Chapter 39
Dante
My girl was breaking in front of me, and then she wasn’t.
Her back straightened, she took a deep breath, and I watched her pull it all in and steady herself. No matter how much I watched her, and I watched her a lot, her strength just fucking floored me.
“Can we get out of here?” Sav asked.
“Yeah, let’s go back to mine. Sound good?”
She pushed her hair off her face, glancing around, her face hard. “Yeah, I need a break.”
When we walked into the dorm room, Dustin and Noah were at the breakfast counter, both eating food. Dustin took one look at us and put his fork down with a sigh. “What now?”
“It’s nothing,” Sav said with a smile that a blind person could see was forced. “Everything’s fine.”
“What she meant to say was that her art professor has been reporting everything to her father. And made her uncomfortable enough today that she needed a mallet in her hand.”
Noah’s eyes widened. “Fuck. That is not nothing, Savvy.”
“Are you okay?” Dustin asked. His eyes flicked to me once, and I shook my head slightly. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, not physically anyway,” she murmured with a shaky, more honest smile. “I don’t want to burden you guys with this—”
“He hit on you?” Noah asked her.
“No . . . not really, it was more implied.”
Dustin shuddered. “I think that might be worse.”
“Yeah,” Noah muttered. “We taking care of that?” he asked me, and I gave him a ‘what do you think’ look.
“We’re going to my room,” I said instead, with a shake of my head to Noah not to say anything else. Catching Sav’s hand, I pulled her with me. “You guys think about what I said earlier, right?”
When I closed the door, Sav was watching me. “What now?” she asked with a sigh.
“I might just want some alone time,” I countered.
“The way this last week or so’s gone? Not happening, not in our world.”
I couldn’t even argue.
“What did Beau Jones want?” She sat down on my bed, her legs crossed underneath her.
“You want to talk about that now?” When she nodded, I told her. “When practice was finished this morning, I had an office meeting with my coaches and Beau.”
Savannah frowned. “Is that normal? For him to be there? I’m sorry, I really don’t know how all of that works.”
“Why would you?” I asked her, taking the chair and getting comfy. “You don’t play, and until Tuesday night, you didn’t know what a muffed punt was.”
She giggled. “It sounds so stupid,” she said as she hid her smile behind her hand.
“Yeah, well, we weren’t laughing when it happened against the Cardinal Saints earlier this season,” I grumbled bitterly.
“Sorry.” She schooled her features, but I could see the humor in her eyes, and it was better than the sadness that’d been there five minutes ago, so I’d take it.
“Beau wanted to let me know that winning games wasn’t enough. He said that wins are what you buy, loyalty is what you owe.”
Her look turned serious again. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I asked Dust and Noah in the quad earlier.” I looked toward the door. “Dust is getting nervous, he’s hiding it, but he isn’t happy.”
“Are any of us happy?” she asked me quietly. “With what’s happening, I mean?”
“Are you happy with you and me?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward in earnest. “Absolutely, no question of that at all.” She waited until she saw what she wanted from me, my answering nod. “What else did he want?”
I sighed. “To talk about the fight that Noah and I had, the guys who got booted out.” I sighed. “Now that I know more, the fact that they were gone so quickly scares me even more.”
Her jaw ticked. “Assholes.” She leaned back against the wall.
“I was reminded that I had a future if I played my role, and that those futures get expensive.”
“Oh my God . . .”
“He wanted to remind me that boosters don’t like to invest in liabilities.”
“And your coaches said . . . ?”
“Nothing.” I let out a loud sigh. “Not when he was there. When he was gone, Coach Sutherland laid it out flat. Bottom line, one more slip, and I’m benched. Doesn’t matter who I am or what I brought home this season.”
“You see, this is why we need protocols for the governance of educational institutes!” Savannah complained. “And you think the elective doesn’t matter.”
“I never said it doesn’t matter,” I mumbled. I almost told her that she was probably pursuing the right degree because she was so passionate about it, but I didn’t want my girlfriend to castrate me on the spot.
