Page 92 of Penalty Kick

“Shush! I need you and Gunnar right now.”

“Sharing isn’t my thing, you should know that—”

“Britt, I’m serious. Dana and I have cracked this wide open and I need an on-the-record statement from you and Gunnar this second.”

“What thing?” Felicity asked.

All eyes were on Theo as she turned to face the group. Talia’s heart started to race, wondering what on earth Theo could have uncovered that was this exciting and required commentary from the team. Had something happened to one of the players? That couldn’t be it. That news wouldn’t be coming from Theo; it would have reached Gunnar and Felicity first. Making her way over to the overhang they were under, she tried to calm her pulse.

“Strip-gate. Or at least that’s what Dana has coined it.”

“I am very lost,” Felicity said. Talia wasn’t far behind. “Start from the beginning.”

“Dash has claimed from the start that he doesn’t remember that night in Vegas, right?” Theo started.

The group nodded. Talia’s stomach tightened, wondering if there was a way to ease out of this conversation. Everyone had gathered around, with the exception of Liam and Avery who were still in the pool with Tanner, and Lulu, who was still texting away. She wasn’t sure anyone would really notice her absence, other than the fact that Dalton was now standing behind her, blocking her exit.

“Well, there is a reason he doesn’t remember. He was drugged.”

“His piss test was clean,” Cowboy said. “That’s why the cops released him.”

“Smart girl 101,” Felicity commented. “Never put your drink down.”

“Exactly,” Theo agreed. “Although in this case, it’s not so much a matter of him leaving his drink unattended. It was served to him that way. It’s a scam that the strip club runs. When they see a big name come in, they target him. Roofie his drink, get him wasted beyond all belief, put him in compromising positions, take some photos, and then just enough time later, one of the dancers he was photographed with shows up, claims she’s pregnant, and blackmails him. I spoke with two other pro athletes that have had this happen to them. Both of whom went to the Landing Strip. Their stories match Dash’s perfectly. Right down to the percent of their contract the dancer asked for.”

“Wait, what?” Talia shook her head, trying to make sense of Theo’s announcement. “Blackmail? Frisky von Horne didn’t mention anything about blackmail.”

“That part came after you left,” Cowboy told her. “She told him that if he paid her, this would all go away, but if not, she’d make assault allegations.”

Assault allegations? Now Talia really felt sick to her stomach. Dash was being blackmailed. Which meant the pictures were fake. Date stamp and all. At least that’s what she thought it meant. Unless he really did sleep with her. If he was drugged there was no way to know. He’d sworn up and down to her that he hadn’t, that he wouldn’t. That he wasn’t that guy. She’d believed him. Wanted to believe him. Until those pictures had shown her…what had they shown her?

Nothing she didn’t already know about.

The whole world knew what Dash had gotten up to that night. He was Twitter famous now because of it. And it was a strip club—a place where, by definition, clothes come off. None of this proved that Dash wasn’t still that guy though. He did end up there, after all.

“But how do you prove this?” Felicity asked.

“One word—Dana. I’m not really sure how she did it, but she interviewed Frisky. Got her to admit the whole scheme, on tape. She’s already called the authorities in Vegas and agreed to provide the tape and testimony in exchange for an exclusive first interview after they bust the owners of the club. You know, sometimes when she says that she doesn’t have a soul, I think she’s joking. Other times…” Theo shrugged.

“Darlin’, you are incredible!” Cowboy kissed Theo hard, earning him a stern throat clearing from Gunnar. “You can have whatever statement you need from us.”

Everyone started to talk all at once, drowning out Cowboy’s accolades. Their voices faded into the background though, the world suddenly seeming to close in on Talia. If she thought she didn’t know how to feel before, that was now magnified by, like, a million. She needed air. Needed space to figure this all out.

Backing up, she ran into Dalton. The jolt knocked her from her thoughts only long enough to mutter an apology before turning and beelining it for the other end of the patio. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, her head still spinning. It was hard to know what to think, what to believe.

All she knew was that she was hurt. Unable to pin it on something, she flipped through all the events in her mind, trying to land on something. But there was nothing. Except for the raw ache gnawing away at her.

And it hurt like hell.

* * *

The loud blaring of a car alarm cut through the air, distracting Talia from the buzz of conversation still happening behind her. Leaning over the patio railing, Talia took in the view of midtown Atlanta, trying to settle herself. There was a fair amount of traffic for a Sunday, but very little of the road noise seemed to make its way up the fifteen stories to the rooftop patio. Most days Talia loved that about this place—giving her and Felicity a quiet place to sit and chat. Today, however, she could have used the rushing of the cars to help drown out her own thoughts.

Dash was drugged…

The news was hard to wrap her mind around. It was something you heard about happening plenty to women on college campuses or even out at random bars. She couldn't think of a single time she had ever heard of it happening to a man. Not that it couldn’t—the drug would have the same effect on the human body regardless of gender. It was just so rare that it somehow seemed impossible.

Impossible or not, it was what went down. Dana and Theo had proved it. And Dash’s insistence that he didn’t remember the event made a whole lot more sense. She’d believed him when he’d said it—she had just also believed the reason for his memory lapse had been copious amounts of booze and not thanks to the aid of some nefarious compound. As for his campaign for her to believe that he wasn’t “that guy”? Well, he’d been genuine in that too. And she’d thrown it all back in his face, walking away without even giving him a chance to explain.