by B. B. Hamel
“Well, that sucks,” she says. “If I find out, I’ll tell you. Ugh, I’m sorry, I’m so dumb, I should just keep my stupid mouth shut.”
“It’s okay, Emily,” I say, making my smile bigger, even though I just feel like crying. “Thanks for saying nice things about me. I appreciate that.”
“Of course.” She chews her lip. “You should, like, come by the softball house sometime. It’s fun, I mean, we have parties and whatever, boys come too sometimes, and we’re just… chill, you know?”
“I’d like that.”
“Awesome. Okay, cool.” She grins, flushes, and seems relieved. “All right, well, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye.”
She pushes back her chair, slings her bag over her shoulder, and hurries out the door. I lean back and close my eyes a second, breathing deep to steady myself. Thankfully, I’m alone, since all the other tutoring sessions ended without the learners showing up. I was the only one that got saddled with actual teaching today.
But I’m glad I did. Emily’s a sweet girl and I know she doesn’t mean to upset me. She just wanted to talk about what happened. Still, the thought that people are talking about me makes me want to scream and rip my hair out. I’m not the kind of girl that wants attention, especially not that kind of attention.
I close my eyes and force the tears back. I’m not going to cry, not in this stupid room with its uncomfortable chairs, ugly tables, and horrible lighting. I’m going to suck it up like a big girl, go back to my apartment, curl up under my soft comforter, and cry there.
I hear the door open again and I lean forward, opening my eyes. I expect to see Emily, and I’m about to ask her what she forgot, but the words die in my throat.
Erik Pacific stands there with a big grin on his face.
He’s wearing athletic shorts, a polo shirt, high black socks, and sandals. He grins at me and shoves back his thick blond hair. “Hey, Chloe,” he says.
“What do you want?” I ask, pushing my chair back. I’m about to get up and run out of there. My eyes dart around the room, looking for another exit, but he’s in front of the only doors.
“Just want to talk.” He puts his hands up. “I promise. No pranks, no bullshit. Just a conversation. How about that?”
I clench my jaw for a second. “I’d rather eat my own puke,” I say.
He laughs. “Oh, come on. I’m a good-looking guy. At least you can enjoy that.”
“Like I said, I’d rather eat my own puke.” I push back from the table and stand. “I’m leaving.”
“Hold on,” he says, his smile disappearing. “Wait. I’m being nice, just hear me out.”
“No,” I say. “No, screw you, Erik. You hurt me, then you’ve done nothing but trash my name. All because of what? Because I wouldn’t have sex with you?”
He frowns a little. “That’s not it.”
“It’s not?”
“You got Coach to hit me,” he says, his voice dropping to a growl. “It’s your fault. You… you deserved all that.”
“I didn’t deserve it,” I say, biting back tears again. I’m not going to cry in front of this animal. I won’t give him that.
“Whatever, Chloe. I’m here to talk, so sit back down.”
I step back, shaking my head. “Let me leave.”
“Chloe.”
“I said, let me leave. Or I swear I’m going to start screaming.”
He sighs and clenches his jaw. “I know it was you,” he says, staring at me with a flat expression. His eyes harden as he tilts his head and a little smile slips across his lips. “Now, sit down and talk to me.”
“You know it was me, what?” I ask, but my blood feels like ice.
He pulls his phone from his pocket, taps on it a few time, and turns it toward me. I stare at the screen, but it’s too far away to make much out. He taps it to start the video, and all I can see are some blurry black and white blobs.
“Watch,” he says. “Come on. Take a look.”
I hesitate then step closer. I stare at the screen and the scene begins to materialize. It’s a night-vision camera, and it’s Erik’s front yard. I recognize the walkway, the bushes, and the trees. My heart starts to beat faster and my eyes go wide as I stare at the video. It looks like nothing’s happening at first, but the trees are blowing slightly in the breeze. I remember it was a little windy that night, and we had to throw the paper really hard to get it up high into the trees.
