Chapter 16
Dante
The speed with which she denied the fact that her roommate had almost interrupted something, or that I was hiding in her bedroom, made me grin.
I sat in her room, with an ice pack pressed to my jaw, and didn’t think about why I'd come here instead of going to bed.
I’d been through the wringer today already, and now here I was holed up in my tutor’s bedroom — a tutor I’d had to fight to keep. I rubbed my jaw as I thought back to this morning.
Sunday morning was supposed to be early film study, just me, Coach Hembry, and sometimes, Coach Sutherland.
I’d walked in, thinking I was prepared for the worst and had faced every coach and assistant coach on the team. I even looked to see if ‘Big’ Al Rennick, the equipment manager, was there because everyone else seemed to be.
Not one of them looked happy to be there. But that was nothing compared to the fury in Coach Sutherland’s eyes.
“You want to tell me what the fuck you were thinking last night, Spence?” Coach Sutherland demanded.
I briefly met Coach Hembry’s eyes, but he looked just as pissed as everyone else. No support there then.
I could tell them what I heard, what they said, but something told me not to disclose that yet. So, I did what I did best. I stated the facts as I knew them, and I owned the room.
“Five guys in the bar, allegedly teammates, started giving me shit because they don’t get a game.
” I sniffed dismissively. “It didn’t help I didn’t know their names—” I still didn’t — “but they had a real attitude problem, and when Noah and I left, to go home and not get into trouble, they followed us outside and started throwing down.” I shrugged.
“I know it’s not what you want from your number one quarterback, it’s not what I want either, but I’m not a coward.
If you come at me with your fist doing the talking, I answered the only way they seemed to understand. ”
“So, you’re saying that you evaluated the situation like an adult, like a leader of this team would do, and then decided to act like a fifteen-year-old boy instead?” Sutherland barked.
He looked ready to burst a blood vessel.
What followed was an hour of grilling, stripping down, repeating myself, and an all-around fuckfest.
The room was finally quiet again. I felt like I’d played a game into overtime and taken multiple sacks throughout it.
Coach Hembry glanced between me and Sutherland. “No more access to the lounge,” he said simply. “Your teammates think you are being treated differently. Let’s remove that misconception.”
I never used it anyway. It was no fun being in there alone.
“Agreed,” I said instead.
“You wait your turn for the trainers like your peers,” Coach Merriman said gruffly. “Skipping ahead makes others feel inferior.”
“I would never want that.” Inferior my ass, those fuckers weren’t even getting a game.
“No more tutoring,” Coach Sutherland said quietly, watching me. “You pass on your own merit.”
I met his stare, saw a gleam that very much looked like he wanted me to challenge him. I did not need him against me.
But Sav . . .
“Of course, Coach, but—”
“You trying to negotiate with me?” Sutherland asked, and I just knew I was about to fuck up. It was the same tone when he told you to play a running game, and I threw because Dust was already ten yards from the end zone.
“I work hard,” I told him honestly, not blinking.
“I’ve never needed to use the tutoring that comes with the program.
” I saw his nostrils flare; yeah, that’s right, this was a program privilege, not a quarterback one.
“I don’t like that I need to rely on my tutor for this class either.
If you want to change who it is, that’s your choice, but I need the help.
” I didn’t. Sav knew it, had told me as many times. “I will, of course, do what you want.”
Fucker.
He watched me, and I waited patiently.
“What class is it?” One of the assistant coaches asked.
“Educational Policy and Governance,” I told him smoothly, not breaking Sutherland’s stare.
“Jesus, Spence,” someone else muttered. “What the fuck did you take that for?”
Fabulous question. I shrugged. “It sounded interesting. I may have been too optimistic.”
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 for other reasons, 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 hour every day.” He smiled when he saw my reaction. “You have so much pent-up energy, 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. It may have 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.
“You’re both on extra training,” Coach Sutherland growled. “On the field, both of you. Now.”
We walked to the locker room quickly, and Noah let out a sigh. “I think you just saved my ass.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I warned him darkly.
When we got to the training field, the coaches were all waiting for us.
“Suicides,” Sutherland barked. “To the forty-yard mark, twenty times.”
Noah looked over at me, and I gave him a look that said, I told you.
They didn’t usually make the QBs run suicides, and it showed this morning. Between my aching body and my lack of sleep, I was ready to pass out by the end.
By the time we were dismissed to the showers, neither of us spoke, but both of us had basically held each other up on the way back to the dorm.
“You both look like shit.” Dustin was waiting for us outside the athletic building. “You’re both idiots,” he grumbled, getting in between us. “Lean on me, assholes, I’ll get you home.”
Neither of us had the strength to argue, but we both gratefully took his support.
In the dorm room, Noah mumbled, “Bed,” and disappeared.
Dustin looked at me, waiting to be told why I’d lost my cool, but I muttered the same excuse as Noah, and he didn’t push it because I really needed to lie down.
Not long after I got into bed, I heard the door close and knew Dustin had left.
I should sleep.
When Savannah’s text came through, I sat up in bed to text her. Her last message was echoing in my head.
Savage: Don’t worry?! Too late.
I told myself not to overthink it, but I had already been putting my shoes on.
The door clicked open, and she came back into the bedroom. Her blonde hair was tied back again, and she was in yet another dress that was so not her. She looked like she hadn't stopped moving since the brunch.
“My roommate,” she explained unnecessarily. “She . . . um, she doesn’t know you’re here.”
I nodded. “Who does she think you have sequestered in here?”