the athletic tutoring department who is fine as hell and hasn’t graduated yet,” he said before adding, “But I thought she quit after what happened to her last year.”
I glanced at Mac, wondering if he knew what Cole was talking about, but he looked as confused as I felt. “What happened last year?” I asked.
“You guys never heard about the football player who stalked his tutor?” Cole asked, and the story vaguely rang a bell in the back of my mind but not really.
“I feel like I might have heard something about it, but I didn’t pay it that much attention,” I admitted before feeling like an asshole.
“I didn’t hear anything about it,” Mac said with a shrug.
“Me either,” Dayton added.
Colin sat there, still sulking from the baseball conversation. I wasn’t even sure he was listening anymore.
“What happened? You’re sure it was Danika?” I asked.
Cole’s head yanked back in recognition. “That’s her name. From the East Coast, right?”
“Yeah, New York,” I added, feeling defensive and angry.
“Mmhmm. It was definitely her.”
“So, what happened? How many times do I have to fucking ask you that?” I practically bit his head off.
Cole huffed out a small laugh before pointing a finger at me. “You really do like this girl.” He continued to grin, and I was about to lose my damn mind if he didn’t tell me what the hell had happened to her. “So, I don’t know much really. Just that the guy stalked her. Like, he showed up at her place a few times or something. It got pretty bad and she threatened to go to Compliance if he didn’t stop.
“Who was it?” I ground out, wanting to tear the guy’s throat out.
“I don’t know for sure, but I always heard it was Kenny.”
“That football douche who got drafted?” Mac asked with a snarl.
I didn’t hang out with non-baseball players unless we shared a class, so I didn’t know most of the other athletes on campus. But I remembered Kenny—not because he’d gotten drafted into the NFL last year, but because he was always acting like a fucking idiot whenever I saw him around. The guy did things like pound his chest, proclaiming to be Tarzan while he tossed girls over his shoulder and spanked their asses. It made me sick, thinking about a guy like him pursuing Danika. Her distaste for athletes made more sense now.
“Yeah. I don’t know a hundred percent that it was him, but that’s what I always heard.”
“He seems like the type who wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Colin added out of nowhere, and I swore my blood started boiling inside my veins.
“Carter?”
I met Cole’s watchful gaze.
“You good?” he asked.
“No,” I admitted.
“Let it go. She handled it. He’s long gone,” Cole said, clearly trying to calm me down.
“The same way you’d let it go if it were Christina? The same way you let it go last year with Logan?”
I was being kind of a dick, and I knew it, but this was Danika we were talking about. The thought of someone stalking her, showing up at her house and not taking no for an answer, was making me feel violent. I couldn’t believe she never told me this had happened to her. But then again, when had I given her the chance? And why would she bring that up to me now? What would have been the point?
Something additional snapped inside me. Another piece of the Jared puzzle slid into place without warning. This was just another example of him being there for her when she needed someone. One more thing that had connected them, that bonded them together, that made their relationship stronger. One more thing that I could never compete with.
Maybe it wasn’t about the money at all for Jared. I really didn’t know, but I did know that it was none of my fucking business.
Secrets Brought to Light
Danika
I was nervous for my next tutoring session with Chance. As I walked toward the library by myself, scanning my surroundings with each step, I felt those familiar butterflies come to life in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it wasn’t nerves at all. Maybe I was just excited to see him.
Neither option was good, especially with the current state of my relationship. I hadn’t talked to Jared since our fight in the commissary yesterday. I’d ignored all two of his calls and text messages. I knew that he felt like I was the one who was wrong, so I should be apologizing and chasing