Page 84 of The Game

“Anyway. Charlene came to see me yesterday.”

That almost throws me back in my seat. Not what I was expecting her to say. “What?”

“You didn’t know?” Her head tilts to the side, studying me for a minute before she glances over my shoulder.

“No. What kind of shit was she stirring up?”

She shallows. “She knows.”

Knows what? That I’ve been suspended? About Darryl? She must sense the confusion in my eyes.

“About us. The fake dating thing.”

“What?!” My fingers flex over hers and I almost push up off the table, looking for someone to fight. But that’s not the answer.

“How?” I swipe a hand through my hair.

“She told me you were the one who told her, but I never really believed that. She said you wanted her back, and I was in the way.”

“Fucking lies. Nothing but lies come out of that girl’s mouth. I’ve been doing everything in my power to avoid talking to her. You know that.”

She looks a little relieved, but there’s still tension bracketing her eyes. “That’s what I thought. I mean, at first I had a few doubts, but it didn’t make sense. But if you didn’t tell her, who did Cole?”

“Good fucking question.”

“I thought we were keeping it to ourselves. I told Amira, you told Beau, and that was it. Have you been telling other people?” She nibbles on her lip. “Have you been laughing at me behind my back?”

“What? No. Never. I love you, Jazz. I would never do that to you.” Her eyes widen and I rear back. Holy hell. After everything I was thinking earlier, I just let that slip. In the worst way. But I guess I couldn’t keep it in any longer. The feeling is too big to contain. Too much for me.

“You...” Her hair swishes from shoulder to shoulder as she shakes her head, and she goes to pull her hands away, but I close my fingers around hers, not letting her escape.

“I do. I love you, Coffee Girl. This is not the way I would have chosen to tell you, but it’s true. I don’t know when it started, but it’s been growing on me every day. With every smile and every touch and I can’t keep it in any longer. And I don’t want to.”

“Okay. But if that’s true, why didn’t you tell me the real reason you left Tampa?”

My heart sinks. There may have been lies dripping from Charlene’s tongue, but it looks like she revealed some secrets too. Although why she’d tell Jazz that one is beyond me. The truth doesn’t look much better on her than it does on me.

“What did she tell you?”

“That you beat up a teammate. Your best friend. That can’t be true. You wouldn’t do that.” There’s a pleading tone to her voice. She’s begging me to deny it.

“I would if he was the one who cheated with Charlene.” It’s a relief to tell her. I’m almost light headed, and I kicking myself for not telling her before. She was honest with me, but I kept this from her. It doesn’t look good on me.

“I guess I can understand why she didn’t tell me that part, but why didn’t you tell me Cole? I thought we were being honest with each other, only to find out you were keeping this huge thing from me.” Now she’s disappointed and I hate hearing that. Knowing I caused her pain.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I was embarrassed. That it could happen to me. That they both betrayed me. I’ve hardly told anyone. But I should have told you.”

She nods, but doesn’t make any move toward me. There’s no way to tell what she’s really thinking about me.

“I hope you can forgive me. What Jeremy and Charlene did hurt me so bad I didn’t think I’d be able to trust anyone again. And then I met you. Not only do I trust you, but I also love you. It’s not the right time, or the right place.” I glance around the mostly empty cafeteria. “But I can’t hold it in any longer.”

I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. I sprung that on her. It’s not fair to expect her to respond. I get it, but it still slices through my gut.

“Okay. I think I can understand why you kept that from me. I still need some time to figure it out, but I think I can move past it. In the meantime, we need to figure out how she found out about the other thing.”

“You’re right. We need to figure out who told her...” I trail off, remembering the day I was talking to Beau in the locker room and Hail walked out. He must have overheard us. He must have told her. Damnit. I thought I was getting through to him. I though t things were going well. Hell, I even thought maybe he liked me. Apparently not. You wouldn’t betray a teammate’s confidence like that if you had a sense of loyalty.

“I think I know who it was, and I’ll deal with it.”

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