I nod and head out, shooting a text to Hollis and Jude.
Me: Where are you?
HOLLIS: I’m cuddling my Omega. He’s very warm.
JUDE: In my room.
I rush over there, unsurprised to find the curtains drawn and Hollis all but swarming Jude between the pillows and blankets of the nest. Hollis is behind him, arms wrapped around his middle, chin on Jude’s shoulder, purring with a rough edge that tells me he has been doing it for too long without stopping.
Jude looks up before I close the door. “Tell me.”
I sit on the floor in front of him, loving the way Jude pulls me closer. “The camera caught Tate going into your bag and adding a scent enhancer to the tube,” I say. “Marsh installed cameras after last year. That’s why they had footage this time and not then.”
Jude looks down at the blanket. Hollis' arms tighten, then loosen when Jude’s hand settles over his wrist.
“Tate folded,” I continue. “He admitted Reece gave him the tube today and told him to add the substance. Tate’s being expelled and criminal charges will be brought against him for attempted assault and whatever else can be pinned on him I guess. They still don’t have the missing tube from last year or footage from then. They don’t have enough to prove the old sabotage yet but Reece is on probation too.”
Jude opens his eyes again. They are wet, but his voice is steady. “So I wasn’t crazy.”
I reach for his hand slowly, palm up on the blanket between us. He looks at it for a moment before sliding his fingers into mine.
“No,” I say. “You were never crazy.”
Hollis makes a sound against Jude’s shoulder and presses his face there. “I’m sorry,” he says, voice breaking around the words. “I’m so sorry.”
Jude turns his head enough for his cheek to brush Hollis' hair. “You didn’t do it.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Neither was Bishop.” Jude’s fingers tighten in mine when he says it, like he knows exactly where my guilt has been living and refuses to let it become the loudest thing in the room. “You’re here now.”
I bring his knuckles to my mouth and kiss them once. “I’m here now.”
After a while, Jude looks at me. “Reece will try again. He will. Tate folded, and Reece doesn’t know how to lose quietly.”
I nod. “I told Marsh that even if Reece was suspended, that wouldn’t keep him away from you and trying to sabotage everything. We just have to catch him red handed. However, now that he knows there are cameras…”
Jude shrugs. “He’ll do something stupid. I’ll just keep a tube on me, okay? There’s another meet and he’s definitely going to try something.” Jude slides his hand into mine, tugging me into the nest beside him as Hollis’ purr deepens. “I want him to lose because I win.”
I understand him perfectly.
I kiss his knuckles again. “Then we make sure he has an audience.”
jude
FourdaysafterTategets pulled from the team, Reece shows up to the meet like rules are something he can step around as long as he smiles while doing it. He isn’t on deck. That’s the technicality. Marsh barred him from team spaces while the investigation is open, which means no locker room, no ready room, no supply areas, no team meetings. It apparently doesn’t mean he can’t stand in the public hall outside the pool with a visitor pass clipped to his jacket, pretending he’s just here to watch like half the school didn’t hear what Tate said.
I see him before he sees me. He’s near the vending machines at the turn toward the locker rooms, hands in his pockets, expression arranged into something casual enough to make me want to put my fist through a wall.
People move around him because they don’t know what to do with him anymore. Last week, he was Reece, senior swimmer, fast in the water and useful to the team. Now he’s Reece under investigation, Reece named by Tate, Reece too arrogant to understand that everyone has started looking closer.
The only thing I can rejoice in is the fact that Tate is currently back home at his parents’ house awaiting a judgement from the school regarding his interference with my blockers. One less face I’ve had to see around.
Unfortunately, until Reece is gone, it won’t be enough. Bishop and Hollis stop behind me, all three of us focused on Reece’s proximity to the locker rooms. “He’s not supposed to be back here,” I whisper.
Bishop’s hand settles at the center of my back. “He’s outside the marked area.”
“Barely.”
