“Men will say anything to get what they want. Inexperienced teenage girls are easy targets.”
My frustration is choking me. I don’t know whether to scream or cry. “I’m not a target! And he didn’t touch Corinne.”
She gives her head a doubtful shake. “You can’t know that, Addie.”
I toss my hands in the air. “I can and I do. Other than the fact that Corinne is a spiteful bitch, Marcus would never do something like that.”
She appraises me for a long moment. “If there’s an investigation, I guess we’ll know soon enough.”
I stand and stagger down the hall to my room, trying to push back the tears. All this time I’ve been so worried I’d do something to get Marcus in trouble. Marcus is going to lose his job…maybe go to jail, not for the things he did, but for something he didn’t.
And I might be the nail in his coffin.
Chapter 21
Marcus
I haven’t heard from Addie since I left her house on Tuesday, and I’ve spent every moment of every day vacillating between bone-crushing regret and self-loathing. I can’t believe I’ve done to Addie what I’ve been so angry with Caiden for doing to Blaire. And now, if her aunt reports me to the police, I’ve put her right in the middle of all of this.
I’ve run practices this week, but only half the team has been showing. Let’s just say that Bruce isn’t the only parent in town calling me pervert now. So when Principal Monroe calls me into his office Friday before practice, it comes as no shock.
I lower myself into the seat across his desk as he gives me a grim look.
“Marcus, you know I like you. Always have. But this thing is spiraling out of control.” He tents his fingers under his chin. “The school board is demanding that you be suspended until the investigation is complete.”
I rub a hand down my face. “I guess that shouldn’t surprise me.”
His brow creases as he looks at me. “I’m not supposed to discuss this, but you should also know that another witness has come forward.”
I feel my eyes widen. “And said what?”
“She says she saw you attack Corinne.”
There are plenty of things I actually did that would be just as damning. My jaw drops when it’s not one of those that comes out of his mouth. “It has to be Melanie.”
He shakes his head. “It’s not a student, Marcus, but I’ve already said more than I should.”
My head spins as I try to wrap it around this information. “But I didn’t attack Corinne. How could someone have seen something that didn’t happen?”
He pushes back in his seat, an apologetic squint on his face. “I don’t know what to say. Sometimes these things take on a life of their own.”
I lean forward with my elbows on my knees and rest my forehead on my interwoven fists. “Who’s the witness?”
“The police have asked me not to divulge that information right now, Marcus. I’m sorry.”
Cold despair sinks into my bones and I shiver. “So, that’s it? I’m done?”
“Not necessarily,” he says with a shake of his head. “But the school board is always going to err on the side of caution. Let’s just ride this out and if there are no charges, everything can go back to normal.”
I stand and turn for the door, feeling like I’ve doubled in weight in the last ten minutes. I head through the outer office to the hall, but before I reach the front doors, I look up to see Deanna turning the corner ahead.
She saunters my direction and doesn’t stop until she’s nearly pressed right up the front of me.
“I heard you were here,” she drawls, gliding a long fingernail down my biceps.
“Yeah, well, not for long. I just got suspended.”
Her eyebrows go up, but it’s more in feigned surprise, because a self-satisfied smirk spreads across her face. “Hope that tight virgin * was worth it.”
“Jesus.” A bolt of cold lightning shoots through me as it all clicks together. “It was you.”
She tips her head in a question, but the smirk never leaves her face and an amused gleam shines in her eyes. “What?”
My fists ball at my sides as every muscle in my body tenses. “You’re the witness.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you mean, Marcus.”
“Why would you do this?” I ask, fighting to keep my voice low. “You know it’s my career on the line.”
She shrugs. “When the opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to take it.”
“Meaning?”
Her smirk becomes more of a sneer. “Meaning, you dump me because you’re all lusty for one of your girls? That’s sick, Marcus. I tried to warn you, but your little head was doing the thinking for you.” She shrugs again. “It was my responsibility to protect those girls.”
“But I never touched Corinne,” I growl. “How can you say you witnessed something that never happened?”