Page 53 of Power Play

“So basically, you forced Lola Calway to have sex with you, and once you did, she, like, enjoyed it?” Levi asks.

It’s such a specific question, but I know why he asked it. He needed a hard answer.

“Yeah, bro. It started off like that, but then she was definitely feeling it by the end,” Thad

says. “I’m sure she still thinks about me, ya know what I mean?”That maniacal cackle takes over, and Levi reaches down to turn it off. He looks to me, swiping a tear from my cheek that I didn’t even feel.

“That fucking piece of shit,” Tyson growls. “I want to bash his fucking skull in. I want to squeeze the life out of him with my own two hands.”

“I’ve been there, Ty,” Levi said. “You have no idea how many times the thought of poisoning his drink crossed my mind. But of course, I don’t just carry around poison, and that seemed like too humane of a death for him.” Then, he turns to me. “How are you, baby? What’s going through your mind?”

I look to him, forcing a half-smile.

“I can’t believe you did all this for me,” I say, and his eyebrows knit together.

“I would literally do anything for you,” he says, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

“If I wasn’t so fucking pissed right now, I’d be really grossed out by you two,” Tyson says. We all laugh for a moment. Then I look at both of them.

“Do you think this is enough?” I ask.

Levi and Tyson look at each other.

“I mean, he admits it,” Tyson says with a shrug. “There’s really no way for him to deny that. I guess he could say he was drunk, but there’s always the fact that his spitting image runs around our house.”

“I don’t want to get her caught in the middle of any of this,” I quickly say. “Harper isn’t going to be a pawn in this.”

“What if he thinks she is, but she’s really not?” Levi says. I look at him.

“What do you mean?”

“We have his DNA. She’s three feet tall and likesBluey,”Tyson says. “He doesn’t have to know anything, except that she exists, and that she’s his.”

I feel Levi’s grip tighten on my hand when he says that.

“He’s right, Lo,” Levi says. “We have a confession and DNA proof.”

I nod.

“Okay,” I say. “So what do we do?”

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

levi

“Buck, bro, you good?”Roy asks. Every sound is muffled. My vision is blurry. And my limbs feel like Jell-O. All I want to do is sleep. “Fuck. Coach, get the medic out here!”

And then I wake up.

My eyes spring open as I lie flat on my back, safe in the bed of the rental house. I’ve had different versions of that same dream more times than I can count since that game. Eight weeks. I haven’t been on the ice in eight weeks.

And I can’t fucking wait to get out there again, but in the same breath, I’m terrified of what it means.

I sit up in bed and look out the window. There’s a little bit of morning light—just enough to see where I’m going on the road. I tie up my running shoes, throw on a pullover—it’s chilly this early—and head out down the long, winding back-country road.

I’ve been in a lot of cool places, but Crooked Creek is my favorite place to run. There’s still so much land, rolling hills. There’s still a little bit of peace here. Even knowing what’s coming for us. For Lo. The conversation she’s about to have. But right now, it’s quiet. Peaceful.

It’s been seven weeks since I got back here. Seven weeks since I remembered why I loved it so much. And seven weeks since I realized that I didn’t want to be away again—from Crooked Creek, but mostly, from her.

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