The sharp shrill of the coach's whistle pulled me out of my panicking over V not answering my texts all day and while it was time for a break, my head was nowhere near ready to tell my hands to stop dribbling the ball.

"Hey, you good?"

I nodded to Wilt, his brown eyes sharpening at my obvious lie, but he didn't push it.

"Pat said you two had a fight earlier. What's up with that?"

I groaned, desperate to forget our 'conversation' from earlier after Virginia had left my room.

Instead of speaking like two adults, Patrick had taken his time accusing me of things I had not done and would never do, taking some kind of cue from Maddie that I was interested in her for some reason that was beyond me.

Back and forth, the two of us exchanged verbal assaults while I attempted to diffuse the situation, which only made things worse as he tried to say that I was 'stealing his girl', but he refused to listen to me. I guessed my bad past with multiple girls didn't do me any favors, but it wasn't like I'd defined anything with V, so it wasn't like I could have said that we were dating and he had no reason to worry. The truth was, I wanted her to be my girlfriend more than I wanted to beat our rival team the next day, but it wasn't like I could just come out and ask her that while everything was going on in her home life.

I didn't want to overwhelm her anymore than she already was, not to mention the fact that I was scared that she didn't want the same things I did. It was obvious she wanted to get out of this school after next semester, and I still didn't know if I'd be going pro, or staying behind to finish out my college degree, in Florida. Somewhere she definitely didn't want to be.

"We'll be okay, he's just messed up about Maddie right now," I told Wilt, watching his eyes widen as I missed my third shot from the free throw line. At this rate, Matthew would be wiping the floor with my ass, but maybe that was what I deserved.

"You sure you're good? What's going on with Vir-"

"Hey boys! We just got a new shipment of Gatorades for the vending machines, but I snuck a few for you. Eli, your favorite is the yellow, right?"

Maddie's remembrance of my favorite flavor of sports drink was surprisingly creepy, as she hadn't come off that way before, when she was still dating Patrick. Now that she wasn't? Well, I did say creepy...

"Thanks," I said gruffly, still staring ahead at the basketball goal like it held all the secrets to life as I knew it.

She didn't move, so I took it upon myself to distance myself from her and Wilt, making my way over to the cushioned fold up chairs on the sidelines. Phone in hand, all my messages to V hadn't been delivered, like her phone was out of service.

A quick phone call to her number confirmed that her phone wasn't working, which was better than if she had just been ignoring me all day, but an unsettling feeling settled in my gut. It already sucked that I wasn't able to cheer her on for her audition earlier in the day, because if I skipped classes my teachers would report me, and I'd already missed practice earlier in the morning.

I hated the fact that our schedules were so different and so hard to coordinate with each other because of. It didn't help that I was constantly in the gym, pushing my body to its limits just to shut off the damn noise in my brain.

It was time for V's shift, yet the owner strolled in and took up her post. Something...wasn't right.

And then I got the text. Her father was back, and taking her to dinner with the rest of her family.

I'd been in mandatory practice since my classes ended at 2, and I was allowed to leave at 4:30. Thirty more minutes, and I was going to book it to that dinner. A quick text back told me their location, and it wasn't too far from campus.

She'd sounded desperate when speaking about seeing her father again, so there was no way that I was going to allow her to go through that alone.

Thirty more minutes of practice, and I would be leaving with the rest of the 'slackers' from the team, those that didn't stay until six or later like I usually did, like Patrick sometimes did when he was trying to keep up. I wished my best friend wasn't pissed at me for something I didn't even do, but that was another day's problem.

Maddie left to plead with her boss, and I turned everything off, all my emotions, thoughts, and feelings that had no place in practice, but once practice was done, all bets were off, and I was going to get my girl.

***

The place was dimly lit, a nice hole in the wall Italian restaurant that allowed anonymity for one of basketball's near hall-of-famer's.

The hostess' eyes widened in surprise at seeing me, and I assumed she must've been a student because not many people recognized me outside of the college basketball circuit.

"I'm looking for my girl--friend, my girlfriend, she's here with her family waiting on me."

