Page 140 of Forever Defiant
I nodded. “Yeah, that was my reaction.”
Dante stepped back. “Well, I mean, maybe it’s legit.” He and I exchanged a look. “I mean, we’re just players, so we don’t knoweverythingin the program.”
“You think they wouldn’t have dragged your ass to a fundraiser yet for donations for a ‘very expensive upgrade’?”
He frowned. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He looked at the pile of wrappers. “You had a sugar craving for an upgrade?” He tried to ask it lightheartedly, but it landed flat.
I tipped my head back and looked at the ceiling. “Just... keep the smart comments to yourself.”
I handed him my phone.
He winced when he saw it, then took in the details, realizing it was from an unknown number. “Who the fuck took this?”
I looked at him, feeling defeated. “I dunno, but I don’t think I’ll get a NIL contract, do you?”
He looked at me and then the phone, blanched, and handed it back. “We need to find out who sent this. Did you reply?”
“I’d ask if I looked stupid, but clearly I am.” I threw the phone on the couch. “What the fuck am I going to do?”
Dante sat down and put his head in his hands. “We should have declared for the Draft when we had the chance,” he muttered bitterly. “Even if the stock wasn’t there yet.”
“Yeah.” I sat down beside him. “I think I’m fucked, Dante.”
He looked at me and didn’t say anything, but the answer was in his eyes.
He thought so too.
Chapter 31
Hadley
I followed Savannah out of the library. She walked with purpose, and I eventually caught up.
“When’s your next class?” she asked me.
“Tomorrow.” She glanced at me. “I already missed today; I had an early class, I missed it.”
She sighed. “The tutor in me hates hearing that.” She glanced at her watch. “I have just over an hour, we need to find him quickly.”
“Should Dante be worried you know where Noah is?” I asked her, only half joking.
Savannah grinned. “I know where they are all the time,” she said with a wink. “Just don’t tell them.”
“Huh?” I didn’t know what she meant.
“I have access to their schedules.” She pointed at herself. “Tutor, remember?”
“So where is he?”
Savannah pointed to a small building behind the coffee shop. “That is the office of Dr. Phillip Waterman,” she said as we walked. “Dr. Phil, I kid you not, is on sabbatical. But in his room, he has a projector, and Noah watches old films of games in there every Thursday, for an hour, before noon.”
“That’s on his schedule?” I asked dubiously.
“Nah. He told Dante, and Dante told me.”
“Jesus, you two are nosy bastards,” I mumbled.
Savannah knew exactly where she was going, and pretty soon, we were knocking on a green door in a really old part of the college. When he didn’t answer, Savannah opened the door and popped her head around it. She looked back at me.
