Page 179 of Forever Relentless

I was also doing it for Dante, Dustin, Savvy and Hadley. The fact that he mentioned siblings, I had to assume he knew about Dante’s self-medicating. I would not let him use that against Spence. This deal would protect Briar and give Mason some closure, but I needed to protect my friends too.

Even though I knew they would hate me for it.

But in a way, he was right. I loathed to admit it, but we were here to play football and learn how to get better so we could get to the NFL and be pro ball players.

Everything else was a distraction. It wasn’t irrelevant, not by a long shot, but in order to succeed, we needed to learn to take the wins where we could.

This was a win. It just wasn’t the win they expected to see.

With that thought, I went inside the dorm building, ready to face down my roommates and friends. If I could talk to them in small groups, that would work better.

Luck wasn’t on my side. They were all in the living area. Savvy and Hadley were in the kitchen, and it looked like they were trying to decide what to order for dinner.

Great. Just what I needed — a group chat.

“Hey.”

Dante looked at me, a frown already forming. “What happened?”

Always the observant one.

“I need to talk to you.” My gaze swept all of them. “All of you, actually.”

I looked between the kitchen and the sofa and chair.

“You should all sit.”

I walked over to the TV, waited for them to settle, and then I just jumped right in.

“I’ve been with Coach Sutherland.” I didn’t falter when I saw their reactions. “I had a talk with him, and he knows.” I didn’t let them interrupt. “I told him I was the one posting on social media, and I have agreed to stop it.”

Hadley was on her feet. “What? Why?”

“If you sit down, I can tell you.” I was too firm. “He has pictures of me coming and going from Briar’s. He has pictures of you,” I glanced at Dustin. “Of Jason.” I didn’t give them the chance to digest. “He knows who Briar really is, and that she lied with false documents to get her job.” My eyes flicked to Dante once. “He knew about Tate and his suspension — he told me he keeps tabs on all our siblings, and what they’re doing.”

Dante went completely still. I looked between them all.

“I have agreed to stop posting the social media stories.” I held Hadley’s defiant stare. “You will stop.”

“No.”

I was expecting it. “You will because I got you an interview with Coach Sutherland.”

Her eyes widened, and I told them all about Tiffany, his conviction that it hadn’t happened there, and his agreement to tell the story to Hadley.

“With that story, you get your story, Hadley. Leave the rest of it alone. He knows how to play the game. He basically told me he’s always played, and he doesn’t give a fuck if the school gets penalties or fines.”

I looked at my teammates. “We go back to who we were in January — players focusing on football. On the Draft.”

“And he gets away with it all?” Savvy asked quietly. “How are you okay with this, Noah?”

“Because she won’t get into trouble. Real trouble,” I told her honestly. “Because with Hadley’s story, Mason can move on. I don’t know what happened to Tiffany, but I know something did. I . . . I hate to say it, but I actually believe him. I don’t think he knows, or cares what really happened,” I added bitterly, “but I don’t think there was a huge cover-up like we thought. I think the only one who will ever know is Tiffany.”

Hadley scowled at the ground.

Savvy watched me, and I hadn’t yet looked at Dante, but I could feel his attention on me.

“Hadley gets her story. Briar gets to leave with no repercussions, and we go back to who we were. And he has agreed he will stop with his threats of being benched and, I dunno, following us.” I looked at my QB. “He’ll keep quiet about what he knows.” I held Dante’s stare. “We don’t need to like it. But I think this is the outcome we need.”