I cringed because she wasn't my girlfriend at all, but it was a good cover to get past the hostess.

"Name?"

"It should be under Bruins."

The hostess' eyes lit up as a huge smile overtook her face. Oh, so she was a fan of his. That wouldn't make things any easier.

"Follow me, please."

I averted my eyes from the rest of the patrons in the small restaurant, searching for the telltale signs of people crowding around a celebrity and sure enough, there were phones on record and people gawking, necks almost breaking to get a glimpse of Mike Bruins, wheeled up to the table and sat beside his family.

My heart almost broke when I came closer and spotted the hopeless look on V's face, like there was no way out and her dad was doing everything he could to make sure that she knew it.

Flashes of my childhood floated to the forefront of my mind, the memories of his hands on me, his fists on my face, the hard ground on my back as I struggled to sit up, but I did, every time.

He would push me down, but I would always get back up again. I refused to let him believe that he had won, and I wasn't going to allow her father to do the same to her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bruins? Your final guest has arrived."

Mike's head whipped around so fast, it was a wonder that it didn't fall right off his neck.

"I don't think-"

"Eli. Hey, I have a chair for you right here," Virginia spoke up just as Mike was about to make sure I didn't attend dinner with them.

"Sorry I'm late, practice ran over."

The relief that filled V's face was more than enough to make up for showing up thirty minutes after they'd arrived.

The warmth that sparkled back at me in them was also enough to erase the memories that had flooded to the surface and threatened to ruin my night, but being with her, there was no chance of my night being ruined. She was everything I needed and more to feel okay again.

And when her hand brushed against mine, clutching onto my fingers like they were her lifeline? I was more than okay, I just hoped that I could do the same for her.

With my arrival, however, the rest of the members at the table grew increasingly uncomfortable, especially her cousin and her ex boyfriend, the two not even deeming to say hello.

"Eli. Thought you'd be taking all the time you needed in the gym tonight, since you'll be up against Mr. Thornberry tomorrow."

He knew. Of course, the motherfucker knew, and it was the frostiness in his tone that carried throughout the room that had me clutching V's hand back just as hard as she was squeezing mine, but never once did she turn her head in confusion towards me, staring ahead like she already knew the drama between me and my former teammate.

"I prefer to be rested up and not sore the day of a game. I went easy this morning, as well."

"Yes. I heard about that."

My eyes narrowed on him, on his greying eyebrows that were growing uncontrolled, on his pallor complexion that was yellowing just a tinge, on his sharp and angry eyes that exuded confidence and ego, more than an ailing man's eyes should've held.

He was simply cruel. He knew exactly what he was doing to his daughter, but I refused to let her go it alone, and she knew that.

Still, I was unnerved that he acted as if he knew that I had spent the night with V at my dorm the night before, like he had other spies lurking around the campus for him. I startled, then, noting with a disgusting urgency that he most likely did have other spies around the campus, just lying in wait to report back to him what his daughter and his new player were doing.

"Then you'll know I'll be good to go tomorrow afternoon for our first game of the season, even if it is unofficial, and for charity."

"Of course."

"It's for the campaign against drinking and driving, isn't it? I think that would be a great place to come out from hiding from the spotlight, Mike, since it is a subject near and dear to your heart."

Oh, shit. V's aunt had really just said the wrong thing.

V's body locked up, and while I had noticed the gorgeous outline of the dark blue dress that she wore, peering down to make sure she was alright, I noticed that it was more formal than casual, and a burst of pride flitted through me as I realized that this was her audition dress. I couldn't wait to ask her how it had gone, once we were alone.

"Why are they doing that charity, anyway?"

"Because, Uncle Mike. It's at a college, and everyone there parties. Right V? I bet you got wasted at that party you went to the other night."

"What party?"

What a shitstorm. First, her aunt sticks her foot in her mouth, obviously not knowing the truth about Mike yet. Then her idiot cousin brings up the party where V found out the truth about her father.

How did she even know she was at that party anyway?

