Chapter 12 Sixx
Sixx
I walked out of practice with my gym bag slung over my shoulder, giving the cursory nod to a few of the younger students I’d been assigned to mentor over the years.
Most of them were kids with severe ADHD like me.
When they’d first started “strongly encouraging” me to coach the beginner classes, I’d pushed back.
I shouldn’t be used as an example in any scenario if the end result was expected to be anything good.
Yet, within a short time, I’d noticed it had helped with a few of the wilder kids.
And I discovered that I almost enjoyed helping them.
They started doing better. In school, with fewer behavioral concerns and higher grades on report cards.
In life, with new friends and fewer violent outbursts.
I didn’t take credit for their changes—that was all on them.
It was simply nice to witness firsthand how something that had helped me when I was struggling was now turning those kids’ lives around for the better.
Walking across the parking lot, I was surprised to see Bentley leaning against my car.
Arms crossed over his chest, feet planted in a stance that prepared him to take a blow, jaw set in a way that told me he wasn’t there to shoot the breeze.
Flicking a glance around the parking lot that was mostly empty at this time of night, I let some of the tension ease from my muscles when I confirmed that Caprice wasn’t with him.
Multiple times, she’d ambushed me, throwing her arms around me. Touching me before I was mentally prepared for the contact. That rarely went well for her. She usually ended up on her ass when I shoved her away.
There was no sign of her now, thankfully. Bentley’s own vehicle was absent, which meant he’d been dropped off and expected us to hang out.
“Sup, man?” I asked as I reached the car.
His head snapped in my direction, his jaw flexing. “We need to talk.”
“And whatever it is couldn’t be said in a text or with a phone call?
” I popped my trunk and tossed my bag in.
He was either there to bust my balls over something to do with his sister or tell me something other people didn’t have the courage to say to my face about my girlfriend.
He knew he held no sway over my feelings for Caprice—at least someone in his immediate family recognized and accepted that.
Kassa was such a whiny bitch. Too many people wore blinders with her and her daughter.
Willful ignorance wasn’t bliss. I was confident this had more to do with Ali.
“Not this.” He straightened, stuffing his hands into his pockets while searching the lot. I was usually the last to leave on Wednesdays, staying later than any of the coaches, professors, or even Mestre. “Evan called me.”
That familiar itch in my brain started up.
Yup, Ali. I’d known in my gut almost as soon as I’d seen my friend that this was about her.
Evan and Bentley were close enough that they hung out together all the time when I wasn’t around.
Unless Ali was part of the group, though, I didn’t join them.
It was safer for everyone if Evan and I didn’t spend unnecessary time together.
He claimed his feelings for Ali were only brother-sister, but brothers didn’t look at their sisters the way he looked at Ali when he thought no one was watching.
I was always watching, though. If I suspected for even a single minute that Ali might ever return those feelings, Evan Cutter would be on a missing persons flyer. Lucky for him, Ali’s heart was mine.
I reached into my pocket for my phone, only to realize I’d tossed it in my bag during practice.
Diving into it, I searched for the damned thing, my hands starting to shake a little.
When I finally wrapped my fingers around it, I saw I had no missed calls or new texts from Ali.
There was one call from Evan, but that had been more than an hour ago.
Just a call, one singular attempt. Whatever it was he wanted to tell me, he hadn’t tried hard to reach me.
He’d taken the pussy way out and involved Bentley, using him as a go-between.
“Is Ali okay?” I demanded, slamming the trunk closed. “I don’t have any calls from her. Not even from Mom or Kin.”
Bentley’s jaw tightened even more, and I felt sick to my stomach. Scrubbing a hand over his jaw, he went back to leaning against my car. I struggled to take a breath, sending my friend a look that promised death if he didn’t start talking. “Tell me she’s okay, Bentley.”
“I don’t know, man. After what Evan told me…” His exhale came out heavy. “I only know the bare minimum here, okay? Keep that in mind.”
“Just fucking spit it out!” I roared, causing someone’s dog to start barking down the street where their human was stopped to clean up the mutt’s evening walk bathroom break.
Groaning, he dropped his head back on his shoulders, muttering something under his breath up at the sky.
I took a single step toward him. Bentley was a smart guy and had been my friend for our entire lives, so he knew the dangers of not keeping his eyes on me on a good day.
And it suddenly wasn’t such a good day for me.
He straightened to his full height once again, bracing his feet while holding my gaze.
“Evan said Ali has been acting off lately—”
“I know that,” I interrupted, going on the defensive. “She said it was because of falling behind in class.”
“You want me to tell you what I know?”
I sucked in a breath, held it for a count of five, and blew it out for another count of five before nodding.
Bentley waited for another count of five before opening his mouth again.
“He said she’s been acting off lately. Yes, she’s been falling behind in a few classes.
Like nearly-failing-a-few-of-them kind of behind.
Then he noticed that some days she wouldn’t shower after gym. It started getting more frequent.”
Ali was athletic. Cheerleading, gymnastics, dance.
She was amazing at all the sports she participated in.
But she couldn’t stand to be covered in sweat for long.
Typically, she was in the shower as soon as any activity was over, then taking a longer one when she got home.
If a singular person could be held responsible for a drought in Malibu, it would be my daisy girl.
“Monday, she was sick, or so she claimed.”
“She was,” I confirmed, again defensively. What the fuck was this “claim” bullshit? It was starting to piss me off, aggravating that itchy sensation deep in my brain. “I went over and spent the evening with her. Something with her stomach.”
“Yeah, that’s what Evan said. But yesterday, she skipped her last class. Didn’t tell anyone, not even Evan. He thought she had a doctor’s appointment because of how sick she seemed Monday, and he let it slip to Kin.”
