“You’re the next fucking Mason Sterling, man,” he carried on. “Yeah, I didn’t remember him when you asked, but I went and I found out about him. Or tried to.” He saw my look of alarm. “Please,” he scoffed. “Don’t give me that look, I’m not asfucking obvious as you are. Hedisappeared. He didn’t transfer, he didn’t take a gap year. I can’t find any trace of this guy.”
“What’d he do?” Noah asked.
Dustin shook his head again. “I don’t know. I can’t find a record ofwhyhe got shipped out, but I can guarantee you, you’re next if they find out what the fuck you’ve done.”
“Then we make sure they never know.” Noah stood slowly, his dark gaze on Dustin’s. “It’s not like he’s an addict. He took a few extra painkillers for an ongoing issue that is now being seen to. He has an MRI tomorrow morning. That solves the issue of the dealer, Dante doesn’t need him, he goes away.”
Dustin wasn’t convinced. “He can hold this over him.”
“What? He gave someone else prescription pills that weren’t meant for them?” Noah shrugged. “The wrongdoings on his part first. He won’t say fuck all.”
Dustin’s gaze darted to mine before going back to Noah. “He’s giving him insider tips. The NCAA will hang his ass out to dry.”
“He stops.” Noah didn’t even look at me. “It’s on the guy to prove it, not Dante to defend it. We say nothing, Spence stops being stupid, it goes away.”
We shared a look. One of understanding, and I knew if they wanted to still have a friendship with me after this, I needed to learn more about Noah Matthews. My gaze flicked to Dustin, who was still angry, but he was worried about me, and that was only a good thing, right?
I decided to lay it out for them. “My sister.”
They both waited patiently. “She’s...” I inhaled deeply. “She’s done it before, relapsed, gone back to him for her fix. Nicky was one, maybe older, maybe eighteen months. Ji got high, ran the car off the road, and ended up in the ICU.”
“The boy?” Noah asked quietly.
“Nicky was with me.” I squared my shoulders. “Got the scare of my life the night I walked in and saw her in a coma. We thought we’d lose her.”
“And the dealer?” Noah pushed. “Is he the dad?”
“No. Thank fuck, no,” I told him. “Andy, the father, he’s a good guy, wasn’t expecting a kid at twenty-one, but he helps out a lot. They’re not together, but he isn’t absent.”
“How the fuck do I not know this?” Dustin asked me in bewilderment.
“Because I don’t share my shit.” I looked between the two of them. “Which I’m realizing may be a me problem more than a you problem.” They both looked like I’d told them something they already knew. “But... I can’t sit here and tell you about a corrupt program and all that crap, when I’m just as fucking dirty as it.”
“You’re not in on the cover-ups?” Dustin said more to himself than to me. “Which we think is program-wide. You’re just...” he glanced at me. “Stupid.”
“Appreciate you, Dust,” I mocked, and shut my mouth when his glare reminded me I was lucky he wasn’t punching me right now.
Noah ignored our back-and-forth, his attention on me, studying me. “You saw the hockey team’s fitness report,” he said with understanding, thinking back to the bar. “You told this guy—”
“Knox,” I supplied.
“You told Knox the team was fine, he made the bet, the team played like shit. He lost.” He gave a slow nod. “You didn’t know they were pretty banged up, because the injury report said they were all fine.”
Dustin was staring at him. “How do you even get to that?”
“He’s from Vegas, and he pays attention,” I told him, and I saw Noah’s mouth twitch.
“Dustin’s right. If they catch you, you’re gone,” Noah said, his tone still steady and even. “Not for the pill popping, or even the tips. They’ll lose you because you know too much, you’re giving them the reason to do so, just makes it easier for them to do it, and keep doing whatever the fuck they’re doing.”
“I know.”
He nodded. “And?”
“I won’t do it again.”
He looked like he agreed. “It’s not just you and your sister,” he reminded me gently. “You’ll bring me and Dustin into this too.”
“I know.” And I did, and that realization was enough to wake me the fuck up.
