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They seemed to buy that, even though Cannon just kept narrowing his eyes disapprovingly.
“Dude.” José whistled low and shook his head. “I never knew you had anger issues. You’re just so…calm, you know?”
“That’s because he doesn’t have anger issues,” Cannon snapped from beside me. “Two isolated incidences do not make him some kind of violent freak. And both times originate back to Nicholl, so you can’t blame Webster for releasing a little fury when he’d been incited to riot against his fucking will. I mean, come on! We know Wick. He’s chill. This is all on those fuckers.”
He grabbed my wrist and held up my arm for the others to see. “Look. He’s got red marks all over his fucking arms.” Glancing at me, he lifted his eyebrows. “They held you down while Nicholl went after you, didn’t they?”
While the others gasped over the fresh marks on my skin with slack-jawed disbelief, I pulled my wrist out of Cannon’s grip and glared at him, mumbling, “I got free.”
“Jesus,” Roark said, no longer so concerned about the Northwest game. “That’s just dirty.”
“That’s why you’re on D with us.” Cannon pointed at him. “We don’t resort to that shit. We play it right because we’re awesome. Now, everyone, let’s get back out there before we get suspended too. And you…” He waved a hand toward my face. “Go wash up, man. You look like hell.”
The others filed from the locker room, all of them giving me a consoling, supportive pat on the arm as they left. Cannon, the last of them, stared at me hard a moment before disappearing from the locker room too.
Once I was alone, I shuffled toward the sinks, where I grabbed the edges of one and leaned over it to examine myself in the wall mirror. Traces of blood had smeared across my jaw while my lip was beginning to swell at one corner. Other than a red cheek and aching ribs, I was fine.
Turning the water on, I cupped some in my hand and rinsed my face.
After I spit blood into the sink, I kept my head bowed, eyes closed, and tried to finish calming myself from the fight I’d just been in.
I’d gotten enough solid punches in that I should’ve been satisfied with what I’d done. I’d hurt him and made him bleed, yet it still didn’t feel like nearly enough.
Haven’s image kept flashing through my brain, her tears, and heartbreak, and the absolute loss of trust in herself. I wanted him to hurt as much as he’d hurt her. But it felt as if I hadn’t even scratched the surface.
So it was hard for me to calm down, to blow out a breath and just let it go. I still wanted vengeance. I wanted his misery. His fear. His failures. I think I’d always feel restless and dissatisfied until I got them.
Behind me, Cannon said, “Well, that went over well.”
I glanced at him, dryly.
He handed me an ice pack he must’ve left to go fetch, which I accepted and pressed against my swelling lip.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned against the sink next to me. “What’d I tell you, man? All-out war.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I repeated.
He lifted his hands. “Hey, I know.”
“And I didn’t start this either,” I growled, my anger beginning to bubble again.
“I know that too. I know it better than anyone.” He set a hand on my shoulder, and I closed my eyes, then blew out a breath to stop the bubbling. “I’m just saying—”
“That I should’ve sat back and done nothing. I know. That’s what you’ve been saying to me for three fucking years. And I’ve listened to you. I have done nothing against him. But he crossed the line, and I’m done doing nothing. If that motherfucker wants war, I say bring it.”
“You know what? If you had just listened to me the first time I actually told you to do something, this wouldn’t be happening right now. And I never would’ve had to tell you to stand down all these years since then. How about you think on that, huh?”
Since he was right, I couldn’t argue back. He was so fucking right, in fact, that my gut burned with regret. Bowing my head, I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes closed.
I’d messed up three years ago. My one small inability to act had messed everything up, and the mistake was still following me around to this day.
Cannon wasn’t done crushing my nuts into the ground though. Pointing at me, he pushed away from the sinks.
“Something else to think about: what’s he going to do when he learns she’s fucking living with you?”
With that, he strode from the locker room, leaving me alone.
I blew out a breath, knowing he was right. But when I met my own eyes in the mirror, I also realized it didn’t matter; I would’ve helped Haven no matter the consequences. I planned on helping her still, as long as she’d let me. Because at some point last night when she’d been lying in my arms, trusting me to keep her safe, she’d become priority number one.
