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—Isaiah—
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I downed a bottle of water in the cafeteria and reached for another as Scout arrived at my side. I didn’t need to glance in his direction to know he was pissed.
“Hey, dawg,” I drawled, lifting the fresh bottle to my mouth.
The bottle was punched—literally—from my grasp.
I looked Scout square in the eyes. “The fuck, brah?”
“Good question, brah,” he snapped, then lowered his voice to a tone I had to lean in to hear. “Please tell me you didn’t just fuck in the equipment room.”
I scoffed. “Back off, brother.”
Gats angled closer and clamped his hand around my forearm. “This is important. Yes, or no?”
I shrugged him off. “So what if we did?”
“Fucking fuck!” He ran a hand down his face.
“I don’t see the problem, man.”
A humorless laugh came from behind his hand. “There’s a motherfucking huge problem if you did, Isaiah. Come with me and I’ll show you.”
Interest sufficiently piqued, I rolled my eyes and strode after his quick footsteps. We arrived at the equipment room and entered. I glanced around. Nothing was out of place. Not even the table where I’d had Holly splayed.
“I literally don’t see the problem,” I snapped, throwing my hands wide.
Scout scoffed and prowled forward. “Of course you don’t because not many people know.”
Dread hit my stomach. “Know what?”
Gats stopped at the far end of the room and pointed to the ceiling corner above his head. “There’s fucking cameras in here, dude!”
My heart dropped. “Bullshit!”
“Not bullshit. So I’mma need you to be really fucking honest with me right now. Did you guys fool around in here?”
I swallowed thickly and rubbed the back of my neck. “Is the camera on? Like, always?”
“Yes!” Gats hissed.
“Fuck.”
“Where?” he pressed, reading between the lines and correctly assuming that we’d been caught on camera.
I turned to the scene of the crime. “On the first table... then against the wall.” One wave of my arm toward the offending wall had Scout’s face reddening with rage.
“Twice! Are you fucking serious?” He pressed a hand to his forehead. “You’re not fucking with me, are you?”
“I could ask you the same question, Gats.”
He pointed to his face. “Does it look like I’m fucking with y’all?”
Unable to help myself, I snickered. “Nah, dawg. You look pissed.”
“I am pissed!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, then took a deep breath. “It’s not about the fucking. It’s this big-ass problem we now have.” He angrily indicated at the incognito camera again.
I glared at it as if I could scare it into shitting itself and losing the recording.
“Can we intercept the footage?” I suggested. “Is it even monitored?”
Scout remained stoic. “It’s live monitored offsite along with the rest of the cameras in the building. Jesus Christ, dude!”
“How did I not know about this already?” I exclaimed, throwing my arms wide.
He tugged at the back of his neck, paced a little, then spun to face me. “How bad was it?”
“What?” I snapped.
He flapped his hand. “Like, while sparing me the details, how far did things go?”
I balled a fist and coughed behind it. “Uh, third base, then we uh... hit a home run.”
Gats’ nostrils flared, yet he kept all the fury locked deep inside. He simply stared at me, nodding his head slightly while internally working through the revelation.
He pinched the bridge of his nose then splayed his fingers while keeping his eyes closed. “Dare I ask—how exposed?”
“Bro—” I laughed despite the tension.
“Just level with me, man.”
I leaned my ass on the table and folded my hands over my chest. “Barely. And judging by where the camera is, whoever got the free porn show didn’t see any skin. We, uh... it was a clothed quickie situation.”
Gats fired up. “You’re a fucking dead man, Morillo.”
I raised my palms to placate him before we had another situation on our hands. “You asked for the deets, man!”
“Fuck, I know. Hearing it though—” He shuddered and shook free of the visual I’d given him. “Okay...” He paced back and forth for a minute. “I suggest we get through Elio’s visit, then you need to fess up to Bobby. If the video ends up leaked, at least he won’t be blindsided.”
“Surely there’s an NDA?”
He hummed. “There is, but all it takes is one greedy bastard seeing an easy way to make some money.”
I ran a hand over my head. “Fuck’n hell. So much for no strings.”
Scout held up his hand. “You need to shut the fuck up, dude.”
I eyed him for a second. “Do we tell her?”
Gats paused. “No... Not until we have to. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”
Pushing off the table brought our conversation to a close. Having said all he needed to, Scout silently led me into the corridor just as Holly emerged from the locker room.
Blatant guilt swept through her expression and her hurried footsteps faltered. Her eyes narrowed as she came over.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Nothin’,” I answered, while Scout couldn’t fucking help himself.
“Checking out the scene of the crime.”
Holly’s eyes bulged while my voice pitched. “The fuck, dawg? I thought we agreed to keep that on the DL?”
Scout tsked impatiently before dulling down the truth for Holly. “There’s a potential situation, but we’ll discuss it after the visit is finished.”
Worry pulled her eyebrows low as she nodded. “Okay. And on that note, where are they now?”
“In the gym with the guys,” Scout answered. “I’m gonna get a drink then join them. Walk with me?”
Holly darted a nervous glance my way before agreeing. “I could use a drink. My throat’s a little—” She cut off and blanched, and I barely held in the amusement bursting in my chest.
Scout snapped up a hand. “Please don’t say another word. I can’t right now.”
That had my composure breaking and my laugh filling the corridor.
My teammate shot me a pissed glare before shoving past and beelining for the cafeteria.
In contrast, Holly lingered for a sec. “He knows, doesn’t he?”
I cleared my throat. “Yep.”
