Page 59 of Campus Muscle

He left before I could argue, so I turned toward the tunnel but stopped when something caught my attention. Dakota stood just off to the side, near the walkway, and, like always, she had her notebook pressed to her chest. But she seemed different from what I had gotten used to, and that scared me. For a second, the rest of the field faded out of my view, and I found myself walking over to her. My movements were slow and controlled, but my heart was pounding in my chest as I stopped in front of her.

“I thought you didn’t come,” I said, trying to act cool.

“I stayed out of the way.”

“That’s new.”

A glimpse of annoyance passed over her eyes, but she didn’t bite back. It quickly faded to be replaced by that same dark look she usually walked around with. This wasn’t the Dakota I had learned to tolerate, and I didn’t like that one bit. I would take sarcasm over whatever this was any day of the week.

“You played well,” she said in a disinterested tone that took me by surprise.

I huffed out a laugh. “Careful, someone might hear you. That’s the kind of statement that would ruin your reputation.”

“About the other day…”

Something was seriously wrong with her. I had given her more ammo than she needed, but she didn’t shoot back once. And now she changed the topic. It was enough to make the warmest of hearts turn cold.

“What about it?”

She met my gaze. “It should never have happened. It was unprofessional and a monumental mistake. Emotions running high, or whatever.”

Her words were clean and direct, so I just stood there and held her gaze, hoping for something that never came. It felt like I’d just had a rug pulled out from under me. Like the first person I had ever opened up to had rejected me, and all that was left was for her to use my confessions against me.

I felt like an idiot, and I hated it.

“It can’t happen again,” she said, sticking out her chin in defiance.

Something cracked in my chest, and I folded my arms just in case she could see it. I couldn’t give her any more than I already had, but I also couldn’t hide the truth from myself anymore. Dakota had done something to me the day we kissed. She had awakened a part of me I didn’t know existed, and right now she was beating it to shreds with a baseball bat.

“It’s good to know we’re on the same page,” I whispered.

Her expression stayed steady, so I nodded stiffly and walked toward the locker room. My stride was even and controlled, as if nothing had changed and the game was the only thing that mattered. But as the noise faded behind me, the echo of her words kept banging against the wall I had put up around my heart, refusing to let up.

21

Dakota

I didn’t expect the folder to come with so much weight. It was just a handful of printed emails, interview notes, and timelines I’d pieced together. I had names circled and connected to margins that were leading to other pages. Kind of like a mind-map of something bigger that I couldn’t fully see yet. It was everything I had worked toward, but as soon as Penny slid it across her desk, it felt like it was laced with secrets and regret.

“Okay,” Penny said as she leaned back in her chair, her eyes focused. “Let’s go through this again.”

I didn’t sit right away because those pages kept haunting me. I stared at them for a moment, but then pulled out the chair and dropped into it, even though it felt so wrong.

Penny tapped a finger on the top sheet. “You did a good job with his background. He attended Trinity and failed at his coaching attempts. Then you have the business angle. It’s solid.”

I nodded at her words, but my mind wasn’t fully on it. On the one hand, I wanted to see Frank exposed, and I wanted to be the one to do it, but on the other I was starting to feel uncomfortable about the other people who were involved.

“And then there’s the pattern,” she continued, licking her finger and flipping to the next page. “You have proof of the donations, his involvement in things other than sports, and his influence creeping in where it shouldn’t.”

She moved through the pages with a precision I had rarely seen in anyone else. She made efficiency look simple. It was what I prided myself on being, but this time I couldn’t convince myself to be happy with my achievement.

“And this,” Penny held up one of my notes. “The academic angle? That’s the perfect hook.”

I ran a hand over my tightening stomach. Queasy would be an understatement for what I felt. The more excited she became, the more my heart wanted to climb out of my mouth.

“None of this has been confirmed,” I countered.

“But it’s implied, and you’ve got enough here for people to start asking the right questions.”