"What? I follow a lot of people from UCM on Snapchat, and V was on this one girl's story last night. So were you, Eli. You looked pretty cozy with her, too."

I rolled my eyes. If the little girl wanted to accuse me of something, all she had to do was come out and say something. I was about to, but V beat me to the punch.

"I'm so glad you keep yourself up to date on everything I do at college, Sara. However, it is none of your business, nor is anything Eli does."

"Hey, if the guy is cheating on you, don't you deserve to know?"

I had half a mind to take V from the table and away from her toxic family forever, but her words interrupted that thought.

"Cheating? We're not even dating-"

...Ouch, but true.

"Sure looks like it to me," Sara finished, nodding her head to our entwined fingers before Mike finally butted in.

"They can't be dating, not after I forbid it."

"Oh, just like you forbid me from laying eyes on him, or Jared for that matter, but here we are, both of them at the same dinner table. Oh, and wasn't Eli ordered to drive me back home? Seems like your 'orders' aren't worth the breath you use to issue them."

"Virginia, you will watch your mouth. You know what happens when you ignore what I tell you."

"Oh yes, I know exactly what happens."

There was an air of defiance in her tone, in the way that she carried herself at the dinner. A dark smirk on her lips, the incline of her head on her neck, like she was looking down upon them and judging them internally for their actions.

Like she was better than them, and she wanted them to know exactly what she thought of them, and quite frankly, it was fucking hot watching her work them over in the way she was. She wasn't actively speaking out against them, wasn't saying anything inflammatory, but it was her attitude and the way she was carrying herself that spoke for her.

And Mike absolutely hated that he couldn't 'punish' her anymore, because that would mean yanking her out of school or burning all her clothes. He'd already taken her car, her phone, what else was there left to take?

"So, Dad, I hate to break it to you but who I do and don't date is no longer any of your business. I'm about to be nineteen years old. Time for me to make my own decisions. So while this conversation and dinner has been anything less than disastrous, I think its time for me to go. We can talk again at the game tomorrow, if that's what you want, but I'll be there for Eli, not you."

The pure amount of venom and ice in her words and in her eyes would've been enough to knock a grown man out of his chair, but Mike either wasn't a man or he had much more stability in that wheelchair because he stayed glued to the spot, eyes raging with almost as much ferocity within Virginia. It was like none of them had ever seen her like that before, and I was damn proud that she was sticking up for herself without giving away the facts of what she knew about her father.

"Yeah, I'll be heading out with V, too. Good to see you, Coach."

"Eli. You do know your future is hanging on by a thread with me. Get my daughter back on board with me, or that's it. We're done."

While V was already standing up and ready to go, her eyes were trained on me, and I knew what she was silently begging me to do. Play along, get him to think I was still on his side, even though he must've thought that we'd been together already if he had others spying on her.

I followed along with her 'plan' in the end, though the impact would ruin my credibility with her family as the one person left to stick up for her. I did it for her, for her future, and maybe for mine as well, because once I was introduced to the big wigs, that was it. They'd let my talent speak for itself, and then even Mike couldn't derail my career, especially not after the truth about what he'd done came out.

"I'll see what I can do," I ground out, and V's face showed false betrayal, but to them they would assume that she was just pissed at me for 'taking her dad's side'.

"Ugh. Eli, seriously?"

She stormed past me, grabbing my wrist, and while she was exposing herself as the 'weak' girl who'd do anything to stay with the guy who was obviously working against her, I knew in my heart that this was the best thing to do.

Her father slumped back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest with a self satisfied smirk on his lips, like he'd won this round, had put his petulant child in her place in front of everyone, but he had no idea the shit storm that was coming this way.

If only he didn't know the truth about my past, then I wouldn't have been terrified double crossing the second most dangerous man I'd ever met.

But having V's hand in my own, her body close to mine and her perfume clouding my judgement, I realized that I needed to tell her the truth before she heard it from someone else, without all the facts and the context that she needed to hear, the facts that I held inside me that allowed me to actually live with myself.

I just hoped that she could live with it, too, once she found out.