I storm to my locker, still ready to throw something. A water bottle, my helmet, a punch.
“What’s going on?” Wendell asks, and I jump because I didn’t realize he was in here. The last thing I want is to be acting like a fool in front of him.
Slowly, I turn around and face Wendell, Mark, and Brian.
Brian’s expression is soft and filled with concern, and it upsets me more because he’s always my safe place. I want to give him that safety, not cause more chaos.
I take a deep breath and count backward from five, then force the best smile I can as I look at Wendell.
“Nothing. Sorry. Just…” I look around to make sure no one else is here. “Meeting with management that made me a little testy. I’ll be all right.”
Wendell looks at Mark, who shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down, then Wendell looks at Brian and back at me.
“Why don’t we get out of here? Grab some drinks and decompress?” Wendell says.
Brian moves slowly toward me like I’m a horse that might buck and run if he gets too close. “I appreciate that, but I’m going to head home. Long day, and I need a break from people. No offense.”
“None taken,” Wendell says with a smile.
Brian rests his hand on my arm, meeting my eyes. “I’ll see you at home.”
And though I want to lean into his touch, to rest my head on his shoulder, I don’t. I nod. “Yeah. I’ll text you when I’m on my way back.”
“I’ll walk out with you,” Mark says to Brian, then he claps me on the shoulder, leaning in to whisper, “It’ll all be okay. We’ve got your backs.”
“Thanks,” I murmur, lightly smacking his back as he walks away.
I don’t bother to hide the way my eyes track Brian until he’s out the door.
“Ready?” Wendell asks.
I nod and grab my bag. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
We’re sittingin a corner of an upscale bar, drinks in front of us, when Wendell moves his chair closer to me.
“I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and guess the reason you’re pissed is because you had a meeting with team management to declare you and Brian are together and they didn’t handle it nicely?”
My eyes fly wide.
“How did you know?”
“Because I’ve watched you two over the last couple of years, and you weren’t exactly being subtle at my house a few days ago. I assumed it finally happened, and since you’re both upstanding humans, you decided to handle it the right way.”
“Do you think anyone else noticed?” I ask, panicked only because Brian and I haven’t discussed any of this yet. I wanted to let him have his space to decompress. He needs that.
“No. Mostly because they’re too focused on their own lives or were far too drunk to recognize it.”
I blow out a sigh of relief. “Well, you’re dead-on. So much for us handling things the right way. They treated us like shit. I mean, Bianca and Bre were fine. But Chet Collins?—”
Wendell’s dark laugh cuts me off. “I’m not surprised.”
My brow furrows. “Why not?”
“Because there’s a reason Jeff Rucker was allowed to pull the bullshit he pulled for as long as he did.”
Our previous QB. A domestic abuser and sexual assaulter. The guy Mark, Brian, and I pulled off a girl almost a year ago.
“Then why?—”