“Coach put this in a couple years ago, I guess,” Erik says. “Some incident a lot like this, actually, except some rival team. I don’t know the story or whatever, it happened before I joined up. But it’s kind of funny, right? He put this in to catch some other team, but instead, well… he caught you, right?”
I watch as three figures come into frame. The first figure throws a roll at a tree, and the other two join in. I catch a clear shot of David’s face, grinning like a kid and laughing. I’m wearing my mask and so is Sara, so at least she won’t get in trouble and we can protect her a little bit if we have to. But it’s so obvious that’s David, and Erik clearly figured out who the other two girls are.
“Turn it off,” I whisper.
“Why?” he asks. “This is the good part. Watch.”
I watch as Sara tosses her roll through the bushes then takes a can of spray paint from her bag.
“Can’t see her actually write it,” he says. “But I think that’s proof enough, right? Is that you with the can?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Figured.” He snorts. “Stupid prank. Although kind of good. The spray paint was overboard though. The paper was hard to get out, but fortunately, I didn’t have to do it. Just got some stupid freshmen to climb up there and pull it out.”
I look up, heart beating fast. “What do you want from me?” I ask. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Oh, I thought that was obvious. I want you to go to Coach Hardy and tell him what you did. I want you to make sure you mention Coach Fyall’s involvement. I want you to get David fired.”
He pulls his phone back and puts it back into his pocket as I stare at him, my whole body still and stiff. I can’t believe what I’m hearing, but he just smirks and doesn’t move.
“What… I can’t do that,” I say. “You can’t make me do that.”
“Oh, I definitely can and I’m going to. I could go to Coach myself, but I don’t know, I think the idea of you doing it would be better. If you don’t go to him yourself, I’m going to figure out who the third person is in this video, and then I’m going to take it to the police. I think this is vandalism? Something like that. I’m pretty sure you guys can get in some serious trouble.”
“No,” I say.
“Oh, yes. And David will go down either way. If you go do it, at least you’ll all avoid any sort of trouble with the law. David can get fired on the downlow and move on from this campus, and you can… well, I guess I don’t give a fuck what you do.” He leans toward me, a sparkle in his eyes. “You shouldn’t have fucked with me.”
It takes all my willpower not to spit in his face.
“Anyways, think about it,” he says, turning away. “I guess I can give you, like, a couple days or whatever. Just think it over and decide how you want to play this. Either way works for me, I don’t much care. I’ll get what I want no matter what.”
“Erik.”
He pauses at the door and turns around. “Yeah?”
“You’re a fucking asshole.”
“Oh, I know.” He laughs and leaves the room.
I stand there for a long moment before grabbing a chair and sinking down into it. I stare at the table, my heart racing, my mind working overtime. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do, but Erik has us. There’s no turning back from this. Erik has a video of David, and he’s going to use it to ruin him.
I can’t let it happen. I can’t let David go down for this, not when he didn’t even want to be involved in the first place. I had to convince him to come with us, and even t
hen he thought it was a bad idea. David never would’ve done something like that if I hadn’t convinced him.
It was childish and stupid. It felt good at the time, but it doesn’t feel good now. We got caught, and now Erik has that video to hang over our heads.
I hate him. I don’t know what I did that was so bad, but clearly he’s on a mission to destroy me. He wants to ruin me, wreck me, leave me nothing but a dried-out husk of a person. And he’s going to use everything he can against me to get his way.
I need to protect David. And I need to protect Sara. I just don’t know how I can possibly do that, not with Erik pressuring me like this. On the one hand, if I do go along with Erik’s plan and tell Coach Hardy myself, at least David will likely avoid the worst consequences. He’ll be let go, of course, and he’ll lose out on his dream job, but at least he won’t get charged with vandalism or destruction of property or whatever.
But if I do that, I’m turning my back on him, and I won’t be able to live with myself.
