AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And they believed him? There was certainly cheating going on between them, but he was cheating on her with Rachel.”
“He's Coach Stephenson's son. That gives his name a little credit.”
“You don't believe him, do you?” The minute his name fell out of Alex's mouth, I knew it was all a set-up. He and Rachel probably had all of this planned. If they compiled the evidence, I was sure it was all lies.
“Of course not. Connor's an idiot, and he knows he can't play anymore. His grades are worse than before, and I think he was just trying to brag. One of the coaches overheard him, though, which led to him being investigated.”
“And he put the blame on her?”
“I guess so.”
My mind was whirring with ways that I could give Connor some payback, but I knew punching him until he couldn't see wouldn't help Aster’s cause. He was the cheat, not her.
“What are you going to do about it?”
Alex and Hazel looked at each other with unease before Hazel said, “That's why we came to talk to you. We’re guessing that Aster’s been told she’s not allowed to talk to us while they look into this further, but we thought that you might have been the exception. I guess not.”
I pressed my lips together, trying to think of a way to save Aster, only to come to the conclusion that we'd have to get her side of the story before we could put anything together.
“Let me talk to Aster. We'll figure this thing out.”
I gathered my books together and shoved them in my bag, heading straight to Aster’s room. She wasn’t going to deal with this alone. I was going to do everything in my power to help her.
As the elevator to the dorms opened, I was surprised to find Thea standing outside Aster's room with her forehead leaning against the door. The heavy bass of rock music thumped around the hallway, and I knew exactly where it was coming from. “Aster? Are you going to let me in?” Thea said with her hands cupped around her mouth in hopes her voice would cut through the noise. She banged one more time, but I doubted Aster heard it.
Thea rolled her head to the side in exasperation, but when she saw me, her head popped up, and she smiled brightly.
“Tanner. You’re here!”
“What's wrong with Aster?” I asked, even though I obviously knew, but I wanted to know if Thea knew anything at all.
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I just saw her run into the hallway crying last night, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said she didn't want to talk about it.”
“And you didn’t immediately call me?” Okay, that was a little more abrasive toward my twin than I should have been, but I was pissed off. Aster had been upset about this overnight, and I wasn’t there to comfort her.
Thea’s jaw dropped, and she pushed me as hard as she could. Granted, it wasn’t that hard. I barely flinched. “I didn’t call you because I thought you might have been the knucklehead to do it.”
“It wasn’t me.” I laid my ear across the door, hoping to hear her rustling around, but the music was too loud.
“Then what’s got her so upset that she feels it necessary to blare her music louder than that country music festival I forced you to go to at that peanut farm?”
I narrowed my eyes at her, not wanting to be reminded that she made me stand in a peanut field for eight hours even though I had a mild allergy to nuts. “Let me deal with it.”
“Do you know what happened? It’s not her mom, is it?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
Thea's face dropped as she pushed me away. “Tanner, please don't tell me you're the reason she's crying in there? Because if you are, I have no qualms about beating you up. You may be my little brother, but Aster has done nothing to deserve you treating her like an ass.”
I raised my hands, wanting to laugh, but this whole situation was too serious for that. “I told you, it's not me, but I have a pretty good idea about what happened, so if you don't mind, I'm going to see if I can get her to talk.”
That made Thea stand down and see sense. She'd known me my whole life, yet she forged such a loyalty with my girlfriend that she was willing to take me down over this. Aster was something special, and we both knew it.
“If I find out you hurt her, I'll hurt you twice as bad.”
I rolled my eyes, gently pushing her out of the way before I took her place at the door.
“I’m sure you will. Now please go back to your closet room, so I can sort this out.”
