University Park Series Box Set: Books 1-3 (58 page)

Kyle and Shawn had Gabe pinned to the
ground as they pounded on his face.

This was bad.

Very bad.

Everyone was fighting except for me.
Fists were flying, feet were kicking, people were screaming and cussing — this
was one big FUBAR, as my brother would say, and there was nothing I could do to
stop it. I looked around for something to use to break them apart, like a piece
of wood or stick, but there was nothing. What the hell did I know about
fighting? Before I could think of anything, a siren sounded and everyone
stopped. It was the cops. Raven was totally screwed.

Σ

The next morning, Josh told everyone to
go home. The party was over. No one talked as they packed their stuff. The mood
was sullen and all the magic made was gone. Spring Break had definitely gone to
shit. Everyone, including me, received a ticket for disorderly conduct. What
made matters worse was that all the guys had received tickets for public
intoxication — including Raven.

What the hell were we going to do? The
part that sucked the most was that Raven’s blood alcohol level was .09, just
.01 over the legal limit of intoxication. Why the hell did I let him drink? It
was my damn fault for not stopping him. It was also my fault for arguing with
the cops and telling them to give him a breathalyzer test.

Never again.

The more I thought about the situation,
the angrier I got. It was also Shawn’s fault for offering it to him. But most
of all, it was Raven’s fault for drinking two beers when he knew he shouldn’t
have been drinking period. I also had to be realistic about the situation. We
weren’t planning on leaving or going anywhere, so I honestly didn’t think it
was going to be a problem. He clearly wasn’t drunk, but because of the fight,
he was going to pay for his mistakes — again.

The first thing Raven did when he got up
was call his attorney. But Mr. Marshall was on a flight, returning from Tahiti.
Every hour, he checked his phone, making sure he hadn’t missed a call. Worry
etched deep around Raven’s eyes. He was slowly drifting away, being pulled by
the demons he fought so hard to destroy and remove from his life. And it scared
the hell out of me.

“Hey, man, we’re out of here.” Luke
shook hands with Josh. “Thanks for letting us stay here.”

“Yeah, anytime. Are we still on for next
week?”

They chatted for a while about working
out, Luke’s crazy baseball schedule, and how my parents wanted him to go to a
scout camp.

“Text me as soon as you know something.”
Delaney hugged me.

Giving her a tight squeeze, I said,
“Okay. I just don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“I know, but hopefully Josh’s uncle can
figure something out.” She looked at me with a hopeful smile.

“Thanks, Shelby. It was fun while it
lasted,” Delaney whispered.

“Of course.” Shelby wrapped her arms
around her and gave her kiss on the cheek. “We’ll do it again. Say, after
graduation?”

“That’s a great idea.” Delaney’s eyes
widened.

“Sis,” Luke called, “be careful.”

“You, too.” I eyed him. “No drinking and
driving.”

“Shit, I’m done drinking for a while.”
He turned to Raven. “Good luck, man. Keep me posted.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Raven shook his hand. “See
you at the gym.”

Luke told Shawn and Kyle bye before
grabbing their bags and heading out the door.

“Have you heard from my uncle yet?” Josh
asked as Raven returned to the living room with our bags.

“No. Not yet.” Raven let out a long,
drawn out sigh, resting his hands on his waist.

“Don’t worry.” Josh patted Raven on the
back. “I’m sure he’ll figure something out.”

I started to walk out of the room, but
stopped when I saw Raven’s body flinch and the muscles in his arms tense.

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one
that has their football career on the line.” Raven’s face hardened and his
nostrils flared.

“What?” Josh’s jaw jutted out and the
expression on his face told me exactly what he wanted to say. “Don’t get all
pissed off at me.”

“If your dumb ass neighbors wouldn’t
have called the cops, we wouldn’t be in this situation!” Raven yelled at Josh.

“What the fuck did you want me to do?”
Josh raised his arms and puffed out his chest. This didn’t look good. “They
were popping off fireworks right over the house. One could have landed on the
roof and caught fire.”