I slowly stand up, numb to the world, grab my things, and leave the tutoring room in a haze of indecision.
17
David
Practice goes smooth, although I do catch a few looks from Hardy. I bet he’s wondering if I’m going to try any more tricks to knock some sense into Erik. And truth be told, I’ve been considering it. TPing the asshole’s house isn’t nearly bad enough and not even close to what he deserves.
But I hold back. I’m being watched too carefully, and besides, I have more time to plan my revenge.
Because I haven’t forgotten, and I’m not going to forgive.
I stop off at this decent Mexican place on my way home for dinner and park down the block from my place. I get out of my truck, sling my bag over my back, and carry my takeout along the sidewalk, frowning down at the ground, thinking about what I’m going to do with this little situation.
As I approach my apartment, I slow and come to a stop.
It takes me half a second to recognize Chloe. She’s sitting on the stoop in front of my apartment building. I walk over, a little smile on my lips, happy to see her, but I come up short again as she lifts her face.
She has tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Chloe,” I say, running over. I kneel down in front of her. “What happened?”
“Can we talk inside?”
I nod, stand up, take her hand, and help her to her feet. I take her inside, get her up into my apartment, and slam the door behind me. I help her over to the couch and get her some tissues. She smiles and blows her nose. I put my stuff down and have to keep myself from raising my voice as my anger continues to build in my chest.
I know Erik did this. I know it’s his fault that she’s upset like this, I just can’t figure out exactly what he did. I want to hunt him down and break his legs, that fucking little shit, but first I need to take care of Chloe.
“What happened?” I ask again, my voice softer this time. I struggle to keep my anger out of this. I sit down next to her and take her hands in mine.
“Erik came to me after tutoring,” she says. “David, he… he has a video of us.”
I cock my head at her. “Of you and Erik?”
“No, I mean, of me and you and Sara. From that night.”
I stare at her for a long moment. “How?”
“Security camera outside the house. Apparently, Coach put it in? Something to do with a rival team?”
“Shit,” I whisper. I don’t know how I forgot about that. Some stupid team from upstate vandalized the football house my first year and Hardy was pissed about it. I didn’t realize he had cameras installed at the house though. That’s probably something I should’ve thought about before going through with our dumb little plan.
“Your face…” She trails off. “Sara and I had masks on, remember? But you didn’t.”
“You can see me?” I say.
She nods once. “Yeah. Really clear.”
“Fuck.” I lean back against the couch.
“That’s not all. He wants me to… he wants me to go to Coach and tell him what happened. He wants me to get you fired.”
I feel rage flare through me again. I have to get up and walk across my apartment, being careful not to smash anything on the way. I stop at the door and slam my fist against it once, twice. Pain flares in my knuckles but I can’t seem to care.
“Tell me exactly what he said,” I whisper, trying to keep calm and failing.
She walks me through it. She tells me the whole exchange, start to finish. The more she talks, the angrier I get. When she finishes, I can barely control my rage. I want to leave my apartment, find Erik, and beat him into a bloody pulp.
He’s just some brat fucking kid. He’s some bullshit quarterback, and he wants to get me fired before he’s out of control. Coach won’t see it either, he’ll just see his assistant coach harassing his star player. He’ll choose Erik over me, already said as much. Doesn’t matter what I do at this point, it seems as though I’m fucked either way.
“He can’t do this,” she says. “He can’t get away with it.”
“We fucked up,” I growl. “Going to his place was a huge mistake. I didn’t know about the cameras, but I still shouldn’t have…” I trail off, shaking my head. “And now he has this on me.”
“I can’t go to Hardy,” she says.
I turn to face her. I hate that Erik put her in this position, but that’s exactly what he wants. The little shit knows what he’s doing. He wants her to agonize over this, wants her to worry about it. He’s torturing her and getting revenge on me all in one plan. I have to admit, it’s a little devious, but that only makes me even angrier.
