Savannah made the connection immediately. “He’s who you were on the phone with. Not just for the pills.” She stood. “You’re telling him insider stuff and he gives you pills?” she guessed. I watched her put it together. “Are you so arrogant?” she demanded. “He could tell anyone at any time. Or wait until you’re drafted andblackmailyou, or anything!”
I didn’t get up. I watched her as she paced. “I know. I worry that if I don’t give him tips, now that I started it, he’ll turn his attention back to Jiana. He backed off after I beat the shit out of him last time, but I’m not there. I’m not at home.” Saying it left a bad taste in my mouth.
“And your sister—”
“Avoids him at all costs, but she’s... fragile.”
“She’s a mother.” Savannah gave me a hard stare. “You’re risking your entire future for someone you love, I get it, but if she’s not willing to help herself, why should you be sacrificing everything?”
“Sav—”
“No.” She stopped pacing, her hands on her hips. “You’re twenty years old, Dante, your sister is older, and anadult. She has a little boy and a family that loves her, supports her. She does not need you to be her knight in shining armor because she’s made bad choices, and if she hasn’t learned from them, well, you can’t make her.”
“That’s pretty harsh—”
“No. It isn’t.” She looked across the room at me. “You’re a hero on the football field. Off it, you’re just a man.”
“Ouch.” I rubbed my chest to try to get that fierce glare to soften. “I told Dustin and Noah,” I told her as I got off the bed and took the two steps to stand in front of her. “They took the burner phone I used for Knox off me. They took the last of the pills. They reacted like you did, but were maybe not as hard on Ji.”
Sav sniffed. “Well, they’re your friends, I’m your girlfriend, I get to call bullshit.”
“AndI talked to my sister and told her everything.” I saw Sav’s look of surprise. “And she said exactly what you did, only with more shouting and more swearing.”
I huffed out a laugh as I saw her try to process it all, and I pulled her into my body. “Idotrust my sister,” I told her as I kissed her temple. “I don’t trust him. I will never trust him. And I guess a part of me thought that if I kept him... appeased, I’d have that extra layer of security for Ji.”
Savannah looked up at me, a frown marring her forehead. “Honestly, you’re supposed to be smarter than this.” She pushed away from me with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe youdidn’t see that was justenablinghim.” She looked over at me and faltered as she saw the truth in my eyes. “Oh.”
“I knew exactly what I was doing, but she’s my sister.”
She sighed, her head dropping down, her gaze on the floor. “I don’t have siblings, I don’t know...” She looked up at me. “I’m sorry, I spoke out of turn.”
“Nah,” I said with a smile. “You said what Noah and Dust said, and I already knew.”
“Do they know about the grading?” she asked quietly, and I nodded.
“To be honest, Sav, I think you may be the only one who didn’t know players get off easier.”
She glared at the floor, and I tried not to make it worse.
“But like you said, all three of us still work our asses off in class, most of the guys on my team do, no one is here expecting to sail through a four-year scholarship.”
She played with the hem of her PJ shorts. “Ugh, I hate that it happensat all.”
“Yeah.” I tilted my head and rested it against hers. “Did I tell you too much?”
“No.” Her answer was immediate and full of conviction. “I don’t want there to be any secrets at all.”
I didn’t comment on that being her parents’ fault, but I couldn’t help but push against the fact that she hid her art from her dad.
“So since we’re all open and stuff . . .”
Savannah didn’t move away, but her tone was as dry as the desert. “I did not sleep with Professor Yates.”
I blinked. “Not where I was going at all,” I admitted.
“You already accused me of it,” she reminded me.
“And you said no — very vehemently, I might add — then too.” I tugged at her sleep shorts to get her to stop. “And he doesn’t let you call him John, so, you know, you’re not really thesubmissive type, and the more I thought about it, which was a harrowing experience for me, I decided you couldn’t have.”