“Sweetie. Calm down.” Shelby rushed into
the room and pleaded with Josh, but he shoved her hand off his arm.

Raven didn’t say anything, just plopped
on the couch and buried his face in the palms of his hands. I sat next to him,
rubbing his back to ease the worry that plagued us both. Fighting and arguing
wasn’t going to solve anything. It only made matters worse.

“Shit. You’re the one that started it!”
Josh pointed to Kyle. “If you wouldn’t have pushed that asshole, the fight
wouldn’t have started.”

“Me? Hell, you’re the one that started
yelling at them instead of talking to them like a civilized person.” Kyle’s
green eyes darkened. His face reddened and it wasn’t from the sunburn he earned
on the sunny shores of South Padre Island.

“Get the fuck out of my house!” Josh
yelled and Kyle shouldered past him. With the way Kyle balled his hands into
fists, the muscles pulsating in his arms, I knew it was taking everything in
him not to punch Josh.

I quickly stood up. “Guys. Guys. Look,
everyone is to blame. We all screwed up. It is what it is. What we need to do
now is figure out what the hell we’re going to do.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Shawn barked.

“Hey, is that necessary?” Raven eyed Shawn.

“Sorry, Lexi. I’m just pissed about the
whole thing.”

“I know. So am I, but now isn’t the time
for us to turn on each other. We need to stick together.” Raven needed the
support from his friends. He was the one with the most at risk. “Let’s go, Shawn.
I’m ready to get outta here.” Kyle threw his backpack over his shoulder.

“Kyle,” Josh called, “I’m sorry, dude.
I’m just pissed over how everything went down.”

“Whatever.” Kyle wouldn’t even look at
him, just opened the front door and walked out of the house.

“Josh, Shelby. I appreciate the
hospitality.” Shawn waved. “Take it easy, man. I’ll be in touch,” Shawn told
Raven and they did their manly handshake.

Josh walked Shawn out the door,
whispering something to him about Kyle. From what I could tell, Josh was
telling Shawn to talk to Kyle and make sure he wasn’t mad at him.

Raven’s phone rang and he quickly dug it
out of his pocket. “It’s Mr. Marshall,” he said, darting to the bedroom and
shutting the door.

I waited about thirty minutes before I
knocked on the door. “Raven, can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

Slowly, I opened the door. Raven was
sitting on the edge of the bed, his body slummed and his head hanging toward
the ground. I shut the door behind me and knelt in front of him. “Raven, what
did he say?”

After a few seconds, Raven’s eyes met
mine. Redness circled the hazel depths, causing them to look more brown than
green. Tears streaked his face and he looked like all life had been sucked out
of him. A familiar pain struck the center of my chest and my throat tightened.
I hated to see him so upset, but I had to stay strong. I knew he was battling
the demons eager to convince him of how weak he was and that he was nothing but
a loser.

“He said I needed to tell Coach. Be
honest.”

“I think…” I took a hard swallow, trying
to find my non-squeaky voice. “I think that’s a good idea. It’s better to be
upfront about what happened.”

“If I do that, I might as well quit.” The
demons were taking over and they were winning.

“Why would you do that?” I reached for
his hands, but he pulled them away. “You have no idea what Coach is going to
say.”

Raven stood to his feet. “Yeah, I do.
He’s going to tell me I’m done.”

“No, he’s not.”

He skirted past me and looked out the
window, not saying another word. I knew there wasn’t anything I could say that
would change what was going through his mind, but I at least had to try. I
loved Raven too much to see him give up. He deserved to live his dream and I
was going to do everything I could to make sure he did. But not only that, we
deserved each other, and I wasn’t going to let this rip us apart.

I got up and walked over to him,
wrapping my arms around his waist. With my cheek resting on his back, I held
him tightly. The sound of his heart thudded in a low murmur. His body was
tight, and I could tell he was holding it all in — the pain, the stress, the
anger. All of it ready to combust upon pressure.

