Ali
By the time Bentley arrived,I’d showered and changed clothes, as well as brushed my teeth.Twice.I didn’t give him a chance to get out of his car before I was hopping into the front seat and telling him to drive.If Abi or Hayat saw us, they would get nosy, and that was the last thing I wanted.
“What’s the plan?”I asked my cousin as he reversed out of the driveway.
“School is over for the day.I took a chance and stopped by the campus, but there wasn’t any sign of either Sixx or Gaviria.”I couldn’t help gagging at the mention of the teacher’s name.Without taking his eyes off the road, Bentley reached over and took my hand, tenderly squeezing my fingers.“I won’t let that bastard touch you, Ali.I swear to you.”
“I never wanted his attention,” I whispered, staring out the passenger side window.“At first, I thought it was someone pranking me.I ignored them.Then it kept getting worse, and before I knew it, things got out of hand.I knew no matter who it was sending the messages, Sixx would go dark.Those texts, the content I received, it all scared me, but I couldn’t risk losing Sixx.”
“Of course you were afraid.I don’t doubt that for a single second, Ali.You shouldn’t have had to carry this on your own.”He squeezed my hand a little firmer.“This doesn’t mean I’m not upset with you for not telling me, though.Let’s be clear on that.You should have made better decisions.But I also understand why you made the ones you did.”
“We have to find him.I can’t lose him, Bentley.Please.”
“Any ideas on where Gaviria would go?”I hesitated, not wanting to tell him what I’d learned earlier in the week.Maybe I was wrong about Gaviria being connected to the PCC.“Ali?”
I turned my head to find Bentley giving me “the look” that his dad had given him countless times over the years.The dark scowl that promised harsh consequences, which Gray reserved for when Bentley and Sixx were getting out of hand.
Gulping, I took a moment in hopes of steadying my queasy stomach.
More people kept being pulled into this never-ending level of fuckup.Chin quivering, I explained the article I’d found when I’d done a reverse-image lookup on my PE teacher.His face slowly drained of color the more I told him.
“And this prick is Evan’s basketball coach?”he seethed.
“Assistant coach,” I corrected in a tiny voice.
“But he knows this guy.It’s why he turned on you for what happened in the locker room on Wednesday.Right?”
“Maybe.You’ll have to ask Evan why he reacted the way he did.”I shrugged, sinking lower in the seat.Evan knowing if his coach was in the cartel hadn’t entered my mind.“We haven’t talked since…everything.”
“Let’s find out,” Bentley growled.Hitting a button on the dash, he used hands-free to call Evan.It rang over a half dozen times before he finally answered.
“What?”he grumbled.
“I have you on speaker.Where are you?”Bentley didn’t waste any time demanding.“I’m coming to pick you up with Ali.”
“On my way to First Bass.I’m meeting up with Damien and Mason.Don’t bring any drama here, man.My dad won’t be at the club.I’m not dealing with Sixx and his bullshit tonight.”
“Too fucking bad!”Bentley shouted.I flinched back into my seat, not expecting that level of rage from him.“We have to find Sixx, and you’re going to help us.”
He snorted.“I’m not helping that fucker do anything.”
“Yeah?”Bentley’s voice dropped, turning lethal and sending a shudder through me.“You gonna hide in your daddy’s club and let your basketball pal blackmail Ali with pictures and videos of her showering?Nice.Jesus, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before, but now I get exactly why Sixx can’t stand you, Evan.”
“Fuck you, Bentley!”
“No, fuck you, Evan.You turned your back on the girl you said was your best friend.When you accused her of wanting that rat bastard’s attention, you negated that friendship.Is he one of your little worshiping fans, Ev?Does he kiss your ass and call you a basketball messiah, tell you that you’re gonna be the next Bird, Nowitzki, or Jokic?He fill your head with bullshit praise, so it made it easier for you to pick him over your best friend?”
Evan’s silence crushed a piece of me I thought was already too broken to feel pain.I heard his choppy breathing, the hard swallow that followed.It was easy to picture him opening his mouth to defend himself, only to snap it closed when he realized he had zero defense.
Fuck.
I didn’t want to think that Bentley was right about this.That Evan would cover for his coach and make me the villain in his mind.For what?Because the man glorified his abilities on the court?Evan had talent—there was no question about that.His height wasn’t the only reason he would go far in the sport.But he’d never been egotistical about his skills.He was humble.
Or he used to be.Perhaps I’d missed him changing.While I was doing everything possible to hide my struggle, I’d been blind to the shift in his personality.I was so lost in my nightmares that I didn’t notice the distance that had begun to grow between us.
He could have a closer friendship with Gaviria than just coach-player.They were always pausing to talk when they saw each other in the halls or cafeteria.I remembered how Evan had laughed at something Gaviria had said as we left lunch on Monday, and I felt another jolt of pain in my chest.
No.I couldn’t believe it.Sure, Evan hadn’t reacted well to what had happened in the locker room, but he’d been pissed at Gaviria as well.Maybe not as much as I would have expected, considering what he’d witnessed, but I was putting that down to multiple conflicting emotions.His shock and fear would have made everything else he was feeling confusing.