I thought back to this morning, the memory of Jones’s grip on my shoulder seeming to know exactly where the pain was. By the time he was done with his pep talk, my jaw ached from clenching it so hard. I wanted to find Sav and was not expecting to overhear what I did, but thank fuck I’d been there.
I didn’t want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t.
“Hey, where’ve you gone?”
Savannah was watching me with concern, and I looked over at her, those warm blue eyes, her perfect smile, her steady strength. She didn’t back down when pushed.
“I spaced out,” I told her honestly. “Sorry, Sav.”
She got up and came over to me, climbing into my lap.
“You don’t need to apologize, I get it.” She kissed my temple.
“Nothing’s changed,” she told me firmly.
When she saw my look, she smiled. “Okay, everything has changed, but you haven’t.
Those two guys out there, they haven’t. This was happening before you knew about it.
You didn’t feed into that system then, you still don’t need to. ”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes. You think they can bench you for no reason?” Her hand ran through my hair. “They say you’re injured, you show them you’re not. They say you’re failing, so you post your grades. This is not all one-sided, Dante. You have power here too.”
I looked up at her. “You’re devious, you know that?”
She smiled slowly, and I felt so ridiculously in love with her that I had to tell her.
“I love you.”
Savannah froze.
“I know it’s fast, it’s been weeks, but I love you. I cannot imagine anyone else beside me. Am I crazy?”
She went still for a moment. Then she stood, taking two steps back.
“You’re freaking out, aren’t you?” I asked casually.
She turned to face me. “You love me? Or you think you’re crazy because you love me?”
“It can’t be both?” The look on her face answered that question. “I love you,” I added hastily. “I am crazy in love with you . . . yeah?”
“Oh my fricking God, Dante!” She leaned forward and slapped my shoulder. “You do not tell someone you love them, then make it sound like you can’t decide if you do or not. Do you or do you not love me?”
“I do.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“I do love you.” I was grinning, and she was trying not to laugh. “Now, do you have something to say to me?”
She actually thought about it, and then, with a sly little smirk, she turned to the door and walked away from me.
“Nope.”
* * *
I lay in bed, my girlfriend lying curled into my side, her head on my chest, her hand splayed over my lower stomach as she slept.
I’d chased her out of my room, caught her, and then dragged her back in here and reminded her, several times, why she loved me back.
I think Noah and Dust left at some point. It might have been Sav screaming she loved me that did it. It might just have been Sav screaming as I made her come around my cock.
I needed to fix the housing arrangement. There were benefits to that soundproofed room of hers. I needed to fix Sav’s mess. Her dad used me as the excuse; it didn’t make it my fault.
“Sav, you sleeping?” I asked her softly. The gentle snore she answered with told me she was.
I got out of bed, pulled on a T-shirt and sweats, and then picked up what I needed.
I headed out to the living room and saw Noah sitting, watching film, the sound on mute.
“You okay?” I asked him, the sight of him there making me pause.
He looked at what I carried in my hand and looked back at me in question. “Am I okay?” he asked. “What are you doing?”
“Making it right.”
He sighed. “Do you need me? Or should I stay here with her?”
“I think she’s it,” I told him, and I couldn’t hide my emotions as I spoke. “I am gone for her, man. Just . . . gone.”
“Yeah, that’s not the breaking news you think it is.” He nodded toward my hand. “Be careful, whatever is happening in that head of yours, don’t do anything fucking stupid, and don’t hide it from her.”
“I won’t be long.”
He didn’t stop me.
I knew he wouldn’t. I knew because Ji had called three times in the last week with nothing urgent to say.
That was new.
She called when she needed something, or when she was worried about me, or when Nicky had done something that needed to be documented for posterity. Not just to talk.
The third time, I asked her directly.
“Knox?”
She was quiet for a second. “Haven't seen him.”
“At all?”
“At all,” she confirmed. “It's been weird. Kind of quiet.”
I thought about Noah, who hadn't said a word about Knox since the night we handed over the burner. Who hadn't brought it up once. Who had gone back to practice, film study, and stealing Dustin's snacks like nothing had happened.
I didn't ask.
Some things you didn't need to ask about.
