Page 38 of Forever Defiant
“That the coaches won’t want her paying attention to,” Savvy finished for me.
My jaw clenched. Hard.
“I still think it’s a good idea to talk to her,” Savvy said. She glanced at Dante, then turned to me. “What do you think, Dustin?”
Why was she asking me?
Because I was the one who kissed her, that’s why.
“I think we should stay the hell away from her,” I told them honestly. “She’s digging, and after just two days, I don’t even think she knows she’s doing it. I already warned her, but she threw it back in my face. The further we are from her, the less likely it’ll blow up in our faces. And itwillblow up.” I looked between them all. “The girl is not subtle.”
“I’d really like to knowwhatshe posted that got my dad to take it down,” Savvy said quietly.
“We wanted to know before we realized she was going to be at the stadium,” Dante said thoughtfully.
“And now she’s on Sutherland’s radar,” I reminded him bluntly. “You two are on his radar. Let’s keep the things he isn’t happy aboutawayfrom each other.”
“Yes, of course.” Savvy chewed her lip. “But if she’s asking questions...”
“Then we don’t need to be the ones answering them.” My tone was harder than it normally was with Savvy, but if Dante wasn’t reigning in his girl, someone had to.
Dante blew out a breath. “Dust is right. It’s not the right time.”
“But what if we say nothing and something happens?” Savvy asked quickly. “I don’t want her to make the mistake I did and assume you all knew what was happening. But at the same time, I want her to know what they’re doing. I just don’t want you guys to suffer.”
“We don’t want her in the stadium,” I said bluntly. “The longer she’s there, the more involvedwe’llbecome, because she’s going to find something, and because we know it’s shady. One of us, him most likely—” I jerked my thumb at Dante — “is going to step forward and drag us—” I pointed at Noah and me — “into it. She’s been caught before, she’s barely hanging on, I don’t know how the fuck she got into the stadium, but Idoknow she won’t be there long. She’s watching us, all of us. But thecoaches are watchingher. Trust me. She thinks she’s here for a month, but she won’t be.”
“Are you helping her on her way out?” Noah asked with a slight smile.
“I can hold a door open like any gentleman,” I told him with a grin. I looked over at Dante, who was frowning. “Dante, listen to me. You know I’m right.”
“I know, but—”
“There’s no but.” I held his look. “We talk to her, we expose ourselves.”
“Talking to her lets her know we know,” Noah agreed. “We’ve all seen her the last couple of days. Do we really want that kind of exposure?”
“No. We don’t.” I didn’t look away from Dante. “Not with her. She won’t see this ashelpinglook out for her. She’ll see this as us knowing and doing nothing, instead of just being guilty by association. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me she’ll think we’re innocent.”
“So we do what? Watch her mess up?” Dante asked doubtfully.
“It’s her mess, not ours.” I looked between the three of them. “You want to blame someone for her being there, blame whoever gave her a pass into the building.”
Hadley was a problem, but not in the way I expected. She was a sharp, relentless, inconvenient problem who asked the wrong questions, looked in the wrong corners, and didn’t know when to shut up — but I didn’t want her to get kicked out by a program we ourselves wanted to rebel against. But I also wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of us for her crusade.
It was Noah who surprised me with his doubts. “We don’t know how much she actually knows, but wedoknow what they do to people who bring attention to them. If she only knows half the story, how can we say we’re better than they are?”
I went to tell him it was easy, because we just had to pretend we didn’t know. It was what we agreed on. But in a way, he was right. Though I wasn’t going to say that out loud. Not after just laying out why we needed to stayaway.
“We owe her nothing, man.” I met his look of surprise. “Tell me this, do you think she’s worrying that whatever she finds fucks up your chances at the Draft? Or mine? Or Dante’s?”
They all stared at me, my bluntness probably surprising them. I didn’t let them see too much. Didn’t let them know that even though I said the words, believed the words, for some reason I couldn’t explain, my pulse sped up every time she got too close.
“Dust—”
“We stay away,” I told Dante sharply. “I hooked up with her, I have the perfect excuse for why we’re keeping our distance.” I looked between them all. “We have enough to worry about. Hadley Peterson’s thirst for a story is her own problem to quench.”
“Are we sure? It doesn’t feel right.” Savvy gave Dante a hopeful look, which Noah and I didn’t miss.
