Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Jean looked at Rhemann, but Rhemann was watching him, and the look on his face was almost his undoing. This was the belligerent stare of a man who’d haul Lucas out of there by force if Jean indicated he didn’t want to be alone with him. Jean tried to tell himself he was reading too much into it, but discomfort and safety were warring knots of poison eating through his heart. He forced himself to look away from his coach before he could be taken in by such a farce and answered a stilted, “One minute.”
Lucas pushed the door closed immediately, only to waste twenty seconds just staring at it instead of facing Jean.
At twenty-one, the best he managed was, “I’m sorry.”
“Your apologies are as useful as perfume on a frog,” Jean said. When Lucas looked like he would protest, Jean cut him off with a short jerk of his hand and said, “I do not care what you thought you’d get out of this experiment or what you think you learned. The entire reason I pointed you at Grayson was so I would not have to have this conversation with you. The only thing that matters is whether you are willing to play with me on the court.”
“He bit you,” Lucas said.
“I was there,” Jean said icily.
“I’ve seen you looking at Jeremy. I’ve heard the rumors. I’m sure you’re gay.” Lucas fixed him with a stubborn look that was completely undermined by the nervous edge in his voice. “Is this like—is this a bad breakup thing?”
For a moment Jean was tempted to lie, if only to bring a swift end to this conversation. He was equally tempted to tell the truth just to twist the knife deeper. Miserable evasion was the only middle ground, and Jean fought hard against his roiling stomach. “Do not dare offload the burden of your brother’s psychosis onto me. You will not assuage your guilt by assuming I wanted any part of it.”
“I’m not—Jesus, I just—” Lucas couldn’t seem to figure out where he wanted to go with this, but Jean didn’t have all day to wait on him. He got off the bed and started for the door, and Lucas almost wasn’t fast enough to stop him.
As soon as Jean’s hand touched the knob Lucas put a hand and foot against the door to keep it closed, and the expression he turned on Jean was grim. Jean was fairly sure he could get Lucas out of his way if push came to shove, but he curled his lip at Lucas in scorn and gave him a last chance to get his head together.
At last Lucas said, “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your fucking—”
“I’m sorry I said it,” Lucas clarified as he eased off the door. “It wasn’t right. I saw your face when he got out of the car, so I know I shouldn’t have even—” He gestured, helpless and miserable, as words failed him again. “The Grayson I grew up with was nothing like this. I can’t make sense of what he’s become.”
“That is your problem, not mine.” Despite that easy dismissal, Jean couldn’t turn the knob. He stared at his hand, willing it to move, but dread overrode common sense and he had to know. “He said he knows where I live. Did you tell him?”
Lucas gave a short shake of his head. “I told him where the summer dorms are in case he wanted to come up and see me before he left. He doesn’t know you’re off campus.”
It did little to quell the prickling bite in his heart, but it would have to do. Jean tugged the door open to find the coaches and Jeremy waiting just a few feet down the hall. Jean looked only at Jeremy and said, “I have to change before we leave.”
“Sure,” Jeremy agreed, with a fleeting, empty smile.
Jean trusted the coaches to call him back should they need anything else and set off for his locker. He passed Cat and Laila first, then Haoyu and Travis again, and made it to his locker without further interruption. That was only half the problem, as he’d already changed into his own clothes before following Lucas outside. He had no choice but to peel off his soaked outfit and put on tomorrow’s workout wear. The wet clothes were bundled up in his discarded shirt for the ride home, and he found everyone waiting for him at the exit when he was through.
Haoyu, Travis, and Lucas set off across the parking lot toward campus, and Rhemann got the other four Trojans into his station wagon. The trip home by car was short enough to be disorienting, and Rhemann let them out at the end of the driveway. He rolled his window down as they stepped away and said, “Let us know if you need anything, all right?”