Page 43 of Keeping Score

My stomach sinks. “Why should I?”

“Because he will never forgive you for drugging him.” My breath hitches. “Darius swore he wouldnevertouch a single drug and risk becoming like his mother. He never hooked up with any girl who dabbled in any type of that shit. He barely drinks because he’s worried he’ll become an addict. You doing what you did to not only him but Saint as well, is unforgivable to him, Leah.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll tell your coach it was me and not them–”

“You don’t get it!” he says with his voice raised. “It’s out of coach’s hands now, it’s with the board. On matters that concern each of us we aren’t allowed to vote. They are going to be kicked off the team. Darius will be pissed but he’ll get over it. But, Saint, he won’t. Unlike Darius and Beck, me, Saint and Crue planned to go pro and if Saint is out, then Crue won’t go without him. Your actions have cost us all, Leah. You could have come to me and I would have helped you deal with this but you didn’t trust me enough!” I bite the inside of my cheek to focus on something else aside from the pain I feel inside my chest. “You slept with him and fucked with his emotions. What the hell did you think would happen when all of this came out?”

I open my mouth, then snap it closed. I truthfully don’t know what I thought was going to happen. “I thought I would figure a way out of it, then Gary showed up at the diner that night and I knew I didn’t have a choice,” I whisper in a defeated tone.

“Darius broke his arm. He will never play again and despite what they all think, I know Victor Hayes, he is not just going to let Darius off the hook for that one.” I flinch.

“What does that mean?” I press.

“It means, tomorrow isn’t going to go our way no matter what we do. The press has their story and they don’t care about the truth. They just want drama and the headlines don’t paint you in a good light, sister.” I balk at him.

“What do you mean?” I ask hesitantly.

“They are saying you have been sleeping with the twins the whole time and that what happened yesterday was your fault.” I splutter, that is not true. I never even knew about them being related!

“Corvin, I—” He holds his hand up silencing me.

“It doesn’t matter what you, me or anyone else thinks or knows. Ninety percent of the world believes what they read. We’ll try to do as much damage control as we can but I can’t promise this won’t blow back on you.”

“I get it,” I say in a dejected tone. “I’m going to be the whore who bagged DCU’s best QB and the girl who fucked her brother’s best friend.” Corvin flinches but doesn’t say anything, which makes me believe that is exactly what people are going to be saying about me.

We all sit around the twelve seater dining table not saying a word. I push the food around my plate. I’m not even hungry, the thought of food makes me nauseous. Plus, chewing hurts thanks to fucking Gary’s fist. Beck filed a police report pressing charges against Gary for hitting me and started the process with their lawyer to have him charged with rape. Beck said I would have to give a statement and tell the police what I told them today. I wish I could just put this whole ordeal behind me, but that can’t happen until after tomorrow. The guys are leavingearly tomorrow morning to head into the city, the girls and I are staying back at the cabin.

“I’m out, thanks for dinner Beck,” Darius says as he pushes back from the table, loads his plate in the dishwasher and heads upstairs, not sparing me a glance once. Corvin is right, Darius is never going to forgive me for what I did to him and honestly, I can’t blame for that. I just wish his dismissal of me didn’t hurt as much as it does.

“Ya’ll need to talk or something because the tension is killing me!” I ignore Saint, I don’t need any of them weighing in on my situation with Darius.

“Shut the fuck up, there is nothing to sort,” Corvin snaps, the tension in the room only amplifies, thanks to his outburst.

Laying here on the couch, I can’t stop from tossing and turning. Cody and Katie offered to share a bed so I could have the other but I refused. They have been put through enough thanks to me, so I refused to allow them to be any more uncomfortable then they are already by being locked away in this cabin for a week. Corvin glared as I carried my pillow and blanket downstairs, but I just ignored him. I know it is going to take a long time for him to trust me again.

“He’ll forgive you.” The sound of Darius’s voice has me bolting upright and turning toward the kitchen where he leans against the wall sipping a glass of water. My eyes drink him in. Thanks to the soft glow of the moon I can make out that he is only in a pair of sweats. I fight the groan that wants to break free.

“How did you know that?” I ask to distract myself from ogling his body.

“You talk out loud.”

“Hm,” is my only response. I don’t know what else to say, saying sorry won’t fix what I did to him.

“I’m gonna break this down for you, Goldie.” I sit up straighter in my seat and watch as he saunters into the sunken living room with a swagger only he can pull off. Rather than sitting on one of the seats he drops down onto the coffee table directly in front of me. I dart my tongue out to wet my lips, his eyes track my every movement causing me to flush red. “I may not be able to see it but I know you’re blushing.” I snort and quickly clamp my mouth closed. He releases a tired sigh and I slump into the couch.

“Just say whatever it is,” I hedge.

“Fine. You and I are done, for good.” Getting a white hot branding iron to my heart would have hurt less then hearing those words come from him. “You crossed a line, Leah, and there is no way for you to come back from that. Even when I thought you cheated on me, I still gave you a second chance!” The hurt that laces each of his words feels like a knife to my heart. “What you did… I can’t get over that and I’ll never forgive you for it. So, from here on out, you stay away from me and I stay away from you. Don’t text or call, better yet, just delete my number.” I nod stiffly. “Look, I’m fucking sorry for what happened with Gary and I swear I’ll do everything in my power to make him pay. If you had told me, things would have been different but instead you lied and used us.”

“I did try to come to you. I called, text and searched for you butyouleft! Who the hell was I supposed to turn to?”

“Your brother,” he snaps.

“How the hell was I supposed to explain what happened to Corvin when he had no idea about you and me? Would you have rather I outed you and told my brother that we were together?”

He shakes his head, climbs to his feet and stares down at me with a vacant look in his eyes. “You did the damage, now you livewith the fall out of the choices you made.” He storms out without another word leaving me alone to deal with this on my own. I know he’s right and I did fuck up, but can he not for one second see it from my side? I can’t let this go. I race after him, catching him just as he’s about to close his door and shove it open. He stumbles back in shock before pinning me with a glare. “Get out!” he snarls.

I ignore him as I push his door closed and move toward him. “You stand here judging me because I made a mistake, a mistake I will forever regret, halfback. I won’t keep saying sorry. You want to hate me go for it, but just know the feeling is mutual becauseyouleft me without a word. You could have come to me and you didn’t, you ran like a pussy!” That pushes him over the edge, he gets right in my face breathing heavy.

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