Page 83 of Pretty Broken Promises

“I ran you out of Ocean Bluff for standing up for Ford, do you want me to make you lose another coaching job? That AD you work for really loves money. What do you think he’d do if I threw enough money his way for a new scoreboard? Maybe he’d just like some money dropped directly into his account? For enough zeroes, think he’d let me influence employment decisions?” Wendell taunts.

“What did that boy do to you? I’ve been doing what you said. He’s been sitting on the bench, and I hate myself for what I’m doing to him. You are the one who put me in the position of having to choose between my son and Ford. Of course, I was going to choose my son. I can’t lose my insurance, or he won’t be able to get the insulin he needs to live.

“Ford is your stepson, and you keep pushing me to destroy that kid. Someone I’ve watched grow since he was fourteen years old. An athlete I’ve helped mold. I should be celebrating with him right now, helping him go pro, but you’ve pitted me against him. You better have a damn good reason,” Greer says on the video.

“I do. He disobeyed me by continuing to date my daughter. I will not let the two of them ruin my reputation in the business community by giving people something to talk about. My daughter dating my stepson is too big of a scandal, and I will not allow it. I also will not tolerate him taking what doesn’t belong to him. Make it go away, or I’ll make you go away,” Wendell threatens.

“You’re a real son of a bitch,” Greer mutters.

“If I don’t care about what my own daughter wants, do you think I give a shit about your feelings?” Wendell scoffs.

“Turn it off,” Mitch shouts.

“You don’t give orders anymore,” Nelson snaps, but touches the screen to stop the video. “However, I’ve seen enough. The president of the university is a close personal friend of mine. Mitch, you might want to start getting your affairs in order before you’re fired. A resignation looks much better when looking for work, don’t you think?”

Mitch doesn’t try to argue his side. He proves to be the self-serving coward I believe him to be as he shoves his way through the crowd. All the attention turns back to Coach Greer. All the malice I’ve seen is gone from his face. Finally, I see a bit of the man I respected all through high school.

“I’m very sorry for how I acted. No matter what my reasons were, I understand if you can’t forgive me,” Greer says to me.

There’s a part of me that wants to let him off the hook. I look at Tessa, and I understand completely the motivation to protect the people you love, but he fucked with the person I love the most. I can understand, but he’s right, I can’t forgive him. “I wish you the best, but I can’t play for you. I don’t trust you, but I’m not heartless. If the university will let me, I’ll transfer to another school. Assuming I can find one that needs a QB this late in the season. And for the record, whatever you think you have on video or photo, I didn’t even stay at the hotel last night. Kendall and I passed off our key cards to the other guys.”

Nelson shakes his head. “You don’t sacrifice your future because those who were supposed to help guide you fucked up.” His attention shifts to Greer. “I sympathize with the hard spot you were put in, but by not bringing it to the attention of anyone in the administration you really gave us no choice. It’s not my decision, but I believe if someone’s going to move to another university, it should be you. That way you’d still be able to take care of your son, but Ford won’t have to make sacrifices for you.”

“That’s extremely kind. Thank you,” Greer says, subdued.

“Don’t thank me yet. I can’t promise the president will see things as mercifully as I do,” Nelson warns him.

Shane grabs my elbow. “We’ve got an audience. Let’s get out of here and regroup.”

“Ford, we need to get to the airport and get on the plane,” one of the assistant coaches says.

I glare at them. They might not have known what was going on, but none of them stood up and stopped Greer from sidelining me for no fucking reason. “I’ll see my own way back to Seattle.”

“I’d like to help you with that, and hopefully we could discuss some ways I can look out for your interests. I won’t let anything like this happen to you again,” Nelson offers.

“Tess and I will meet you at the airport tomorrow night,” I agree, and let Shane pull me out of the stadium.

Tessa is too quiet as we climb into Sin’s SUV. I take hold of her hands. “Tess, your hands are freezing,” I comment, and try to warm them between mine.

She starts shaking and muttering something under her breath.

“Sin, get us out of here,” I demand.

“There’s no use,” Tessa mumbles louder. “It’ll never be enough. He took my mother, my sanity, and the rest of my childhood.”

Pieces of the puzzle that is Tessa click into place. I always thought it was strange for a rich girl to be living all alone in that giant house. She had every material thing a teenager could possibly want, and yet she seemed to be disgusted by all of it. The ways she pulled into herself when no one else was around.

I’m afraid I already know what truth she’s going to tell, and hearing it is going to be extremely hard, but not even a fraction of what I’m imagining she’s lived through.

“Tessa,” I have to take a deep breath, “what did he do?”

Slowly she lifts her face and looks me straight in the eyes. “A few times, after my mom left, I woke up to find him watching me sleep. At first I didn’t think anything of it, but it was the way he touched himself that made me uncomfortable. I was confused and asked him if he needed to pee, because he looked like he drank a big soda and was trying to hold it. I told him he could use my bathroom, and he ran out of my room. You didn’t know me in middle school, but I was extremely sheltered. Now I know why.”

She starts to shake, but I don’t want to even breathe wrong and make her stop talking.

“After that, he avoided me for weeks. The cycle would repeat over and over. I even had our housekeeper get him a nightlight because I told her he kept getting lost on his way to the bathroom and coming into my room. I didn’t understand the look she gave me, but I’m so glad I made that one innocent request.

“I guess he got desensitized to the shame of me catching him in my room. He got bolder, and decided to push it further, and—” Her breath shudders as she tries to calm herself. “He pulled back my blankets and started trying to touch me. It was only my leg, and then my thigh, but I wasn’t as naive as I had been when he’d first started coming in my room. I’d matured very quickly in the year and a half this had been going on, enough to know that what he was doing wasn’t normal or okay. I also wasn’t as small as I was when he started, and I fought. I had the element of surprise on my side, but I knew my luck would run out, so I locked myself in my bathroom. I called my housekeeper, because she was the only adult figure I trusted at that point in my life. I didn’t even have to tell her what was going on, she had suspected after I asked her for the nightlight. She threatened him so he’d leave me alone, and after that, I lived in the house by myself. To this day she’s one of the only people I know of who has managed to go toe to toe with Wendell James and come out whole.”

---