It takes two days of never leaving his bed to even get Colton to form actual sentences.

We shag, we sleep, we eat, we watch TV. We really shag, in every position, so much that my legs shake and my girly-parts are so sore I can barely take him when he rolls me over this morning and enters me slowly, rocking us to orgasm.

The loss hit him hard, and watching it, made my heart weep for him too. He’d played poorly, no explanation because he didn’t want to talk about it. From all of the games I’d been to, I could tell something had been off. There had been no rhythm to his game, honestly, he looked like a different player than the one I’d seen.

From the whispers I’d heard coming out of the locker room, the whole team blamed themselves. And from outside this room, when I’d ventured out while Colton was sleeping, the guys just all felt awful. Asking if there was anything they could do for him, trying to make jokes or send up presents in beer and food to cheer him up.

This morning, he’d finally looked at me and said he wanted to go out for a run. I’d breathed a sigh of relief, but hadn’t agreed to join him … because, come on, running wasn’t really my thing.

I’m not searching for it, only a T-shirt of Colton’s to swim in so I can walk down the hall to the bathroom. Except as I open a drawer in the built-ins installed in his closet, something green catches my eye.

Moving the clothes out of the way, I pick up a wad of cash. And not just any wad … stacks of hundred-dollar-American bills. Next to where I pulled them out sit about ten more stacks, and I can see others underneath.

The door behind me creaks open, and I hear his deep voice. “So, I managed to wrangle some French toast and bacon away from the animals downstairs since the chef is here, and we didn’t have tea but I did bring coffee. Sorry if that offends your British sensibilities.”

I’m still dumbstruck, and turn, holding the money out to him. “What is this?”

He pauses, the tray in his hands loaded with breakfast food, and I can tell by the look on his face that I’ve both caught him, and he’s trying to develop a cover up story.

“Do not lie to me.” I want to hear the truth, no matter what he’s involved with.

Suddenly, the whispers and rumors about that pledge at Charter House last semester fill my mind, and I’m not sure why. Have I always had an underlying fear that Colton could be involved with that?

“It’s not what you think, Eloise.”

I hate words like that. Hate the lying, and the secrets. Why was it okay for everyone in my world, and seemingly everyone in this world, to bury the truth?

“It’s not what I think, Colton!? I’m no stranger to money, I know what a lot of money looks like. Hell, I’m sure my father has something akin to this in a safe in our home … but in the drawer of a frat house bedroom? This isn’t above board, this is sneaky money, dirty money.” I throw it back into the drawer. “It is exactly what it looks like. Why do you have it?”

Please don’t say you’re involved in the assault of that girl. It’s the only thought that runs through my mind. That, and that I have no idea who this boy is at all.

He puts down the tray of food, and walks over to the bed, collapsing on it and burying his head in his hands. “I’m in so deep, I don’t see a way out anymore.”

My heart thumps dangerously, dryness coating my throat. “Talk to me.”

“If I talk to you, I drag you into it. I never wanted anybody to get hurt.” His voice is so pained, and he still won’t look at me.

I sit beside him, laying a hand over his, waiting him out.

With his head still tucked into his chest, he speaks after a few minutes. “It started when I was a junior in high school. At first, it was just a few weird moments, a few out of character moves that I didn’t even question. She had left the stove on all night once, and another time, she’d been drunk as a bum when I’d gotten home from school at three in the afternoon. It didn’t get really bad until she freaked out on another parent at one of my games senior year, threatening to slash her throat.”

What was he talking about? I just sat as still as I could, trying not to spook him.

“Bipolar, manic depressive, there are many words for it. Basically, what it means, is that my mother is now a stranger. I can’t figure out why she’s crying one moment, and then buying a fifty-thousand-dollar car for my birthday in the next. And over the last two years, it’s gotten so much worse. So bad that I’m scared she’s going to hurt herself, more than she already has.”

“Oh God, Colton …” My stomach sinks to my toes, everything in my soul wanting to soothe him. I wrap my arms around him, trying to provide any comfort I can.

He keeps talking, vomiting the story up. I can tell he’s never spoken these words out loud before. “That’s why I left, why I chose to attend a college half a day away from my hometown. I couldn’t do it anymore, and yet … I have to support her. We need money for her doctors, her treatments, her aides. And my family, Eloise, they aren’t like yours. We don’t have two pennies to rub together.”

I point to the closet where I found the money, needing to hear it all. “Where did you get that?”

Finally, those blue-green eyes look up, grief and shame begging me to understand. “It only started with my own gear. It’s harmless, and it was given to me anyway, so what was the trouble with selling it? That is a stupid rule sent down by men who don’t understand what it’s like for our families to have nothing, while we’re given everything for free as superstar college athletes. But then … the guy I deal with told me that I could get more if I brought him more memorabilia. And then it turned into betting, just shaving a couple points here and there. But it was never enough, my mom always needed more to stay afloat, to remain healthy. So the Bigham game …”

He chokes on the words, wringing his hands like a man accused of murder.

I understand then. He’d lost on purpose. For his family, to try to earn the money to save his mother.

“It’s an impossible position,” I mutter out loud, and he nods.

“What am I supposed to do? She doesn’t want anyone to know about her condition. I can’t be one of those guys who goes on a major network and pleads to raise money for his sick family member, she would hate me even more than she does for leaving her there alone.”

I’m not sure what to say. Sure, my family has had rough times, but never a crisis such as this. “You can’t keep doing this, though, Colton. Couldn’t this … if it got out, couldn’t this threaten your chances at ever playing again?”

He throws his hands up, exasperated. “And then there is that. If it got out, I would never be able to play for Jade Mountain again. It would jeopardize any chance I had at a career in the pros. What do I do, Eloise? What can I do?”

I had no idea how to solve this, except offer what I had. “I have money. I’ll give you whatever you need.”

I didn’t even need to think about it. If he was in trouble, I wanted to fix it.

He wraps his arms around me. “No. I could never ask that. No … I’ll get out of this, myself.”

I let him hold me, scared out of my mind at how he would accomplish that. And in my own head, formulating a plan.