Dante looked at me in defeat. “What can we do, Sav? We’re angry, fucking pissed, this is our love, this is ourfuture. We speak up, they cut us. They have a helluva lot more fucking weight behind them than we do. We decided to keep our heads down, hope we can ride it out.”
“Is that what you think is best?” I asked. Forget what I thought a moment ago,thiswas the answer I needed.
“No.” His gaze was crystal clear, his voice solid and sure. “No, I want to rip it all down and expose every last fucking one of them. But...”
“But?”
“It’s not just the football team, Sav. It’s in every athletic department. It’s not just me, and Dust, and Noah. It affectseverysingle person in the sports program.”
“Shit.” That’s what my dad had implied, wasn’t it? “Shit,” I said again.
“Still with me, Sav?” he asked softly.
“Of course I’m with you,” I told him, and he stepped forward.
“If you’re in this,” he said, voice quiet but steel underneath, “you’re in itwithme. No half measures, Sav. No hiding.”
My breath hitched. “I didn’t plan to be in it at all.”
“Too late for that,” he said, and this time when his hand cupped my jaw, it wasn’t tentative. It was possession, frustration, and a vow all tangled together.
“I told my dad.”
Dante looked speechless, so I hurried on.
“I showed him that and all the things I found.” I was rushing now, and I recognized that dark spark in his eyes. “I’ve seen the changes to the grades, the injury reports, I saw it all.” I was practically panting. “My dad texted me because I missed lunch yesterday, and I went, and I threw my phone on his desk, and heknew.” My voice cracked on the last word, and I didn’t know I was crying until he wiped his thumbs under my eyes. “He knew and he said...” I shook my head, stepping back, needing space for this. “He said I need to stop, or it will ruin you.”
Dante frowned. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means the system will replace you, and your football career is over. Just like you said.” Tears were flowing freely now. “I won’t let that happen,” I promised, desperation clawing at my throat. “I won’t.”
Dante took a step toward me, his arms wrapping around me. “Shh, sweetheart. You have to calm down, nothing is going to happen to me.”
I hiccuped, and he smiled into my hair. “Sorry.”
“You’re fine, Sav, it’s going to be fine.” He was rocking me, and it was soothing me, but I didn’t know how he was so calm.
“Why aren’t you freaking out?” I asked him slowly.
“Because you’re freaking out enough for both of us, and I need you to be calm so I can then go and punch things.”
He said it so flatly that I giggled, and he wrapped his arms around me tighter.
“There she is,” he murmured. “There’s my girl.”
The door opened behind us.
I jolted back as Dustin stepped in, Noah close behind him. Both froze at the sight of us standing too close, the air thick with something I couldn’t name.
“Uh,” Dustin said carefully, eyes darting between us. “We interrupting something?”
“No,” Dante snapped, stepping away like it was nothing. “You’re right on time.”
Noah crossed his arms, gaze heavy on Dante. “On time for what?”
Dante held his hand out, and I placed my phone into it without question. “For this.”
They read in silence, Dustin’s brow furrowing deeper with every line, Noah’s jaw tightening.
