Chapter Thirty-Three
Dominic
Monday rolled around quicker than I thought it would. We still hadn’t heard anything from Lionel and had spent most of the weekend just relaxing at my father’s house. Sometimes it felt as if there was nothing at all going on, but then every now and again we would remember what had happened and both of us would become quiet. We were nervous and unsure, but at the same time, we were happy to be with each other again. I was glad that Candice had been so adamant that the two of us should make things work. I had been worried that I was doing the wrong thing. We’d spent most of Sunday just talking about things, and we felt more like a team than ever before. “Us against the world,” she had said just before we’d gone to sleep the night before.
“Back to school,” I said to Candice that morning. Her mother had dropped off some clothes for her the night before, but we had been asleep, and she’d left it with my father. It was unfortunate because I knew that Candice was desperate to talk to her mother about everything, but for some reason, Marian was being very quiet. She kept telling Candice not to worry, but we were both concerned about how things were faring back at their house.
“Yeah, it’s so strange. After everything that happened, it’s just weird to think that we are going back to the normality of school. Think everyone knows about what went down?”
I shrugged. “Probably. Who knows? You know how news travels around here. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Yeah same here. Are you nervous?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No, not at all. We’re going to be fine.”
It wasn’t entirely true. I was actually feeling a little apprehensive about what my teammates were going to say about everything. Although, I was looking forward to putting matters straight again. I wanted to speak to Coach Bane and to tell him that I knew about his dealings with Lionel, and I wanted my team to know that the coach was involved in trying to stop me from having a future in football. I had to be careful, though. I didn’t want more rumors to spread, and I certainly didn’t want to put too much of a spotlight on Candice. I was going to have to be careful about who I told. But I was definitely going to talk to the coach. I had worked so hard to get to where I was today, and it wasn’t fair that he had my future dangling in the air like this. I was tired of letting people tell me what to do.
“Come on, let’s go,” I said to Candice. “Let’s take the bike. I’m going to drop you off at your dorm first.”
We hopped on the bike and made our way back to the school. When we arrived, I saw that Lily was waiting outside for Candice. Candice hopped off the bike, planted a big kiss on my mouth, and then ran towards her friend. I watched as the two of them embraced and immediately started yacking away like teenagers. Candice turned around and waved at me, and Lily did the same. I waved back and smiled. It was good to know that she had someone at the school now. It would’ve been worse to know that she was going to be all alone. I reminded myself to thank Lily one day. Candice deserved a good friend right now. As I left, I thought I saw Derek moping around, and my heart began to thump in my chest. The last thing we needed right now was Derek causing more problems for us. The first day back was going to be hard enough without him getting involved. I rode back to where I thought I had seen him, but I couldn’t see him. I waited several minutes longer just in case before finally heading back to my own dorm. Hopefully, it hadn't been Derek at all. Although, I knew we probably couldn’t avoid him forever.
I dropped some things off back at my dorm, and grabbed my timetable and a few other things I needed for the day, and immediately made my way to Coach Bane’s office. He had no idea I was coming to see him. I didn’t want him to know that I would be there because I didn’t want to give him the time to prepare for this conversation with me. The moment I arrived I saw that he was already in a meeting with Tim. The two of them were having a lengthy discussion about the upcoming matches. The way he was talking to Tim was the way that he used to talk to me, and just hearing that only fueled my desire to straighten things out. I walked right into the room without knocking, and both Coach Bane and Tim looked at me with surprise.
“Dominic? Uh, we’re in a meeting right now. Do you want to wait outside? I don’t think we’ll be long.”
I shook my head. “No, I want to talk to you now, and I’m more than happy for Tim to stay.”
“I can go,” Tim said and frowned at me. “You okay?” he asked when he saw the stern look on my face.
“I’m fine. But stay. Actually, I want you to hear this,” I said.
“Dominic, I think it’s best if we talked, just the two of us. Tim, we can resume this conversation later. Dominic, please, take a seat.”
I looked at Tim and shook my head. “Don’t go. Stay,” I said. Thankfully, Tim was close enough to me to know that I needed him to stay. He didn’t move, and I took a seat beside him. “But I will take a seat. Thank you. Now, the reason I wanted to talk to you today so urgently is because I know that you have been trying to get me off the team. Most importantly, I know you have been trying to make sure that I don’t play for the NFL even though you know that I’m the best player for the job.”
