Page 22 of Forever Relentless

“And if they know more than we do?” he asked hesitantly.

“Then isn’t that a good thing?”

“And if they’re okay with it, and tell Coach and anyone else what we’re asking?”

“Then we know who we can and can’t trust, on the field and off it.”

He considered me, and I let him. I recognized the look in his eyes, reading the defense and going over the possible plays. Dante looked away.

“It’s a risk,” he said finally. “Putting trust in people and then when they stab you in the back, it’s too late to shut the door.” He saw my puzzled look. “You know the saying, shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

“Ah.”

We sat in silence.

“It is a risk.” I took a drink. “But, isn’t everything in this game a risk?”

He gave a grudging nod. “We need to bring Dust in before we move forward.”

“Because he’s more sociable and knows who to approach first?”

Dante smiled briefly. “Yeah. Basically.”

I nodded. “Then we could do that.”

I looked around the bar. It was filling up, and people were giving us their distance, which was nice. It was the offseason. If we had been playing, we’d have been crowded with guys — and girls — telling us where we went wrong the week before. Now we were just two guys enjoying some R&R at the bar.

I toyed with the paper straw beside my drink. I hated paper straws. “She’s already back.”

Dante looked confused for a second, then his eyebrows rose in surprise. “How do you know? Did you see her on campus?”

“I found out where she’s staying.”

He gave a light shoulder lift. Not quite a shrug. “How?”

I inhaled deeply. “My brother has some computer skills,” I told him. “I didn’t ask him to look into anything else earlier because . . . he doesn’t need to know about this. But this wasn’t difficult for him.” I rubbed my forehead. “He probably now thinks I’m a stalker, but he’s thought worse.”

Dante smoothed his fingers over his brow as he thought. “Why didn’t you mention it earlier?”

I thought about an answer that would make sense to him.

He shook his head as he looked away. “Were you going to tell me?”

“No.”

He looked disappointed. “I really fucked up when I threw that punch, huh?”

“No. I mean, yeah, you did. But, ugh . . .” I tried to loosen the tension in my shoulders. “You shouldn’t have done it. And I shouldn’t have swung at Savvy. But it’s over. We need to just put it behind us.” I saw his look. “Really put it behind us.”

Dante nodded. “Yes, I agree.” He looked down at our empty cups. “You could hit me now if it makes you feel better.”

“You’re just being overly dramatic.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked quietly. “The reason you woke up swinging?”

“No.” I answered so fast, I think I surprised us both.

“Mmhmm, you sound unsure,” he joked.