Page 153 of Call the Shots
“Vernon didn’t call this meeting, I did,” I explained. “Because this is textbook bribery—uh,illegal—and honestly the stupidest crime possible, your godfather is the dumbest conman.”
“This is misconduct.” Bear grinned wide. “This is fucking misconduct?—”
The door swung open, and our conversation faltered as we turned to see—Vernon,walking through, his eyebrows drawn with concern.
“What’s going on here?” he thundered.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Bear asked, mystified. “You’re never here this early.”
“June,youdon’t call meetings,Icall meetings,” Vernon snapped and thumbed towards the hallway. “You two need to leave, these rooms aren’t open-use.”
Of course Riley told him but one look at Riley showed a flash of disbelief over his eyes. He hesitated. “Vernon? What’s this about the Gladiators sucking shit?”
Silence fell and Vernon’s eyes slid from Riley to Bear and me. “What do you mean?”
“The Gladiators suck shit, that’s what they’re telling me?—”
“No, no.” Vernon shook his head so quickly, it must’ve hurt. “We’re an up-and-coming team?—”
“You don’t believe that,” Bear scoffed. “Or you’d be doing your job.”
I held up my phone. “Vernon, the scheme’s up. Cleo’s on speaker, we know the Townsends paid you half a million. What you did is illegal and Marrs won’t forgive this.”
More silence. More stunned looks.
“Vernon,” Riley urged. “Tell them they’re wrong.”
The coach gazed at us, frozen to the floor.
“Vernon! Tell them they’re wrong!”
One second, he was there, the next, he was gone, the door swinging shut behind him.
Bear jerked back to gape at me. “Did that dipshit escape?”
We leaped out of our chairs, abandoning Riley still asking questions, and raced down the hall after Vernon. This was a complete admission of guilt—he was running away fromcollege students.Harsh breaths tore out of me as Bear and I stumbled to a stop by Vernon, pausing at the hallway entrance leading to the rink, and to the group of hockey players lounging over the bleachers, waiting for us.
Denali caught sight of Vernon’s sweaty face and folded his arms over his chest. “Coach, where do you think you’re going?”
With a curse, Vernon whirled around and would’ve barreled into us if Bear didn’t yank me out of the way. His teammates leaped to their feet and everyone ran up too, into the maze-like hallways of the Colo.
“He’s going to get away!” Fridge shouted.
“There’s a dozen exits that lead outside,” Bear yelled.
“Everybody split up!” Denali sprinted ahead, his voice booming through the hallway. “FIND HIM! WE NEED TO TAKE HIM TO CAMPUS POLICE!”
Eventually Vernon would find an easy path to the outside and once he was there, I wasn’t sure we could grab him. We couldn’t let him leave the Colo. We had to stop him—and besides…
My eyes widened and I abandoned Bear, racing down the hallway towards the bathroom in the opposite direction. Bear stumbled to a stop and raced alongside me. “Where are we going?!”
“We know this place better than he does!” I searched for the ‘do not touch’ piece of tape over the light switch Montoya had accidentally used when we started the renovations. I flipped the switch, and the harsh fluorescent lights of the Colo blew out like a candle, plunging us into darkness.
“Oh, man,” Bear laughed, and I could hear his sneakers squeal against the floor. He returned to the mouth of the hallway. “LET’S GET HIM, BOYS! WE’RE KICKING THIS FUCKHEAD OUT!”
CHAPTER 57
BEAR
