Chapter 33 #2
But in a way, he was right. I loathed to admit it, but we were here to play football and learn how to get better so we could get to the NFL and be pro ball players.
Everything else was a distraction. It wasn’t irrelevant, not by a long shot, but in order to succeed, we needed to learn to take the wins where we could.
This was a win. It just wasn’t the win they expected to see.
With that thought, I went inside the dorm building, ready to face down my roommates and friends. If I could talk to them in small groups, that would work better.
Luck wasn’t on my side. They were all in the living area. Savvy and Hadley were in the kitchen, and it looked like they were trying to decide what to order for dinner.
Great. Just what I needed — a group chat.
“Hey.”
Dante looked at me, a frown already forming. “What happened?”
Always the observant one.
“I need to talk to you.” My gaze swept all of them. “All of you, actually.”
I looked between the kitchen and the sofa and chair.
“You should all sit.”
I walked over to the TV, waited for them to settle, and then I just jumped right in.
“I’ve been with Coach Sutherland.” I didn’t falter when I saw their reactions. “I had a talk with him, and he knows.” I didn’t let them interrupt. “I told him I was the one posting on social media, and I have agreed to stop it.”
Hadley was on her feet. “What? Why?”
“If you sit down, I can tell you.” I was too firm.
“He has pictures of me coming and going from Briar’s.
He has pictures of you,” I glanced at Dustin.
“Of Jason.” I didn’t give them the chance to digest. “He knows who Briar really is, and that she lied with false documents to get her job.” My eyes flicked to Dante once.
“He knew about Tate and his suspension — he told me he keeps tabs on all our siblings, and what they’re doing. ”
Dante went completely still. I looked between them all.
“I have agreed to stop posting the social media stories.” I held Hadley’s defiant stare. “You will stop.”
“No.”
I was expecting it. “You will because I got you an interview with Coach Sutherland.”
Her eyes widened, and I told them all about Tiffany, his conviction that it hadn’t happened there, and his agreement to tell the story to Hadley.
“With that story, you get your story, Hadley. Leave the rest of it alone. He knows how to play the game. He basically told me he’s always played, and he doesn’t give a fuck if the school gets penalties or fines.”
I looked at my teammates. “We go back to who we were in January — players focusing on football. On the Draft.”
“And he gets away with it all?” Savvy asked quietly. “How are you okay with this, Noah?”
“Because she won’t get into trouble. Real trouble,” I told her honestly.
“Because with Hadley’s story, Mason can move on.
I don’t know what happened to Tiffany, but I know something did.
I . . . I hate to say it, but I actually believe him.
I don’t think he knows, or cares what really happened,” I added bitterly, “but I don’t think there was a huge cover-up like we thought.
I think the only one who will ever know is Tiffany. ”
Hadley scowled at the ground.
Savvy watched me, and I hadn’t yet looked at Dante, but I could feel his attention on me.
“Hadley gets her story. Briar gets to leave with no repercussions, and we go back to who we were. And he has agreed he will stop with his threats of being benched and, I dunno, following us.” I looked at my QB.
“He’ll keep quiet about what he knows.” I held Dante’s stare.
“We don’t need to like it. But I think this is the outcome we need. ”
“Bullshit.”
I didn’t flinch at Dante’s anger.
“As I said, you don’t need to like it.” I looked at them all, and I nodded.
“I need to go speak to her. I told him I’d have your agreement by morning.
” I glanced at Dante one more time. “Let me know, but everything we think we know, he knows it. This is the best way to keep ourselves and the people we care about safe.”
I headed to the door.
“You made this decision without us,” Dante said quietly.
I didn’t look back. “It’s what leaders do — we lead. You told me that.” I walked out and closed the door behind me.
As I walked over campus to Briar’s building, I wondered what they’d do. I hoped they’d see reason. I hoped they’d not be as reckless as I felt.
Had we won?
No.
Would we ever have won? I didn’t know what the winning outcome was. In football, you win if you score more points. I wasn’t sure of the scoreboard here.
I think this could have been a draw.
A draw is still a result.
Neither side needed to like it, but it wasn’t a loss, and knowing we hadn’t lost had to be enough.
I knocked on her door, and when she opened it. I knew that whatever I said next was maybe going to be the last conversation I had with Briar Sterling.
“Hey.” She stepped back to let me in.
“Hey.” I didn’t sit. I didn’t move closer to her.
“What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Briar gave me an uncertain smile. “I didn’t think I looked that bad today,” she tried to joke.
“I spoke to Coach Sutherland.”
“Oh?”
“He knows everything.” I kept my face neutral. “About you, who you are, Mason, the posts, the fact we were looking into things.”
“Shit.” She sank down onto the couch.
“Yeah.” I moved away from her. She was too close, too within reach, and all I wanted to do was reach.
“We’ve come to an agreement.” I couldn’t say we made a deal. That made me feel dirty. I should feel dirty. I just didn’t know why.
“What kind of agreement?” Her voice turned cooler.
I told her everything — about Tiffany going into the locker room, the underwear, the photos of me coming in and leaving here, and the interview he agreed to give Hadley that would clear Mason.
The room was quiet when I finished, and Briar didn’t look at me. The minute passed quietly, and I was considering just leaving when she turned towards me. Her eyes were shimmering with tears.
“You believe him?”
Three words shouldn’t sound so much like betrayal.
“About Tiffany. Yeah, I do.” I saw her wince. “He’ll give Hadley the story, it will clear Mason.”
“Mason doesn’t give a fuck.” Her anger was potent.
I nodded. “But you do. It’s why you’re here.”
“But I need to leave quietly, right?” Her sarcasm was warranted.
“Or in a police car. I thought on your own terms was better.”
Fury flashed in her eyes. “On my terms? No. This is on your terms.”
“I don’t care whose terms,” I said flatly. “It means he doesn’t get you for false identity. Or sleeping with a student.”
Briar pushed to her feet and went to the fridge to pour herself a glass of wine.
“Anything else?” She asked as she screwed the lid back on. “No more secrets? No more going to someone else for social media, or making deals with bent fucking coaches?”
“No.”
“Get out.”
I’d known she would say that. I came anyway, because she deserved to hear it from me rather than find out some other way. I hesitated, but I’d expected this reaction. I nodded. “This was the only way I knew how to protect you.”
“I didn’t need your protection, Noah.” She took a drink of wine. “I knew what I was risking when I came here.”
I shrugged. “That’s the difference between you and me, B. I wasn’t willing to risk you like that.”
She looked at me for a long moment and then pointed at the door. “Door’s over there.”
I’d expected her to shut down, but it still fucking hurt. “See you, B.”
As I walked down the stairs, I found myself taking another deep breath of the evening air.
I had taken her fury, her purpose, and the justice she’d come here chasing, and traded it for a cleaner exit. I told myself that was protection. For her.
Maybe it was.
Maybe it was control wearing a nicer name.
Either way, I’d done it. And I still knew this was how it actually got resolved. Not with rebellion. Not with shouted defiance. Not with the blaze of glory we’d all been chasing.
But with a quiet agreement between two people who understood exactly what the other was capable of.
Neither of us won.
Neither of us lost.
And we shook hands on it anyway.