Chapter 26
Noah
The locker room was buzzing.
The claims of sexual assault. Injury cover-ups. Payments under the table. The posts were brief. More suggestion than allegation.
Mason had been right. Float the suggestion and the comments did the hard work. People who weren’t hiding their identity were speaking up.
It was working.
I sat on the bench listening to Coach Holt run through the new plays with me. I’d missed two days, but you’d think I’d missed three months the way he was bending my ear.
“I got it, Coach.”
He sat back, watching the head coach stalk through the locker room like he was ready to tear the walls down with his bare hands.
“I hope you do. Today is your chance to shine.”
I looked down at my pants. “Well, in this color, let’s hope I don’t blind any fucker.”
Holt got to his feet, laughing. “Blind them anyway, kid.” He squeezed my shoulder and went to talk to Coach Sutherland.
I saw Dante look at me and then turn his attention back to his cleats. I hadn’t really spoken to him since the fight.
It was easier this way. For him.
I stood and stretched. For me too.
I heard Gray’s warning, so I turned away before he could see me thinking it over. He’d pick up on a weakness and use it.
“Matthews!” I turned to Coach Sutherland.
“Yes, Coach?”
“You sit on the sidelines until I tell you to get up.”
“Of course, Coach.” Asshole.
“Spence. Same.”
“The fuck? Why?” Dante stepped forward and met the hard look.
“What did you say?” Coach Sutherland asked him.
“I said ‘the fuck, why?’ Coach.”
Today was not the day for Dante to go rogue.
“Are you questioning me?”
“Yeah.” He stood with his hands on his hips, and I caught Dustin’s eye as he looked between them like he wasn’t sure whether to step up or keep quiet.
“This is my team. I call the plays. You sit there until I tell you to play.”
“That’s good, Coach,” I said as I went over to Dante. “Keep us fresh for the new plays.”
Coach Sutherland looked between the two of us. He sniffed and walked away.
“I had it.”
“I’ve just been benched, don’t recommend it.”
He glanced at me. “I’m dressed up like a banana for no fucking reason.”
I choked back a laugh. Dustin wandered over, Moore at his heel. “We’re sitting it out too.”
“Great. Four skins on the bench.” Dante realized what he’d said, but it was too late, and we’d already burst out laughing.
“How can you guys laugh?” Whittaker asked grimly. He wasn’t allowed to play, and his shot at making the first team was fading. For now. “Have you seen the stuff they’re posting? My mom’s hysterical.”
Moore was the first one to sober up. “Yeah, my girl too.” He shared a look with us, and I gave him a slight nod. “It’s sick, but there are too many comments saying they know it’s true.”
Mike looked around. He stepped closer. “I heard the NCAA contacted the dean.”
I barely held back my reaction, but Dust’s eyes were wide. “How’d you hear that?”
Whittaker shrugged. “My dad’s friends with one of the board members. He called him last night to ask what was going on. When he called me to ask if I knew anything or had seen anything, he said it was probably going to get investigated and to keep my head down.”
“Wow.” Dante looked at me, and I gave a slight shrug.
Had we known we had a route straight to the board? I don’t think we did. Hadley — and Briar, when she found out — would need to be scraped off the ceiling.
“You’ve not seen anything?” Dante asked him quietly.
“No.” Mike didn’t make eye contact.
“What’d Benoit hit you for?” I asked quietly. “What did you hear?”
Mike looked up at me and then around at the busy locker room. “Nothing.” He walked away quickly.
“Huh.”
“Well, that’s not suspicious.” Dustin nudged Moore with his elbow. “You holding up?”
Jason shook his head. “No. I keep thinking that picture will be posted, I don’t know why.”
Dustin snorted. “Yeah, I know how you feel.”
I wanted to tell them it wouldn’t, but how could I?
“We’ll just have to hope TruthHurts is on our side,” Dustin consoled him.
“Yeah.” Jason didn’t look convinced, and I turned away when he eyed Dante and me.
“Let’s go, they’ll be calling us out soon.” Dante led us all down the tunnel, and sure enough, even though it wasn’t an actual game day, the smoke was blowing, the cheerleaders were in yellow and navy, and waving navy pompoms.
It was a whole show. The only thing missing was the opposite team. Oh, and our normal uniforms.
Yellow was not it.
One of the assistant coaches was at the front of the tunnel.
“Spence, Matthews, Moore, and Slater, you guys are going last. The crowd’s there, we’re going big.”
He barked out one of the defense’s numbers, and then our teammates were running out while we were loitering.
“Why are we last?” Dante asked him. “We always go first.”
“Trying new things.” He saw the four skeptical stares. “Look, you’ve seen the media. We’re distracting them with our biggest and our best.”