“I . . .” the coach began, but I put up a hand to stop him.
I turned to Tim. “So basically what’s been happening is Coach Bane here has been listening to Candice’s father, Lionel. Lionel has been trying to split the two of us apart because apparently I’m not the kind of guy he wants his daughter to date. My family isn't good enough for his. We’re not rich enough, and our political views aren’t the same. And so, in order to do this, he’s been messing with my career. He’s been bribing our wonderful coach here, and despite all the hard work and effort I have put in over the years, my career is being decided by these two men. One man who thinks he’s above everyone, and another who I honestly thought was my mentor and friend.”
“Dominic, I can explain,” the coach said.
I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. “Are you refuting this? Are you telling me that none of this is true?”
“Well, no. I’m not, but . . .”
I laughed. “Well, it’s good to hear you finally telling the truth. I overheard you talking to Lionel, so it’s good that you’re not going to try and deny this. Also, I’ve been through the wars over spring break because of her father, and I’m not putting up with it anymore. I’m sick to death of just letting you all walk all over me like this. I’m a damn good player, and I deserve to at least try out for the NFL. Why should you take my dream away from me? How could you even let a man like that get away with this? How?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. Dominic, you have to believe me. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, I know you’re sorry. But if I didn’t come in here, then what? Were you really going to let him do that to me? I can understand him doing this, but how could you do it? How could you do this to me, Coach Bane?” I said while looking him in the eye.
He looked away nervously.
“And the thing is, Coach Bane, I now have Tim here as proof. You said it yourself. You did this. And only you can do something about it.”
“You don’t understand, Dominic. It wasn’t my fault. It was out of my hands.”
“I don’t understand? Okay, then, well, make me understand.”
The coach gulped. “Lionel is a very powerful man. You know that. He said he would stop all the funding for the program if I didn’t try and get you away from Candice. And I’m sorry, Dominic, but his money has really helped the college. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“So you decided to mess with my life. Is that right? Who cares about my career then? Who cares about the fact that I’m in love with Candice? Who cares, right? Because you only care about yourself. That’s why.”
“Of course I care about you, Dominic. That’s why I’ve been feeling so bad about everything. I’ve been having sleepless nights about this whole thing. I didn’t know what to do. Don’t think that this didn’t affect me. Because it did. It has affected me more than you realize.”
I shook my head. “And yet you still did it. You still let him tell you what to do.”
The coach looked down. He seemed unable to meet my eye anymore. “I’m sorry,” he said. His voice had come out in a whisper, but I still understood.
“Yeah, me too,” I said sadly. “I’m very upset by all of this. I’m sad you didn’t have my back when I needed it the most. I have always looked up to you, but I’m not so sure anymore. I swear, if you do anything to stand in the way of my career now, I’m going to go public with this whole thing, and your own career will be the one at stake. Remember, I have a witness now.”
I stood up, and Tim quickly did the same. I looked at the coach one more time and shook my head, but I had no more words to say to him. I walked out with Tim and closed the door behind me.
Tim looked at me. His eyes were still wide in surprise. “Well, that was unexpected.”
“I’m sorry about all of that. I hadn’t planned to do that with anyone there. But it actually worked out in my favor. Having you there was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me.”
“Yeah, I’m just glad I was there to be a witness for you. I can’t believe that all this has been going on. You should’ve told me.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a crazy time. I just hope everything is going to be okay now.”
“So does that mean the rumor about you going to jail was true?” he asked.
I groaned. I knew that word would’ve gotten out even though I had still hoped it hadn’t. I nodded.
“Yep. All that is true. Like I said, it’s been a crazy time.”
“I’ll back you up, Dom. No matter what happens, I’ll back you up. Trust me, if there’s one thing I’m certain of is that you deserve a shot at playing in the NFL. More than anyone on the team. And I’m not the only one that knows that. The whole team knows it. Hell, even Coach Bane knows it. Don’t give up on this.”
“I won’t,” I said. I felt happy to have him on my side. “Thank you.”
“So,” he said and grinned at me. “Since when are you in love?”
I laughed. “I think I’ve been in love for a lot longer than I even realized.”