My eyes flashed to him. I wouldn’t even entertain the thought. I heard about this, other players doing this, but no one I knew would do something so stupid. Something so thoughtless. Careless and extremely selfish. To do so one would have to toss away their pride, essentially throw their team under the bus. I refused to believe it, but in the back of my mind I knew. I knew I had to make myself ask.
“You didn’t.” I shook my head. “Tell me you didn’t…”
The words were hard at first, so I had to look away. Taking a breath, I came out with it. “Tell me you didn’t point shave. Tell me you didn’t degrade yourself and toss away your team like they were trash for a buck.”
The fear that hit his eyes I felt myself, and when he cringed, his eyes so lost and scared, I knew the answer to my own question. I fucking knew.
“I’m sorry, Griff,” he said, swallowing hard. “I know it’s wrong, but I had no choice—”
“Shit, D, you always have a choice!” This had to be dream—a nightmare. “It’s a federal crime, D. A fucking federal crime. You could go to fucking prison if people found out.”
He knew that. He had to have. How many players went down over the years due to scandals like this? Served time for shit like this. He couldn’t be that stupid. I refused to believe it.
By the anxious look in his eyes, I knew he did. He did, but he did it anyway. He felt desperate enough to take that route and risk that fallout for himself. He must have thought he could handle it. That it was worth whatever he had to do to help out his family.
“The payout was so good, Griff. Easy money for just a few points. It took care of mama. It helped her pay her mortgage and months of bills the first time I did it.”
The first time. At this point, I had to look away. “That’s a temporary solution,” I said, pushing the words out in a struggled breath. I faced him. “You won’t be any good to her in jail, D. Don’t you understand that? You told me you stopped this. You lied to me when I flat out asked you if you were accepting anymore bribes.”
“I couldn’t tell you. I knew you’d freak. The plan went fine. We were projected to win against Stevenson already, and we did, so I figured it didn’t matter. That what you didn’t know wouldn’t hurt you.”
When he said ‘Stevenson,’ alarm bells went off in my brain. The Stevenson game was that one where the numbers were off. Where our barely win just didn’t seem right, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. In fact, those thugs outside the laundry room nearly jumped me because of it. That was the night Roxie stepped in, but if she hadn’t, things would have gotten rough and I would have been benched because of it. He said what I didn’t know wouldn’t hurt me. Well, he couldn’t have been more wrong. What I didn’t understand was why he did the scheme again. He said the Stevenson game was the first time and what he got took care of his mom.
“Why continue it?” I asked him, my nostrils flaring at this point. “You said the Stevenson game was your first one, and it took care of the situation with your mom. What? Did you get greedy? Were the numbers just too good for you to pass up?”
My words caused him to cringe. “No, man. It was a two-game deal. I had to. I didn’t have a choice. The latest was that last game. The one we lost, but we weren’t supposed to lose, Griff. I swear to God we weren’t. It was an accident. Me and the other guys in on it…” His words were literally shaking his legs. “We tanked our game, Griff. We got sloppy. It was just so easy the first time that we let ourselves get loose. I mean, we lost a game in our favor, Griff. What if people found out what we did? You gotta help me. I don’t know what to do.”
The frustrations within loomed and I turned my back to him, my heart and mind racing at the information. This was another reason why players had no business trying to pull shit like this. You couldn’t control all the factors on the court—nothing was a sure thing. It seemed like missing a few shots was okay, but what if the other people you played were on their game that night and taking advantage of those misses? It was easy to get behind and never be able to catch up. You just couldn’t pull shit like this and expect a certain outcome every time. People were rogue variables that couldn’t be controlled. He was worried people would find out, and that was entirely possible. With enough studying and analyzing of our last game, the fact something sketchy was going on could definitely come to light. Not to the casual viewer, but anyone looking hard like I did upstairs…
D’s off free throws suddenly made sense now. He had to have missed those shots on purpose, and the ultimate loss of, like D said, a game we should have won would give people reasons to look for things like that. Missed shots. Poor defense. If other people found out about this, God it wouldn’t be good. The name of our team would be forever tarnished. We could be stripped of our wins. The players involved federally charged. And what about the others? Me? All our future careers could be affected. Especially if they looked deeper and found out about those previous bribes. It didn’t matter if I hadn’t accepted any in a long time. They were there.
I whipped around, charging back to him. “Who was in on this with you?”
He sniffed, his eyes flickering around while he thought. “Just a few others. Mostly upperclassman. Though a couple younger players. Griff, what should I do? I can’t lose my career.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before you decided to get in this deep. You know better, D. You fucking know better!”
My words cut a sharp chill through the air, both off us struck silent after it. He came to me in confidence, but the truth was, I couldn’t really do anything for him. He’d dug his own grave.
Letting out a breath, I forced myself to calm down. He watched me as I came out of my red haze, his eyes blinking. “Maybe you should talk to Coach. See what your options are.”
His mouth opened slowly. “Admit what I did? Out the others? He’d turn us in for sure.”
“Now, you don’t know that,” I said, lifting my hand. “If this breaks, it won’t look good for anyone. The man’s career would be fucked just as much as any of us. I think you want him on your side. He might be able to help.”
