Chapter 28 #2
“What?” he asked, his voice breaking on the word. How would he know about that? Had the media reported on it just because they hadn’t been seen together outside of the facility for a couple of weeks?
“You haven’t heard? It just came out that she’s been talking to Max Clark the whole time she’s been in Charleston.
You wasted your season chasing that girl.
That woman was a Viper through and through.
I can’t believe you trusted her. I knew from the moment she walked through this door that she was no good. ”
Colton had to place a hand on the wall beside him to steady himself.
“That can’t be true. Lucia wouldn’t do something like that.
” She wouldn’t, he knew that. He’d learned about her relationship with Max over their past few months together, and there was no way she’d been lying to him about that.
The agony in her voice and the sadness that took over her body when she’d talked about it couldn’t have been faked.
His father shoved his phone into Colton’s hand. On the screen, The Richmond Herald claimed to have insider information about the torrid affair between Lucia and Max. About how Lucia was taking information from her work with the Sabers to the Vipers.
It had to be Max’s doing. It had to be. He scrolled down, looking for any proof. There were pictures of Lucia and Max together, but none of them looked recent. Then, Colton’s finger stilled over an image.
In it, Lucia and Max were on some kind of video call, and Lucia was looking down, smiling. Colton would’ve waved it off, but sitting around her neck was a necklace with a pearl pendant. The necklace that she’d told him was new after their Thanksgiving win.
Colton’s heart hammered in his chest, blood rushing in his ears. It didn’t make sense. Why would she have called Max? And if it hadn’t been anything bad, why hadn’t she told Colton? He was sure there was an explanation for all of this. There had to be.
Before he handed the phone back to his father, he saw a video. The hammering in his chest increased as he hovered over it and then finally clicked it open.
“Yeah. I’m gonna give you our plays.” The voice was unmistakably Lucia’s, and she was talking to Max. And wearing that necklace. Which meant that this conversation, whatever it was between them, had happened after Thanksgiving, months after she’d left the Vipers.
Colton looked back at his father in disbelief.
“Are you crying? Christ, you’re such a girl. This is why you should’ve been at the gym more this season. Look at you! Clark’s bigger than you and probably faster too.”
When Colton didn’t respond, his father continued, “I hope you now realize that she was a waste of your time and that your focus should remain on the game. Women and children come after the glory.”
Colton had heard his father talk down about women in the past, but this was different.
He hated to hear him talk about Lucia in that manner.
Despite that, he bit his tongue, as he always did.
He might have been a coward, but he couldn’t bring himself to say something to the man who’d practically built his career. At least the lecture was over.
Colton opened his mouth to speak, but it seemed his father wasn’t done. “If I could’ve had you and Landon on my own, I would have. Your mother only babied you and slowed me down.”
Colton shut his mouth. He was still reeling from the article, but he’d snapped to attention at his father’s words.
For him to disrespect Colton’s mom in such a way—the woman who’d loved them and nurtured them the way their father should have, the woman who’d been there for all his practices and games, who’d loved him unconditionally—outraged him.
No, it was more than rage. There was no word to describe the eerie tendrils that wrapped themselves around Colton’s insides and pulsed through him as his father shattered any resolve he’d had to keep his mouth shut.
“How fucking dare you. How dare you talk about Mom like that. Mom was the only good part of our childhood. All you did was take away our chances of being actual children, ruined my relationship with Landon, and ensured I never spent time with the family who actually cared about me. I have grandparents who’ve wanted to be a part of my life, our lives, since long before Mom died.
But I’ve felt so guilty about how you made us shut them out, especially after Mom got sick, that I’ve stayed away, kept them locked out for so fucking long.
“I’m fucking tired of your self-serving bullshit.
I’m tired of your lectures. I’m tired of letting you tell me how to play football like I’m not already a thousand times more successful than you ever were.
I’m tired of you treating Landon like he’s second best and Maya like she just doesn't exist. And I’m tired of you talking shit about the woman I love because you’re so emotionally stunted that you’ve never successfully shown anybody love. ”
Colton turned on his heel, stomping out of a house he was sure he would never see again. He pulled his phone from his pocket as he got in and started his car, noticing a text from Lucia for the first time in nearly two weeks.
Lucia
It’s not true. I swear it isn’t. Please don’t believe it.
Lucia
I would never do something like that.
Colton wanted to believe her, but her words from the video kept ringing in his head. I’m gonna give you our plays. Why would she have said that? It felt like college all over again.
He raced to the facility, searching everywhere for Lucia. When he got to her office, Coach Turner and Tim stood outside, somber looks on their faces.
“Is it true?” Colton asked.
Coach Turner’s face didn’t change as Tim spoke. “We can’t say for certain. She’s on temporary probation. You can’t speak to her until she’s been cleared. We don’t know if she’s been feeding the Vipers information about the team.”
At the last sentence, Coach turned a disapproving glare onto Tim before looking back at Colton. “We don’t believe she has been, but we’re taking all necessary precautions. As you know, this is an important game, and we need to be sure no information was exchanged before she can be reinstated.”
Despite the eyes of the two men on him, Colton’s back hit the wall, and he sank to the ground. Betrayal sat heavy in his chest, and as soon as Coach Turner and Tim walked away, Colton opened his texts and read and re-read Lucia’s last message.