Page 100 of Trust Me

Truthfully, I could easily push him off me as he’s not as strong as I am, but if this is what he needs to do, I’ll let him.

Ned delivers another blow, this one to my cheek, and he goes to land another when Isaiah and a few of the guys are pulling him off me.

“Coach, stop!” Isaiah shouts, huffing and puffing as he puts himself between us.

“This has nothing to do with you guys. Leave,” Ned orders, but no one moves.

I spit the blood in my mouth on the floor. “It’s fine. I deserve it,” I admit, making all of their eyes turn to me. “He trusted me and I repaid him by dating his daughter. I’d be livid too.”

“How long has this been going on?” he asks, still seething.

“October 15, that’s when we officially started dating.”

Ned curses under his breath, and then he’s charging toward me again. Isaiah remains a buffer between us as Ned shouts at me. “You’re no good for her, Mazzo.”

This time, I step forward. I want to respect her dad, but I’m also a grown man who’s going to defend himself.

“Jasmine is the greatest thing in my life.” I grin within the chaos of the moment. “I may not deserve her, but I can guarantee I will do my best to prove it every day.”

Ned holds my stare, his dark eyes burning into mine with so much rage.

I don’t wait for a response, knowing I said what I needed to say for now since he’s still pissed and won’t be very understanding anyways.

I turn on my heel and hightail it out of there, right to my SUV. On the drive home, I think about what the hell happened.

Ned knows about us. He punched me, multiple times. The team knows, which means it’ll only be a matter of time before everyone on campus knows.

This is not at all how Jasmine wanted this to go down, and as I’m about to call her with my car’s Bluetooth, I notice her dad’s car behind me at the light.

Fuck.

I call her anyways, despite how much it’s going to kill me to hear her frantic voice.

She picks up instantly. “Hey, babe.” Her voice is sleepy, likely having fallen asleep in our bed.

“Dolcezza,” I warn.

“What’s wrong?” she gasps, snapping out of her sleepy haze.

“Your dad knows. Long story short, the guys were talking about us in the locker room when your dad and I walked in.”

“Fuck,” she whispers, the sound of her flipping the sheets off her body rippling through the phone. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Only Jasmine would be concerned about me when her relationship with her father is about to be put through the ringer.

“I’m pulling in, but your dad’s behind me in his car. I suggest you come down here unless you want him to also find out that we’re living together.”

“Oh, my God.” Her voice is frantic like I knew it would be, and it fucking guts me. “I’ll be down in five.”

I pull into my parking spot, catching sight of my bloodied lip in the mirror. It doesn’t bother me. I’ve been in enough hockey fights in my life to not let it. But it might bother Jasmine, and that I don’t like.

I hop out of the car at the same time as Ned.

“What are you doing, Ned?” I ask him as we stand off in the parking lot.

“I’m here to talk to my daughter. This doesn’t concern you, Mazzo.” He stalks past me toward the front entrance, where Colin is watching with apprehension.

“Jasmine is my greatest concern, so therefore, it does concern me. If you’re going to upset her, then I’ll ask you to leave and wait to talk to her until you’ve calmed down.”

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