Page 98 of The Break Out

This is bad.Badbad.

My eyes catch on the last part that has my heart bottoming out. “Sources have also said Kenneth is not the only player on the Spartans that has treated them this way. There are reports that him and another teammate were involved. The sources would not name the other teammate at this time.”

My mind immediately goes to Colton. Sure, he hasn’t been on that team in a little while, but he was and there’s no timeframe given in this email. Even if he wasn’t involved, maybe heknew about it. It’s no secret he wasn’t a great guy before. In fact, that’s fairly new.

I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it just might have.

I immediately call Spencer, but as her phone rings I know this isn’t going to be a conversation to have over the phone.

“Hello?” she answers.

“Hey, can I come over, we have a situation.” I try to keep the panic out of my voice to not scare her, but this is terrible.

As my best friend, she can read me like a book. “Um yeah, everything okay?”

“It will be,” I sigh before hanging up.

I scratch behind Ellie’s ears. “I’m sorry to leave you again, but this is an emergency.”

She purrs, rubbing her head against my hand and I know she understands. I don’t care if that makes me seem crazy, clearly I’ve lost my mind on all fronts and me thinking my cat understands me is the least of my problems.

I make it to Spencer’s house in record time, knocking as calmly as I can. Spencer opens it with a concerned look on her face.

“Is Jared still at practice?” I ask, walking past her inside.

“Yeah, but probably not for much longer, why what’s going on?”

I sit down on the couch, pulling out my laptop. “Would you rather I tell you or would you rather read it?” I ask because I know she can change how she wants to learn things.

“I’ll read it,” she states easily.

I hand her my open laptop with the email ready and sit back, watching as her eyes roam over the screen. Her jaw drops and I bite at my thumb nail as I wait for what she’s going to say. It looks like she reads the entire email, unlike me who just skimmed it.

When she’s done, she sets the computer carefully on the coffee table. “Spence,” I start gently. “Please tell me, did Kenneth ever hurt you?”

She sighs, then shakes her head. “No. He never physically hurt me. But I can’t say this is entirely surprising either.”

I don’t know how she’s being so calm right now. “What do you mean?”

“He’s always been an asshole, emotionally abusive for sure. He never liked being told no or not having his way, but I think part of him was scared of me. I intimidated him, which is why he never hurt me this way. But I’m not surprised,” she explains.

Seeing her so calm about this makes me get into full on publicist mode. “We need to get ahead of this. Obviously, they want you to make a statement defending him, but clearly that’s not what we’re going to do. I’m sorry, though Spence, we can’t stay quiet about it either because then they can spin the story with you in it however they want.”

She nods. “I understand. I’m behind whatever you want to do.”

“Okay, we’re going to post a statement on your social media, I’m not giving any tabloid the exclusive or chance to spin it a certain way.” I immediately pulled up a Word document to start drafting her statement.

“Who do you think the other teammate is they’re talking about?” she questions.

I shake my head. “Not sure.”

She’s quiet for a moment, the only sound is my fingers tapping at the keys before she speaks up again. “Do you think it’s Colton?”

My heart stops when she wonders that too. I stop typing to look up at her. “Do you?”

She seems to think, but then purses her lips, “No. I don’t actually.”

“What makes you so sure?”

---