Page 83 of Broken Play
"Ready to blow the scout team's mind?" I ask Stricker.
"Let's do it." We walk off toward the other field with my teammates' eyes following us. He pulls a needle from his shorts, raises his T-shirt, and rams the needle into his stomach.
"What the hell, Stricker?"
"It's just a needle. I've been sticking myself for thirty years. I had my first kidney transplant about seven years ago."
"Why?"
"Diabetes. The silent killer."
I nod. "Damn, I didn't know." My problems aren't anything compared to his, so I'm not going to let being moved to the scout team affect my good mood. "Is Parker here today? I would love to throw to him."
"Yeah, and your sister is here too," he says, grinning.
"Noelle's here? Why?"
He shrugs and points. Noelle's over there talking with Parker and a couple of other guys. I jog over. "Hey. What do we owe the pleasure?"
"Just wanted to see my favorite brothers. Where were you? I've never seen John David so upset." She likes to use his full name because it connects her to Mom.
"Dinner at my house tonight. I have something I want to discuss with the family."
"Parker, go route!" I yell. I don't even know if he knows what that means. Did his high school coach use different terminology?
Parker dashes down the sideline, and I let the ball fly. His stride matches the flight of the ball, and he turns after three steps, catching it in the end zone. Right then and there, I know Parker has the athleticism to make the college team, and it's a possibility that I could make it long enough to play with him. That would be something.
At the lunch break, I check my phone and have an urgent voicemail from Sutton. "I need to see you in my office."
I wish I could say she wants office sex, but hervoice is in full-blown panic mode. I mentally prepare myself for her changing her mind about going public.
FORTY-SIX
SUTTON
My fingers tap incessantly on my desk, which is covered with photos and blackmail. I close my eyes for an instant.Hurry, Greyson.I push the microphone button for Marlon. "Please send in Greyson as soon as he gets here."
"Sure thing." Marlon's usual chipper self seems over the top today, and I felt the very same way when I walked in this morning, practically prancing through the office. Okay, not prancing; that's not me. But I felt like I was floating, knowing that Greyson and I are in love and want to tell the world.
I hear jogging footsteps approaching my door. I'm positive he thinks I called him up for a kiss, and damn, I wish I did. He appears in the doorway. "Hey, Boss Lady." He winks with his boyish charm and seductive smile.
"Close the door."
"Am I in trouble?"
"We're in trouble."
He sighs, "Sutton, don't back out now. If we can't be together out in the open, what does that mean? It means youdon't think we're worth the trouble." He sits his ass on the corner of my desk, our eyes locked together.
I pick up the yellow envelope I received in the mail and slide the bracelet out. "Someone found my bracelet."
"Thank God. I know it means a lot to you. Is that why you called me up here? Because as long as I get to tell the world that my girlfriend is none other than the smoking-hot general manager for the Austin Armadillos, I'm good with it." He laughs at his own joke, and I want to laugh with him, but I can't.
His eyes roam over my desk, and he picks up a picture of us at the waterfall. "Did Paulina take this? It's a great shot."
I hand him the most damning photo, unable to look him in the eye. "No. I don't know who took any of these."
My hands are shaking so badly I can't hold on to my Armadillo mug. The images are unmistakable—Greyson and me, tangled together in the locker room, half-naked and exposed. My stomach twists with nausea and panic, shame rushing in, hot and suffocating.
