Chapter 22

Drew

Lying on the workout bench, I take several deep breaths. Clenching and unclenching my fists around the weight bar, I finally push it up, blowing out a breath with the heaviness. “Drew, you really need to calm down,” Reese warns. “You’ll drop that weight on yourself if you aren’t careful.” I know he has my best interests at heart, but I’m not about to listen to him. Not right now. Right now, I’m ticked off, and the only thing making me feel better is pushing this huge weight up while listening to heavy metal.

“I’m fine,” I grit out. “Add another ten pounds.” I rest the weight on the stand, ignoring the screeching pain in my muscles.

With his hand on the bar, Reese looks at me uneasily. “You sure about that? That will be the heaviest you’ve ever lifted, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I’m sure.”

He looks over to Jacob, and they share a tense look. I know what they’re thinking, but I don’t care. Jacob’s already proven himself. He’s got a spot in the draft, most likely the top pick, and Reese has another two years before he’ll be considered.

They aren’t under the same pressure as me. I have to prove myself in one year, and my judgment is currently being clouded by a petite blonde who hasn’t bothered talking to me since our argument the other night.

Yet again, I tried to push Bella, and yet again, she did what she always does. She ran. Instead of admitting that we’re in a relationship to her dad, she took the easy way out. She ran like a scared little chicken, and I haven’t seen her since.

It’s her worst trait. No accountability and little action. Well, I should rephrase that because we both got plenty of action out of our relationship, but that was it. She didn’t want commitment, and she certainly didn’t want to tell her father about us, and now I’m starting to feel a little used.

At first, I thought our biggest barrier was that my coach was her dad, but now I see it for what it is. We just aren’t compatible. Always skating on the edge of an argument because we don’t want the same things. She wants a casual, secret fuck, and I want a girlfriend. Specifically, I want her to be my girlfriend.

We just aren’t it, and maybe it’s time I accepted that.

“McCallister.” Coach Summers’ voice booms through the gym, making everyone stop and stare.

What have I done now?

Jacob looks at me wearily, probably worried that Coach has somehow found out about Bella, but who cares about that anyway? Nothing is going on between us now, so I can deny the crap out of it.

Coach Summers steps into the room, his eyes narrow at me, and he points his thumb behind him. “My office. Now.” Yeah, he’s definitely found out about Bella. Coach is usually so mild-mannered; the only thing that would make him blow his top off like this is her.

Reese looks relieved when I stand, and he drops the weight plate on the floor beside the bench. “I’ll be right back,” I say, wiping the sweat off my face.

As I walk to what feels like my impending doom, I feel all eyes on me. The team is watching with curiosity, wondering what the golden boy in Coach Summers’ eyes did wrong.

The room is silent when I walk into his office, and surprisingly three of the assistant coaches are gathered around his large mahogany desk, looking at something on the computer.

Their facial expressions range from marginally disgusted to horrified. Were they looking at porn before I got here? Either way, their disapproving looks are a first for me. I’ve definitely done something to earn it, but this seems like an extreme reaction to dating his daughter.

“Hey, guys.” I wave my hand, wiping the other on my black gym shorts.

Coach Summers looks at the other men in the room and tips his chin. “You can leave now. Drew and I need to have this discussion in private.” The coaches walk past, shoving me on the shoulder as they go.

“Sit.” Coach points to the chair in front of his desk, and I do as he says.

“What’s going on? What have I done?” I’m not the type of guy to beat around the bush; I want to know about any problems so I have the opportunity to rectify them.

He shakes his head. “If you don’t know, then I’ve got more problems than I thought. Do you remember what you were doing on February twentieth?”

It was starting to feel more like a police investigation, which made it clear that it had something to do with Bella. I just had no idea what we were doing then.

“I assume it was working out and studying.”

He laughs bitterly. “Is that what you call it? Working out? You know, when I gave you the key to the football team’s private gym area, I only expected you to use it when there wasn’t enough equipment in the main college gym. We don’t give players the keys because we want them to ask us to use them first. Should have trusted my instincts.”

The private gym? I haven’t used that in weeks and have no idea what he’s talking about.

But then it hits me, and my blood runs cold. I can’t look him in the eyes. Surely not?

Coach turns his computer screen, and I start to feel queasy.

Right there, staring at me in the face, is my giant ass on a black and white security camera. My body is draped completely over Bella because it’s at the point where I’m eating her out. “Another reason we don’t give players keys is to avoid situations like this.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Bile rises up my throat the longer I watch the video. It’s all there for Coach to see. “How did you get this?”

Fuck.

