Page 49 of Forever Defiant
I sighed loudly. “Quarterbacks have no business being that quiet. It’s unnatural.”
“Sorry. Thought you’d have more spatial awareness.”
I leveled him with a glare, and he grinned as he fell into step beside me. We walked out of the building and headed back to the apartment.
“How’d your talk with her go?”
I blinked. “She’s hellbent on causing trouble.” I shook my head. “Didn’t listen to a word I said.”
“Yeah, I could tell it wasn’t going well.” He glanced at me. “Didn’t expect you to pull her aside in front of half the team. Noah and I watched the whole thing.” He tried to hide his grin. “You looked like you were two seconds away from either strangling her or fucking her.”
Okay, maybe I was a little close to wrapping my hands around her neck... and now I had that image in my head of my hand around her throatwhileI was fucking her. “I wasn’t—”
“No need to deny it,” he murmured. “A few of the guys noticed how close you were, especially when you told them to shut up with their comments. And the coaches noticed.Especiallyafter Sutherland told us all not to talk to her. You need to be more careful.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “I know, but it’s not a simple thing, talking to her. Half of them are hating on her because of his bullshit, and she doesn’t have a fucking clue what changed. Someone had to say something.”
“Agreed,” Dante said dryly. “But did that someone have to be you?” He snorted. “You’re usually the one running their mouth, Dust, not shutting it down.”
I felt my jaw tighten. “Not like what they’ve been saying. I don’t say shit like that.” Dante gave a half shrug. “She’s getting heat she doesn’t deserve,” I muttered. We walked across the quad, and I was thankful it was quieter. “You know I’m right, he was a complete dick to throw that shit her way the other day.”
“I know. But we agreed she’s a problem.” He tugged his duffel bag higher up on his shoulder. “Is she no longer a problem?”
“Of course she is,” I snapped, seeing his eyebrows rise at my tone. “She doesn’t know when to back off. She should have the word ‘problem’ tattooed on her fucking forehead.”
Dante chuckled. But when he spoke, his voice was low. “Maybe being vague isn’t working.” He glanced my way. “She doesn’t know what to back off from. She thinks she has a story; we don’t know what he has. It’s a mindfuck.”
“I know,” I barked. “But honestly, I agree with Coach, the quicker she’s out of the stadium, the better for all of us.”
“Maybe it is.” Dante exhaled loudly, his hand dragging down his face, like mine had only moments before. She was getting to us all.
“She’s always going to be digging,” I said, quieter now. “She found something the other day. I found her in that old file room.”
Dante stiffened. “What old file room? Why are you only telling me now?”
“Because I don’t need to report to you every damn day, Spence.” I saw his look of surprise and rolled my shoulders, trying to work out the tension. “Shit. I don’t know why I’m snapping at you. She pisses me off, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, it’s fine, I get it.” He turned to look at me. “What happened?”
“She was in the back office. It’s full of old paperwork.” I saw his look of interest and wished I hadn’t mentioned it. “I don’t know what she found, but I reminded her today that whatever she’s finding isn’t just a story. It’s people’s lives she’s messing with. We all know Whittaker isn’t exaggerating when he said Sutherland basically told him he was off the team if she steps out of line. I was there, I heard him.”
Dante swore under his breath. “Did she say anything about what it was?” he asked. “What she found?”
“No.”
“And what did you tell her?”
I paused.
Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Dustin.”
“I told you, I told her to stay away from it,” I muttered. “I may have mentioned her blog.”
He groaned as though that physically pained him. “You told the investigative reporter we know more than she thought we did, and then told her not to look into something? That always works.”
“We don’t need to nip at each other,” I muttered sullenly. “And what was I supposed to do? If she gets close to whatever this is—”
“That’s not on you,” he said firmly.