Noah and I would be friends for life. I knew that as much as I knew Savannah Cole would one day be my wife.
The common room was in darkness — it was two in the morning after all. Still, I turned the light on, checked the room was empty, and then turned it off again. I made my way to the very back, a small corner, where I could see anyone who came in.
I looked at Savannah’s phone in my hand. I was about to test the limits of our relationship. Her password was ridiculously simple. I’d need to have words with her about that.
My hand shook as I flicked through her contacts. I pressed the name I needed, and then I sat back as the phone rang.
“Savannah?”
“Mrs. Cole?”
There was silence, and then I heard the background noise dimming.
“It’s Dr. Cole. Who is this?”
“I’m Dante Spence, ma’am—”
“Doctor.”
“Right.” Jesus. “I’m Dante, Dr. Cole, I’m Sav’s boyfriend.”
The silence was frigid. The steel in Sav’s spine hadn't come from her father. That much was clear.
“Is she hurt?” she finally asked.
This was it, make or break. I took a deep breath and threw my Hail Mary. “Have you got time to talk?”
When I got off the phone, I felt like I’d been in an ice bath too long. There was no warmth in that woman — how Savannah was who she was, with parents like that, was a mystery.
I went back to my room, and Noah was where I’d left him.
“And?”
“I think I might be single when she wakes up.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I did the right thing, though.”
Noah stood. “How many times will you say it before you believe it?”
“Until she believes it too.” I nodded toward his bedroom door. “Sleep. It’s going to be six a.m. before you know it.”
I went into my room, undressed again, and slipped into bed beside my girl. I pulled her tight, her body flinching from the coldness of mine.
I wished I could say I slept easily, but five o’clock came too soon, and I couldn’t bring myself to wake her when she looked so peaceful.
Noah said nothing when he joined practice at six, but he did say he thought she was still sleeping when he left.
Three hours of football practice had never felt so torturous. I watched the clock, the coaches watched me, and Noah and Dustin watched us all.
I skipped the sauna, the massage, and headed straight to Sav’s class. When I got there, the classroom was empty, and I didn’t know where she was.
Panicking, I headed to the shed. I really should have kept her phone. Why did I leave her phone behind? Such a rookie fucking mistake.
The door to the art shed was wide open as I ran toward it. I had visions of her sculpture being destroyed. I stopped dead when I got to the doorway.
Savannah gave me a look that told me I was in deep shit, and the reason I was in deep shit was that the woman beside her had to be her mother.
“Dr. Cole?” I asked carefully as I approached, praying that the flashlight in Savannah’s hand stayed unlit.
She turned — she was Sav in twenty, maybe thirty years. I hoped Sav didn’t inherit her mother’s cold stare, though I could feel the heat of the one my girl was giving me.
“You must be the quarterback.”
“Dante Spence, ma’am.” I saw the arch of her eyebrow. “I mean, doctor.”
She smiled slightly. “See, Savannah? Any man can be trained.”
“Jesus, Mom,” Savannah snapped. “He isn’t a puppy.” She glared at me. “You called my mother? Really?”
I edged toward her. “I know you’re mad, I wanted to tell you before you found out.” I glanced at Dr. Cole, who was studying Savannah’s art project as if it held the answer to the meaning of life, and she didn’t agree. “I didn’t expect her to come here, okay?” I added quietly.
“Where else would I be?” Her mom straightened as she stared at me with the same intensity as she had the windmill feature.
“You called me late at night, later for you,” she added, “to tell me that my husband was being unreasonable toward my daughter, and that as a mother — her mother — I should know.”
Savannah stared in awe, open-mouthed. “Please tell me you didn’t say that.”
“Those are the CliffsNotes.” Fuck, this could be bad. “I said it better. I did.”
Doctor Cole lifted that eyebrow again. “This one?” she asked Savannah. “Are you really sure?”
“I will kill you later,” Sav muttered to me. Her gaze flitted to the front of the shed. “Nope, scratch that. We’re both dead now.”
I turned and met the frosty glare of Dean Cole.
Things were about to get really awkward.