Page 22 of Red Zone

“Sure, hon. You go.”

Forty-five minutes later, I left Professor White’s office with an updated schedule for covering two of his classes and only one TA study session to worry about at night. He’d wanted to know how tutoring was going and relay what my pay would be from the university, which I was more than happy about, especially since I’d increased Liam’s sessions so he would pass the class.

Closing the door to Professor White’s office, I turned quickly and slammed into a blur of curly blond hair as she bounced off me. I grabbed her elbow to steady her. “I’m so sorry.”

She shoved her hair from her face, revealing laughing hazel eyes. “No, it was probably me. I wasn’t paying attention. Oh, Skye.” Megan smiled. “What’re you doing here? Joe said you didn’t have any classes today.”

“I had a meeting, but I thought I would stop into the lab for a minute.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and grinned. “I heard you two are dating. Congrats.”

She blushed and rocked back on her heels. “Yeah. I still can’t believe it. For one, he’s a grad student and a genius. I never thought he would be interested in me.”

“Please.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s been secretly crushing on you for the past few weeks. It’s about time he made his move.”

“I heard you encouraged him.” She laughed then squeezed my arm. “Thank you for that.”

We chatted for a few more minutes until she had to leave for class. I wandered down the hallway then pushed open the door to the lab. I told myself I was there to pick up my notebook, but the truth was, I needed the distraction. Anything to keep my thoughts from drifting back to Liam and how he’d looked holding Lily. I glanced around at the spotless workstations then to the cluttered area where Joe worked. Several chemicals surrounded him along with what looked like two different trials.

I paused at his workstation, pretending to study his trials while my mind drifted. Seeing how good of a father Liam could be should have made things easier—it should have justified my choice to keep him in the dark. But instead, it only made everything harder. Still, I couldn’t help but think about how he was at the top of his game, laser-focused on his NFL future, and his stats had only improved this season, proving where hispriorities remained. My camera lens had captured it countless times, but seeing it in person was different.

“Skye?” Joe’s voice pulled me back.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, distracted. “Just thinking.”

Thinking about how Liam’s focus extended off the field—his patience during tutoring sessions, the way he actually listened when I explained something—it wasn’t the Liam I’d known freshman year, the one who’d bulldozed through life without looking back.

I tilted my head, finally seeing the experiments in front of him. “How do you keep track of everything? I mean, you’re working on what?” I peered closer. “Two different trials?”

He tapped his temple. “Eidetic memory. It makes things easier.” He caught my gaze flicking to the stack of notebooks on his desk and added, “I’m helping Megan with one of her trials, too—it’s a lot, but it keeps things interesting.”

As Joe explained his experiments with foxglove, specifically digoxin extracted from the leaves to help treat and cure atrial fibrillation, my gaze caught a notation in his lab book—or was it Megan’s?The word “undetectable” was underlined twice, and the ink smudged as if someone had paused on it for too long. My chest tightened. It had stuck with me since I’d overheard it on the sidelines, spoken in hushed tones by someone I couldn’t remember.Is it connected to Louis’s meteoric rise on the field?

I wanted to ask Joe what the word pertained to, but the timing didn’t feel right.What if I’m jumping to conclusions?Still, the question lingered like a shadow at the edge of my thoughts.

Joe’s thesis centered on a foxglove-based drug for heart conditions—completely different from Megan’s performance-enhancement trial.But why would I see a term like undetectable in either of their notes? Unless… could there be a crossover I didn’t know about?

As I left the lab, the weight of Joe’s cryptic notes and the lingering image of Liam with Lily pressed down on me. I had too many unanswered questions, and I was tired of running from them.

CHAPTER NINE

LIAM

Head bent against the sudden gust of cold air as I exited the business building where Kylian, Ares, and I had our last lecture on Friday, we jumped right back into the conversation we’d been having before class.

“I still can’t believe Jackson is dead.” It was surreal, and not in a good way, despite my all-too-real view of life. “Did you see anything like that coming?”

“Nope. He ran drills yesterday with Matthews when we were working on the new plays,” Kylian said. “He seemed fine.”

“He wasn’t supposed to work with Matthews.” I frowned, remembering a conversation I’d overheard between the wide receiver coach and the quarterback coach. “Coach Mack wanted him to practice routes with us to improve the timing. It would’ve made sense.”

Ares shifted closer so he didn’t knock into a group of girls we passed on the path through campus. “He should’ve been practicing with us if he was starting, and I think he was supposed to start today instead of Trevor.”

I made a mental note to tell Fio, as any details mattered. I’d seen how she worked on cases long enough to know that. I pulledmy phone from my pocket and thumbed off a quick text to fill her in, whether the info mattered or not.

“I heard you took Skye home.” Ares bumped into my shoulder, almost making me drop my phone.

I glared at him as I shoved it back into my pocket. “Coach saw me with her and asked me to.”

“How’s she doing?” Kylian asked as we turned onto the sidewalk that led to the parking lot. “I heard she was the one who found Jackson.”

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