anything good.
Yet, within a short time, I’d noticed it had helped with a few of the wilder kids.And I discovered that I almost enjoyed helping them.They started doing better.In school, with fewer behavioral concerns and higher grades on report cards.In life, with new friends and fewer violent outbursts.I didn’t take credit for their changes—that was all on them.It was simply nice to witness firsthand how something that had helped me when I was struggling was now turning those kids’ lives around for the better.
Walking across the parking lot, I was surprised to see Bentley leaning against my car.Arms crossed over his chest, feet planted in a stance that prepared him to take a blow, jaw set in a way that told me he wasn’t there to shoot the breeze.Flicking a glance around the parking lot that was mostly empty at this time of night, I let some of the tension ease from my muscles when I confirmed that Caprice wasn’t with him.
Multiple times, she’d ambushed me, throwing her arms around me.Touching me before I was mentally prepared for the contact.That rarely went well for her.She usually ended up on her ass when I shoved her away.
There was no sign of her now, thankfully.Bentley’s own vehicle was absent, which meant he’d been dropped off and expected us to hang out.
“Sup, man?”I asked as I reached the car.
His head snapped in my direction, his jaw flexing.“We need to talk.”
“And whatever it is couldn’t be said in a text or with a phone call?”I popped my trunk and tossed my bag in.He was either there to bust my balls over something to do with his sister or tell me something other people didn’t have the courage to say to my face about my girlfriend.He knew he held no sway over my feelings for Caprice—at least someone in his immediate family recognized and accepted that.Kassa was such a whiny bitch.Too many people wore blinders with her and her daughter.Willful ignorance wasn’t bliss.I was confident this had more to do with Ali.
“Not this.”He straightened, stuffing his hands into his pockets while searching the lot.I was usually the last to leave on Wednesdays, staying later than any of the coaches, professors, or even Mestre.“Evan called me.”
That familiar itch in my brain started up.Yup, Ali.I’d known in my gut almost as soon as I’d seen my friend that this was about her.Evan and Bentley were close enough that they hung out together all the time when I wasn’t around.Unless Ali was part of the group, though, I didn’t join them.It was safer for everyone if Evan and I didn’t spend unnecessary time together.
He claimed his feelings for Ali were only brother-sister, but brothers didn’t look at their sisters the way he looked at Ali when he thought no one was watching.I was always watching, though.If I suspected for even a single minute that Ali might ever return those feelings, Evan Cutter would be on a missing persons flyer.Lucky for him, Ali’s heart was mine.
I reached into my pocket for my phone, only to realize I’d tossed it in my bag during practice.Diving into it, I searched for the damned thing, my hands starting to shake a little.When I finally wrapped my fingers around it, I saw I had no missed calls or new texts from Ali.There was one call from Evan, but that had been more than an hour ago.Just a call, one singular attempt.Whatever it was he wanted to tell me, he hadn’t tried hard to reach me.He’d taken the pussy way out and involved Bentley, using him as a go-between.
