Page 122 of Spin The Bottle
She nods, smiling at me before she turns to Aiden. “You better take care of my daughter,” she tells him.
“I will,” he tells my mom, smiling at her. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s happy.”
46
Payback
When I push the door open and I see all of my teammates on the court, it brings me a kind of hurt I can’t explain. Basketball has been all I’ve had for so long that knowing it could all be taken away from me today makes me nervous.
Coach turns his head when the door closes, spotting me approaching him. “Pierce,” he says. “The test is scheduled for tomorrow. You’re still under suspension.”
“I know, Coach, I was wondering if I could talk to you.”
He lifts his chin. “Can it wait?”
“Not really.” The longer I hold on to this information, the longer Jordan thinks he won, but he hasn’t, not even close.
I spot him on the court, narrowing his eyes at me, his cheeks blazing with anger. How did I not see it before? These guys have been like my family since freshman year, knowing that one of them stabbed me in the back hurts like hell.
Coach’s whistle goes off, and everyone comes to a halt. “Practice is over,” he shouts.
“Hell yes,” Carter mutters, running to the locker rooms.
“Nice to see you, Cap,” Andre says, patting me on the shoulder.
When everyone leaves, the asshole approaches me. “What do you think you’re doing?” Jordan asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
I shake my head, almost laughing at how much of a piece of shit he is. “You want to ruin my future? I can do the same.” His nostrils flare, but I don’t elaborate. Jordan scatters when Coach approaches me.
“What did you want to talk about?” he asks, walking ahead of me to his office.
The minute the door shuts, I let out a breath. “I have proof.”
“Of?” Coach asks, sitting at his desk.
“That the drug testing was tampered with.”
His brows shoot up. “What proof?”
I pull out my phone from my pocket and open up the recording I have of Jordan admitting everything. Admitting to blackmailing me, admitting that he messed with the drug testing. All of it.
When the recording ends, Coach looks up at me. “This is Jordan?”
I made sure to say his name so that there would be no confusion. That asshole might have controlled me for the past few months, but I’m not letting him get away with it. “Yes, Coach,” I say. “He wanted the captain position and was willing to blackmail and drug me to make it happen.”
Coach lets out a sigh, shaking his head. “He’s been coming to me for a while asking to reconsider him being captain.” My eyes widen at the admission. All this time? “I didn’t think he would be a threat, but this is serious,” he says, shaking his head. “This is damning evidence.”
My heart starts to race. “So what does this mean?”
“It means I was right all along in believing in you,” he says, nodding. I’ll always be grateful for Coach seeing something in me and giving me an opportunity. “And it means you’re back on the team.”
“And the scholarship?”
“Still very much intact.”
My shoulders drop, all the weight lifting off them. “Thanks, Coach.”
“I didn’t want to have to do this,” he says, lifting off his chair. “But Jordan is out, and my guess is he’ll no longer attend Redfield University.”
