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After a moment’s hesitation, he nods silently.
I close my eyes, trying to figure out my next move. My life is completely fucked. The only constant thing I have left is the team. I can’t lose that.
I tune back in to Dave talking. “Come on, Coach. Let him do the blood test. I know he’s fucked up in the past, but you know he was the one advocating for the random tests. It doesn’t make sense that he’d do that only to sabotage himself.”
When Coach doesn’t respond straight away, I open my eyes to see him massaging his temples. “You boys are going to be the death of me,” he mumbles before picking up his phone. “Ron,” he barks out when the line picks up. “I’m sending one of my players to you. I want a full blood work up for any sign of drugs.” He pauses and frowns. “Right. Consider it a favour to me.” Another pause. “Full discretion. Please. Thanks, mate.” He hangs up the phone and levels me with a stare. “Don’t make me regret this.”
“I won’t Coach, I promise.” I let out a sigh of relief.
“Get yourself to the hospital and ask for Dr. Crawford. He’s expecting you. He’s going to put a rush through on the results, but you’re banned from training until they come in. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.” I stand up and follow Dave to the door. I hesitate though and turn back to my coach. “Can I ask one more favour?” I ask, rubbing the back of my neck. Coach only raises his brows in response. “Can you please not call Bi– uh, my dad with the results. Just call me, please?” I’m not ready for anyone else to know about my daddy issues.
He blows out a deep breath. “This is serious, Conrad.”
“I know. But I’m… things are… Please Coach. Can you just callmewith the results?”
He stares at me for a moment before giving me a curt nod. Dave and I hightail it out of his office before he can change his mind. Once we’re in the carpark, Dave finally speaks. “It was Palmer, wasn’t it?”
“Has to be,” I confirm.
“Motherfucker.” He slams his palm against the roof of the car, and I’m glad we took his piece of shit this morning instead of my BMW. “What are we going to do?”
“No idea,” I grunt out. “But we’ve got to be careful. He’s proven just how far he’ll go.”
“This is fucked.”
He doesn’t know the half of it. Palmer isn’t even the worst thing to happen to me in the last day. I still haven’t processed that Sam Breed is my biological father. Tom and Harley are my half-brothers.
Fuck, my half-sister is dating my half-brother. How the fuck am I supposed to deal with that? Is that even legal?
This weekend is going to be insane. I’m tempted not to go to the festival, but I need to see Ivy. Even if I can’t be with her in the way I want to, being near her will be enough for me. At least, I hope it will be.
TWENTY-EIGHT
IVY
THE CLOSER WE get to the festival, the more nervous I get. My knee’s bouncing and my thumbnail has been fixed between my teeth for the last hour of the drive. Wren and Brady have been talking the whole drive, but I’ve been lost in my own thoughts. Conrad hasn’t responded to any of my texts in days, and I don’t know what that means.
Is he pissed about keeping us a secret? Or does it have something to do with his parents? Either way, I’m nervous about seeing him. What if someone catches on? The only one who knows anything is Wren, but even she doesn’t know I’m still seeing him. Or maybe just not interested anymore. I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter, that I’m better off that way–but it’s a lie. Ilikehim… and that scares the shit out of me.
Wren twists around in her seat to look a me. “You’re quiet. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” I say, plastering on a smile. “I just didn’t get much sleep last night. Can you believe we’re going to see Forever Summer? I mean, we have VIP tickets! What if we actually get to meet them?”
Wren squeals in excitement which makes Brady groan and cover his ears. “Is this what it’s going to be like all weekend?”
“Probably,” Wren and I answer at the same time before breaking out into laughter.
“Lord help me,” he mutters under his breath, but I don’t miss the grin he sends me in the rear-view mirror.
The traffic has come to a standstill as we wait to be let into the campgrounds. Jordan loaned us his Kombi for the weekend, Harley’s driving Ellie’s car in front of us with Sophie and Tom as well since we had extra tickets. Conrad is driving down with his football mates, but who knows where they are.
I shoot off another text to Conrad, simply asking his ETA–casual, right? Again, after staring at my phone for five minutes, I get no response. I put my phone away, feeling utterly pathetic. I try to forget about him and focus on the growing crowd outside the window milling about. This weekend is going to be epic, and I’m not going to spend it pining over some boy.
It takes us another forty-five minutes to find a spot big enough for us to all set up our campsites. Tom and I both have our own swags, Harley, Ellie, and Sophie are sharing a tent they borrowed from Sophie’s family, and Wren and Brady are taking the back of the Kombi. We set up, leaving space for the others who we’ve found out are about an hour out.
She’s really quiet as we set up, and I wonder whether it has anything to do with the other night. I want to ask her, but I can’t without giving away the fact that I was there.
