Saving Us by Wendy Million

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It took me until noon the next day to face the sunlight. Claudia was up and gone long before that. She had homework she needed to finish for Monday. I was glad she came, even if our outing ended as a spectacular failure. Once Sebastian left, I crawled into bed beside her and cried silent tears while she slept.

“How was your night?” Dad asked from the living room while I made myself something to eat.

I loved my dad, but he wasn’t getting those details. Claudia must not have told him before she left or else he’d have busted down my door already.

“I talked to Sebastian.” I watched him for a reaction while I grabbed a seat at the kitchen table and took a bite of my sandwich.

He raised his eyebrows.

“The coach is threatening all of them.”

He sat back into the couch and steepled his fingers. “None of them have told me that personally. You said Sebastian felt threatened.”

“Not felt threatened. He was threatened, Dad. Sebastian said the coach has talked to the team. They’re being kept in line by the threat of no longer playing for Northern University. There must be something you can do with that information.”

“We need proof. One of the players has to file a complaint against the coach or we need a record of the threat.”

“Like a video or audio?”

He shook his head. “Not admissible in court if he doesn’t realize he’s being recorded.”

I smiled. “But Dad, he’s a football coach at a top-notch school. The court of public opinion is equally important.”

“Natalie, blackmail isn’t a good idea. You want to be a lawyer. If this got out, you’d ruin any future career.”

“I’ll figure out a way to keep myself out of it. It’s not as though I can book an appointment and he’ll confess. This isn’t Law and Order.”

“Would Sebastian do it?”

I frowned and didn’t meet my dad’s eyes. I couldn’t ask him to, even though he might. If my plan didn’t work, the stakes were too great. Any of the other players who wanted to make a living off football one day wouldn’t be persuaded. For them, the risk wasn’t this season or even next season, it was the rest of their lives.

“Not him,” I said. “I have someone else in mind.”

“Care to share?” It was a mom-ism. Her memory made me smile.

“Not right now, no. But if it works, you’ll be the first to hear. At least a few of those guys must be as angry as we are about what Johnny did to Annika.” I’d be betting a lot on that claim.

“Just be careful, Natalie. The National Championship is this coming weekend. They are headed out of the state starting on Thursday. Johnny is being brought in for questioning on Wednesday before he leaves.”

“What happens if they charge him?”

“If they did that, he wouldn’t be able to cross state lines. No championship for him. But they won’t. Even if they have the evidence, they’ll delay arresting him.”

“Makes me furious.” I shoved my empty plate into the middle of the table.

Dad sighed. “I don’t agree with their reasoning, but I understand it. There are players on the team who are counting on this exposure to be noticed by the NFL. Regardless of who Johnny is off the field, by any account he’s a hell of a ball player. That shouldn’t matter more than Annika’s assault. That’s not always the world we live in.”

“Sebastian’s counting on that exposure.”

My dad’s pale eyes softened. “I understand, sweetheart. Caring about him, wanting what’s best for him, doesn’t make you a bad friend to Annika.” He stared at his files and crossed his arms. “I’m not sure what I would have done in his place at his age.”

“I was convinced you were going to hate him.” My throat tightened and a thin sheen of tears coated my vision.

He came to the kitchen table and sat in the chair beside me, so our knees almost touched. He took my hands and held them in his own. “Do you hate him?”

I shook my head. “No, but sometimes hating him would be easier.”

“Hate, like love, is complicated.” He dropped my hands and leaned into the chair. “I didn’t tell you this because I was annoyed with how you handled Annika’s downward slide into this kind of violence. I also wasn’t certain you’d want to hear it.”

“Are you going to tell me now?”

He gave a half smile. “When I spoke to Sebastian and your name came up, he thanked me for raising such a strong, independent woman. He said he’d never met anyone like you before, and he admired how you were standing by your friend.”

Tears pooled in my eyes and slid down my face before I even realized they were coming.

“There’s no chance I could ever hate a man who loves my daughter that way. A man who sees the things I value in her and is grateful for them.”

“Dad.” My voice caught.

He wrapped his arms around me, and I sobbed into his chest.

“It’s so hard,” I cried into his shirt. “I keep seeing her so battered. Someone she loved did that. She loved him.” I took a heaving, shaky breath. “I feel so bad for her and so guilty I didn’t do more. The signs were there, but I couldn’t make her believe me.” I pressed my forehead into my dad’s chest. “But I also miss Sebastian so much.”

“We’re going to get Johnny. We’ll get him. We’ll get whoever helped him too,” my dad said into my hair.

I nodded and drew away, wiping my face self-consciously. Tears didn’t come easily to me, but I’d been doing a lot of crying lately. “I have a couple things to do and then I’m going out for a while,” I said.

