AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My face heats. “Well… yeah. Sorry.”
And while I wish I was there to witness his dash to the locker room in person, the television cameras made sure to pick it up. I watched the replays, having missed the live version, when I was holed up in a hotel room the week after.
“He had someone beat you up because I played well.”
I’ve seen this expression on his face before. Stricken. In a way, hopeless. Like he doesn’t know what on earth he’s going to do to get us out of this mess.
Wait. There’s nous. There’s me and the consequences of my actions, and there’s him and the consequences of his.
And maybe they’re related, but we’re not in this together.
“Stop thinking,” Knox snaps.
I rear back. “Excuse me?”
“Your thinking got us into this mess. Youthinkingthat you could keep this from me—” He chokes. “You gotbeat up. Attacked. That’s not going to happen again, do you understand me?”
Do I?
“I didn’t think you’d care that much,” I mumble. “I just didn’t know where else to go.”
He glowers at me. “Damn straight you come to me.”
Oh.
My heart skips a beat.
“What does he want you to get me to do tonight?” he asks.
I fish out the phone and show him the message. It’s a photo of me on the floor—I don’t even remember the guy taking a picture. I lookawful. But with it are the words:Whiteshaw – two goals or we’ll repeat this.
“Like fucking hell,” Knox growls.
“Right.” I laugh, but it comes out nervous. High. “It’s fine. Do whatever?—”
“Fuck that.” He takes my hand.
I start, but he ignores it and pulls me back down the stairs. Faster than I’d like, but whatever. It isn’t until we reach the bottom, and I’m gasping for breath, that we slow slightly.
“Rhodes!” Knox yells.
Jacob passes the ball and bows out of the game. The guys close in his spot in the circle, and he jogs over to us.
“We’ve got a problem,” Knox tells him.
He drags Jacob—and me—to a secluded corner and proceeds to explaineverythingto him. Even when I open my mouth to stop him, he just pulls me closer and wraps his hand around my face. His palm covers my mouth, his fingers digging lightly into my cheek.
Like honestly.
Does he evernottell everyoneeverything?
“Okay,” Jacob says when he’s finished, his gaze bouncing from me to his best friend. “Well, shit.”
Yeah. That about sums it up.
30
KNOX
