CHAPTER TWELVE
Karlie
“What?” I gasped, my hands flying to my cheeks. “You’re suspended? Why?”
“Some bullshit,” Colt growled, his mood dark, his face furious. “It’s fucking lies.”
“But how? Why?” I asked, shaking my head in confusion. This was all a huge mix-up.
“They said Jimmy Long, that fuckhead equipment assistant, deflated balls before game time,” snorted Cain. “What a loser.”
“But how would that even help?” asked Karlie. “I don’t get it.”
“Honey,” said Colt patiently. “Have you ever touched a football? You know those things are big, they’re hard to grip even if you have hands like ours,” he said, flexing his fingers, the digits articulate yet powerful. I grew red, just thinking about where those fingers had been on my body, but this clearly wasn’t the time.
Colt continued. “Deflating balls even by a little makes them easier to catch and throw. Jimmy’s saying we paid him to do it.”
I shook my head. “But who is this Jimmy Long guy? Why would he do this?”
“Who knows?” ground out Cain. “Probably some idiot fuckwad who’s jealous of what we have.”
I was silent for a moment, shaking my head confusedly. The name sounded familiar, something rang a bell although I wasn’t sure what. My mind whirred before seizing on a vague impression. Oh yeah. A scrawny dude, some little guy who was always running around with a load of towels, shin guards, breast plates, that kind of thing.
“I think I’ve seen him around,” I said slowly. “In fact, I think he asked me out my first week at XM.”
That caught my brothers’ attention.
“Really?” they asked, their gazes sharpening. “Did you go?”
I sat back, perplexed. How to explain this? But I related the story as best as I could remember.
“I was at Dairy Queen,” I said slowly, “grabbing a burger, and Jimmy came up to me when I was at the counter, offering to pay. He was cocky, not to mention rude and insistent. I said no of course, I didn’t know him from Adam. But he persisted, literally shoving his money into the cashier’s hand.”
“It was weird,” I continued. “But because he paid, I felt like I had to invite him to eat together, so he sat down and we chatted. It was okay,” I shrugged. “It wasn’t terrible that time or any other time.”
“Any other time?” interrupted Colt, his eyebrows raised. “You saw him again?”
“Well sort of, yes,” I confessed. “I mean, he was always popping up unexpectedly. Like he knew where I was going to be and when I got there, he’d be waiting.”
“How the fuck would he know that?” ground out Colt. “How the fuck would he know where you were?”
“I guess from yearbook,” I said, thinking back on events. “I mean, he’s on the staff too, so it’s pretty easy to figure out where I’ll be shooting next. There’s a schedule on the wall, I go to all sorts of activities as staff photographer – French club, debate, you name it,” I said slowly.
“Anyways, it got creepy with him around all the time, so I started ignoring him, trying not to meet his eyes,” I continued. “And he got the message, so I quit worrying. Jimmy stopped showing up unexpectedly and I figured the problem was solved, game over.”
“But clearly he held a grudge,” ground out Cain. “You rejected the dude and now he’s out for revenge.”
I laughed a little.
“I wouldn’t say revenge, brother, that seems a little extreme.”
But Colt and Cain just shook their heads.
“Never underestimate a man’s bruised ego, girlie,” they said. “I mean, the dude’s what – five four? Short men always have Napoleonic complexes, and he gets turned down by the new girl at school, even though he’s first in line. So yeah, I’d say some revenge is in order.”
“But I don’t get it,” I said, still puzzled. “I mean, wrecking your athletic careers over this? How does he even know we’re together?”
A moment’s pause.
“From the Donkey,” said Cain simply. “He was there the night we did the blue light.”
The blood rushed from my face and my knees felt weak. I still remembered that night, it’d been one of the best in my life. But how had Jimmy recognized me? I’d had a mask on, only my ruby red lips visible.
Colt’s face was grim, reading my mind.
“He must have paid someone,” he ground out. “Long must have paid someone at the club to find out which girl did the blue light that night. Have you made enemies at the Donkey?”
Sort of. Us working girls generally got along but there was always some cattiness, some sniping between women who are afraid of growing old, their bodies sagging, their livelihood gone.
I shrugged helplessly.
“I haven’t made any enemies as far as I know, but it doesn’t matter,” I said sadly. “It would take so much energy to figure out which girl slipped Jimmy the info and for what? We wouldn’t go after her anyways. But this still isn’t making sense,” I said slowly. “How did you pay him? Did the commissioner tell you that at least?”
“Through you,” said Colt simply. “We allegedly passed money to him through you.”
I sputtered and gasped.
“What? How?” I was genuinely shocked now. I’d never given Jimmy any money, maybe lent him a dollar for a Coke or something, but that was all.
“That’s the thing, sister,” said Cain slowly. “He said that he took a cut of your tips from the Donkey Club. That we made it rain, and he took some of the money for himself. That’s how he was compensated.”
I sat back, astounded.
“Does the NCAA know about this?” I asked slowly.
And my brothers nodded.
“Yeah, they know about the Donkey ... that you dance, that you strip, and that you get money for it,” said Cain slowly. “We don’t know how much they know exactly, but I think it’s pretty clear where this is headed.”
And I fell into a faint, the black closing around me. My innermost secret was in danger of being revealed to the world … that I’d been sleeping with my brothers.