Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I trust him,” Jeremy said. “Isn’t that enough?”
“This time it’s not,” Lucas said, and he at least had the decency to sound apologetic. “Not when you’re—” He was smart enough not to finish it, or maybe that was because Cody grabbed his shoulder in a white-knuckled grip.
“When I’m what?” Jeremy invited Lucas. Lucas averted his eyes and said nothing, but Jeremy only tolerated the silence for a few moments. “I asked you a question.”
“I’m sorry,” Lucas said, stiff with discomfort. “That was out of line.”
Jeremy was wearing that tense smile Jean had only seen on him once before. Laila was watching Jeremy; Cat was watching Lucas. Neither of them looked pleased, but neither was going to step in and help either man out. Jean wasn’t entirely sure what Lucas had bitten off at the last second, but he didn’t need to know that to know what caged argument was happening behind their words.
It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have anytime soon, but it was past the point Jean could ignore it. “I had my number before I joined the lineup because my position was always guaranteed,” Jean said. “Your wretched brother spent three years trying and failing to keep up with me. If I had the rest of the day to waste, I would tell you every single place that both he and you fall short on the court to prove my point. He can lie about why it happened all he likes. It doesn’t change the facts.”
Lucas lifted his chin a little in defiance. “I won’t apologize for being worried.”
“Your apologies are as worthless as your opinion.”
“Call a truce,” Cody ordered Lucas. “Right now.”
Lucas glared but sullenly said, “Truce, until you screw us… over.”
Jean didn’t miss that purposeful beat in his response. Maybe the others looked past it, too eager to put this awkward meeting behind them. Cat swept in as soon as Lucas subsided, hooking an arm around Cody’s shoulders to steer her fellow backliners toward the water. Laila and Jeremy exchanged a long look but said nothing. At length Laila shook her head and followed them. Jeremy stayed behind to apply more sunblock, but Jean didn’t miss the tension in his hands as he worked at the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry,” Jeremy said at last. “He’s usually less bitter.”
“He is a child spitting smoke,” Jean said. “It doesn’t matter.”
“He shouldn’t have said it.”
“All of you have heard it,” Jean said, not quite an accusation.
Jeremy didn’t answer, but he did meet Jean’s eyes for a moment. If there had been anything scheming or hungry in his gaze, Jean could have left it at that, but all he saw was regret. Jeremy had heard the rumors about how far Jean would supposedly go for a chance to play but expected nothing from him.
Safety was a dangerous illusion, but Jean still felt the gentle weight of it. He looked out at the ocean to find his center again, hoping the waves and the heat and the impossibly bright sky would burn this ill-advised feeling out of him.
“It wasn’t about the lineup,” he said without meaning to.
“Normally I would say something about how everyone is free to experiment,” Jeremy said, “or some tried and true nonsense about consenting adults doing what they like. But Jean, you’re nineteen. If I’m doing the math right, you were sixteen when you joined the line. That’s statutory rape anyway you look at it. They never should have said yes when you asked.”
“I didn’t ask.”
It was out before he knew it was coming, ragged with an anger that left his throat aching. Jean’s hand went up like he could somehow snatch the words back. Jeremy started to grab at him before thinking better of it and carding his fingers through his own hair instead. Jean put space between them immediately, getting out of Jeremy’s reach as fast as he could.
“No,” he said. “Don’t say anything.”
“Jean, you—what—”
Jean pointed a warning finger at him. “I did not say it. You did not hear it.”
“Why are you protecting them?” Jeremy asked, voice raw with disbelief. His phone started going off with back-to-back chimes. Jean wished he’d get distracted and forget this conversation, but Jeremy didn’t even acknowledge the noise. “You’re not a Raven anymore; you’re not bound to Edgar Allan. Give me one good reason why you’d let them get away with this, and don’t you dare say you deserved it.”
“I did,” Jean said, and Jeremy flinched like he’d been hit. “You cannot understand.”
“Can you even hear yourself?” Jeremy asked, despairing.
“Leave it,” Jean warned him. “It has nothing to do with you. This conversation was inevitable when we all know what they’re saying about me; I won’t treat you like an idiot by lying about it when too many people are saying otherwise. The circumstances are none of your business. All you need to know are these two facts: I don’t need to fuck any of you to be better than your entire lineup, and if any Trojan ever tries to touch me, I will cut his throat on the spot. Do you understand?”