Chapter 17
Hadley
Dustin watched me for a moment before he spoke.
“They’re covering up injuries, and they’re paying students to keep their mouths shut.” He adjusted Milly in his arms and shifted on the bed, clearly uncomfortable.
“Do you have proof?”
“Not exactly.”
I nodded, my brain turning over everything at a rate of a hundred miles an hour. “Dante fighting in bar parking lots?” I guessed.
“He can be impulsive,” Savannah murmured.
“Is your dad behind this?” I asked her directly.
She shook her head. “It’s our understanding at this time that this is a scheme controlled by the athletic department.”
“You expect me to believe the dean of the university doesn’t know?” I asked her skeptically.
“As I said, we understand this to be limited to the athletic department.”
I held her cool stare. Wow. Talk about how to say mind your own business without saying mind your own business.
“What have you found?” Dustin asked, breaking the stare off.
I got up and reached into my backpack. I placed the sheet of paper in front of Savannah, and Dustin set Milly aside as he leaned forward. She mewed in protest, and he absently scratched her ears.
“What is this?” Savannah asked.
“A redacted piece about Mason Sterling that was pulled from print.”
“Why?” Dustin asked, squinting at it. “What did it say?”
“Mason Sterling was accused of sexual assault. And instead of investigating it properly—”
“They buried it,” Savannah said. She looked at Dustin. “I knew it would be worse than we thought.”
Dustin was nodding, but he was looking at me. “Peterson?”
I wrapped my arms around myself.
“And the girl?” he asked me. “What happened to her?”
I closed my eyes for a second. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I can’t find a trace of her. I don’t think she ever came forward publicly. And from the little I can find, the university kept everything behind closed doors.”
“So they protected him?” Savannah asked dubiously.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s the thing. I don’t think they protected him at all.” I looked between them. “I think . . . they protected themselves.”
Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“There’s very little I can find on him, but from what I can see,” I said, “he didn’t have boosters backing him. He was a freshman, noted as ‘promising,’ but he wasn’t a star — yet. There was no reason to save him.”
“So why erase him?” Dustin asked in confusion.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “And that’s what I’m trying to find out. And think about it, if they were willing to make him disappear completely, what else are they willing to cover up?”
Savannah smoothed her hands over her thighs, head down. She looked nervous.
“Grade altering.” I shrugged. “Not really a story,” I said, watching her flinch. The truth rose in my throat before I could block it. “Injury cover-ups, bribes, making sexual assault disappear?” I licked my bottom lip. “That’s a story.”
“This is why I told you to stay away,” Dustin grumbled. “Coach hated you being there, you knew that. Why did you?”
“Why did I what?” I asked him, returning his glare. “Why did I want to know the truth?” I pointed at myself. “Reporter.”
“Student.”
We both looked at Savannah. She gave me a weak smile.
“You’re a student, Hadley. Just like us.
” She didn’t look away. “You won’t be a reporter for a while.
Just like Dust isn’t in the NFL and I’m not showcasing my art in a gallery somewhere.
” She blew out a breath, looking at Dustin.
“You were right. We shouldn’t have got involved in this. ” She sounded almost apologetic.
“But you’re already in this,” I said with more force than either of them expected. “And just like you wanted me to be careful,” I said to Dustin, “it would be better if you knew what’s going on rather than get blindsided.”
He looked at me like he saw right through every wall I’d spent years building. “You’re right, we needed to know.”
I nodded once, jaw tight, turning away to pick my notebook off the floor, before I said something I couldn’t take back.
“So?” Savannah was looking at him with something close to expectation.
He nodded. But he didn’t move, even though I don’t think she’d have protested if he was ready to leave. He was watching his hand, still stroking Milly, and she was loving the attention.
“Dustin?” Savannah prodded him.
He looked up at her, then at me. “If they got rid of Mason with hardly any trace and no story, how easy would it be, do you think, for them to do it to someone else?”
I didn’t say anything because he could already see the answer in my eyes.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “That’s what I thought.”
Savannah’s breath caught.
“And that’s why you need to stop,” he told me, and with a hard look, I realized he was telling us both. “Because you’re just a student like us. They’ll have you off this campus before your bags are packed.”
Savannah nodded, but I was already shaking my head. “And that’s exactly why I can’t.”
“Damn it, Peterson,” he snapped. He got off my bed, picked up the piece of paper, and waved it at me.
“Look at this.” He didn’t yell, but he was just as intense.
