Page 35 of Forever Relentless

I gave Dante a flat look. “Nothing is a coincidence.”

He nodded glumly. “Yeah. Pity.” He looked over to the row of seats where Briar still sat. “You got a handle on this?”

I followed his gaze; her head was bent as she scrolled through her camera, and I nodded. “Yeah, leave it with me.”

He hesitated and then nodded. “Okay.”

Dante letting go of control of a situation? It was a day of surprises indeed.

Dustin and Jason rejoined us, and I heard the click of Briar’s camera. I turned to look at her, and she tapped the side of it.

“Okay, I am officially banana’d out. Please take them off. You’ve assaulted my retinas enough.” She pulled her hair forward and took a ballcap from her bag as if nothing had happened. “I’m going back to work.”

Jason stepped forward. “Um . . .”

She was already ahead of him. “Even if I wanted to, I have no one who wants to hear your story,” she assured him. “I do recommend you tell your girl, though. No one needs to learn that through social media, it can be a toxic environment as it is.”

“Yeah.” Jason looked defeated.

Briar stood, and I turned fully to look straight at her. I raised an eyebrow as she reconsidered the thought that she was about to walk out of here. She caught my look, and her cheeks flushed. I saw her throat bob as she swallowed.

We held each other’s stare, the others forgotten, and then slowly, she reached behind her and pushed the seat down. She retook her seat, her gaze averted across the field, her cheeks burning bright.

I turned back to look at my teammates. Dustin seemed amused, Jason wasn’t sure what was happening, and Dante was still watching Briar.

“I got this,” I reminded him.

“I know,” he murmured with a quick glance my way.

I looked at the others. “What do we do now?”

“Do you know everyone who’s involved with Coach Sutherland and his scheme?” Dante asked Jason. Gone was the sympathetic QB, and in his place was the guy I knew off the field.

Jason said nothing and then finally spoke. “The five guys you had issues with, they were basically his guys on the ground. You fucked that up when they got sent packing.”

“Someone would have replaced them. Who?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” He saw our reactions and held up his hands. “I really don’t. Everything is quiet right now. It’s the same as before the season starts. It dies down, and then it picks back up again.”

“Were any of those five with you when you were at the party?” Dante asked. Jason’s gaze flicked my way nervously before answering Dante.

“No. I didn’t know them, except that they threw their weight around a lot. Scared the freshman shitless and stuff like that.”

“Who else knows?” Dustin was looking at the tunnel. “You’re close with who? Hartley?”

Jason scoffed. “The only thing I’d tell Hartley is the stuff I want people to know.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” Dustin conceded. “Does anyone else know? Other than Sutherland and us?”

Jason shook his head. “I only told him. He told . . .” For the first time, he looked agitated. “He told Coach Merriman — fucker makes jokes when no one’s listening.”

“Little Man Syndrome.” Dante’s tone was thoughtful. “He’s like a peacock but a gust of wind would knock him over.”

“Or a fist,” Jason added darkly. His shoulders looked more relaxed than they had at the beginning. “How do I fix it?”

“I think what Briar said is right,” Dante told him. “I think you need to come clean with Laurie-Anne.”

I didn’t disagree; that didn’t mean I could have taken the same advice myself.