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“C’mon, the guy is my teammate, and that’s a big deal. If he’s that bad, I need to know.”
I barely manage a nod because he’s right. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt because I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t say anything before because we couldn’t find him, but this changes everything.
“He tried to rape Charlie back during the long weekend,” Link says. I shiver because he sounds murderous.
“And he hit her,” Trey adds, his expression equally grim.
“Jesus,” Brantley mutters. “Rumors were probably true then. How is this guy still breathing?”
“We haven’t been able to find him, until now,” Link says darkly. “We’ve had my dad’s private investigator looking for the douche, but he’s been in the wind.”
“Why the fuck would he come back?” Brantley asks with a puzzled frown.
“I assume because he thinks he’s untouchable, but we’re about to mess him up.”
“Lincoln…” I clutch his arm.
“I know he’s dangerous, but he’s outnumbered, Charlie,” Trey says, his fingers falling over where my hand squeezes Link’s bicep. “We’ll be fine.”
“Well, then I’m coming,” I say resolutely, meeting their eyes.
“Bennett, you just about had a panic attack a second ago,” Trey says gently.
“I’ll be fine,” I say, shaking my head.
Will I be fine?
I consider my feelings when I think about confronting him, but with Link and Trey by my side, the fear and panic lessen considerably. “I don’t want either of you hurt or arrested. You can’t just go beat him up.”
“Says who?” Link and Trey echo, and Brantley laughs.
“Uh, the law. It’s called assault.”
“Sunshine…”
“No, I’m going to campus security first. I’ll tell them what happened, and they can come with us to confront him or whatever the procedure is. I want to do it right.”
“Bennett,” Trey groans. “That’s just going to lead a trial with your word against his, and we all know how those turn out. C’mon. He’s Whitmore U’s star hockey player who’s about to take them to the Frozen Four, plus he’s a model scholarship student who’s also an affluent white guy.”
“I see your point, Trey, really,” I say. “But what choice do we have? We all know physical violence hasn’t scared him off before. The dude is unhinged.”
All three guys watch me in silence before Link sighs. “You’re not going to change your mind, are you?”
“No,” I say.
“Fine, we’ll try it your way,” he concedes reluctantly.
Turnsout my way doesn’t really work like I hoped. We all agree to meet after our last class and walk over to the security office together, and when I mention it’s about sexual assault, the officer on duty requests that Chancellor Edwards join us.
“We’ll have to get the Brighton police involved because it happened off campus,” Chancellor Edwards explains, her brow creased with concern. “No witnesses?”
“No,” I say quietly. “He drugged me at the bar, and then it happened at his house.”
She glances at Brantley. “You said he came to practice today?” Brantley nods. “Okay, I’ll contact BPD. They will probably be in touch with you for a statement.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, tugging at my lower lip with my teeth. “I know I should have said something sooner….”
“You did nothing wrong, Miss Bennett.” She sighs. “But, yes, unfortunately, cases like this with little evidence other than he said-she said testimonies are rough for the victim. And I’ve been working on finding something on Matt because of other allegations that have come to light, but I haven’t been able to pin anything on him. The girl who came forward originally won’t return my calls.”
