CHAPTER NINETEEN
Crosby
I tried Sabrina’s phone as soon as I entered the visitors’ locker room after our victory over Tennessee. I couldn’t wait to tell her about my two goals, but she wasn’t answering her phone.
I hopped in the shower, hoping there’d be a message waiting by the time I got out. I hadn’t realized how starved I was for someone to talk to about hockey. Sure, my mom asked about my games when we spoke, but having Sabrina now, someone to get all excited for me and share in my excitement, was something I hadn’t realized I needed.
I stepped back into the locker room drying off from my shower. Some of the guys were already dressed and heading to the bus. Jeremy stood at his locker in a towel, hovering over his phone with a couple of other guys. They laughed at something on the screen.
Jeremy’s eyes lifted from the phone and his glare met mine.
My eyes narrowed. Had the assholes gone and recorded me in the shower? I was starting to think they liked seeing me naked.
“You and Sabrina have fun over break?” Jeremy asked.
I cocked my head. “Come again?”
He shrugged. “Just saying it must’ve been nice having the whole campus to yourselves. What’d you two crazy kids do?”
A cold fear spread over me. Why was he asking? How did he know? Knowing better than to let him see he got to me, I played it off as if it didn’t bother me. “You jealous, Potter?”
“Of the whore?”
“Fuck you,” I spat.
He laughed, glancing around at his friends before looking back to me. “Careful,” he warned. “Wouldn’t want the scout catching wind of your poor attitude.”
I glared at him, wanting to level him right there and then. But I knew everything out of his mouth was a calculated effort to get to me. I wouldn’t make it easy for him.
I grabbed my things and dressed alone in the restroom, wanting to avoid another run-in with Jeremy. But as we drove through the night back to Alabama, Jeremy’s words haunted me. The fact that he brought up Sabrina sent up warning signs. He’d already asked her out to get to me; what was his point in bringing her up now? Why make it clear he knew we were alone together on campus? Was he jealous I was with her now? Or was there an underlying threat to his comments?
I tried Sabrina’s cell throughout the bus ride home. But she never answered or responded, and for some reason that scared the hell out of me.
* * *
It wasn’t quite dawn as I pounded on Sabrina’s door. Her dorm had reopened, and I’d likely woken whoever was back on her floor in the process. But I needed to see her. I’d sprinted across campus as soon as I stepped off the team bus, needing to know she was okay.
I heard the click of the door unlocking. My heart squeezed in my chest. Sabrina opened the door, her eyes sleepy and her hair a tangled mess.
I lunged forward, grasping her cheeks in my hand and kissing her hard.
She pulled back with a confused look. “Miss me?”
“God, yeah.” My eyes jumped around her room. Finlay’s bed was made and empty. I kicked the door shut behind me and walked Sabrina backward until I lowered her onto her bed and covered her with my body. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“It died and I couldn’t find my charger. I think I left it at your place.”
I closed my eyes and buried my nose in her hair, breathing her in. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Jeremy said something about us being on campus alone, and I didn’t know what he was getting at,” I said. “I just needed to be sure you were okay.”
I felt her body tense beneath me.
I pulled back enough to see her tired eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to tell you something,” she said hesitantly.
“Okay.”
“I kind of threatened Jeremy before break.”
My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean you kind of threatened him?”
“At the bar. Before you and I danced. I told him I’d go to the dean about what he did to you. He got all scary-looking and said I wouldn’t want to start something I couldn’t stop.”
“Sabrina,” I sighed, unable to believe she’d stood up to him for me—especially since she’d pretty much hated me before break. “I don’t need you fighting my battles.”
“It wasn’t about you. I provoked him,” she said.
Had she? Because at this point, I had no idea what he was capable of. All I knew was he hated me and he seemed like he’d do anything to get me to quit the team. “You can’t blame yourself for anything he does. You hear me?”
She nodded.
“Thanks for trying to stand up to him for me, though.”
She smiled and that smile made anything Jeremy said seem unimportant now.
* * *
Practice wasn’t as brutal that night. Jeremy wasn’t up to his normal antics. If anything, he stayed away from me. Maybe he realized I was done being made to look like a fool.
I showered and packed up my gear, hurrying out of the arena and heading for Sabrina’s. Finlay was staying at Caden’s again, so we had the room to ourselves.
I made my way outside, and began my trek to her dorm. Half-way there, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I slipped it out, figuring it would be a text from Sabrina. It wasn’t. It was a link from an anonymous sender. My curiosity got the best of me and I clicked the link.
A shiver of dread scampered up my spine as a grainy video played on the screen.
I stopped, holding the phone closer. My pulse pounded in my temples as I stood helplessly watching a video of Sabrina and me having sex in the psych building. The recording wasn’t from a surveillance camera. It was from someone’s phone. Though we’d been in the dark library, I could clearly see it was us. The sounds coming from the recording were those filled with pleasure, but the only feeling rushing through my body while watching it was fear.
Fucking Jeremy.
Had he been there? Had he recorded us? And who else had seen the video? Who else had it?
Tears stung my eyes. Fucking tears. Sabrina had been brought into my mess. She was being targeted because of me.
I shoved my phone into my pocket and dragged my shaking fingers through my hair. My world was spiraling and I had no idea how to stop it. Sabrina’s reputation hung in the balance and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do. I was at Jeremy’s mercy. He knew it and I knew it.
Students crisscrossed the campus heading to and from their classes and the dorms. Were they all looking at me? Had they already seen the video? Strangely, I wasn’t worried about me. They’d all seen me naked. I was worried about Sabrina. About what they’d say about her. How they’d treat her.
My guilty heart raced. This was all my fault. I’d brought her into this. How would she ever be able to forgive me if she found out?
She wouldn’t.
* * *
Xavier sat at my desk, his laptop, tablet, and phone all running searches for the video. He’d sworn up and down he had no knowledge of it. He was the only guy on the team who’d been decent to me—reaching outcast status by hanging with me. I owed it to him to trust him.
I sat on my bed, my phone and tablet both running their own searches. But nothing turned up. It had been two hours since I’d received the video. And being unable to find it gave me hope it was only meant to fuck with me.
My phone pinged and a text from Sabrina popped up. Shit. I’d forgotten to text her. You running late?
Bile crept up the back of my throat. How did you tell someone her entire world could be ruined by the click of a button? Sorry. Not feeling well. Don’t wanna get you sick. I texted back like the coward I was.
OMG! The scout’s coming 2moro. Get some rest.
I didn’t respond to her text. I couldn’t.
“Dude. It’s not here,” Xavier said.
I exhaled a breath, knowing it was just a matter of time before the other shoe dropped.
“I’m gonna head out.” He gathered up his devices and stuffed them into his backpack. “But I’ll keep the searches going tonight.”
I nodded, but it didn’t stop my stomach from churning.
“What are you gonna do?” he asked.
“I have no fucking clue. I appreciate your help, man.”
“It was nothing. Look, I’ll keep my ears open. Let you know if I hear anything.”
“Thanks.”
He pulled open my door and walked out.
The silence that remained in my room was deafening. I fell back on my bed and scrubbed my palms up and down my face. I was lying to Sabrina. With each passing minute that I didn’t tell her about the video, I was keeping something from her that very much involved her. And her future. What kind of person was I?
She deserved better than me.
She deserved to know the truth.
But the truth meant my days were numbered. And the reality was, I was a selfish bastard. And I wasn’t ready to let her go yet.