Page 92 of Forever Relentless

“Illegal.”

Dust shook his head. “Nah, it’s fun. The lights come on, your girl is kissing someone else, fists swing, chaos. In the middle of a pop quiz, a fire drill goes off. Chaos. You know it’s just fun.”

I was reassessing my opinion of the Santo family.

“But hey, their older brother, Onyx. Now he’s a psycho. His kind of Mayhem is more about breaking bones and stuff.”

Been there. Done that. Wasn’t saying it though.

“They sound like they all need therapy,” I said instead.

“Yeah, I guess.” Dust lost his smile. “If I’d stayed in Cardinal, I’d be a Devil.”

“That’s why you left?” I asked curiously.

“Nah. I played football all through high school with them, they’re arrogant on the field because they’re the best.” He looked over his shoulder. “Don’t tell Spence, but Jett will get taken first.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise, and Dustin looked guilty. “You think so?”

He nodded. “That number one Draft pick? Won’t be Dante.”

“He won the championship.”

“Won’t matter.” Dustin finished his bottle of water. “Don’t tell him I said it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I didn’t stay in Cardinal.” Dustin blew out a breath. “You have a QB, running back, and a tight end, from the same family, know what I’m saying?”

“You wanted somewhere else to shine?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

We exchanged a look.

“Regret it?” I asked him quietly.

The air was heavy with his silence. He eventually gave a brief nod. “More and more . . . Does that make me a shit person?”

“Nope.” I stood. “It makes you human.” I sniffed my armpit, and because Dust was an athlete like me, he didn’t blink at my hygiene check. “I need another shower. You want to go get a beer?”

Dustin looked between the controller and me. “Yeah.”

Ten minutes later, we were walking to Digby’s. I had a fresh hoodie on, my hair was still wet, and I didn’t care. Dustin and I spoke about routes and plays the whole way there. It was the most relaxed I’d been in weeks.

The bar was busy, considering the time and the fact that it was a weekday. It just made blending easier. I ordered two beers, and then, finding a corner, I handed one to Dustin, and we stood and shot the shit like two guys in college.

He didn’t talk about his girlfriend. I didn’t bring it up again that I kissed a staff member. Neither of us mentioned the name ‘Mason Sterling’ or that the last few weeks had been crap.

Some of our teammates were in the bar, and one by one they drifted over, and soon we were playing pool and laughing at fuckups during training.

It was the most normal night I’d had since the season ended, and I hadn’t realized how badly I needed it until I was standing with a pool cue in my hand, talking shit to Dustin over an easy miss.

The bell above the bar rang, and we looked at each other in surprise, neither of us realizing it was closing time.

Not long after, a group of us were walking back to the dorm building, and failing miserably to keep the noise down as we parted ways for the night, with several ‘don’t sleep in’ warning calls to each other.

Dante was in the living area when we walked in. In his sleep shorts and T-shirt, headphones around his neck, he looked between us and smiled. “Who won?”