Page 49 of Forever Relentless

The silence felt heavier. Diana was back to focusing on her hands. I felt the familiar anger rising in my chest.

“And Mason?” Dante asked.

“They ruined him.” I needed more wine. I took both of our glasses and headed to the fridge. My hand shook slightly as I refilled the glasses. I kept my back to them. I didn’t look at either of them as I handed Diana her glass.

“The timeline must have been very tight,” Noah eventually said, and I knew, I just knew, he would be the one to see the holes.

I took a gulp of wine, relishing the cool burn at the back of my throat as I swallowed.

Diana answered for me. “Mason stayed with her.”

Noah kept his attention on me as Diana spoke.

“Tiffany wouldn’t let anyone near her, or talk to anyone, except Mason.”

“So he was away from school.” Dante shoved his hands in his pockets. “And in that time, they did what they needed to do to point the blame at him?”

Diana made a sound of agreement. I was still holding the stare of the middle linebacker, both of us waiting to see who’d make the next move.

“He had no friends?” Noah asked lightly. “No one was missing him? No one reached out to him to tell him what was happening? What was being said about him?”

“You’ve met him.” My smile was as brittle as I felt. “Does he look like he’s the kind of guy who makes friends easily?”

“I was assuming it was because I had hold of your arm,” he countered. “I didn’t realize it was because he was naturally . . . unfriendly.”

“He isn’t.” I knew I was contradicting myself. “He’s just cautious. His focus was on playing, training for playing, and schoolwork. He had no time for anything else.”

“Sounds familiar.”

I saw Noah glance at Dante, who gave him a slight smile back. I considered the taller of the two once more. Anti-social? Yeah, I could see that.

Noah rubbed his forehead. “If you get told at practice one of the team’s out, have you ever questioned it? If it wasn’t Dust or me?” he asked the QB, who shook his head in answer. “Ugh.” Noah walked over to the window. “This is a fucking mess.”

“Yeah,” Diana agreed, raising her glass in mock salute.

“So he’s off campus,” Dante said, his hand rubbing his jaw. “She’s off campus, won’t talk, won’t see anyone . . . but she must have seen someone?”

“They called her.” Diana changed her position on the couch. “They asked her to keep it quiet, to come in, talk, said they had a lead.”

“She went alone?” Noah asked dubiously.

Diana and I exchanged a look. “We don’t know,” I told them both. “We don’t know any details. We know Tiffany never told anyone who it was. We believe she didn’t know. We think someone paid her off, and we—” I hesitated, not wanting to upset Diana, but, well, it wouldn’t be the first time. “We doubt she knew that Mason was the one they were blaming until it was too late.”

“How?” Dante asked.

“An NDA,” Noah said gruffly. “If they gave her money, it was so she’d never talk about it or accuse anyone. Once the NDA’s signed, the money’s in her account because they effectively bought her silence. By the time she realizes, she’s screwed, and the damage has already been done.”

Jesus, where was Noah four years ago? He could see right through it all. He saw the system’s logic without needing to be told how it worked.

I shuddered. I needed to stop looking at him like he was something to figure out.

“But Mason could still have done something,” Dante protested.

I shifted my attention to the QB, seeing his frustration at my brother’s lack of reaction.

“Mason was in a car accident three days later.” I didn’t react to their shock. “He was coming back from seeing Tiff. He stopped at the stop sign. The other car didn’t.”

“Injured?” Noah asked.