He pointed to my backpack. “I just know you’ve got more in there.
” He held up his hand. “Don’t tell me. The less Savvy and I know the better! ”
Savvy?
“I’m just researching.” It sounded weak even to me. “You heard the way your teammates spoke about me — hell, you were there when the coach spoke to me just as badly.”
“So what are you saying? The team’s a bunch of guys who assault women?” he asked incredulously.
“No! Of course not,” I snapped. I didn’t meet his glare.
“Oh my fucking God, you do.” He breathed out in disbelief. “You think we’re all doing it.”
“I did not say that,” I growled at him. “I’m saying they may have a system that protects the program over people. That’s different from saying everyone is guilty. Stop putting words in my mouth.”
“Well, it’s a change from you putting your tongue in mine!”
I gaped at him. “Wh-what?”
A sneeze broke our glares, and I swung my glare to Savannah, but I took in the bright eyes and her apologetic look. “Sorry, think my time’s run out for the cat-hair tolerance.”
I completely forgot she was allergic to my cat. “Shit.” I turned; the window had dropped closed. “I forgot.”
“It’s fine.” She edged toward the door. “But I really need to go.” She leaned over and tugged Dustin’s arm. “You too, before you two start arguing even more.”
He nodded. “Already regretting being here,” he muttered.
“Don’t do that,” I snapped at him. “Don’t be that dick.”
He scoffed. “Fine, I’ll be this one instead.” He flung the door open and walked out without looking back.
Savannah hovered, looking at me as I made a mad grab at my cat before she broke for freedom, then at the open door.
“Hadley—”
I straightened, holding my cat tightly. “It’s fine.” I gave her a short smile. “It’s an emotive subject, I get it. I appreciate your time. It was nice meeting you.”
Savannah took the unspoken ‘time to go’ in stride. “You too. Thanks for the beer.”
She hesitated.
“I won’t tell anyone you were here,” I assured her. “If you could do me the same courtesy?”
“I’m going to tell Dante and Noah; they’re in this, but you don’t need to know—”
“The bar fight.”
She gave a quick smile. “Of course,” she murmured in understanding. “You miss nothing.”
“It’s what started it up again,” I admitted. “I was trying to let it go.” I held my squirming cat tighter. “It was the push I probably didn’t need.”
Savannah looked at me, and I saw her sincerity. “Be careful. There’s something wrong happening here, and I . . .” She looked over her shoulder, turned, and closed the door, so it was just the two of us. “I don’t think you should be the one who exposes this.”
“I—”
“Where’s the girl?” she asked me softly.
“They removed Mason Sterling, they did their best to snuff out the story. Where’s the girl?
” she asked me again intently. “I think you’re going to be brilliant when you’re done here and have your degree.
But don’t be blinkered. This? This is too much.
I met these guys too, remember. I’ve been in a face-off with Sutherland. Be careful.”
“You really think I should drop it?”
“I think we’re juniors in college, and an institution like this, with the legacy and roots it has, and the donors it has . . .” Her gaze was clear and steadfast. “We’re not big enough to fight this.”
“Does the dean know?” I asked quietly.
She shook her head. “I don’t know if he knows all of it.”
I believed her. She gave me another smile, rubbing her nose. “I need fresh air,” she said, looking at me apologetically. “Please think about what I said before you take your next step.”
When I didn’t reply, she nodded as if she expected it, and shortly after, she was also gone. I heard her sneezing as she went down the stairs, and couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t faked it.
I set Milly down and stood in my apartment thinking over everything that had happened.
I knew I should walk away before I did something stupid. Like agree with her. I mean, I did agree with her. Kind of. They were a shady bunch of bastards, and this was a helluva lot more than grade altering and injury cover-ups.
This was a cover-up.
And as I said to them, what else were they hiding? It was our duty to find it. Wasn’t it?
Milly meowed.
“Yeah, baby girl,” I murmured, “I think so too.”
I locked the door and then opened my laptop.
I’d been so focused on the institution, the cover-up, the money, the roster, I’d almost done exactly what the program did. I’d made the victim an afterthought.
Savannah Cole had better instincts than I’d given her credit for.
I had a victim to find and a story to tell.
* * *
She was invisible.
Three days later, I was sure she didn’t exist. Four days ago, I would have said Mason Sterling didn’t exist either. But I knew better. A report of sexual assault didn’t come from an invisible man — or woman, in her case. I just couldn’t find her.
I’d checked every resource available to me. Every single one.