I’m standing next to Joel’s car, huddling in my hoodie freezing my nuts off while I wait for him to come out of the fieldhouse. Coming to practice was a mistake. Watching the team struggle and not being able to jump in and do it myself is torture.

By the time he appears with Z and Nathan, I could have walked home and back twice. I’ve taken to blowing into my hands to keep them warm.

“I’m gonna walk,” Nathan says and heads off toward the house before lighting a cigarette. Coach is gonna kick his ass if he sees him smoking. Not my problem now.

“What took you so long?” I ask as Joel unlocks the car and Z and I toss our bags in before squeezing ourselves into the small sports car. He starts the engine and then let’s out a long breath. “We have a problem.”

He hands me the phone, and I suck in a breath. “What the fuck is this?”

“It’s everywhere. Like fifty different people texted me the site.”

I read the title and scroll through the Valley Wild Girls website. What the actual fuck?

I pull out my own phone and dial Blair.

“She isn’t answering.” Panic laced with frustration and desperation fills my voice.

Joel’s phone beeps, and I read the text from Mario. “They’re at The Hideout.”

I scroll back through the text exchange between Joel and Mario where the latter outlines what transpired tonight. The short version: David is dead. “I’m gonna kill that fucker.”

Joel’s grip tightens around the steering wheel as he flips a U-turn. I tap restlessly on the dash until he screeches to a stop in front of The Hideout.

Mario and the baseball guys wait by the door.

“Where is she?”

“They’re hiding in the bathroom. She hadn’t seen it when they went in, and well, you can guess the rest.”

Mario steps in front of me, blocking my entrance. “You need to know something else. David’s in there. He was walking in as we pulled up. Thought we better wait for you.”

I push past him, and Joel grabs my arm to slow me down. “Easy, killer. You have a gimp leg, and there’s a bar full of people. Take a deep breath before you go in there and get yourself in trouble.”

“Don’t give a flying fuck, man.” I pull free and keep going.

I spot David and see red. I manage to turn to Mario. “You guys should go. Get the girls out of here.”

I’m anxious to get to Blair. There’s so much I want to say and so much I have to apologize for. This is all my fault. I need to make sure she knows I’ll take care of it, but first, I need to deal with David. I made him a promise, after all.

Mario nods.

David has the audacity to look surprised as he watches me stalk across the bar.

My hands ball at my side, and I don’t give two shits about the guys standing around him.

This asshole is gonna pay.

Before I can get to him, Vanessa flies across my vision and is up in his face. Mario and his guys flank Blair and Gabby. Gabby’s here? Blair doesn’t look up no matter how much I silently beg her to. I need to see her face. See that she’s okay. Vanessa’s voice pulls my attention back to David.

“You’re a worthless piece of shit.” She grabs him by the shoulders and knees him hard. So hard that my boys shrivel up and hide in fear. Damn, V is savage.

“Douche canoe,” she spouts as she flips her brown hair over one shoulder and marches back to Mario’s side. Mario gets the girls out of the bar just as it erupts in a collective groan. David doubles over in pain, but it isn’t enough. I want him lying on the ground. Joel and Z follow me to the table David and his cronies occupy. Z crosses his arms over his chest, displaying his massive size. Glad he’s on my side.

David stands upright, but he doesn’t see the punch coming, and as my knuckles meet his jaw, the pain feels fantastic. So good that I go in for another and another. My vision goes black.

“All right, all right. That’s enough,” Z says sternly, but I don’t miss the humor in his voice. He catches my arm, and I still as awareness returns. David’s buddies look torn between standing up for their friend and getting their own asses beat or letting me take my pound of flesh without their intervention. I’m almost hoping they’re stupid enough to come at me. I don’t have beef with them, but I’m looking for any reason to hit something else.

Z and Joel have other ideas. They pull me back and shove me down into a booth.

“Hope that was worth it.” Z points outside where red and blue lights flash.

“Oh, it was worth it.”

She’s worth everything.

It isn’t until Coach shows up that I feel even the tiniest bit of remorse. And even then, I don’t regret hitting David, just getting the rest of the guys involved and making the team look bad.

He leans against the side of the cop car beside me. I’ve already given my statement, and so far, no one has put me in cuffs, so that’s a good sign.

He’s silent for a beat before he says, “What a shitty practice tonight.”

Laughter shakes my chest, the sound foreign to my ears. When was the last time I laughed?

“Coming back tomorrow?”

I flex my hand. A sting of pain shoots up my arm. I search for words, an answer. Neither yes or no feels right. How can I be there? And how can I not?

Coach straightens. “Well, they aren’t pressing charges, so get your ass home. See you tomorrow. Or not.”

As he walks away, Joel steps up. “Come on. I’ll take you to see Blair.”

“Nah, somewhere else I need to go.”

He raises both eyebrows, and I hold my hands up. “This stop doesn’t involve the police. I promise.”

Pulling up to the Morenos’ estate is like pulling up to something out of the movies. The massive house sits on the side of a mountain and is lit up like an amusement park. When we finally reach our destination, Joel pulls up under the old-school carriage style covered awning in front of the house.

“Thanks,” I say before we get out of the car. “I know you don’t like going to your father for help.”

He shrugs. “Guess there’s no other way around this one. He probably already knows.”

The Moreno house is organized chaos. Joel’s mother brings coffee and then orders her daughters, Joel’s sisters, to re-heat leftovers despite everyone’s insistence they aren’t hungry. Mr. Moreno sits at the head of a long dining table that looks out into the Rincon Mountains. A king on top of his mountain.

“Idiotic. This could end up splashed across every sports headline tomorrow. No respect for Coach Daniels.” He mutters more to himself than us, but Joel, Z, and I stare shamefaced down at the table anyway.

Joel is the first one to speak. “Pa, the guy posted nude photos of several Valley students.”

He slides his phone to his dad, who looks down at it and then slides it back. “I’ve already seen it. The site was taken down thirty minutes ago.”

“So, that’s it?” It’s my voice that yells out.

“There’ll be a formal investigation, and we’re sending out a reminder email tomorrow morning about the campus policy on sexual harassment.”

“You can’t be serious. He just gets to walk around campus while these girls are humiliated? That’s bullshit.”

Mr. Moreno raises his eyebrows at me as the three women in his life enter the dining room with dishes of hot food.

“Sorry,” I mumble an apology to Mrs. Moreno.

“I think it’s noble.” She pats my shoulder. “Too many young men thinking it’s okay to treat women like sex objects these days.”

Mr. Moreno sighs. “Without proof, I can’t do anything. Hence, the investigation.”

“But we know who did it,” Joel says.

“You have hearsay.” He shakes his head and stands. “We’re going to do everything we can to resolve it quickly. You think I want something like this going unpunished?” He looks in the direction the women disappeared. “I have two daughters who are going to be at Valley in a few years. I want others to know it won’t be tolerated, but there are appropriate channels to go through when dealing with stuff like this.”

All I hear is that it will be weeks or months where David goes unpunished, and it isn’t enough, but I can see resolve in Mr. Moreno’s face.

Mrs. Moreno insists that we stay the night, and I think we’re all too exhausted to fight her. I go to bed fully clothed and watch as the minutes tick by. I really screwed things up this time. I wonder what Blair is doing right now. Is she in bed, wishing she could rewind time and erase me from her life? I’ve made such a mess of things. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to protect her. As the sun rises, I’m still staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make this right.

No grand gestures come to mind, so I settle for persistence. I’ll win her back the same way I’ve won at every aspect of my life—hard work and dedication. And heart.