Page 143 of Puck Me Secretly

“Who’s the player.”

“Max Logan.” Dad spit out the words at me.

“What? That’s impossible.”

“No, it’s not. And now we’ve got a shit storm on our hands.”

My breath felt erratic, as if someone had sucked all the oxygen out of the room.

“Where’s Max? Is he okay?”

“Who gives a shit? He assaulted a woman. I knew he was trouble. I never should have brought him on. Look at this mess he’s put us in!” Dad’s voice escalated to a near shout.

“Dad, calm down.” I stepped closer and rubbed his arm. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “This is a big misunderstanding.”

Brian walked towards us. “I found us a room to talk in.”

Dad and I followed him into a small room.

I tried to keep the panic out of my voice. “Where’s Max? Is he okay?”

“They’re processing him. Haven’t started the interviews yet but they’re not allowed to talk to him without me in the room.”

“Let him rot!” Dad slammed his fist into the table.

Ignoring Dad, I held Brian’s gaze. “What are they charging him with?”

“A level 1 sexual assault. He met a woman, left the bar with her last night and she is asserting that she said no and he forced her.”

“That’s impossible.”

“The police say otherwise.”

“Brian,” I licked my lips. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of me.” Dad’s voice filled the room.

“Dad. Trust me.”

“Rory, spit it out!”

I swallowed in fear. Dad looked apocalyptic. “There is no way that Max Logan could have assaulted anyone, since I was with him last night.”

Brain’s eyebrows went up.

“No! Rory no! I will not have you protect that animal.”

I turned to Dad. “He’s not an animal, Dad. He’s the man I love.”

“Okay, okay.” Brian soothed. “Why don’t you tell me what happened last night.”

“Max and I left the stadium together after the game. We drove back to his place. We ordered some food around 1 AM. I left around 9 AM.”

Brian nodded. “Did he leave the apartment?”

“No. We arrived there together and neither of us left.”

“This is bullshit, Rory,” Dad blustered. “You will not protect Garrett, okay? He’s an animal and you don’t need to sacrifice yourself to protect him.”

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