“Babe, I don’t know what’s going to
happen, or what Coach is going to do, but we have to believe that Mr. Marshall
is going to be able to make a case for you. But regardless of what happens, I
want you to know that I love you. I love you more than anything. And if Coach
kicks you off the team, it won’t change how I feel about you, or the fact that
I still want to marry you.”

“Come here, baby.” Raven moved me in
front of him. He held me close, exhaling a deep breath and relaxing into me.
His chin rested on top of my head and his chest moved in slow, languid
movements. Only the sound of our beating hearts could be heard in the
quietness. We stayed like that for a few minutes, allowing the worries to drift
away.

Looking at him, I told him, “We have to
have faith, Raven. We have to believe that everything is going to be okay.” I
stroked the side of his head, running my fingers through his thick, light brown
hair, wishing I could turn the hands of time. But I couldn’t.

“Pray that it will, baby, because Mr.
Marshall didn’t sound very hopeful about the situation.”

My fingers stopped and I retrieved my
hand. “What did he say?”

“That he’d do whatever he could, but
since everyone got a ticket, it really didn’t help my cause. He’s going to work
to get the ticket dismissed, but he said I should have never volunteered to
submit to a breathalyzer test.”

“I’m sorry that I told the cop to give
it you. I knew you weren’t drunk, so I thought it would work for you, not
against you. I had no idea.” I shook my head and glanced at the floor. I was such
an idiot.

“It’s not your fault.” Lifting my chin
with his finger, he said, “You didn’t know.”

“Tough way to learn.” I pressed my lips
together and continued shaking my head.

“I know. I know, baby.” With our arms
wrapped around each other, we stared out the window, watching the waves roll in
one at a time and crash against the shore. On the surface, the ocean seemed so
peaceful, so calm. It wasn’t until you got in the water that you realized the
power behind the water. If you weren’t careful, it would pull you under without
warning. It felt like that was Raven’s life right now. Things had been peaceful
and calm, everything going in the right direction, until we let our guard down.
Raven was being sucked under again and I had no idea if he would be able make
it out this time.

***

Once we got back to Fort Worth, Raven
called Coach. By the way Raven reacted and stormed out of the apartment, I knew
it wasn’t good. I wanted to tell Josh to go after him, but since they weren’t
talking much, I knew Raven needed to work things out on his own. He came back a
few hours later, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, as though he’d been
running. After he showered and calmed down, he told me that Coach was pissed
and that he would have to go through another hearing, just like last time.

I was dreading it, but I had figured it
was coming. Even though I knew that he didn’t want to hear it, I encouraged him
to tell his mom. She had the right to know. He promised me he’d tell her later.
It didn’t take long for the rumor mill to start, everyone posting comments on
every social media site about Raven. I truly hated all the drama and people
talking behind our backs, but I dealt with it. Raven had warned me, so I knew
what I was getting myself into. But I wasn’t willing to walk away from him. I
loved him too much.

By the end of the week, the hearing was
scheduled for the following Tuesday. I hadn’t heard from Trish like I normally
did every week. She made it a point to check with me to see if Raven had gone
to counseling and how he was doing. I was sure he had told her about the breathalyzer
test, and I hoped she wasn’t pissed at me. Aside from the test, I knew she
wasn’t happy about what happened, especially after I had promised to look after
Raven. I was just as irresponsible as he was and it pissed me off.

“Time to go, dude.” Josh stuck his head
in Raven’s room. Once Mr. Marshall said that he’d need all of us there to
testify on behalf of Raven, they finally resolved their differences. We were in
this together.

“Alright.” Raven stood in front of the
mirror, adjusting his tie. It felt like déjà vu. Only three and half months ago,
we were in the same spot. Nothing had changed. No, I take that back. A lot had
changed. Raven was improving, working out the demons, learning how to let go of
his hurtful past, and we were building a new life together. Until we let our
guard down and made a stupid mistake. I just prayed he wouldn’t have to pay for
it.

“Here’s your jacket.” I held up his coat
and helped him slip it on. Raven pulled on the collar and rolled his shoulders.
Damn, my man was hot. “You look really good in a suit.”

“Lexi, now is not the time,” he
remarked, his face serious.