Page 39 of Mr. Irrelevant
I drift off, phone clutched in my hand, dreaming of the day that we no longer have to hide, and I can scream it for the world to hear like the proud girlfriend I am. I just hope all the secrets we’re keeping don’t blow up in our faces before we get the opportunity to come clean.
THIRTY-SEVEN
MADDOX
“And you’resure he has photos and videos of the two of you together?” Jett asks as he and Emmett sit in the accent chairs next to where I’m perched at the foot of my bed. We returned to our hotel about an hour ago, convening in my room so I could fill them in on all the details of my run-in with Underwood during the first half of today’s game.
I shrug, exhaling a resigned breath. “Livvy mentioned a while back that she didn’t get a chance to get all her shit from his place after they broke up, so it’s very possible that he has her iPad. If so, and she has everything saved to her cloud, he definitely has access to stuff that could ruin her if it got leaked online.” Technically, it wouldn’t look great for me either, but I’m not even thinking about myself right now. Rage boils in my veins at the thought of that stupid motherfucker seeing our private moments. Even the video that we made on my couch, where my face was hidden, ended up staying between us. Liv said it was because he stoppedmessaging her and she didn’t need it, but I have a feeling she just didn’t want to share the first of our intimate moments with him, even though that was the whole reason we took it to begin with. But after things changed between us, I was glad he never saw it. He doesn’t deserve those pieces of her—pieces that belong to me.
“Does she know?” Emmett questions.
“No,” I reply, swallowing the lump of guilt that clogs my throat. “I don’t want to upset her. She trusted me, and I feel like I’m letting her down. That shit was supposed to be for her, which is why I never took a single picture or video on my phone. I wanted to empower her, not destroy her.” I drop my head forward, squeezing my eyes shut tightly as disappointment washes over me. My ribs feel like they’re closing in around my lungs, and my limbs go heavy as I internally berate myself for not doing a better job of protecting the woman I love.
“Dude, this isn’t your fault,” Jett says. “It isn’t Livvy’s, either. The two of you have every right to do whatever you want in the privacy of your own homes. You had no way of knowing any of it would end up in that asshole’s possession.” He presses his lips into a flat line for a moment, shaking his head. “What we need is some dirt on him. The guy acts like he’s unproblematic, but we all know that’s not true.”
I huff a quiet laugh, because he’s fucking right. Deacon puts on an act for the public, pretending to be a model player and teammate. But anyone who’s taken the field opposite him is fully aware of who he is. Hetalks shit, plays dirty when the refs aren’t looking, and thinks he deserves special treatment even though he hasn’t earned a damn thing. To be honest, I don’t know how he held onto Liv for as long as he did. Then again, he’s a fucking snake in the grass and took advantage of her unyielding loyalty.
Emmett’s head whips up, his words cutting through the silence in the room. “What about Theo?” he asks. Jett and I look over at him in confusion as he continues. “They played together at the University of Georgia. Maybe he has something we could use to get the iPad back and ensure that he never talks about what he saw.”
My brows knit together tightly. “You want toblackmail him?”
A devilish grin blooms across his face, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Fuck yeah, I do. He deserves it for threatening your girl. Livvy is just as much a Renegade as we are. Let’s show him why he shouldn’t fuck with us, once and for all.”
My heart twists in my chest, full of gratitude for these guys who have shown me the true meaning of brotherhood from the moment we set foot on the turf together. It may have started in the huddle, but our connection has slowly grown into more, and it’s never been more evident than it is in this moment.
“Alright,” I relent. “Let’s hope Theo has something we can work with.”
Jett sits back, pulling his phone from his pocket and typing out a text while we all wait on pins and needles. I stand from the mattress, wearing a path into the carpetas I pace. After what feels like forever, the soft vibration of a reply against his hand causes us all to home in on the device. He taps the screen several times, reading aloud.“On my way. Give me a minute.”
Anticipation grips at my throat, and I say a silent prayer for this to work out. Even if the information he gives us is hearsay, maybe it’ll be enough of a scare to get us what we want. I’m honestly not trying to hurt anyone here, whether he deserves it or not. I just want to ensure that Liv is safe and that our private moments aren’t broadcast for the entire world to see.
A quiet knock raps against the door, and I run to open it, ushering Theo inside. He was definitely in for the night if the shit he’s wearing is any indicator. His blue pajama set features an assortment of dinosaurs, which would likely eat the fuzzy sloths on the slippers that adorn his giant feet. A small golden mask sits under each eye, and I’m almost positive he’s wearing a mouthguard of some sort. I have to hand it to the guy. He’s not ashamed to let his freak flag fly, no matter how fucking weird he looks.
“Okay,” he says, dragging a hand through his sandy hair. “Why am I here?” I take a deep breath, knowing I have to give him the full story before I can ask for his help. So that’s exactly what I do. I start at the very beginning, telling him how Livvy approached me in the parking lot and offered to help me improve my technique. That even though we tried everything we could to keep our feelings out of it, we fell for one another, agreeing to keep our relationship a secret so it wouldn’t disrupt the season. I finish off by explaining howDeacon got involved and the threats he made today during the game.
He stands there for a moment, processing everything I said as we wait for a reaction. He’s quiet at first, slowly peeling the masks from under his eyes and tossing them into the trash can beside the bed before he takes a seat, looking a lot more awake than he was when he walked into the room. “How can I help?”
“Well,” Jett begins, “we know you guys played together in college. We were kind of hoping you might have some info we could use to get him to give us the iPad back. Maybe you heard something less than dignified for someone who claims to be a good guy. Like cheating on a test or bullying freshmen. Did he do anything like that at UGA?”
He scoffs loudly, a sour expression falling across his face. “You may think that guy’s a dick now, but he was a million times worse in college. Back then, we weren’t under a microscope like we are in the pros, so he got away with everything. And the worst part of all is that he wasn’t even good compared to the other defensive ends we had. At least not without—” He cuts himself off, eyes going wide for several seconds.
“Without what?” I ask.
In an instant, he yanks his phone from the front pocket of his pajama top, scrolling for several seconds before flipping it around so we can see it. We lock in, staring intently while the video plays through, our confused gazes sliding back up as he puffs his chest out like he just solved world hunger.
Emmett looks up, completely perplexed, beforetaking the words right out of my mouth. “How is a video of you flexing in front of a mirror for thirty seconds helpful?”
Theo throws his head back in annoyance, a heavy sigh pushing from his lungs. He taps a peeved finger against the screen again, replaying the whole thing from the beginning. “Not me, you assholes. Watch the background.” This time, instead of focusing on the one-man bodybuilding exhibition, I bring my attention to the locker area behind him as it all unfolds.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
THIRTY-EIGHT
MADDOX
“What kindof well-paid athlete doesn’t have a gate in front of his house?” Jett asks as we walk down Underwood’s driveway. It’s past two in the morning, but it took a while to come up with a solid plan after watching Theo’s video. We settled on taking an Uber to a random bar in the city and making the rest of the trek on foot. We figured four professional football players having celebratory drinks would draw less attention than being dropped off at the house of the guy one of us beat the shit out of earlier this season. Plus, we were prepared to scale some fences when we arrived, but he lives in an ungated community, which made it easy to enter without being noticed.
“I can’t believe he let Livvy stay here,” I say quietly, the idea of anyone having access to her making me irrationally angry. I know it’s ridiculous to assume she couldn’t take care of herself, but that doesn’t stop my protective instinct from cataloguing every way I’d kill someone for touching a hair on her beautiful head.