“I force you out of the house once and now you’re going to leave me sitting here twiddling my thumbs every night?”

Between sniffs, I laughed. “No. Operation Nail Johnny to the Wall needs to get into swing. If they won’t arrest him before this weekend, I want to make sure he’s getting his ass handed to him when he gets home.”

My dad smiled and ruffled my hair. “There’s my strong, tough girl.”

* * *

The club opened at six, and I wanted to be there when the doors were unlocked. I wasn’t positive what time Gabby’s shift started, but the football schedule meant that if Troy was going to be there, he’d arrive early and leave early.

Clay had agreed to come with me. Despite Sebastian’s vow to handle Johnny, I wasn’t sure he’d back down.

“I went to see Annika.” Clay stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat while we waited in the cold for the doors to open.

“She texted me and said you stopped by. That was nice of you.” The drive to Annika’s house took three hours. Why he’d gone hung between us.

“You’re probably wondering why I went.”

I smiled. “You went because you’re a nice guy.”

He shook his head. “I went because I couldn’t get the image of her in the alley out of my head. I needed to see her getting better.” He glanced at me, and a ghost of a smile played on his lips. “She was always so full of life. She had this great laugh and this passion for things. To see her so…”

That’s how I felt, and I hadn’t found her. I was about to respond when the lock on the door flicked open.

“You think this will work?” Clay pulled on the handle.

“No idea. But it’s worth a shot. I completely misread Troy when I first met him. I’m hoping I’m reading him right this time.”

We were the only ones there. Surreal to be in the bar without the crush of bodies, the loud music, and the strobe lights. Music blared out of the speakers, but it wasn’t techno blasting from them.

We slid onto stools, and Gabby emerged from the rear room carrying a case of beer. She paused mid-stride when she saw us.

“Back for round two?” Her voice was light, but her expression wasn’t friendly.

“Not quite.” I shifted in my seat.

“Tequila?” Gabby put the case of beer beside the fridge.

“Is Troy coming by?” I asked.

“Is this your new boyfriend?” Gabby smiled at Clay.

Clay thrust out his hand with a grin. “Old boyfriend. Turned concerned friend. I’m Clay.”

Sometimes his ability to gloss over awkward situations amazed me. He didn’t always sail through, but when he did, he was a sight to behold.

She gave him an assessing look and then accepted his handshake. “I’m Gabriella. Troy’s girlfriend.”

“Natalie says Troy’s a good guy,” Clay said, still smiling.

Gabby scanned his face and then shifted her focus to me, wary. “What are you after, Nat?”

“I want to chat with Troy.”

“He’s not going to roll on Johnny. Trust me, we’ve talked about it several times.”

“So, he knows something?” I asked.

Gabby shrugged. She took a deep breath and sighed. “The only one who knows absolutely nothing is Sebastian, if that makes you feel any better. Since it’s your dad sniffing around, he’s pretty much persona non grata on the team. He’s moved out of the frat house too.”

I tried to hide my surprise, but I was a terrible poker player.

“You didn’t hear that, huh? Yeah, when he returned to the house last night, he went a few rounds with Johnny. Told Johnny, and I quote, ‘Stay the fuck away from Natalie or I’ll kill you.’ Really messy. We thought we were going to have to call the cops. Then Sebastian packed his shit and left.”

I swallowed. “Last night?”

Clay’s worried gaze bored into me. “What happened last night?”

“Johnny threatened me. That’s why I wanted backup today.”

Clay stiffened beside me. “You told Sebastian?”

“We ran into each other. I was upset. I probably shouldn’t have told him.”

Gabby waved my comment away. “Johnny needed someone to take him to task. I’m confident he’s the one who hurt Annika, or at least played a big part in it. I’d put money on Jeff and Theo being involved too. But I can’t prove anything.”

I rubbed my face. “Troy won’t flip?”

Gabby shook her head. “I liked Annika.” She couldn’t quite meet my gaze when she said, “I realized something bad was happening with Johnny. He never treated her like shit or hit her or anything around us. But sometimes, the way she moved, she looked sore. She always blamed it on the gym, but I wondered. I wondered, and I never asked.” Gabby met my gaze, her eyes sad. “I should have asked.”

“Gabby, I did ask. Said he was bad news. Tried to get her to stop seeing him. Nothing worked.” Even as I comforted her, my own guilt ate at me. I could have done more—should have done more. The signs were there. So, now I’d do everything to get her justice.

“I’ll try talking to Troy again, but the coach is keeping them on a tight leash.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to discuss with Troy. I’m not going after Johnny directly. The coach threatened Sebastian. Sebastian is certain he’s threatened other people. To get anyone to talk, we have to reduce the coach’s power.”

