Page 128 of Forever Relentless

“I do. I also know you have influence. I’m not saying your coach is a pushover, but you are the three best on his team. His offense is fine; his defense will need work. It won’t with me on it.”

“You’re ready to quit the Blues already?” Gray looked at his brother and cousin. “Does this involve the shit with Sterling that you were here for before?”

I considered lying, but I met his hard gaze and went with honesty instead.

“Yeah. I transferred to a D1 school, one that had a good reputation, a strong team, and a spot that needed filling. I filled the spot. But the coach is a bent fucker, there’s shit happening I’m not on board with, and I want out. I didn’t declare, but I knew I had better draft value with two years of tape at a D1. I still need two years, but I don’t want to fuck my chances of a good draft by staying there.”

“Shit going down?” Jett asked, leaning back slightly.

“It will be.” I didn’t elaborate.

“Spence know that you’re here?” he asked.

“No.”

“Dust?” Ash asked.

“No.”

“You’ve gone rogue,” Gray asked, and I think he was pleased by it.

“They have their own reasons for being there, they don’t like it any more than I do. But I want to move.”

“You’re a flight risk.” Jett’s voice was cold. “You already dumped one team, now you’re dumping another. I don’t trust flighty, and I don’t trust people who aren’t loyal.”

I held his dismissive stare. “You trust looking after number one, though, right?” I asked just as coldly. “Your opposition is in danger of imploding. If you were me, you’d move too. It has nothing to do with loyalty.”

Jett sniffed. He didn’t look convinced. Ash was watching me, and I looked at Gray. He leaned against the door, his eyes hooded as he watched me too.

“You’ve got a temper,” Gray said. “Everyone says you’re a decent guy, you keep to yourself. But on the field, you’re a savage.” He tilted his head. “I’ve seen it. You’ve hit me with it. But,” he pointed to my eye, “you’re not a decent guy, are you, Matthews?”

No. “I like to think I am.”

He grinned, and I’m sure it unnerved many, but it didn’t me. “Nah. You’ve got a temper, I see it. They see it.” He didn’t break eye contact. “You’re not happy there. I think we know why. I wouldn’t be either.”

“You looked into it?” I asked, looking over at Ash, remembering the girl saying she had computer wizards when we were here last time.

Ash made a face that said, ‘What do you think?’

“Did you find out more than we have?”

“There’s a history of sexual assault,” Jett said coldly. “You don’t see it until you dig, really dig.”

I nodded. After talking to Mason, I knew there was more than just Tiffany — nothing concrete, rumors, but too many rumors not to hold at least some truth. But the Santos confirming it made me wonder what else they knew.

“Yeah, I’m learning that.” I wasn’t nervous discussing this with them. I knew Dante would be furious; I didn’t think it mattered. His weird aversion to the Santo family was his cross to bear, not mine. “You find something out like that, and you don’t do anything with it? Is that what kind of people you are?”

Jett snorted. “Who says we didn’t?”

I waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, I had the urge to punch the smirk off his face. “You either did or didn’t, acting smug isn’t an answer.”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” he asked me, the smirk gone.

“You.” I didn’t break eye contact. “I don’t like vagueness. Did you tell anyone what you found?”

“We told Onyx,” Gray said, cutting off whatever his brother was about to say to me, which was probably ‘fuck off.’

I looked between the three of them. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”