Page 58 of Power Play

Before I get any further, he holds his hands up.

“Okay!” he says. “Turn it off.”

I press pause, burning holes in him with my eyes.

“That’s fucked up, Buck. That was taken out of context,” he says with a nervous laugh. “I

didn’t even—”

“He said one fucking chance, Dietrich,” I say, my voice booming through the house.

“Don’t make me play the rest.”

Thad swallows, then his eyes move to Lo.

I lean across the table.

“Don’t fucking look at her,” I growl, tightening my grip around her. He moves his eyes to

Coach, then drops them to the table like the coward he is.

“What the hell is going on?” Coach asks. “Tell me what?”

“Coach…” he says, his voice trailing off. I see his hands start to shake, and I hear the crack in his voice when he goes on. “Before we graduated, we were at this party. And, umm—”

“Who is ‘we’?” Coach asks.

“Me and Lo,” Thad goes on. Coach’s eyebrows jump. “And, uh…I thought she liked me.

So I took her upstairs to this bedroom…”

Coach’s eyes bounce back and forth between Thad and Lo.

“Bedroom?” he asks.

“And, uh…” Thad goes on, sniffing now, and I see tears rolling down his cheeks. “I, uh…I

thought she wanted it. I thought she was into it, but, uh…I guess, uh…I guess she wasn’t.”

Coach looks from him, back to Lo.

“Fuck you, Thad,” she says under her breath. I watch as the life seeps back into her. She’s claiming this moment. I can feel it. “Why don’t you tell him the whole story?”

“Wha-what?” Thad asks.

I almost want to smile.

This fucker thought he had to worry about me and Tyson. Little did he know, there was a

five-foot world-crusher right in front of him this whole time.

“Why don’t you tell him how I tried to fight you off? Why don’t you tell him about how I asked you to stop?Beggedyou? Screamed, scratched, clawed?”

I cringe, closing my eyes. If I look at him, I might kill him. Her voice is shaky, but she’s strong. She’s looking right at him, her hands balled into fists.

“Why don’t you tell your beloved coach how your forced yourself on his daughter?In

her? And didn’t have the fucking decency to at least use a condom? Why don’t you tell him that part?” she asks.

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