“How are you going to do that?” Gabby asked.

“By getting him on tape threatening the players.”

“You want Troy to record him?” She sighed. “Oh, Natalie. He won’t do that.”

“Clay can wire him.” Before now, Clay’s IT degree was only helpful in removing viruses from my computer. “The device wouldn’t be obvious, but the recording gives us leverage to bring Johnny to justice.”

At the entrance, the door swung open, and Troy wandered in. The first time I saw him, I’d given him the nickname Steroids. He was still huge, but now that I knew him, I doubted he was using drugs. When Troy recognized us, he stopped in his tracks.

“What are you doing here, Natalie?” He kept his distance.

“I came to talk to you.”

“Shit blew up last night in the frat house. So much for not telling Sebastian,” Troy said. “We play in the National Championship this weekend and half the team isn’t even on speaking terms.”

All my muscles tensed at the accusation. Keeping Johnny’s threats and behavior secret is what got everyone into this mess. Only the truth would absolve us and give Annika the justice she deserved. “That’s not my fault. Your teammates beat and raped my friend and then dumped her in an alley. You want to blame someone, blame them.”

Clay sucked in a breath beside me. I’d always been too direct for him.

“Gabby, I’ll see you later.” Troy turned on his heel.

“Wait.” Clay jumped off his stool and rushed after Troy.

“You’re not going to win him over like that,” Gabby said to me.

I huffed out a breath. “I’m tired of everyone pretending what Johnny and whoever else did isn’t godawful. Johnny caused this situation, and the team is enabling him because he can throw a football kinda far.” Was I playing down his role on the team? Yes. But he wasn’t a god, and he shouldn’t be able to do terrible things and suffer no consequences. “He did this. He did it. Other people are paying for it. Annika could have paid with her life.”

Gabby’s steady gaze met mine. “Troy’s not heartless.”

I sighed. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. But he’s not going to the NFL. You’ve said that. He’s said that. Other people say that. The risks aren’t the same for him.”

“They’re his friends.”

“Well.” I stared at her. “Whoever hurt Annika isn’t a friend I’d want. Whoever is covering up what happened isn’t a friend I’d want. But maybe that’s just me.”

Troy returned with Clay at his side. When he made eye contact with me, I was struck by the change in his expression. Whatever Clay said to him, Troy was different.

“I’ll do it.” Troy’s gaze traveled from me to Gabby. “I’ll wear the wire.” He covered his face, and his arms bulged. “I’ll ask the coach for a meeting, and I’ll tell him I’m having second thoughts about keeping quiet.” He splayed his arms wide in a helpless gesture. “But I’ve got nothing, Nat. I swear. I’m not convinced telling the coach I’m going to flip will be enough.”

“It’s worth a try, Troy. Thank you.” When I glanced at Clay, his expression was haunted.

“You’ve got my cell?” Clay asked Troy.

“Yeah, I’ll text you so we can meet up.” Troy’s focus never left Gabby.

Something about the way he was looking at her saddened me.

“Come on, Nat,” Clay said to me. “We have to get organized.”

I hopped off the stool and stood in front of Troy. “Thank you.”

He tore his gaze from Gabby and gave me his attention for a beat longer than normal. “Whoever dropped her in the alley should be shot. I had no idea, Natalie. No idea they left her in that condition.”

Once we were outside, I turned to Clay. “What did you show him?”

“Pictures of Annika from that night.”

“What?” My heart dropped into my feet. “You have photos?”

Clay nodded and kept walking. “She asked me to take them at the hospital. It’s not as weird as it sounds.” He stopped short and thrust his hands in his jacket pockets. He took a deep breath but wouldn’t make eye contact. “She was worried that it wouldn’t be enough.”

I frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“Once the bruises healed, if charges weren’t pressed, if he came around again…” Clay trailed off.

“Oh, my God.” I covered my mouth. His words sank into me, each one a stone. “You’re not kidding?”

Clay shook his head. “She wanted someone to have the photos in case she was ever tempted. Or in case she ever picked the wrong guy again.”

Tears pricked at the back of my eyelids. I had to look at the dark sky to collect myself. “I don’t understand that mindset.”

Clay shrugged. “I don’t either. But it’s why I have them. I’m glad she’s getting counseling. Troy wouldn’t listen to me. So, I showed him the photos.”

“And then he listened?”

“He was shocked, but the pictures weren’t quite the turning point. Gabby is still around those guys. Not that much different from Annika. If they could do it to her, they could do it to Gabby too. They might have a taste for it now.”

A chill coursed through me, and I shivered. He was right. Annika’s assault wasn’t necessarily an isolated incident. We had no idea what set Johnny off in the first place, and we hadn’t yet pinpointed who helped him either.