Page 80 of The Assist
She’s worth everything.
It isn’t until Coach shows up that I feel even the tiniest bit of remorse. And even then, I don’t regret hitting David, just getting the rest of the guys involved and making the team look bad.
He leans against the side of the cop car beside me. I’ve already given my statement, and so far, no one has put me in cuffs, so that’s a good sign.
He’s silent for a beat before he says, “What a shitty practice tonight.”
Laughter shakes my chest, the sound foreign to my ears. When was the last time I laughed?
“Coming back tomorrow?”
I flex my hand. A sting of pain shoots up my arm. I search for words, an answer. Neither yes or no feels right. How can I be there? And how can I not?
Coach straightens. “Well, they aren’t pressing charges, so get your ass home. See you tomorrow. Or not.”
As he walks away, Joel steps up. “Come on. I’ll take you to see Blair.”
“Nah, somewhere else I need to go.”
He raises both eyebrows, and I hold my hands up. “This stop doesn’t involve the police. I promise.”
Pulling up to the Morenos’ estate is like pulling up to something out of the movies. The massive house sits on the side of a mountain and is lit up like an amusement park. When we finally reach our destination, Joel pulls up under the old-school carriage style covered awning in front of the house.
“Thanks,” I say before we get out of the car. “I know you don’t like going to your father for help.”
He shrugs. “Guess there’s no other way around this one. He probably already knows.”
The Moreno house is organized chaos. Joel’s mother brings coffee and then orders her daughters, Joel’s sisters, to re-heat leftovers despite everyone’s insistence they aren’t hungry. Mr. Moreno sits at the head of a long dining table that looks out into the Rincon Mountains. A king on top of his mountain.
“Idiotic. This could end up splashed across every sports headline tomorrow. No respect for Coach Daniels.” He mutters more to himself than us, but Joel, Z, and I stare shamefaced down at the table anyway.
Joel is the first one to speak. “Pa, the guy posted nude photos of several Valley students.”
He slides his phone to his dad, who looks down at it and then slides it back. “I’ve already seen it. The site was taken down thirty minutes ago.”
“So, that’s it?” It’s my voice that yells out.
“There’ll be a formal investigation, and we’re sending out a reminder email tomorrow morning about the campus policy on sexual harassment.”
“You can’t be serious. He just gets to walk around campus while these girls are humiliated? That’s bullshit.”
Mr. Moreno raises his eyebrows at me as the three women in his life enter the dining room with dishes of hot food.
“Sorry,” I mumble an apology to Mrs. Moreno.
“I think it’s noble.” She pats my shoulder. “Too many young men thinking it’s okay to treat women like sex objects these days.”
Mr. Moreno sighs. “Without proof, I can’t do anything. Hence, the investigation.”
“But we know who did it,” Joel says.
“You have hearsay.” He shakes his head and stands. “We’re going to do everything we can to resolve it quickly. You think I want something like this going unpunished?” He looks in the direction the women disappeared. “I have two daughters who are going to be at Valley in a few years. I want others to know it won’t be tolerated, but there are appropriate channels to go through when dealing with stuff like this.”
All I hear is that it will be weeks or months where David goes unpunished, and it isn’t enough, but I can see resolve in Mr. Moreno’s face.
Mrs. Moreno insists that we stay the night, and I think we’re all too exhausted to fight her. I go to bed fully clothed and watch as the minutes tick by. I really screwed things up this time. I wonder what Blair is doing right now. Is she in bed, wishing she could rewind time and erase me from her life? I’ve made such a mess of things. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to protect her. As the sun rises, I’m still staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to make this right.
No grand gestures come to mind, so I settle for persistence. I’ll win her back the same way I’ve won at every aspect of my life—hard work and dedication. And heart.