He looked away, his jaw moving while he thought. Suddenly, his eyes flashed to me. “Could you talk to him?”
My eyes widened. “Me? What the hell could I do?”
“You’re on his good side, Griff. If he hears it from you I might have a chance. Everyone respects you. That’s why you lead us.”
I looked away and he shook my arm, a pleading look in his eyes that sent a dagger within me.
“Please,” he said. “If I got a chance it rides only with you.”
Roxie
Griffin had been gone for a long time. Before he left I was already so worried. He seemed uneasy, tense. He never let on about what was going on with him and his friend, but I had a strong suspicion they weren’t on good terms. D was never around and hadn’t been whenever I was here, and as I told Griffin, I knew his friend was upset with him for keeping the situation with me a secret. I just wanted Griffin back here. Now. I wanted to know what was going on, but mostly that he was okay. I was still sitting on the bed watching T.V. when he finally came him.
He flicked off the light instantly as he entered the room, casting it in complete darkness outside of the television. That light went next when his fingers pressed a button underneath the T.V. Now there was only the lighting from his window, the soft glow of the building lights outside. I couldn’t see him well in the darkness, but he clearly dragged his feet as he came over to me, moving slowly. He sat on the edge of the bed, his back to me, and a sigh hit the air from him.
If I wasn’t worried before, I was now. I touched his back. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t answer me. He simply lifted his hoodie above his head, taking his shirt with it. He tossed them then pulled back the bedding where he sat like he was ready for bed. He did just that, getting in, and I took his lead, no more questions asked. I put my glasses on his end table. I was about to settle into my space of the bed, but then G
riffin opened his arms to me, the darkness shadowing his face.
I backed up into him, welcoming his arms as they settled around me. He held me tight, his warm breath moving over my shoulder. I didn’t push him; pressure him for answers. I knew in time he’d talk to me. That was what we promised each other. So when he whispered in darkness, “We tell each things, right?” I responded with a simple, “We do.”
“It’s D,” he said, his voice sounding so drained, tired, and spent. “He’s got himself into some trouble. Something that could affect the entire team’s credibility if it got out.”
I turned in his arms, and he dipped his chin, letting me see him. The darkness couldn’t hide the worry, the anxiety, in his blue eyes. I put my hand on his chest, so warm, but his heart beating so fast inside. “What is it?”
He took a breath before he spoke. “Something real illegal, Roxie. It’s called point shaving. A player can be paid to miss a shot or two for gambling purposes. Still win the game, but just casually make the team lose a point or two so they’re below the betting line. Say we’re estimated to win by twenty-two points. If we won by twenty-one or under, a guy could clean up betting on us to do so. D and a few of my teammates got a scheme going. That’s what happened at our last game. That’s how we lost.”
This sounded familiar. This type of betting. The night Griffin and I started talking, some guys got on him, trying to handle him for not winning by as much as they bet him to do so. I looked at him. “Had he done this before?”
He nodded. “Yeah. A game before you and I met. I guess D had been doing some stuff before that. Selling information about our team to betters.”
My eyes left him. Selling information… I blinked in realization about something I’d seen. Back at the country club, I didn’t think about. I had no idea what D was doing with that guy in the suit that day. What was in the envelope he held? For all I knew, what they were doing was legit. I had no reason to believe otherwise. But now…
I stared at Griffin. “He gave some guy something in a envelope back at the country club. I didn’t think anything of it, Griffin. If I had I would have mentioned it.”
He put his hands on my arms. “It wasn’t your responsibility to do so. I mean, how would you have known?”
I nodded, but I still felt bad. “Why did he come to you? Did he try to get you to do some of this stuff too or something?”
I hoped not. How low could he be? Trying to drag his friend into something illegal? It was one thing to do the things yourself, but to get your friend involved as well? That just wasn’t right.
He ran his hands up and down my arms for a while after I asked, and my anxiety climbed every passing second of his silence.
“I wish it were that simple,” he said, putting his hands on my cheeks.
My eyebrows narrowed. “What is it, Griffin? Tell me.”
He pursed his lips, his mouth turned down. “They weren’t supposed to lose that last game, Roxie. It was an accident. They took things too far. He’s afraid people will find out what he and the few others did, and he should be. While I watched tonight I noticed some careless playing. If someone was looking hard enough, they could probably find something. I told D to talk to Coach, to get him on his side and try to come up with a game plan in case something happens. D asked me to talk to him for him. He thinks that with my good relationship with Coach, he might have a chance.”
My heart thudded, my face escalating in heat by what he said. I shook my head. I shook my head like that would cause me to forget what I heard. He couldn’t do that. He just couldn’t.
I curled my fingers on his chest. “Griffin, you can’t risk that. What if your coach thinks you had something to do with the scheme? What if he thinks your covering for D and his friends? Or worse, what if someone finds out about those things you accepted? The gifts? The bribes?”
His whole career could be destroyed because of this one action. This one decision he was making here today. He said what D did was illegal. Hell, he could probably even go to jail. It wasn’t worth it. Especially for someone who hadn’t had his back in the past.
