Chapter 21 Jett
Dinner had been good. Dad, Onyx, and I had a boys’ catch-up while Mom prepared the table. We had staff for that, but she liked to set the table, especially when she had guests coming.
Onyx had met my innocent stare with a knowing look when I showed up, telling them I had dropped Quinn off first and the Lawrences would be over for dinner.
Mom knew, but it seemed she had kept her older son in the dark.
His animosity toward Quinn wasn’t hidden, and he would have found a reason to bail had he been warned.
As I now sat outside Coach’s office on Monday morning before practice, I thought back to the conversation with my dad and older brother.
“Why are you benched?” Dad asked me as soon as the door to his study was closed.
“Failed a drug test,” I told him, and when his mouth fell open in surprise, I shared a look with Onyx. “We think I drank a bottle of water with a drug called Versed in it. It’s used mostly as an anesthetic. I actually have no idea why anyone would take it recreationally.”
“You think?” Onyx asked from his chair.
“One of the effects is memory loss. I have no recollection of the evening. I woke up the next day with no memory of the night before, of what I drank, or who gave it to me.” I saw the fury on my father’s face.
“I didn’t know I had taken it. I took some painkillers before the game that morning for what I thought was a hangover, and the water was the same one with the drug, so I failed the random drug test.”
“Water? You drank spiked water?” Dad asked as he began to pace. “Was it opened before you drank it?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Coach Bowers?”
“Doesn’t believe me,” I answered. “Well, he kind of believes me. I have two weeks to prove I got my drink spiked.”
“If you don’t remember, how are you supposed to prove this?” Dad demanded angrily.
“I assume you didn’t sleep alone?” Onyx asked me with a smirk.
“You would assume right.”
“The girl’s connected?” My dad asked.
“Only just found out who she was. I don’t remember much about her either.”
“Have you asked her?” Dad looked frustrated.
“Not directly.”
“Playing with your food, little brother?” Onyx took a sip of his whisky as he watched me.
“A little,” I admitted.
“Women aren’t playthings,” Dad grumbled as he sat in his chair. He missed the look between my brother and me, which begged to differ with Dad’s view. “I’ll call Bowers. This is bullshit.”
“I can handle this, Dad,” I told him quietly.
“You’ve been training to get to the draft since you were three. This isn’t just an obsession, Jett, it’s your passion. One that I am happy to support, and I will not allow some girl and a bottle of fucking water to jeopardize that.”
“I’m not sure she’s connected,” I told him. What the fuck?
“I suggest you find out,” Onyx said dryly. “Pussy’s pussy. There’s always another tight one to fill.”
“Onyx,” our dad protested weakly. “We raised you better than that.”
Onyx winked at me as he took another drink of his whisky, and I schooled my expression so Dad didn’t see my answering grin.
“Jett,” my dad said, giving me his full attention. “Find out who did this, do whatever you think is best to deal with it, but I will speak to Bowers and get this bullshit benching lifted. I will make sure that there is no record of this anywhere.”
“Careful, Dad.” Onyx leaned back in his seat as he appraised our father. “Sounds like you’re willing to step in and alter school records.”
Dad leveled him with a hard stare. “When it is merited, I will protect my son’s future,” he told him angrily. “Any of my sons. Even when it isn’t merited, I would do what is necessary.”
Onyx dipped his head slightly in acknowledgment of his past fuckup, which Dad fixed then, too.
“Jett?” Dad asked me.
“Yeah, thank you, I need to play.” I looked between the two of them.
“It’s all I want.” Being this open and vulnerable wasn’t something that came easily, and I saw them both acknowledge my honesty.
“I will find out who did this though,” I promised them, and I saw the gleam in my older brother’s eyes as he saluted me with his drink.
“Santo!” Coach called, and I went into his office, closing the door behind me. “Your father called me in the middle of my Sunday barbeque.”
“He wasn’t happy with my benching,” I told him as I sat down.
Coach Bowers considered me for a long moment. “Coaching is hard,” he began, and I kept my opinion about his large salary to myself. “There are eighty-five men on my roster. Do you know the most important thing a coach can have from his team?”
“Respect.”
“Exactly. Honesty and respect.” He sat back and looked at me. “You ran to your daddy because you didn’t like my coaching method?”
I smiled. “I went home to my father, who requested my presence because he didn’t understand why I wasn’t playing on Saturday. You see, my daddy has my respect too. I told him exactly what I told you. The difference is, Coach, he believed me.”
Coach Bowers glared at me. I didn’t flinch from the stare. “You’re out for Saturday.”
Bastard. “And the week after?”
“I told the team you were out for two weeks with an injury. After Saturday, your two weeks are up.”
“Thank you, Coach.” I stood at the jerk of his head in acknowledgment. I hesitated at the door. “If I deserved this, I would take it.” I looked over at him. “I didn’t know I had taken it.”
Coach Bowers rubbed his jaw. “I believe you,” he grudgingly admitted. “I didn’t need the fifteen-minute ass-reaming on Sunday from your father.”
“He can be passionate.”
Coach snorted. “Will we have a problem going forward?”
“Absolutely not, Coach. You still get to give me shit, and I’ll still take it.” I grinned at him, and he laughed. “I do respect you, but when your head’s up your ass, well . . .” I half shrugged and ducked when he threw his foam football stress ball at me.
“Out!”
Laughing, I went back to the locker room feeling a lot lighter than I had.
“Fixed?” Gray asked me as he looked up from putting his cleats on.
“Yeah, the ankle will be ready for Sunday,” I told him, the hidden message clear.
I saw him frown, but as he rubbed his shoulder, he looked to the coach’s door. “We did think it would be two weeks to completely heal.”
“Exactly,” I replied. “So, I’m going to go to class, and you can all enjoy four hours of training.”
