Page 6 of Faking the Play

Red started to creep into my vision.

“Probably the only kind of pussy that can even feel that pencil dick you got.” Terrick grinned, teeth flashing white against his dark skin. “But seriously, man, how do you even know those are real? Some asshole probably just photoshopped them or something. She’s probably not even a real person.”

“Oh, she’s real,” someone else said. “My girlfriend said she was in the store earlier today, walking around like it was all no big deal.”

“Damn.” Otto shook his head. “I’ll bet she’s a real freak in the sheets then.”

“Shut up,” Ryan growled as he came out of nowhere.

“What?” Otto looked startled. Usually, he’d try to intimidate someone who told him to shut up, but Ryan was just as big, and in better shape.

“He’s right,” I said, my hands curling into fists as I fought to keep my voice even. “We don’t need to be talking about a fellow student like that. Especially when the whole story isn’t out there.”

Otto rolled his eyes. “Come on, Logan. The girl took nudes and sent them to the wrong person. Sucks to be her, but she shouldn’t have taken ’em if she didn’t want them out there.”

“Fuck off, Otto,” Ethan snapped, pushing past me to stand next to Ryan. “What if that was your girl? Or your sister?”

“My sister wouldn’t fuck a teacher.”

Ryan took another step forward, getting into Otto’s space, not caring that the other man was naked. “She didn’t do that.”

Understanding dawned on Otto’s face. He may have been an ass, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. “You know her.”

“You need to take a step back,” I warned him. “And leave it alone.”

“Or what?” Otto taunted, sneering at me. “You think you can take me? If you didn’t have your thugs here—”

“What’s going on here?” Coach’s voice cut through the tension.

“Nothing,” I said, still glaring at Otto.

“Sounds to me like you boys are all standing around with your dicks in hand instead of following your schedule and getting something to eat.” Coach looked from me, to Otto, to Ryan and Ethan, and then back to me. “Get it together. We can’t be fighting with each other if we’re gonna have our winning season. Some of you boys have a lot riding on this year. Don’t let whatever this is fuck it up.”

As he walked away, Ethan and Ryan came back over to me.

“Sorry,” Ryan muttered.

I shook my head. “We should’ve realized that protecting Amelia from this is going to be a hell of a lot harder than just getting someone to take down those pictures.”

“But we’re not abandoning her again,” Ethan said.

“No,” I said firmly. “We’re not. We just have to be smart about this.”

Chapter four

Amelia

Istared at my laptop screen, as if that would make the email go away. I’d been back in my room for about an hour and had only just now worked up the courage to pull up my school email. There weren’t any harassing emails, which didn’t surprise me since my generation was more likely to put insults all out there on social media, and to use social media for messaging. No, what I’d been scared to see was staring right back at me.

An email from Dr. Isenberg with the subject line: Recent Development.

Since I literally got my acceptance letter this morning, that “recent development” could only be one thing.

After taking a steadying breath, I clicked on the email and braced myself.

Miss Fine,

As I’m sure you’re aware, disturbing gossip has called into question the validity of your employment as my TA. I will be speaking with the head of the department as to the best way to proceed. Until we have definitive instructions, I suggest we continue along as planned, but taking care to never be alonetogether so as not to add fuel to the fire. We should also put all important communication in writing. If you have any suggestions or problems, please reply to this email.

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