“We’re sitting on the sidelines for the first quarter,” Dustin reminded him.
“Think of it as practice for the Pro Bowl.” He gave us an unconvincing smile and then barked out Moore’s number. “Go.”
I went next, and the cheers as I ran out were nice. I couldn’t deny it. I raised my hands as I ran and heard my fellow students clapping for me. Dustin was next, and then the sound was deafening as Dante came onto the field.
Dustin and I exchanged a look. That’s why Dante didn’t need to worry. He was the golden boy. The star of the Lions, and for the first time, we realized he really was untouchable.
He joined us, his face in game-day mode. Locked and loaded. He wasn’t our roommate out here; he was QB10, and he didn’t fuck around.
He took his perch on the bench, I went to the defense bench, and Slater hovered around the sideline. Not too close to Coach, but close enough that he was in danger of being given a headset if he kept it up.
I got up and joined him when one of the defenders flattened Moore.
“You gave them the play?” I said appreciatively.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t supposed to play that way,” he said with a shake of his head.
“What’s the name of the redshirt O-line again?”
“Carr, I think,” he muttered. “He’s sat on the bench for two years. One here, one at his old school.”
“He’s good.”
Dante was beside us. “He’s a penalty trap,” he muttered. “Look at his feet. Too eager to go.”
We watched the backup QB call out a play, and then the redshirt jumped the snap.
Dante sniffed and looked away. “And there’s the penalty.”
The spring game was an internal game. Our offense against our defense. We tried new plays, new players, and all of it meant the coaches had more stats, more information, and more ammunition for the next season.
Kelly Willis was my replacement in the middle linebacker position. He was taller than me. Broader than me. And slower than me. Size was irrelevant without the first step.
“He needs to play DE.” Dante had followed my line of sight.
Evidently, Coach Holt agreed with him. “Matthews, why are you standing there fishwifeing? Get your helmet on, get out there.”
“Yes, Coach.”
I took my place on the defense, saw the redshirt’s movement, and yelled, “Hold!” to my line. We didn’t jump the snap. He did. Another penalty.
I saw Dante speaking to Coach Merriman, hands gesturing in a very non-Spence-like way.
Two calls, one more penalty later, we had QB10 on the field. The stands were going insane. I don’t know how the fuck he was supposed to hear the play call. From the look on his face, he couldn’t.
Dustin was on, sitting wide on the right side.
The snap happened, and I was off my line like I’d practiced. I cut through the offensive linemen who were blocking me, and I had my arms around Spence’s legs, pulling him down just before the ball left his hands.
“Shit, Noah,” he grunted as we landed on the ground. “I’m on your side, remember?”
I was on my feet, helping him stand, seeing that he’d thrown an incomplete.
“Not today,” I clapped him on the back. “You can take it.” I went back to my line.
The second quarter went quickly. I’d have played all four, but we were supposed to be trying out new players.
The four of us played the full second. None of the third, and the last seven minutes of the fourth.
Coach Sutherland was giving the fans a finale they wanted.
Dante got sacked once more, and I intercepted a pass and scored a touchdown.
I was on a high. Defense beat offense.
I got a slap on the back from Slater and Spence. The three of us laughed as we celebrated at the end. Who cares that it was only the spring game? It had been football, and it was what kept us alive.
“What a great game,” I said loudly.
“You did well,” Coach Sutherland said as he walked past me.
“Benched on Monday, Coach?” I asked, feeling reckless, pushing my helmet up to rest on my forehead.
He turned and looked at me. He looked to the stands and the cheering crowd. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” he grumbled, walking away.
I grinned and, tipping my head back, laughed out loud.
I looked over at the stands and saw Briar lowering her camera. She gave me a dazzling smile, and I returned it.
Best Saturday in a long while.
* * *
I watched Dustin grumbling over his suit jacket. It was black velvet, which should have looked . . . old, but suited him.
“I can’t believe I have to go to this bullshit,” he muttered for the tenth time.
I was in the same suit as before, and so was Dante, although he’d changed his tie.
“This is what happens when you get a girl,” I joked. “You’ve no excuse to not attend.”
Dustin glowered at me. “You remember you told me you’d tackle her if she tries to interview him?”
I tried not to laugh. “Hadley is not going to try to interview Sutherland,” I looked at Hadley, who was wearing a black mid-length dress and looked classy. “Are you, Hadley?”
Her hand wavered. “Undecided.”
“Babe!” Dustin protested, and I sniggered as she winked at me.
I’d shared Mason’s list with her earlier, and the posts had picked up right after the game stopped.
Sutherland was near apoplectic with rage. The ‘scandal’ had taken over the great turnout and success of the spring game.