Page 208 of Forever Relentless

I didn’t hold back. “If I had to make that call again . . . I would.”

He studied me for a moment. “Yeah,” he said eventually. “I figured.” He straightened up. “And the Devils?”

“I wouldn’t make the same call,” I answered honestly.

He nodded. “Good.”

My lips twitched. “You still mad?”

“A little.”

“Yeah, well, me too.”

Dustin clapped his hands once. “Excellent. Emotional growth. I’m proud of both of you.”

Neither of us reacted.

Dante rubbed his hands together and leaned back. “So,” he said. “Are you staying?”

I didn’t answer right away. Because the truth was I’d already made the decision, I just hadn’t said it out loud yet. The Santos wouldn’t hold me back. They saw beneath the surface, they saw the anger, and I knew how much work I’d done to keep my anger controlled.

Dustin and Dante? They didn’t hold me back, but they didn’t let me fall either. Not when it counted. I knew it the day Spence walked out of that room the morning after the fight in the parking lot. He’d looked at me and then turned around and walked right back in to fight for my place here. We may have had our ups and downs but Dante . . . he was a ride or die. And Dust? He would have given me his air miles to go protect my brother.

Gray Santo saw me, but he was the one who told me to keep them close. And I was going to.

“Yeah,” I said finally, my thoughts racing but the conviction clear in my voice.

Dante’s shoulders dropped slightly. “Good. That’s what we want.”

Dustin pointed at me. “You know if you left, we’d have to find another roommate.”

“Your loyalty to our friendship is inspiring.”

“I’m just pointing out the practicalities.”

Dante stood up, used to tuning out Dust, his focus still on me. “You also realize this means you have to see Sutherland every day.”

“I was already doing that.”

“Yeah,” Dustin said. “But now you know he’s a psycho.”

“Now?” I asked. “I knew that the first day I met him.”

That earned a laugh from both of them.

It was the first one in the room in over a week.

Dante clapped a hand against my shoulder. “It wasn’t your job to fix it all.” He looked between Dustin and me. “We came at this as a team, Sutherland tried to break us down by making one of us make the decision. My own stubbornness almost let him win.”

I hadn’t considered that. “I told him you wanted it over and done with, you were worried about your Draft value.” Dante’s look became assessing. I turned to Dust. “I may have implied you and Hadley wouldn’t last, what with you being a . . . guy who doesn’t stick around in the girl department.”

Dustin glared at me. “Why?”

“He’s worried about the influence they have over you. Both of you.” I shook my head slightly. “He thinks they’re with you as Dean Cole’s spies.” I smiled at the look on their faces. “I told him two lies, info that he didn’t know.”

“To build his trust,” Dante realized.

“I don’t expect all of his shit to stop. We don’t let down our guard, and we keep our wits about us. We know who to watch, thanks to Jason’s help. Most of them leave after finals. Next season, we go in eyes wide open. We give him nothing, we play ball.” I held Dante’s stare. “Yeah?”