Page 41 of My Brother's Best Friend

My foot twitched, but I stopped myself from kicking him right in the balls. “Bullshit.”

“We didn’t do it,” another said, pausing for a moment to look at his coach. Coach Leo pursed his lips, sending him nothing but a death glare, and the kid continued jumping. “But we’re being punished for it.”

Still, I didn’t believe shit that came from their mouths.

“Alec trusted all of you! And you leaked that video because you were angry that you shitheads can’t win a fucking game without him?! You’re the most selfish pieces of scum in Redwood by fucking far.”

“Miss Weber, that’s enough.”

“You don’t know what they did!”

“I know,” Coach Leo said.

“No, you don’t know,” I shouted, exploding with anger, fury, and annoyance.

How could he be so calm about this? Alec Wolfe was the best player on the Redwood hockey team, already had multiple full scholarships to the best colleges for hockey in the nation, and had scouts from the NHL attending games to watch him play.

A video of him getting sexually assaulted had dropped, and this fucker didn’t bat an eye.

The more I thought about him, the angrier I fucking became. “And you,” I accused.

This wasn’t my place to say anything, but Alec wouldn’t. I never spoke out against anyone, especially after what had happened with Spencer, but I couldn’t let this pass. Alec had cried out so hard in my lap at the Overlook.

And nobody was in his corner, but me.

“Maddie,” Oliver warned, walking over.

“He told you too, didn’t he?” I asked Coach Leo and the assistant coach. “And you didn’t do shit about it!”

Oliver grabbed me by the elbows and dragged my kicking and screaming ass back through the gym, into the empty stadium, and then out through the back doors to the parking lot where I had parked.

“You can’t be saying shit like that to Coach,” Oliver said, releasing me.

“And why not?! Because he’s an adult? Because he’s supposed to be respected?! Do you fucking know what your best friend has been dealing with for the past few days? Do you fucking know that he told your coach about it and he did nothing?!”

“You’re blowing this out of proportion, Maddie.”

“You’re supposed to be his best friend!” I shouted at my idiot brother.

“I am,” he said, pushing me toward my car. “Go home.”

“No,” I growled, snapping myself out of his harsh hold and twirling around so I faced him, the fury building up inside me by the damn second. “If you were his best friend, then you would’ve believed him when he told you that he didn’t want to have sex with her. You would’ve done something other than take a video and laugh at him!”

“Why the fuck do you care, Maddie?”

He was getting defensive and angry because he knew that he was wrong. He shouldn’t have laughed at his best friend and taken that video. He shouldn’t be pushing Alec away and becoming angry with him for being assaulted.

“Huh?”

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I pushed them back. “Because I do.”

“What, do you like him or something?”

“No.”

“Because you know what happened the last time you fell for one of the hockey?—”

“You don’t have to remind me,” I snapped, crossing my arms and turning away from Oliver. “I remember what happened to me when I dated Spencer. Why can’t I give a fuck when something shitty happens to someone in Redwood?”

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