Page 121 of Brutal Game

Coach—JoshuaJensen, that was, because I couldn’t think of him as Coach anymore—lived in a large colonial about five blocks from Reina’s campus, in a gated community with a code. Fortunately, I knew the code and had keys to his house. I parked about a block away from the gated community so I couldn’t be placed at the sceneof the crime, just in case. I’d walk through the gate instead of driving through it.

As I parked, I noticed the souped-up SUV behind me. Isaac had followed me here.

We both got out of our cars, staring at each other..

“Feldman.”

“Silver.”

He flinched. I was one of the few people who knew his real last name.

“Why did you follow me?”

He shrugged, walking toward me. Under the streetlamps, I could see the healing scab on his lip from where I’d hit him. “You’ve been acting erratic, so I followed you to Aviva’s, and then followed you here. If you’re about to do something stupid, I’m not going to let you do it alone.”

“So I have my own stalker,” I joked. Relief poured through me. I lifted my own chin in acknowledgement.

He chuckled. “Hey, you give it, you should be able to take it.” Then he sobered. “So what stupid shit are we doing?”

I sighed. “Breaking into Coach’s house.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because he groomed and sexually abused Asher Gold, and I need to find the video he took of it to prove it,” I said succinctly.

In the dark, Isaac blanched. “I thought that was a lie.”

“No. I caught Coachina lie, though.”

“Fuck man, I’m sorry. For you and for Asher. Where do you think the video is?”

I explained what had happened at Coach’s office in Hallister Hall, and seeing the empty folder marked Asher. “The videos must exist somewhere,” I finished. “I figure hewould’ve saved them on his home computer or personal laptop instead.”

Isaac nodded. “How are we getting in?”

I pulled the small metal object out of my pocket. “I have a key.”

Isaac followed me up the stairs to the porch, waiting as I unlocked the door. “You know Aviva’s a Gold, right? A distant cousin, but…”

“Yeah,” I said. “Small world.”

“The smallest.”

I tried the key in the lock, relieved when it worked. “Quiet, we have to make sure he’s not home.”

I entered the silent house, noting the photos on the plain white walls—me and other teammates, a lot of Coach himself.

“Coach?” I called.

Silence.

Good, he was out like I’d thought.

Isaac followed me up the carpeted stairs, past the guest bedroom I’d crashed in before my freshman year started. Something stabbed me in the gut—I was doing the right thing, but it hurt, knowing that in a way, I was betraying the only father I’d ever known.

And then I imagined Aviva’s face when I’d told her I believed her and was going to help her, and kept going. She was more important than any false father figure.

Outside Coach’s office, Isaac stopped me. “Are you positive you want to do this, Jack? Once you know, you can’t unknow.”

---