No wonder Bella hasn’t called me. If her dad has found this, she’s probably in lockdown, never to be seen by modern civilization again. How the hell am I supposed to look Coach in the eyes after this?

He’s seen me eating his daughter out while she sucks me off.

I cover my eyes because it’s better than facing my demons. One of them being my poor judgment. I knew I should have called her off at the time, but she was too tempting, and I was too willing to take the risk. Well, that risk has backfired.

“Did you really think you’d get away with this?”

“I, uh.” How the hell am I supposed to answer that? ‘Sorry, but your daughter was just too tempting to say no to.’ Doubt that would go down well.

“To have the audacity to wear your number while getting your dick sucked in the gym is embarrassing.” Still watching the clip, I’m mesmerized in the worst possible way. Luckily, in the blurriness of the picture and my big ass thighs in the way, you can only make out Bella’s blonde hair, but it’s still embarrassing that my coach is watching this.

Come to think of it, why hasn’t Coach pulled out his pistol and shot me yet?

When I asked his permission in high school to date Bella, he threatened me with said pistol just for considering asking her out. This is way worse.

I should be six feet under by now.

“It’s one thing to discreetly use the private gym during closing hours, but it’s certainly another to bring a cleat chaser in there and do that on the benches. How do you think that’s going to make me look? You’re the only player I trusted with that key, and you did this?”

I push out the breath I was holding because I’m marginally relieved. Judging by that turn of phrase, I’m going to take a guess that he doesn’t realize that cleat chaser is, in fact, his daughter.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

The grainy video stops just as I come, masking both our faces.

Coach raises his brows in disbelief. “Oh, you’re going to need a hell of a lot more than an ‘I’m sorry’ to get out of this one, McCallister.” His voice is laced with disappointment. I hate that I’m the reason for it. He’s the one man I look up to in this world, and here I am, doing things I know I shouldn’t, with his daughter, who I know is off-limits.

“The video has leaked.”

“What?”

He closes his eyes and purses his lips in disappointment. “That’s the only reason I know about it. Footage is usually deleted after forty-eight hours. Unfortunately for you, someone must have seen you walking in, recorded the clip on their phone, and shared it around.”

He can’t be serious? Can he?

This can’t be happening.

“Found a couple of the freshman guys looking at it in the locker room. Told them to delete it and tell anyone else that had it to do the same. Warned them that there would be consequences for sharing porn across campus.

“Fuck.” I ran a hand through my sweat-soaked hair, looking at the ceiling in disbelief.

“Don’t swear, son.” Son? I feel less like his son and more like his creepy neighbor staring at his daughter. The new intake on the team has seen my ass. How am I supposed to get them to respect me after that?

“How much of the clip came out?” It stopped playing, but was that all anyone saw?

“Only what I showed you, but frankly, I don’t want to know about what else you did in there, so please leave my thoughts somewhat pure.”

As embarrassing as this whole thing is, I’m relieved that mine and Bella’s faces can’t be seen. It may be obvious that it’s me from the shirt, but at least Bella’s been saved from the embarrassment.

“The video has been deleted on our server, and once we’ve tracked down whoever filmed this version,” he points to the screen with his eyebrows, “we’re hopeful we can nip it in the bud. The freshman guys watching it nearly peed their pants when I told them the consequences of sharing it, so hopefully that message will be relayed. That doesn’t mean you’re getting away with this scot-free.”

I sit up straighter, clasping my clammy hands. “I didn’t expect it to, sir.”

He holds his hand out. “First thing, I need you to give me the key card back. Can’t believe you shared it with a hookup.” I nod but don’t correct him. Bella must have had his keycard to get in there in the first place, which won’t make it better.

“How many games will I be benched for?”

Staring at my fingers, I look up when Coach is silent.

“Oh, son. I wish I could say that you’d just be benched for a few games. The Dean wanted to suspend you.” All the air catches in my throat because this can’t be happening. Suspension? Everything I’ve ever worked for, everything my dad would be proud of, is crumbling before me.

“Drew.” Coach sighs. “This is much more serious than a slap on the wrist. Not only did you have sex with some girl in a room you weren’t supposed to have access to, but you also threatened the reputation of the entire institution. You still are threatening it since we can’t confirm whether we have all the copies of the video.”

“But the guy in that video could have been anyone. The only reason you suspected me is because of my shirt.”

“Let’s be real, Drew. How many elite football players that have access to the football weight room are going to wear another man’s jersey while getting their dick sucked?” Wincing, I drop my hands in disappointment. “However, if this gets out of hand, we’re going to deny, deny, and deny it’s you. We’ll say it’s someone trying to bring you down and posing as you or something to save face. Internally, though, we need to deal with this.”

