Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
“No, you let yourself believe something that wasn’t true. I was never going to be yours, Zack. Never. I never cared about you like that,” I cut him off. “I never cared about you at all. You’re a guy I know from class. That’s it. That’s all it ever was.”
“That’s not true. You love me.”
“I never did, and I never will.”
He gets to his feet, his eyes narrow, his jaw clenched, his face dark and twisted with rage.
“Is that why you made up the PED story, Zack? Because you thought it would make me fall into your arms?” I ask. “Did you think ruining Dawson’s career would somehow make me love you? Is that really what you thought?”
“I made it up because Dawson Davis is a fucking pig who doesn’t deserve you. He’s a cretin who’s taking advantage of you. You’re blinded by his money and fame, and you just can’t see it right now, Devon,” he says, his tone gentler. “But give it time. When he’s drummed out of the league and isn’t surrounded by the bright lights and money anymore, that shine you feel for him right now will fade. And you’ll realize that it’s me. That it’s always been me. I made up that story for you. For us. I did this to give us a chance at the man you deserve. Me. I made it up for our future.”
A small grin twitches at the corner of my mouth. “Thank you, Zack.”
He looks at me with confusion on his face for a moment. But then he stands up straight, his features smoothing out as he smiles wide, a glint of hope flashing through his eyes.
“You’re welcome, Devon. I knew you’d come around. I knew you’d understand if I just explained to you why I did what I did.”
I pull the phone out of my bag, hit stop on the record function, and raise my gaze to his, a smile crossing my lips. Zack looks at the phone then at me, a look of confusion on his face. At first. But then the realization dawns on him and his expression quickly darkens.
“What did you do, Devon?”
“I didn't do anything but let you talk. You put the final nail in your coffin. Everybody is going to hear your confession, Zack. Everybody’s going to know what you did. You’re about to be famous and hey, maybe some girl will be blinded by those bright lights you’re about to be surrounded by.”
“Devon—”
“Goodbye, Zack.”
I turn and walk away, laughing softly to myself. Behind me, Zack is screaming my name and, when I don’t turn around, lets loose with a string of curse words and heated invectives. That only makes me laugh harder as I cross the quad, leaving Zack where he belongs—behind me.
EPILOGUE
DAWSON
Two Months Later
After getting that recording of Zack admitting he’d made the whole PED story up, she fed it to Wendy after I’d hooked them up.
Always one to run with a juicy story, Wendy took a copy of Devon’s recording and properly vetted it. She tried talking to Zack himself, played the recording, and he’d shut her down, which was confirmation enough for her. After that, she published a piece exposing Zack’s lies. The story had caught fire and made the rounds just as fast as the original story had—in part, I assume, because Wendy was pushing it and twisting arms. Which means, I’m now indebted to her and will be made to suffer.
After Wendy’s story broke, things moved quickly from there. The league always was more reactionary than proactive and did everything it could to avoid bad PR. All told, I missed four games while the league conducted its investigation into me. After talking to the reporter from the Bleacher Beat, who admitted he never properly vetted the information he’d been fed, and listening to the recording Devon had secretly made of Zack admitting it had all been a lie, the Commissioner held a press conference. Without admitting any wrongdoing, he very publicly apologized and immediately reinstated me.
The reporter who originally published the lie was fired, and I received another public apology from the Bleacher Beat in a headline bigger than the original that named me as a PED user. Thanks to Devon, I was fully exonerated. Not that being proven innocent and having it splashed all over the news everywhere will stop some people from believing that I do, in fact, use PEDs. For some people, allegations are enough. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, they think. And despite the plethora of public apologies and announcements of my innocence, my image will always be tainted in the eyes of some.
Not that I care what people outside my locker room think. My team has had my back from day one, as have Randy and my head coach, Hugo. They’ve publicly supported me and told anybody who would listen that the allegations were utter bullshit. They took plenty of slings and arrows on my behalf from the keyboard warriors and professional trolls who live on the internet. Especially Anders.