Owen swears under his breath. “Seems a little suspicious after what happened in the alley behind the bar, wouldn’t you say?”
I lean back against the counter, staring at the floor, and nod. “I was thinking the same.”
“Have you talked to her?” Wren pipes up. “The reason I ask is because she kept looking for you to show up at the party. She was checking her phone every few minutes, like she thought you’d message her.”
I wince and shake my head. “I haven’t told her what Coach said. I messaged her before I went into his office. Said I’d call her when I was taking off. If he really does have eyes on her, I knew he’d be waiting for me to run to her.”
Kade studies me. “Do you think she knows he’s been watching her?”
“I don’t know.” That’s the worst part. “She’s been staying out at the farm, but she packed up this morning and was moving to the loft above the bar again. If he’s behind what happened in the alley, it’s not safe for her to be there.”
Owen turns off the stove and plates his omelet, then turns to face us. “So what do you want to do?”
I look at them. I didn’t come here with a plan. I just knew I couldn’t sort through this shit on my own.
Kade chimes in. “Well, for starters, I would talk to her landlord. What’s his name? Dave? I’d talk to him about puttingup a camera behind the bar and maybe another light too. If it were Willow in that situation, I’d be…” He shakes his head, not finishing the sentence.
“He’s right,” Talon adds. “If she won’t stay at the farm where you know she’s safe, at least talk to him. Did she even tell him what happened? You’d think he’d want to do more to keep his employee and tenant safe.”
Talon has a point. I make a mental note to stop by the bar to talk to Dave before we head out on the road for our next game.
Wren chimes in next. “Maybe you should reach out to Reed too.” She turns to Talon. “See if he could help. Didn’t you say that he was the one who uncovered him having a daughter? He might find something if she just transferred to Rixton.”
Talon nods slowly. “She’s got a point.”
Kade adds, “And if he’s hiding something, you know he’ll find it.”
Talon leans forward slightly. “If Coach is going to threaten you, you might as well turn the tables on him. He has to be hiding something if he is so worried about another headline being written about his program.”
“Did he say that to you?” Owen asks.
“I chalked it up as him not wanting the word to get out about him having a daughter he paid to disappear.” I shrug. “He doesn’t want anything tarnishing his reputation.”
The mention of headlines and rumors takes me back to last year. It got ugly. We came close to Talon losing everything he had worked hard for because he and Wren chose to drag her father’s mess into the light.
“If he’s hiding more, we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Kade says, clapping me on the shoulder.
I wince, and he immediately pulls away, realizing it was my right side.
“How’s your shoulder today?” He follows it up.
“Tight. Sore. I’m doing okay, though. We have a couple of days before we hit the road, so I think I should be good before then.”
Each of them studies me for a long moment, like they’re trying to decide how much they believe me.
I’m over talking about my shoulder. I’m done thinking about anything, period.
I push off the counter. “I’m gonna head upstairs and shower.”
“I’ll text Reed and have him start looking into things. I’ll keep you updated on what he says,” Talon says from behind me.
“Thanks, guys. You too, Wren. I appreciate it.”
I take the stairs two at a time. The conversations in the kitchen fade the higher I go.
I shut my door and sit on the edge of my bed, dragging my hands through my hair and staring at the floor.
It’s still dark in here except for the strip of light coming through the blinds. My stick and bag sit on the floor at the foot of my bed. The sweatshirt I wore last night is tossed over the chair. I don’t have the energy to deal with any of it right now.
