Different arenas. Same rule.
Silence isn’t containment anymore.
It’s permission.
And the problem isn’t the rumor. It’s who the rumor gets to touch while it spreads.
I see it in flashes instead of explanations. A recruit’s mother Googling my name. A donor deciding we’re not worth the optics. A teammate’s highlight reel getting framed by my scandal. Declan’s future getting threaded to mine because we share a locker room. The program taking the hit and resenting me for it.
And then— Zoë Barnes.
She moves through this campus like a verdict. No stains. No donor blood to resent. Just competence and a reputation people defend without realizing they’re doing it. Approval isn’t the currency here. Respect is.
That’s harder to poison.
My first instinct is to put my hand on that anyway.
It tastes wrong in my mouth. Like stealing. Like debt.
Saving me isn’t the point.
She’s the one person on this campus who won’t accept omission. She doesn’t let people hide behind noise. She names what she sees and makes you either own it or choke on it.
That should make me stay away.
It doesn’t.
It makes my body go sharp, like I’m about to step into a fight I’ve been pretending I don’t want.
I grab my helmet.
Adrian shifts with me, not blocking my path—just close enough to force a decision. His eyes hold mine. Threat-silent. Captain-silent. The kind of quiet that says: choose, and live with it.
“Practice,” I say.
Declan’s voice drops. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
Cole’s tone goes flat. “You’re about to do something stupid.”
“Probably,” I say.
Dante steps half a pace closer. “Don’t do it sloppy.”
That’s all he gives me. Not a plea.
A standard.
I meet Adrian’s eyes finally. The pressure sits there, thick and familiar. The same kind they used on Declan when he tried to carry everything by himself.
I don’t give.
I move.
Because once I step onto the sheet, the team falls into rhythm. And rhythm is cover. Rhythm is what you do when the world wants a headline and you decide you’d rather give it a scoreboard.
Cold air hits my lungs hard enough to reset my breathing the second my blades bite.
