His voice cuts through the silence. “Look, man, you’ve got to know I love you like a brother.”
“Your brothers are all dicks.” It’s an old joke, said many times before, but my voice sounds like gravel and feels like glass against my throat. Humiliation crawls over me. Everyone loses now and then. But not like this, not by being a fucking bonehead and throwing away a game.
A small smile cracks his face. “Total dicks.” He ambles in further. “More than a brother, then.”
I want to smile, want to pretend it’s all-good. But I can’t even look him in the eyes. I know I’ve got whatever it is he’s going to say coming to me. God knows I heard more than an earful from my coaches.
“I don’t want to bust your balls,” Gray continues. “So I’ll just say this once. Get your head out of your ass and get over this chick.”
Easier said than done.
“We need your head on right, Drew. I appreciate you being upset for a while, but enough is enough. A piece of ass is not worth this shit.”
My head jerks up. I glare at Gray, not daring to open my mouth. But he simply shakes his head and steps closer. “She’s just some lying bitch—”
I don’t remember moving. A red haze fogs my vision as I slam him into the wall, my fists clutching his shirt. “Don’t you ever…” I grind out through my teeth before my jaw locks.
Gray’s mouth falls open. “What the fuck?”
Shit. Gray has been shoved around enough by people who are supposed to care about him. I step back, abruptly letting him go, and he sags a second before pushing upright, getting into my face.
“You’d fucking attack me over her?”
Taking a deep breath, I back away. “I didn’t mean to do that. Just don’t… Don’t talk about her that way. She’s not a bitch.”
“I cannot believe this.” Gray looks me over as if I’m a stranger. “Are you kidding me?”
I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder. “You want someone to blame? Then blame me. I’m the one who lost the game, not…” I can’t say her name.
“She dumped all over you!” His face is red.
I run a hand over my head where it aches so bad that my vision blurs. “She never lied. I did that to myself.”
His eyes narrow as he stares at me, and then his brows lift high. “You’re in love with her.”
Fucking headache. My eyes are filling now. I blink once, hard and desperate. Gray looks away, as if he’s embarrassed for me. Heat prickles over my skin. “I’m sorry I let you down.” I head for the door. “It won’t happen again.”
IRIS HAS DISAPPEARED. She didn’t come home on Friday night. Or on Saturday. Since she’s currently without boyfriend, I worry. Iris doesn’t do hook ups. It took her six months just to have sex with Henry for the first time. So the fact that she isn’t here bothers me. As does the fact that she isn’t answering her phone or the ten texts I’ve sent her.
My worry grows, and I call George to ask if he knows where she is, which is the wrong thing to do because George goes deadly quiet on the other side of the line.
“You mean to tell me Friday is the last time you’ve seen her, and you’re just calling me now?” George replies in a voice I’ve never heard before.
I cringe, my grip on the phone tightening. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Shit.” George lets out a heavy breath.
Cold sweat breaks out along my back. “I thought she was with you. She said she was with you.”
George explodes. “Puta mierda! Pendejo, maricon...”
That he’s cussing in Spanish makes me more afraid. Like Iris, George never does that unless he’s beside himself.
He takes another audible breath before speaking again. “She fucking said she was going out with you!”
“You don’t think she’s with—”