Chapter 6 #2
I bit my lip. “So . . . just my normal content?” I glanced at Noah, who was frowning. “I’ll meet you guys at the stadium?”
“You can all go now,” Bobby Ray said. “The jerseys are already there.”
“You want them to change there?” I asked dubiously.
“Yes. Make sure you take shots of them as they change. Take pics of their bodies and things, you know, that stuff you do.” He looked between Noah and Dustin.
“Tell Spence and Moore to make it look good, like they’re excited.
” He grunted when he saw their flat expressions and went back across the training area, no doubt to shout at Kevin.
“Take pics of their bodies and things,” Dustin murmured. “Like we’re meat at the market.”
“Excited to be giant bananas,” Noah muttered.
“I can make it look less like a meat market, and more like guys changing into new jerseys,” I told them quietly. “Some of your teammates practice shirtless already, it’s not much different.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Dustin said, moving past me. “Let’s go tell Spence the good news.”
Noah gave a grunt but didn’t speak, and he didn’t look at me either, which made it easier for me to not look at him.
I walked between them as they approached Dante and Jason; one was frowning, the other looking as cool and composed as ever.
“Coach cleared up any confusion,” Dustin said smoothly. “New jerseys are at the stadium. He wants pics of us changing into them and stuff.”
Dante’s look became glacial.
“I’ll make it look less like Pornhub, more aesthetic.”
Those cool blue eyes met mine for a moment before he nodded. The guys looked at the practice field, and the five of us walked out of the training facility toward the stadium.
I knew there was a walkway between the training facility and stadium from the inside, but I’d never used it before.
“So, tell me again,” Jason insisted as we walked, and Dante let out a quick huff.
“We’re not alone,” the QB reminded his tight end.
“You said she knows.”
“I know what?” I looked up. “What’s happening?” No one spoke, and I looked between them, expecting one of them to speak. “She knows what?”
Noah sighed. “You couldn’t wait?” he asked Dante, exasperated. “On the training ground? You told him on the training ground?”
“I started to tell him—”
“Tell him what?” I demanded. “And what has it to do with me?”
“Noah?” Dante looked over at his friend, and then he, Jason, and Dustin picked up their pace, suddenly leaving me a few feet behind. Just because they had long legs didn’t give them the right to make me eat their dust.
Noah tugged at my arm. “So we were talking—”
“Who was?” I looked between him and Spence’s back. “Oh no, what have you done?”
“I told you, Dante, me, Dust, we’re on Sutherland’s radar. Dante hooked up with the dean’s daughter. I don’t know if you know, but Coach Sutherland isn’t a fan of Savvy’s dad. Plus, Dante didn’t take it well when he found out this program is a shitpile.”
“A shitpile?”
“Whatever. Dust then hooked up with Hadley, who Sutherland hates. She wrote that blog post about the football program, exposing shady spending, and he tried to get her thrown out. Dean Cole stopped it from happening. But now the best wide receiver on the team is head over heels for the journalist who hates Coach Sutherland with everything she has.”
“Your friends either have amazing taste in women or make really poor relationship choices.”
Noah carried on as if I hadn’t spoken. He tipped his head toward Moore.
“He’s going to get drafted as soon as he declares; teams are going to want him.
He’s got talent, real talent. He’s also a pretty decent guy, not shady, does his schoolwork, has had the same girlfriend since high school, and goes to church regularly. They will eat him up.”
“He’s got a huge social media following already,” I admitted quietly.
“Yeah, he knows what he’s doing,” Noah grunted. “On and off the field.”
“So what did Dante tell him?”
“We decided — I decided — that the more of our teammates who know the shady shit, the less harm can come to us.”
I stopped walking. “What the fuck did you assholes do?”
He looked down at me. His piercing dark eyes gave me nothing. There was no bullshit in his gaze as he held my stare.
“We did what should have been done long ago. We’re exposing the truth to our teammates.”
I stepped back. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Because they can ship people off in the middle of the night, or did you forget that part?” His voice stayed flat.
“Because they can erase people like it’s nothing, just like they did to your brother.
You know what they can’t erase? A whole team.
The guys I fought a few weeks ago are gone.
Out of school and off campus within hours.
Hours. You think I’m not scared that I’m next? You think Dante is secure? Dustin?”
“So? That doesn’t mean that you blab about it?” I wasn’t sure whether to hit him or scream at him, maybe both.
“We aren’t blabbing. But we are telling guys we trust. Guys who are prominent on the field,” he looked at me meaningfully. “With a huge social media presence, who people will notice if they get benched and ask why?”