Page 149 of Studs Up
“No, you don’t,” Marcel said suddenly. I turned to him to find a deep crimson flush creep up his neck and into his cheeks and ears.
“Yeah. I do.”
The room went quiet again.
“You fucking don’t.” I was confused by his anger. Why the fuck did he care? “He broke up with you.”
Well, there it was. I stood.
“What did you say?” I tilted my head as my brain began to process at high speed. There was no way he could know that unless Holden told him, and I was confident that Holden didn’t say a fucking word. He couldn’t stand Marcel. There was no way he’d call him up and casually say that he dumped me.
“He was supposed to break up with you,” his snarl was dark and dangerous.
“Woah,” Diaz put his hands up placatingly. “What’s going on here?”
“Yeah, Marcel,” I said. “What is going on here?”
“I told Holden to break up with you,” he pointed an insidious finger at me. Wild madness had possessed his eyes. A far cry from the pleasant friend I had known. “He did. You aren’t going home with anyone.”
And he stormed out of the locker room, leaving me stunned, confused, and heartbroken.
The pieces fell into place like a horrible jigsaw puzzle. They played at the academy together. They fucked during Holden’s hoe phase. Holden rejected him. And then the blackmail started. He had been there in Nashville. He knew about the cabin because I was stupid enough to mention it when he asked where I was going for the break. And most importantly, he knew that Holden had tried, and spectacularly failed, to break up with me.
In the two seconds I stood there processing, it dawned on me that Marcel was going after Holden.
Quinn caught my arm.
“What the fuck is going on? Are you seriously with Monroe?”
“Get the fuck off of me,” I roared. I didn’t have time for this. I wrenched myself free and sprinted.
I left the shouts and confusion behind. It didn’t matter. Holden was about to be blindsided, and I would do anything to prevent it, at least for tonight. I had to give Holden a fighting chance.
“Ethan,” I shouted into my phone. Why was the visitor's locker room so far away? It felt like miles and miles of halls and corridors.
“Dude, shitty loss,” he said.
“Were you at the game?” I demanded.
I took a turn, and still, the hall stretched for eons. “I know who it is. Get back to the stadium.”
“Wait, Nolan-,” but I hung up.
It was clear, though, as the door to the visitor's locker room closed, I had failed.
Holden
The stadium staff had covered everything in the locker room with plastic, the ceiling included.
“Okay, okay,” Coach bellowed, settling the excitement. “A few words first before all hell breaks loose.”
Alex had his arm around my neck and was hanging on, vibrating with excitement.
“That was a well fought and well earned win.” Everyone cheered and whooped. It was bittersweet. It had nearly cost me everything. I needed to find Nolan and apologize for everything.
He hadn’t given up on me, and the thought of going home with him was the only thing I wanted.
I wasn’t sure how he would handle the cameras in my room. Taking him to the woods, far away from people, was probably the way to do it.
