“Youdidn’tknow?” She squinted at me. “Are you fucking with me right now?”
“For Christ’s sake, Sav, I think you know when I’m fucking you,” I muttered distractedly. “Are you sure they said Coach Sutherland?”
“I’m sure.” Her voice was a low whisper, and she stepped back into my space. “You really didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “Did I know that this program was dirtier than it looked?” I asked bitterly. “No.”
“Oh.”
It was my turn to look at her. “Did younotknow that the program allows a little moregracefor the grades?”
She shook her head emphatically. “No.I found out today. You’re my first athlete.” She flushed as she said it. “When Dad asked me to spy on you, I thought he was being paranoid, and then the whole whispered phone call, the painkillers and—” She looked up and saw my face. “What?”
I pushed her gently back until she took a step. “Back right up,” I said, my voice my normal, calm, collected self, even as mybody felt like it trembled with rage. “And explain to me what the fuck you mean when you said,when Dad asked me to spy on you.”
“Dante—”
“I said,explain, Savannah.Now.”
Chapter 26
Savannah
I’d never seen him look like that.
Not on the field, not under the cameras, not even the first night I met him and told myself he was just another student.
Dante wasn’t angry. Anger was loud, it burned hot, it left scorch marks. This was worse. He was quiet. Too quiet. His calm tone, the measured way he’d said my name — it was the kind of stillness that came right before a storm ripped everything apart.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” I whispered, but the words sounded pathetic even to my own ears.
His eyes didn’t soften. If anything, they sharpened, pinning me to the spot like I couldn’t move even if I tried. “You did say it.” His voice was flat, deadly, precise. “So now you’re going to explain.”
My mouth was dry, my pulse thundering against the fragile skin of my throat. I could feel the tremor starting in my hands, so I curled them into fists at my sides and forced myself to breathe.
This was why I hated keeping secrets I hadn’t chosen. Because when they slipped, they shattered everything.
“My father asked me,” I said finally, my words tumbling out faster than I could stop them, “to keep an eye on you. On your academics. He said the committee was pushing harder on the athletics department since the win, and if you fail, then it would give them reason to push harder.”
“What else?”
“He said it was about saving the image of the university.” I ran my fingers through the edge of my ponytail nervously.
Dante’s stare didn’t budge. No blink. No movement. Just that awful, suffocating silence.
“And I didn’t want to,” I rushed on. “I didn’t... I tutor students, I help people who need help. I knew you wouldn’t need a lot of help, knew it after that first night. You walked out of that meeting room like you owned the place, and you were soyouand you challenged me, and Iwantedto spend time with you, I didn’t even realize it, but I did.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “Dad wanted me to draw the sessions out. Itoldhim you wouldn’t need much, and he said to make it like you did so I could maybe see if there was anything else, you know, bothering you. And then there were the pills but I didn’t mention them to anyone. Ididn’t, Dante, youknowthat, you know both of us were using those sessions for something else.”
Still nothing from him. His calm was worse than yelling. At least with yelling, I could argue back, get my point across.
“Say something,” I begged. My voice cracked. “Please.”
The silence stretched. Long enough for my breath to hitch, long enough for my throat to close, long enough for my heart to batter itself against my ribs like it wanted out.
He didn’t blink. Didn’t twitch. Just stood there, looming with that quarterback stillness, the kind that dared the world to move first.
I hated it. Hated how small it made me feel. Hated how much I wanted him to just yell already.
Finally, he spoke. Low. Flat. The kind of voice that carried more weight than shouting ever could.
