“Okay! Okay, buddy.” Ten patted my shoulder. “We’ll get it down. Just...breathe.”
I stopped fighting, but the guys kept sitting on me for another couple minutes before Ten nodded at Quinn.
Slowly, cautiously they let up pressure. When I didn’t try to break loose as soon as I had an ounce of wiggle room, they leapt off me and jumped back. I stayed sprawled on the floor, panting and trying to calm myself before I sat up and glanced at Ten.
“I want it down.”
“We’ll get it down,” he promised me, his eyes steady on mine with a look of pure assurance that I’d never seen him give anyone. “I swear to you, we’ll get that picture down. But you can’t go anywhere near it. If Coach finds out it’s you, you’ll be off the team and kicked out of school, bro.”
“I don’t care.” I pushed to my feet and brushed off my clothes. “She shouldn’t be put on display like that, like some kind of dirty whore. She’s not—”
“I know,” Ten said forcefully. He lifted his hands, back to placating me. “We both know that. But you going in there like this won’t help anyone. It won’t help you, it won’t help your brothers or sister. And it won’t help her. She’s already gone, man.”
“Gone?” I repeated stupidly. “What do you mean gone?”
“Do you seriously think they’d let her stay on campus after something like this? Besides,” he glanced away and mumbled the last part, “there’s a sign above the picture.”
“A sign?” My heart sank. They’d labeled my woman, just like what had happened in that Hawthorne book. All her hard work to get a position at Ellamore had come down to a big scarlet A...because of me. This was definitely not the kind of A I’d always wanted from her. I tasted bile and wanted to get it out of me. “What’s it say?”
Ten blanched and shook his head. Hamilton looked away.
“What’s it say?” I roared.
“Jesus. It says, ‘Who wants to join Dr. Kavanagh in leaving Ellamore forever?’”
“Oh, God.”
I started for the door. This time, they trapped me against the damn sinks.
“Let me go, damn you.”
“What’re you going to do? Blow in there and confess, so you can go down with her? Man, you only have one year left of school. You’re this close to getting everything you’ve worked so hard for. And don’t forget your family. Jesus, Noel. Your family.”
“So, what do you expect me to do? Take the coward’s way out and let her take the fall for both of us? Fuck that.”
“Think about this, Gamble. Think with your brain for a second. Nothing you can do will save her.”
A growl escaped my throat. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes, trying to combat the agony, but it just followed me.
“But you can still save Caroline. And Colt, and Brandt. They didn’t do anything wrong and they’ll be the ones who suffer right along with you if you throw away your entire future and admit anything to Coach.”
His words penetrated my rage until it struck me what he’d just said. I squinted. “How the fuck do you know anything about them?”
Ten’s mouth opened. And then shut. Appearing suddenly uncomfortable, he glanced away. “You’ve mentioned your brothers’ and sister’s names before.”
“But I’ve never told you...” This didn’t add up. “Jesus, what do you know?”
He ground his teeth and shot me a glare. “I don’t know anything, man. You’ve never told me anything about your life back home, except those names.”
I shook my head. “Then why do you keep bringing them up?”
“Fuck.” He hissed. “She told me to, okay?”
Not comprehending at all, I just blinked at him. “What?”
“Dr. Kavanagh,” he mumbled, scowling at me.
“Aspen? When the hell did you talk to Aspen?”
“Jesus Christ.” Ten squeezed his eyes shut. “The night we caught her with that history professor douche. She texted me and asked me to make sure you were there, so you’d see them together.”
My mouth fell open. I swung my head back and forth. This didn’t make any sense.
“When I disappeared from you for a little while after that, I went to see her, to call her out on it, and demand to know why the hell she’d done that to you. I swear to God, man, I thought she wanted you there so she could hook up with you again. I didn’t know—”
I waved my hand, shutting him up. “Then why...why did she want me to see that?”
“She said...” He growled out a sound of irritation. “She said you needed to hate her for this to work.”
No. No way. That did not sound good. My heart sank to my knees as I asked the dreaded question. “For what to work?”
“Man, she knew then. I think she knew about the picture. I think someone wanted to fucking blackmail her for a good grade. And she refused.”
She’d sacrificed herself. And made sure I would remain safe.