“Okay, what do you want me to do? I’ll do anything to fix this.”

“I hate to say this, Drew, because we’ve been close for years. You’re one of the reasons I could even secure this gig in the first place, but I can’t show favoritism.”

I nod. “I understand.”

“You’re off the team.”

My eyes bug out, and my mouth goes dry. Off the team? But I was supposed to lead it this year. This was supposed to be the year I showed everyone why I should be a top draft pick.

“Off the team?”

“We’ll say you’re injured, so it doesn’t affect you as a prospect in your senior year.”

“Senior year? I’m off the team until my final year?”

He closes his eyes and pauses. This is clearly hurting him to say as much as it hurts me to hear. “Like I said, I told the Dean I’d deal with you, but there were certain stipulations that I couldn’t control. Being kicked off the team was one of them. Believe me; I need you this year. You’ll still be able to train with us, and I’d hope you’d help coach some of our up-and-coming quarterbacks, but we can’t have you stepping onto the field representing us.”

I want to blow out a sarcastic breath in annoyance because I can’t believe we are having this conversation at all. He wants me to train my replacements. What if they are so good that I can never come back?

“It could be worse. At least it’s not a complete suspension, and you’ll be able to play again when you repeat senior year.”

I have no words. Nothing can make me feel better because this was all completely avoidable and completely my fault.

I ball my hands into fists because I really want to smash something, but I have to keep my cool. Pushing out my chair, I go to leave but then stop myself. “Is that all, Coach?”

“Yeah. That’s all. Sleep on it, and let’s talk tomorrow.”

Talk about what? My future is broken, and I have no way to fix it. I step away, holding back the anger radiating through my body, and just as I get to the door, Coach calls my name.

“Who’s the girl in the video?”

I don’t turn; I just ask, “Why?”

“It’s not fair that only you get punished for this. It takes two to tango.”

I keep my gaze focused on the wood grain of the door because I don’t want my face to give it away.

“I don’t know her name.” Like I would ever rat out Bella. Even though we aren’t talking, I would never do that to her. Most importantly, I can’t do it to Coach either. Imagine finding out that it was your daughter under my naked ass? That would solidify my suspension from the team, and break a man I consider a father figure.

Coach chortles. “You’re not serious, are you?” I nod and glance over my shoulder to see the disappointment in his eyes. I get it. He’s essentially raised me to be the man I am today, and here I am, disrespecting women in his eyes. I hate disappointing the only father figure in my life, but it’s better than Bella disappointing her actual father. “Ever think that it might have been her who filmed it?”

“No. She wouldn’t do something like that.”

“How would you know? You didn’t even catch her name. Now go sort yourself out, McCallister. When I’ve had more time to think about this, we’ll discuss how you should treat women moving forward. Brain first. Dick second.”

I walk into the gym with all eyes on me, and I don’t know if it’s because of the video or because they want to know what made Coach so angry. I don’t give any of them the pleasure of finding out. I stalk through the gym straight to the locker room, and when Jacob and Reese try to stop me, I tell them I’ll talk to them about everything when I get home.

I need a minute to think first.

Actually, no. I need a minute to call Bella so that she can brace herself for the potential shitstorm coming her way. When I get to a quiet corner in the locker room, I pull my phone out, ready to call Bella, but Coach’s words stop me.

What if he’s right about Bella being the one that leaked this?

No. I’m not thinking straight. She wouldn’t do something like that because it implicates her just as much as me. She wouldn’t put herself on the line like that.

Something irks in the back of my mind, though. Who would check the security camera unless they knew what they were looking for? Why was the clip cut short, so Bella’s face isn’t shown?

Maybe she did have something to do with this?

The thought feels insidious, creeping through every crevice of my brain, poisoning all my thoughts, and making me wonder about Bella’s true intentions.

Was this her way of getting me out of her life and away from her family forever? Was she playing the long game? It never felt like she was that committed to me. She hated me until winter break, and she fought so hard against me about not telling her dad but didn’t seem to mind students' knowing.

Was it because she knew this was coming, and she didn’t want him to know it was her?

I swallow the bitter taste in my mouth as I shove my phone back in my bag. It couldn’t have been her, could it?

The thought plays in my mind over and over until it feels more real than I’d like to admit. Why did it feel so plausible?

In a way, it’s hard to be angry at her over what she did. She’s always been so open about her hatred toward me. I’m the sucker that didn't believe she'd take it so far as to sleep with me to get her revenge…on what, I’m still not sure, but she definitely served it.

Shaking my head, I walk to my house. Too much has happened today for me to think straight. and I need to get some clarity before I speak to her again.