I don’t answer right away.
I think about Coach’s face when I walked out of his office. About the look on his brother’s face when I showed him my phone.
“They didn’t expect it,” I say finally. “They didn’t think we’d push back.”
Talon exhales. “So what? You think they’re trying to do damage control?”
“Or they’re trying to figure out how to spin it,” Kade suggests.
I drag a hand over my jaw, my attention drifting to the screen as they keep playing. Kade jumps back into the game, Talon chirps at him, and for a few minutes, I just watch, letting the noise drown everything else out.
Time slips by without me realizing it.
“They’re not going to let this just sit,” I say, more to myself than anyone else.
“No,” Talon agrees. “They won’t.”
The room quiets again.
Then I hear it—the faint sound of water draining upstairs.
I push to my feet. “I’m gonna head back up.”
“Let us know if you guys need anything,” Owen says.
“I will. Thanks, guys, for everything.”
As I take the stairs two at a time, it really starts to sink in how far this has gone. Whatever control they thought they had slipped today.
I crack the door open and knock.
“In here,” Brinley mumbles.
Light spills out, steam still clinging to the mirror as she dries her hair. She’s wearing one of my T-shirts again and a pair of boxers she must’ve found in my dresser.
I smile at her, at the way my shirt hangs loose on her.
“Hey,” I say when I take a step toward her.
“Hi.”
I close the door behind me and sit on the edge of the bed, pulling her into me. My hand moves to brush along her arm, down to her fingers, almost like I’m making sure she’s real and here and not still standing in front of those flashing lights on the side of the road.
“Practice is canceled tomorrow,” I say.
She blinks. “Canceled?”
“Yeah. We don’t report until warm-ups before our next game.”
“Is that normal?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Not really.”
She watches me, reading more than I’m saying.
“Do you think it’s because of what happened today?”
I hesitate. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”