“If you don’t, he’ll press charges,” I say. “There’s no doubt in my mind. He’ll go ahead and do it.”
“So what? I mean, we won’t go to jail, right?”
I shake my head. “You don’t want a record, even something petty like this. I’m not going to let you go down that road.”
“David…” She shakes her head and stands. “I’m so sorry. This is my fault.”
“This is not your fault,” I growl and walk to her. I feel so angry, but no part of that is directed toward her. “This isn’t your fault at all.”
I grab her hair and kiss her. I kiss her hard, taste her lips, pull her forehead against mine. We stay like that for a moment as she wraps her arms around my neck. I pull her tighter against my chest, feeling her body warm against mine. She’s wearing a short-sleeve shirt, cut just low enough to get a hint of her breasts, and skin-tight jeans. She’s such a beautiful girl, and I hate that she got pulled into this. She doesn’t deserve it, doesn’t deserve any of this.
“If I hadn’t… messed with him, none of this would’ve happened.”
“So you should’ve, what, slept with Erik just because he wanted you to? Just so you could avoid him harassing you?” I shake my head. “No, we’re not going down that road. He doesn’t get to do whatever he wants with whoever he wants, Chloe.”
“But now he has this over us. And I don’t know what we can do about it.”
I kiss her again, gentler this time. “I’ll figure something out.”
“He wants an answer in a few days.”
“All right then. Give me some time and I’ll figure it out. Our first game is this weekend, so give me until then.”
She bites her lip and nods. “I really am sorry,” she says. “None of this was supposed to happen.”
I kiss her again, softer this time, slower. “Stop apologizing,” I whisper. “You’re one of the best things to ever happen to me. Don’t you realize that?”
She stares into my eyes. “How can you say that? I’m bringing nothing but negativity into your life.”
I laugh softly, hand caressing her face. “Chloe, you have no clue what you do to me. You’re mine, you’re my girl, every inch of you is delicious and made for me. I don’t care what happens from here on, so long as I keep you.”
She bites her lip. “Do you
really mean that?”
“I mean it,” I growl. “Erik can do what he wants. So long as you come home with me, it won’t matter at all. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she whispers. “God, yes.”
I kiss her again, strong and slow. I feel her body against mine, perky and warm and gorgeous, and I can’t help myself. All my anger, all my rage, it just comes flowing out of me. I pull off her shirt and kiss her neck, palm her breasts, spilling out of a black bra. I kiss her chest and push her down onto the couch. I unbutton her jeans and peel them off her long, lean legs before spreading her wide and kissing her inner thigh.
She moans and rolls her hips as my tongue licks up and down her panties. “David,” she gasps. “You don’t…. Oh, god.”
“Let me taste you,” I growl. “I want to make you fucking come.” I reach up and grab her hair, pulling her down to me. I bite her lip and taste her tongue before shoving her back against the couch. I lick her panties, top to bottom, then push them aside.
I run my tongue along the edge of her pussy before finding her clit. I lick it, sucking it hard. I slide my fingers inside her dripping wet cunt and fuck her with them as I lick and suck her. She grabs my hair, holds on tight, and all I can think about is how she deserves more, so much more, so much better. I want to give that to her, give her everything I possibly can.
I let out a growl as I take her pussy and lick it, suck it, make it mine. That bastard thinks he can hurt her, thinks he can hurt both of us, but I know we can do better. We can do more.
I won’t hold back. I won’t stop. I’ll protect what’s mine.
I keep going. I lick her, make her moan. I drink her in and swallow her, loving her taste, her gasps, her groans. I don’t want anything else, don’t want anything in return. The only thing I need is her pleasure and her willing submission.
My fingers move faster inside of her, fucking her deep, making her gasp louder, her moans filling my ears like music. I keep sucking her, licking her, until her body tenses and contracts, her back arching, her hips pushing forward. She grabs my hair tight and pulls me in closer and I let out a growl of pleasure and joy and anger all at once.
