Page 116 of Dirty Roulette
“Then what do you want?” I ask.
More money is thrown into the pile on the table. “You know what I want.” Cards shuffle, in Brody’s hands, and he starts to pass them around the table.
“You want the sex video?” I ask.
“You want the guys to lay off, you want the video removed. I want something in return. I want you fucking the shit out of her, and then I’ll delete everything I posted. Would that make you happy so we aregoodagain?” Linemen shuffle, one of them leaning an arm against the couch with a tight fist. Brody cocks his head. “It’s an eye for an eye.”
“Fine...” I say.
“Good. Now get the hell out.”
There’s no handshake, just him waving a hand at me to get out of the house. I leave the fraternity and take the five-minute drive to the other side of the campus and park in the gravel.
One of Payton’s mixed discs plays at a low volume, and it clicks. I’m listening to Noah singing. I shut it off, sitting in the still silence. The crickets chirp outside, leaking through the windows as I shuffle in the seat, staring at the porch lights and the beetles buzzing.
Payton is in there, and my heart hurts again with the little thought in my head now starting to violently yell at me that there is no way I can make Payton happy. Not with how messed up everything is right now. I can’t put the damn bottle down. I get mom has help from the church but when those funds dry up I can’t pay her bills. Charlie gave me a bit of purpose to keep pushing on because at least I might have been able to make her life better, but that’s a wash now too. I don’t want to hurt Payton, and I’m not sure how to break it down to her either.
I want to have faith that Payton can pull this off, but I have serious doubts about her random revenge scheme. If sabotaging the game andbroadcasting his dirty laundry on the screens works, it will be on live television. Everyone watching will see it, but getting past the stadium’s security and their firewall would be some miracle. She showed me this hidden reddit forum about two men breaking into the NFL and were able to hack those screens by pretending to be part of the crew. No one knew it was them. That’s exactly her plan.
I remove my keys and step out of the Jeep. The frigid air crawls up my skin as I climb the porch steps. Jared and Nick are on the couch gaming, with the screen flashing in the darkness of the living room.
Making my way down the hall, a dim light bleeds under my door and I push it open. The dumpster unloaded on my floor was picked up. The hamper of clothes is empty. A little scented candle flickers on the nightstand. It smells like something tropical and it’s better than my sweaty socks and gear.
Payton’s tongue is poking out the side of her lips as she rests her head on her knee, dabbing nail polish on her toes.
“You didn’t have to clean my room. I would’ve gotten to it... eventually.” I dig in my pockets pulling out my wallet and the stack of tips I collected tonight.
She dips her head at me. “Can you help me?” She holds out the brush and the pungent odor crawls up my nose.
“Depends. Are you going to paint my damn toes if I’m not looking?”
“Maybe. It’s hot pink, so it would look sexy as hell on you.”
I plop down on the bed, snatch the pink bottle of nail polish, and take her tiny foot into my lap. Her feet are soft like lace as I put on my Van Gogh hat and glide the brush over her nails.
When I’m done, her feet lay flat on my bed sheets. “How did it go with Brody?” She wiggles her toes with a satisfied grin.
“We’llget alongon the field if he removes those videos of you, the guys on the team need to lay off, but we’ll still need to make a sex tape. I don’t want to force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with.”
“Let’s make it now.”
“Payton...”
“My nudes are all over the internet, anyway. What’s the harm of it at this point? If he takes that video and posts it too, all everyone is gonna see is me saying your name and telling you I love you.” Her arms wrap around her legs, and she rests her chin on her knees.
My heart is like a fist pounding the inside of my chest, robbing me of my breath. Her blue eyes burn into mine, and the words get stuck in my throat. Not because I can’t say them back, but because saying those words to her scares me each time they slip off my tongue. If I somehow fuck up this relationship too, it will be the death of me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asks, her head tilting to one side.
“I think I’m going to go shower if wearedoing this.” I slide off the bed, pulling the pizza-reeking shirt over my head and tossing it to the empty hamper. It’s halfway in, and slumps to the floor instead of the basket. A bottle of Hennesy sits on top of my dresser, and I grab it, staring at the letters and the golden liquid sloshing.
“I’m gonna dump this...”
“What?” Payton chases after me, snatching my dirty shirt and pushing it down into the hamper.
“I never want to touch this stuff ever again.”
I step out into the hallway. The house reeks of pot. Jared and Nick are still shit-talking in the living room, laughing up a storm, then cursing at the screen. The bathroom light flickers, all the bulbs burnt out except one giving off the old rustic glow.
