A low chuckle sounded in the room.
“He can keep his tutor, surely?” Coach Hembry murmured to Coach Sutherland.
Sutherland watched me, and I knew he suspected that there was more to it, but he didn’t know why, and I could tell from the set of his jaw that he was going to agree, and he wasn’t happy about it. Fuck him, I knew I’d won. I also knew I’d pay for it.
“Fine.”
I didn’t react, but inside I was crowing with delight. Fuck their lounge and their privileges, but they weren’t taking Sav from me. I was keeping her. Thank fuck her preferred specialty was mind-numbingly boring.
“You can go, Dante.” Coach Hembry nodded to the door.
“Right, and I just want to say, once again, I am sorry for what happened last night.” Everyone nodded except the head coach, who was still watching me too closely. Let him watch.
“Your pass,” he said as my hand reached for the door handle.
I turned. “What?”
“You have two access passes. You can hand the other one in, you know, the one that gets you into the... lounge.”
“I don’t have it with me today,” I lied easily. I needed that pass forotherreasons, not a perk, but a way to keep Knox happy while I still needed him.
He grunted. “Make sure you bring it tomorrow. Get your gear on — you’re on the field for today and an additional houreveryday.” He smiled when he saw my reaction. “You have so much pent-upenergy, Spence, let’s get it out of you in a way that’s healthy.”
Fucker.
“Coach.” I gave a simple nod and left the room.
Noah was sitting outside, half asleep, waiting to go in. I remembered what he said last night. He was a transfer. Yeah, he helped us win, but they had less attachment to him than they did to me. I was the face of the Alabama Lions; they’d plastered my face everywhere pretty much since I arrived. Noah didn’t have that buffer.
“How bad was it?” he asked, sitting up straighter.
I took one look at him, knew what he’d risked last night. “Fuck.”
I walked back into the room.
“Dante?” Coach Hembry looked at me in surprise.
I didn’t take my eyes off Coach Sutherland. “Noah did nothing wrong,” I told him. “The guys started on me in the bar. I took it outside, they followed, Noah jumped in because it was five on one. It’s my fault he got involved. I’m his roommate. I’m not saying for anyone else he would have walked away, he’s not that kind of guy. But I know he was there because I was. He’s a valued team member, a great player, and he shouldn’t lose out because I fucked up.”
There was silence. Itmayhave been the only thing I said this morning that Coach Sutherland approved of.
“Get Matthews,” Coach Sutherland commanded.
I opened the door, and Noah walked in.
“We spoke to the men you fought last night,” Coach Sutherland told us both. “They’re already gone.”
“Gone?” Noah questioned, looking at me quickly, and I could hear the tension in his voice.
Coach Holt, the Defensive Coordinator, spoke for the first time. “They didn’t say why they started the fight. They didn’t say anything at all.” He looked between us both. “We’ve seen the footage.” He made it sound like a curse word. “They came at you. They started it.”
“We don’t condone that behavior,” Coach Merriman said, but his voice lacked conviction. “They’re off the team.”
“They started on Spence because they were jealous?” Coach Sutherland asked Noah.
I felt Noah glance at me, but he nodded. “They definitely had an itch under their skin about him, not really sure what it was, but Dante and I are teammates. If that means we fight together, we fight together, not against. I play on the same team as Spence, I live with him, and to be quite honest, Coach, I never even knew those other guys were on the team.”
I fought back my laugh. He was so blunt in his delivery that it was hard to call him a liar.
