Page 9 of Touchdown

“That isn’t your call to make. Darius is a good guy—”

“He was the fucking one who found you in bed with Gary and left you there! Why the fuck are you sitting here defending him?” He’s angry and I get it, but I won’t allow him to blame Darius for what happened to me.

“What happened with Gary wasn’t his fault. He told me not to go to that party, I didn’t listen so that is on me, Corv, not Darius.”

“Leah, you’re eighteen. You have so much time to do whatever you want before you settle down with a good guy who treats you right.” I bristle at his dig.

“Darius is a good guy!” I defend. He lulls his head to the side and pins me with a pitying look.

“You need to let him go, Leah.”

My stomach sinks. “Why should I?”

“Because he will never forgive you for drugging him.” My breath hitches. “Darius swore he wouldnevertouch a single drug and risk becoming like his mother. He never hooked up with any girl who dabbled in any type of that shit. He barely drinks because he’s worried he’ll become an addict. You doing what you did to not only him but Saint as well, is unforgivable to him, Leah.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll tell your coach it was me and not them–”

“You don’t get it!” he says with his voice raised. “It’s out of coach’s hands now, it’s with the board. On matters that concern each of us we aren’t allowed to vote. They are going to be kicked off the team. Darius will be pissed but he’ll get over it. But, Saint, he won’t. Unlike Darius and Beck, me, Saint and Crue planned to go pro and if Saint is out, then Crue won’t go without him. Your actions have cost us all, Leah. You could have come to me and I would have helped you deal with this but you didn’t trust me enough!” I bite the inside of my cheek to focus on something else aside from the pain I feel inside my chest. “You slept with him and fucked with his emotions. What the hell did you think would happen when all of this came out?”

I open my mouth, then snap it closed. I truthfully don’t know what I thought was going to happen. “I thought I would figure a way out of it, then Gary showed up at the diner that night and I knew I didn’t have a choice,” I whisper in a defeated tone.

“Darius broke his arm. He will never play again and despite what they all think, I know Victor Hayes, he is not just going to let Darius off the hook for that one.” I flinch.

“What does that mean?” I press.

“It means, tomorrow isn’t going to go our way no matter what we do. The press has their story and they don’t care about the truth. They just want drama and the headlines don’t paint you in a good light, sister.” I balk at him.

“What do you mean?” I ask hesitantly.

“They are saying you have been sleeping with the twins the whole time and that what happened yesterday was your fault.” I splutter, that is not true. I never even knew about them being related!

“Corvin, I—” He holds his hand up silencing me.

“It doesn’t matter what you, me or anyone else thinks or knows. Ninety percent of the world believes what they read. We’ll try to do as much damage control as we can but I can’t promise this won’t blow back on you.”

“I get it,” I say in a dejected tone. “I’m going to be the whore who bagged DCU’s best QB and the girl who fucked her brother’s best friend.” Corvin flinches but doesn’t say anything, which makes me believe that is exactly what people are going to be saying about me.

* * *

We all sit around the twelve seater dining table not saying a word. I push the food around my plate. I’m not even hungry, the thought of food makes me nauseous. Plus, chewing hurts thanks to fucking Gary’s fist. Beck filed a police report pressing charges against Gary for hitting me and started the process with their lawyer to have him charged with rape. Beck said I would have to give a statement and tell the police what I told them today. I wish I could just put this whole ordeal behind me, but that can’t happen until after tomorrow. The guys are leaving early tomorrow morning to head into the city, the girls and I are staying back at the cabin.

“I’m out, thanks for dinner Beck,” Darius says as he pushes back from the table, loads his plate in the dishwasher and heads upstairs, not sparing me a glance once. Corvin is right, Darius is never going to forgive me for what I did to him and honestly, I can’t blame for that. I just wish his dismissal of me didn’t hurt as much as it does.

“Ya’ll need to talk or something because the tension is killing me!” I ignore Saint, I don’t need any of them weighing in on my situation with Darius.

“Shut the fuck up, there is nothing to sort,” Corvin snaps, the tension in the room only amplifies, thanks to his outburst.

* * *

Laying here on the couch, I can’t stop from tossing and turning. Cody and Katie offered to share a bed so I could have the other but I refused. They have been put through enough thanks to me, so I refused to allow them to be any more uncomfortable then they are already by being locked away in this cabin for a week. Corvin glared as I carried my pillow and blanket downstairs, but I just ignored him. I know it is going to take a long time for him to trust me again.

“He’ll forgive you.” The sound of Darius’s voice has me bolting upright and turning toward the kitchen where he leans against the wall sipping a glass of water. My eyes drink him in. Thanks to the soft glow of the moon I can make out that he is only in a pair of sweats. I fight the groan that wants to break free.

“How did you know that?” I ask to distract myself from ogling his body.

“You talk out loud.”

“Hm,” is my only response. I don’t know what else to say, saying sorry won’t fix what I did to him.

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