“I didn’t know she skipped yesterday,” I muttered to myself, wondering why she hadn’t told me. We’d texted for most of the night like we normally did.
“With how off she’s been acting, Evan got worried.
He said he was waiting for her after her final class today.
Again, that’s gym, in case you didn’t know.
” I lifted my brows at him, and he shrugged.
I was well aware of what classes my girlfriend had and when.
I had a copy of her schedule on my phone, for fuck’s sake.
“The teacher is one of the assistant basketball coaches.” Bentley let that sink in as he seemed to prepare what to say next. Itch, itch, itch. And there was no goddamn way to scratch it. “You know Evan drives her to and from school, right?”
I clenched my fingers around my phone but nodded.
That little nugget of information wasn’t news to me.
As much as I hated that they got to spend so much time together, I would rather she carpool with Evan than someone else.
Once she got her license and her own car, she wouldn’t ride with him anymore, though.
We’d already discussed that, in depth. It always made her roll those pretty blue eyes at me whenever I brought it up, and she reassured me that it was still the plan.
When the next school year began, she’d be driving herself.
“Okay, glad you were aware of that.” Bentley scratched at his chin, one of his tells that he was agitated.
“So, Evan was waiting for Ali after her class. He saw all the other girls leave the locker room, but no Ali. Which made him think she’d left early again.
He went into the locker room, totally thinking she’d skipped, thinking he wouldn’t find her… But he did.”
That itching sensation got worse. I rubbed at the back of my head, hoping to ease it so I could focus. “He did what, found her?”
“Yeah.”
“He went into the girls’ locker room, knowing my girlfriend was possibly in the shower. And found her,” I gritted out each word, needing confirmation.
“Yeah.” Bentley nodded, scratching his chin like he was having an eczema breakout.
“While she was in the shower?”
“He said she had a towel on.” I reached for my door handle, and Bentley moved to block me from opening it. “That’s not the part we need to focus on right now, bro. Besides, a towel covers more than most of those stupid little bikini things she wears.”
I couldn’t think about Ali and her sweet little bikinis that drove me fucking insane. And I really couldn’t think about Evan Fucking Cutter seeing my daisy girl in nothing but a damn towel. Itch. Itch. “Tell me the rest, Bentley.”
“Evan said he found her in a puddle of vomit.”
“She’s sick, and you didn’t tell me that first?” I raged.
“Sixx, damn it, let me tell you everything.” He put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back a few steps before dropping his hands again.
“She was vomiting because she was upset, not because she’s sick.
Fuck, I think the girl has the beginnings of an ulcer, and that’s understandable.
You pricks are always stressing her out. ”
“Bentley.” It was a warning—to stop rambling and tell me the rest of whatever Evan had sent him to say.
“When Evan first went into the locker room, he heard his coach, the PE teacher guy. Whatever his name is. I don’t remember.
” He popped his neck from side to side, his voice turning darker.
“He was speaking to Ali, and if even half of what Evan said he overheard is true, then Ali’s been dealing with a lot of shit for a while now. ”
I’d noticed something was off the previous Friday, and I’d put it down to her period and then her stress over passing her classes. What else would have been weighing on her? She would have told me if something was seriously wrong.
Unless it was something that would potentially get me into trouble…
“All I know is that the teacher has been harassing Ali. From what I got out of Evan, the bastard might have pictures or videos that he took of her when she was showering after class.”
That damn itch turned into a burn, the glass wall in my mind was falling, but I struggled to hold it up. If I let it drop now, I knew the end result would be catastrophic. And I needed to know everything first.
“You’re telling me that Ali’s teacher, some grown-ass man who is around her five days a week, has videos of her. Showering.” I struggled to keep my breathing even. “Pictures of her. Naked. Wet.”
“Yeah,” Bentley muttered, his jaw clenching.
“Without her consent.” It was a statement, not a question. Never a fucking question.
Yet Bentley answered as if it were, a note of defensiveness entering his voice as he popped his neck again.
Left then right. A roll of his shoulders.
Attempting to loosen up his muscles, like he used to do before a jiu-jitsu match, as if he were preparing to fight.
Whether that was me or Ali’s teacher, I wasn’t sure and I didn’t care.
“Dude, there is no way Ali would have let anyone take nudes of her. Maybe you, yeah, sure. Not that I think you would. You’re careful about stuff like that.
But still, she wouldn’t let anyone else. I don’t care what Evan says.”
“What does that mean?” My voice came out quiet, but he still flinched.
“Evan wasn’t sure…” He groaned, scratching at his chin once more.
“He said he doesn’t know if she was into it or not.
She’s been hiding it. And I know her, she was probably scared.
My bet is that she was worried about what would happen when you found out.
Ali is so blind to everything but you, man.
Just like you are with her. It’s not healthy, but I kinda get it. That’s your love language or whatever.”
“But Evan thinks Ali might have wanted this motherfucker spying on her while she was showering?”
His sand-colored eyes glowed with a banked fury that was only now making sense. “That’s how it came across, yes.”
“He accused her of it?” I was seething, losing control of my hold on the glass wall that wanted to slam down, while that burning itch in my brain became almost too much to bear.
“Is that what you’re telling me, Bentley?
That this guy, who is supposed to be her friend, who pretends he’s not head-over-ass in love with her, thought for even one minute that my daisy girl would want some pervert’s attention? ”
Bentley nodded, his teeth grinding together.
“Get out of my way.”
He stood his ground, blocking me from getting into my car. “Look, we can figure out the teacher thing. I’ve got some favors. We can pay this asshole a visit together.” He stepped closer, not touching me, but close enough that he could grab me if he needed to.
“I’ll deal with that cocksucker tomorrow,” I snarled, pushing him out of my way.
“Where are you going?”
“To smash Evan Cutter’s face in.”
“Okay, but I’m driving.”