“Dick,” Gray muttered as he pulled his jersey on. As I left the locker room, I wondered if my brother knew I would rather be doing the practice session than sitting in economics, learning about foreign trading patterns. Putting my shades on, I realized, of course, he did.
Ash had seen Ava earlier, so we knew she hadn’t been told to leave; however, I wondered what she had been told. I was back on the active playing roster, but that didn’t mean I was any closer to knowing who had deliberately tried to ruin my career.
I recalled Onyx telling me to stop playing with my food and get it done, and I wondered if it was time to break Uptight.
There was still speculation about why I’d chased her across the campus, and although I hadn’t pushed it and the talk had quieted, I knew one word from me would start the rumors again. I headed to the coffee shop, and as I waited for my coffee, I had Elise beside me.
“Baby, I missed you this weekend.”
I seriously doubted it. “You did? I heard Jamie filled your . . . night on Saturday.”
Elise gave a light laugh as we exited the shop, and she hooked her arm through mine, ignoring me when I shrugged her off. “He tried, know what I mean?” Elise raised her pinkie finger and wiggled it.
I laughed despite myself. “Ouch,” I said as I took a drink of the scalding black coffee. Thank fuck Ava hadn’t flung this at me, I’d have been blistered.
“You fill my night better,” she said to me with what I think she thought was a sexy smile.
I didn’t comment. She was a good lay, but once was enough for me. Elise had stage five clinger syndrome, and I didn’t need a clinger in my life.
“Where were you this weekend?” she asked me curiously. “With a girl?”
See, clingy. “If that girl was my mom, then yes, I was.” I spotted Quinn crossing the grass. She gave a wave when she saw me. “And Quinn, of course.”
“Of course.” Elise lost her smile when she saw Quinn approaching.
“Yeah, Quinn really helped me with that girl, you remember the one who stole from me.”
Elise’s eyes lit up. “Yes, I was wondering what happened there.”
Quinn was now beside me, and without a word, I handed her my coffee. She took a drink gratefully. I noticed Elise’s eyes widen at the sharing, but she said nothing. She had been burned before by Quinn and hadn’t quite recovered.
“You know, the usual.” I shrugged carelessly.
“You fucked her?” Elise said in surprise.
“Fucked her? Nah, but I didn’t protest when she apologized.”
Quinn snorted and handed me my coffee back.
“You accepted an apology?” Elise looked scandalized.
“She was on her knees for a while, know what I’m saying? In fact, she keeps wanting to apologize to me, over and over.” I smirked as Elise filled in the blanks, and as Quinn and I walked away, Quinn looked over her shoulder.
“She’s already on her phone,” she said with disgust.
“Excellent.”
“You throwing your blonde to the wolves?” Quinn asked casually.
“Yeah, see how she fares. She doesn’t like attention.”
“So . . . you’re just putting her in the spotlight.”
Slinging my arm around Quinn’s shoulders, I pulled her into me. “I’m a giver,” I teased her.
“You’re a bastard,” Quinn told me playfully.
“I am.” I kissed the top of her head. “It’s why I’m your favorite.”
“It’s why you’re my best friend, dickhead.” She laughed. “I never said you were my favorite.”
“Onyx was reserved on Friday,” I said carefully as we walked, sharing my coffee.
“I believe I have your other brother to thank for that.” Quinn looked down as she spoke.
I raised my eyebrow in surprise. Gray had said nothing to me about it. “Well, if you’re gonna thank him properly, put a cushion down first; your knees will ache before he’s done.”
Quinn threw her head back as she laughed at my implication. “A blow job isn’t the answer.”
“It isn’t?” I asked her with a grin. “Pretty sure that’s always the answer.”
“Your dad’s such a gentleman, he would die if he knew you were such a sleazy dick,” she said good-naturedly.
He probably wouldn’t. He and my uncle had been no Boy Scouts when they were younger, either.
“Quinn.” I hesitated. Did she need to know? I asked myself.
“You didn’t let it go?” she said softly as she sobered while we walked to her first class.
“We couldn’t.”
She held her hand out for my coffee, and I gave it to her. “And? What did you find?” She didn’t look at me, and I hated that she couldn’t look me in the eye.
“We haven’t gotten it all together yet,” I admitted. “We found more than I think we were expecting.”
“And if I ask you to stop?”
“It’s no longer just about you,” I said as I pulled her arm to get her to stop walking. “Plus, you know he was never going to let it go.”
Quinn was looking away from me, and I watched her as she struggled with her emotions. “You aren’t supposed to be telling me, are you?” Her dark brown eyes shone with unshed tears when she finally looked at me.
“They don’t think you need to know.”
“Idiots, both of them.”
“That’s what I said.” I gave her a small smile. “Do you need to see?”
“No.” Her eyes were wide with alarm. “No,” she repeated softly.
“I will nail the fucker to the wall, I promise.”
Quinn nodded as she drank more of my coffee. “Don’t tell them I know,” she whispered to me before she headed into the sports building to go to her first class.
Finishing my coffee, I tossed the cup. I was right to tell her; she needed to know.
Checking my phone, I grinned when I saw the social chat for the sports teams. There were already about a hundred messages and comments about my screamer, and as I read some of them while heading into class, I chuckled at the more ludicrous ones.
Ava quite obviously hated the spotlight.
She wasn’t an Elise, desperate to be seen.
She wasn’t like Quinn, who ignored the attention she received because of her looks and who her friends were.
Ava actively went out of her way to avoid notice.
This was going to be hell for her; she was going to get hit on by every guy who thought she was an easy lay, and every girl would be ready to rip her to shreds for being an easy lay.
Whistling as I headed into my class, I knew I’d enjoy seeing her reaction to the attention she was about to receive.
It was shaping up to be a good week.