I must have been shaking, panicking, because he grabbed my hands from his chest, forcing them to stop shaking. He brought them to his lips, brushing his mouth along my skin.
He lowered my hands between the sheets, and his lips went up, the expression so faint it wasn’t even a real smile.
“He’s my friend, Roxie,” was all he said, and I knew. I knew he was going to do this anyway. He was going to put himself on the line whether that tampered with his future or not. Griffin Chandler was a selfless individual. I think I’d known that for a long time. His kind heart and his goodness was what attracted me to him. That element of him went beyond physical. Beyond everything else. That inside him was lasting. What made him so special and worth fighting for. He made me look into myself to find my own strength and bring it out. I had to. I had to always fight for him as he would for me. In that moment, I knew what I had to do. Griffin had another option. Just maybe he did. If I could only find it in myself to take it and make myself go to see…
Him.
I pushed my arm around Griffin’s waist, looking up at him. “Can you wait? Wait just a little while before saying anything? I think there might be an alternative.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Griffin
She asked me to wait. I trusted her, so I did so more than willingly. Even as the days passed and my anxiety levels heightened, I maintained that trust. Saying it was hard to let go, put your faith completely in someone else, would have been hard for me to do if that someone was anyone else. But it just wasn’t any person. This was Roxie. From the beginning, she’d been on my side and had my back. I loved that we protected each other.
I loved her.
That trust stuck with me even when I got the letter in the mail that I’d been scheduled to meet with someone. Someone whose position all students knew of. Our University’s Chancellor. This guy was pretty much as high as you could get in the system.
And I had a feeling he knew something.
The letter didn’t say what the meeting was supposed to be about, but when I ran into D outside of the very office I was to head in to, my initial gut feeling had merit. D and I were about to be face to face with the happenings of our past. It was catching up with us today. That I could pretty much confirm. But even as my stomach twisted and turned at what awaited me when I passed the threshold of the Chancellor’s office, I still had something in my back pocket to appease the feeling and ward off some of that anxiety. It was trust. Roxie asked me to wait, and I wasn’t regretting that. I wouldn’t let myself backpedal. I was only moving forward, and wherever that path led, I knew I’d have my girlfriend by my side in the end. She’d be there even if my world crashed around me.
I found that to be enough.
D didn’t look so calm, blanching when he saw me. “What do you think this is about?” he asked, straightening a tie around his neck. He never wore one. He knew exactly what this was today. What awaited us. No doubt he believed looking nice would aid his chances of the outcome.
I simply patted his back once. For luck or the motivation to move forward, I didn’t know. Whatever it was, it led us into our meeting. The Chancellor’s secretary opened the door to the Chancellor’s office shortly after arrival, letting us into the room of the meeting.
The office inside was large with big windows. Everything in there was extravagant. Even the desk. It was oak, shining from the light of the windows. A man sat behind it, standing up to shake my hand, then D’s. I didn’t know what I expected upon meeting the Chancellor, but it wasn’t the man before me. He gave me a strong handshake, assertive and official, but he also gave me a smile. He had a kind face, pleasant even. Perhaps I imagined the Chancellor to be a man with a chip on his shoulder, the awareness of his power emanating off him. This guy didn’t have that. I felt welcome in the distinguished, black man’s presence, not put off by who he was at all.
He asked D
and myself to take a seat, folding his hands on his desk.
“I feel like you might have a feeling what this is about already, gentlemen,” he said, getting right to the point. “Why you’re here today.”
Though I drew in a breath, I nodded calmly, casually. D did the same, swallowing. We both did know what this was about. Why hide it? This man before us already knew.
“There have been,” the Chancellor paused, adjusting the gold frames on his nose, “claims of illegal activity having to do with the University’s basketball team. All very serious allegations that I can’t ignore.”
Another breath kept me cool and calm. I’d deal with whatever happened. I could because I had strong support behind me.
“Amongst those claims,” he continued, “are that of bribery. Players accepting various favors for playing on the team.”
The air left my lungs. How did…? How did he find out about that? I assumed this meeting would discuss the point shaving, not the things in my past. The things that constantly haunted me. Had they dug deep into the scheme and found other things? Other illegal activities by the players? I had no idea, but I did know my demons were coming to light. I’d run for a long time. I guess I couldn’t run anymore. Not this time.
Leaning forward, the Chancellor took me out of my thoughts. His next words I knew were about to affect the prospects of my future.
“Fortunately,” he said, “these claims are mediocre at best.”
I sat up in my chair and D did the same. Did he just say…
The Chancellor nodded, as if confirming my thoughts. “Claims such as these have surfaced before. Across the board in the University’s athletic programs. We take them all very seriously, but usually they end up as these have. Lacking of supportive evidence. You see, they can be very hard to track and even harder to prove. Many times we’ve found the alleged favors are simply gifts from family and close friends. We have many athletes that come from affluent backgrounds. These exchanges aren’t unethical as they’re not necessarily the product of a player’s good athleticism. I’ve personally looked into the claims presented surrounding this specific case and no concrete evidence of bribery has been found. Therefore, we are closing the issue.”
Found by You Page 22
