my shoulder for comfort, but I swung and nearly decked him in the face. Alec walked up to me and pulled me into a hug, and I stood there in stunned silence. I remembered Wright saying that he was planning to live stream the game, and knew that many more people than just those in the stands had seen our crushing defeat.
“Good game, Widows.” I pulled away from Alec and turned around. Lila was standing facing me with a disgusting grin on her face. “I was almost impressed.”
“You were way out of line,” Cal started, but Lila held up a hand, and I saw him rigidify with rage.
“How could you do this?” Max asked. “What about us?”
Lila looked over at George and Max. “I’ve made arrangements to have you transferred to Colorado, as well. You two will still go semi-pro, even if your poor excuse for a team can’t.”
“Fuck you,” George spat, and it actually earned a beat of shock from Lila. “I’m not trash like you.”
Max crossed her arms. “Like she said.”
“Just get out of here, Lila. You’ve already destroyed us. Don’t pour salt in the wounds,” Hollie grumbled.
“No, wait,” I said finally. “Why? Why did you do this? I know you weren’t happy with Cal, but this is extreme, even for you.”
Lila glanced over toward the stands. “Maybe you should ask him.”
I looked over at Zeke, who was staring back at me, worried and waiting for a chance to come down. I looked back at Lila. “What do you mean?”
Lila pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it over to me. “This is what happens when you trust men.”
I looked down at the screen and recognized Zeke’s number at the top of a text message feed.
Stop texting me. Talk to
Quinn if you want to know
more about the Widows.
I’m not interested.
But I know you can do
better than such a low
team.
Now you’re talking about
my team?
Set up a meeting with
Colorado and see what
they have to say.
Make sure no one knows
I’m involved.
Alec was reading over my shoulder and gasped. He looked over at me. “He was sleeping with you to pinch your powerhouse so that you’d never even make it to the final game.” He looked over at the stands. “It was all a front.”
I felt like I was going to be sick to my stomach. The past few weeks I’d had with Zeke went flashing through my mind. Running drills with him on his field, drinking together, the paintball arena, him helping me with my plays—it was all just a trick?
“It can’t be,” I whispered before looking over at Alec. “It was real.”
He motioned down to the phone. “Sweetie, it’s right there. You can see it.”
I looked back at the phone and searched tirelessly for any sign of fakeness, but the texts were in Lila’s text feed and even dated before Lila went missing. It was plain as day. My whole world came crumbling down around me. No working with my best friend. No doing what I loved for a living. No being with an amazing guy. In the blink of an eye, it all went up in smoke.
Lila pulled her phone from my hands. “I warned you.” She looked over at Cal. “Not that it matters much now, anyway.”
Cal wrapped an arm around my back and said to Lila, “We’ll try again. You’re not gonna ruin this for us.”
“No,” I muttered sadly. “It’s over.”
Enough of the spectators had filed away, so Zeke came running onto the field. He ran over to me and put a hand on my face. “Quinn.” He looked over at Lila. “Back off.” He turned to face me again. “Hey, it’s okay. This isn’t it. We’ll figure something out.”
I smacked his hand away. “Enough!”
He recoiled a bit. “Quinn.”
“I know that you orchestrated all of this. When did it start? With getting me drunk? Or did it all come together after we slept together that night?” I bellowed.
Zeke shook his head. “What?”
“Stop! Don’t lie to me anymore. I saw you set up Lila with Colorado. You set me up!”
Zeke stepped forward. “Quinn. I had noth—”
I pushed him. “Stay away from me!”
Zeke stared back at me, wide-eyed. “I swear to god I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Save it,” Alec growled. He grabbed Lila’s phone and shoved it at Zeke. “Who are we supposed to believe, you or our own eyes?”
Zeke looked over the texts, and his jaw dropped. His shoulders drooped with defeat, and I knew he realized he’d been caught. He looked up at