"Surely, that’s a good thing?" Sawyer asks as Asher leans forward, concern all over his face.
I glance up at the TV and my heart stops at the image on the screen. I already know what Cole is going to say before he does.
He motions at the TV before speaking. "It would be… except the DNA belongs to Crawford, and now they’re looking for him."
Well, fuck.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Cole
"Have you found them?" Dante asks as I walk into the locker room and pause, having absolutely no idea what the fuck he's talking about.
"Found who?" I ask, confused.
"The guys who cornered Briar yesterday and had her on her knees," he barks at me, and everyone around us goes quiet.
"Get out of here, you gossiping assholes," Jeremy, the defensive captain, calls out while I try to not lose my shit in the middle of the locker room.
Anger tears through me as Dante describes what Briar went through once we’re alone, and how he stopped it from happening, from being any worse than it was, and I can't help but feel a little pissed at Briar for not having said anything.
That girl keeps way too much to herself, and I really wish she would trust us enough to let us in.
I can almost understand why she doesn’t, considering all the things that have happened to her, but how am I supposed to protect her if I don't know what's going on?
"You really didn't know?" Dante asks, and I shake my head, slamming my hand against my locker.
"No, I had no fucking idea. Do you know who they were?"
He shakes his head, looking a little confused. "No, and she didn't seem to know either. I've asked around, but nobody's talking. So I'm guessing whoever it was knows who she is and knows who you guys are; the sort of consequences they face for doing what they did. Fucking cowards."
I grumble as I rip my t-shirt off and start to change into my football gear. Practice this morning is not gonna go well if I don't get my rage under control, but having Dante come at me first thing this morning with something I had no idea about, on top of dealing with the Crawford thing yesterday, has my levels bouncing all over the place.
"Two minutes to get your asses outside," Coach calls through the locker room.
I take a deep breath before squeezing myself into these ridiculously tight shorts. It's the one thing about this game that I dislike, because who needs shorts this tight for anything in life?
"Sorry, man. I thought you knew," Dante apologizes, and I shake my head.
"It's fine. She tends to keep this shit to herself."
Dante frowns and shakes his head. "I’m not surprised, knowing what I do about her. Where she came from before she turned up here wasn't exactly the nicest of places."
It occurs to me that Dante knew Briar before we did. Just another thing that I didn't know already.
"You knew her before?" I ask to confirm.
He nods, scratching the back of his neck, unease scattering across his features. "Yeah, I thought you knew that too. I guess she really doesn't tell you guys much."
I let out a noise of agreement as I pull my jersey on. "Yeah, something like that. So you knew her in her old life?"
He nods as he closes the door to his locker once I reiterate my question. "Yeah, we only met a couple of times before summer, but I knew her and the circles she ran in back then, and it's a whole world away from the life she's living now."
It occurs to me that he could be a good source of information on the things we don’t know about Briar, but I also don't want to betray her trust by going behind her back and asking him about her.
So, despite the questions on the tip of my tongue, I keep my mouth shut as we head out to the field.
Coach has everyone running laps already and we join the back of the line for warm-up. I can't help but envision what Dante described happened to Briar. It filters through my mind, pushing my anger to new heights.