Savannah frowned. “Is that normal? For him to be there? I’m sorry, I really don’t know how all of that works.”
“Why would you?” I asked her, taking the chair and getting comfy. “You don’t play, and until Tuesday night, you didn’t know what a muffed punt was.”
She giggled. “It sounds so stupid,” she said as she hid her smile behind her hand.
“Yeah, well, we weren’t laughing when it happened against the Cardinal Saints earlier this season,” I grumbled bitterly.
“Sorry.” She schooled her features, but I could see the humor in her eyes, and it was better than the sadness that’d been there five minutes ago, so I’d take it.
“Beau wanted to let me know that winning games wasn’t enough. He said that wins are what you buy, loyalty is what you owe.”
Her look turned serious again. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I asked Dust and Noah in the quad earlier.” I looked toward the door. “Dust is getting nervous, he’s hiding it, but he isn’t happy.”
“Are any of us happy?” she asked me quietly. “With what’s happening, I mean?”
“Are you happy with you and me?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward in earnest. “Absolutely, no question of thatat all.” She waited until she saw what she wanted from me, my answering nod. “What else did he want?”
I sighed. “To talk about the fight that Noah and I had, the guys who got booted out.” I sighed. “Now that I know more, the fact that they were gone so quickly scares me even more.”
Her jaw ticked. “Assholes.” She leaned back against the wall.
“I was reminded that I had a future if I played myrole, and that those futures getexpensive.”
“Oh my God . . .”
“He wanted to remind me that boosters don’t like to invest in liabilities.”
“And your coaches said . . . ?”
“Nothing.” I let out a loud sigh. “Not when he was there. When he was gone, Coach Sutherland laid it out flat. Bottom line, one more slip, and I’m benched. Doesn’t matter who I am or what I brought home this season.”
“You see, this is why we need protocols for the governance of educational institutes!” Savannah complained. “And you think the elective doesn’t matter.”
“I never said it doesn’t matter,” I mumbled. I almost told her that she was probably pursuing the right degree because she was so passionate about it, but I didn’t want my girlfriend to castrate me on the spot.
I thought back to this morning, the memory of Jones’s grip on my shoulder seeming to know exactly where the pain was. By the time he was done with his pep talk, my jaw ached from clenching it so hard. I wanted to find Sav and was not expecting to overhear what I did, but thank fuck I’d been there.
I didn’t want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t.
“Hey, where’ve you gone?”
Savannah was watching me with concern, and I looked over at her, those warm blue eyes, her perfect smile, her steady strength. She didn’t back down when pushed.
“I spaced out,” I told her honestly. “Sorry, Sav.”
She got up and came over to me, climbing into my lap. “You don’t need to apologize, I get it.” She kissed my temple. “Nothing’s changed,” she told me firmly. When she saw my look, she smiled. “Okay, everything has changed, butyouhaven’t. Those two guys out there, they haven’t. This was happening before you knew about it. You didn’t feed into that system then, you still don’t need to.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes. You think they can bench you for no reason?” Her hand ran through my hair. “They say you’re injured, you show them you’re not. They say you’re failing, so you post your grades. This is not all one-sided, Dante. You have power here too.”
I looked up at her. “You’re devious, you know that?”
She smiled slowly, and I felt so ridiculously in love with her that I had to tell her.
