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Page 69 of Dirty Roulette

Chapter fifty-one

Ryder

Imust have skipped minutes again because Jared and Nick are hauling me off.

Breathing is hard. Everyone is shouting expletives.

I try to throw them off me, but they aren’t budging.

Tito, a mountain of a man, and Farva hold my arms at my back as they try to shuffle me to another side of the locker room.

I'm not calming down. At this point, I'm at my limit.

Coach holds a bloody nose, and I don’t recall slugging a fist in his face. All while Brody coughs up a laugh, knowing he's won. I've ruined any career in the NFL after this. He holds his hands up, backing away with subtle steps.

Out of nowhere, the fire alarm blares, sending a jolt of electricity to spiral up my spine.

Fluorescent lights flash and the roar of the team dulls by the second.

They pinch their eyebrows, others whisper and on cue, they all start to jog with quick feet to the nearest exit.

Tito grabs me by the back of the neck pushing me to walk out of the locker room.

I follow the neon green exit sign to the double doors and step onto the field, covered in pitch blackness.

A voice in the loudspeakers echos through the stadium. It belongs to Brody. He laughs as he says, “You wanna be a part of the team, you gotta spin the bottle, baby. Film it, or I'll post it.”

It’s coming out of every speaker, echoing through each seating section.

“Are you serious? You’ll ruin my parents’ careers,” a guy says.

“That’s not my problem.”Brody laughs.

The people in the stands sing along. They haven’t picked up on the conversation on the loudspeakers.

They think it’s part of the show. But then again, it kind of is, isn’t it?

Phones with flashlights wave in the air, swaying back and forth.

They know the iconic song down to the very beat of the drums. Even I know this song from Payton playing it in the Jeep.

She’d forced me to sing along during our spontaneous adventures with Charlie.

The voices on the loudspeakers cut through the music again.

Brody is cackling and spits out. “The dude’s into sucking dicks... wait until your entire cult of Mormon morons find out you’re gay.”

“You’re fucking sick, man.” The guy stammers.

“Well, it’s time to come out of the closet. It’s not like you can throw a ball, anyway.”

Payton did it. Holy hell. She really did it.

Searching through the stadiums, there is no way I’m finding her in this massive crowd, but I'll sure as hell try.

I jostle and wedge myself through people.

Shoulder checking, and knocking into every person in my way.

The media and crews with cameras stumble into action to get the scoop, but I push right through them like I'm racing with the ball to the endzone.

I even knock over an entire camera stand.

My cleats tangle in the wires and I kick off the cords.

I don't even bother to apologize as the crew holler at me with hands held high.

With two hands I plant myself at the edge of the bleachers and leap up, falling over into a group of people. Popcorn goes flying out of some dude's hands.

“Hey, watch it!” He throws off his red beanie, and now I don’t give two shits about my lack of manners. He’s rooting for the other team. I pick myself up, pushing people aside so I can snake myself through.

“Oh my god, it's the Crab!” A girl swats at her friends, and points a finger as I climb the steps.

The crowd starts to go still. Stopping in their tracks, heads tilting, whispering to those next to them. They start switching to their camera mode, pressing the red button, and filming what's happening.

“Sleep with me and break up with him,” Brody demands through the speakers.

“In your dreams!” My heart stops as Charlie's voice hits the loudspeaker. Her voice cracking as she sobs. “Don’t make me do this!”

Too much blood fills my heart and it ruptures from hearing her.

“You aren’t staying with him!”

“That's not your choice!” My face is wet as I hold onto the metal railing to carry my weight.

“I’ll destroy your little best friend and post all her secrets online. Now dump that poser!” Brody snaps, his tone filled with violence.

“You can’t force someone to love you”

“Well, date rape is easy when you’re always drunk, how about I show up to your little concert and treat her to a surprise!” Brody says.

I might vomit as I hold my stomach, hearing her voice, when it's disappeared entirely from my life. The last time I heard her voice, she was belligerent, crying, telling me she hated me – and now I'm hearing this. I gotta remind myself I’m searching for Payton.

The band easily flows into their next song.

Noah appears on the screen, clenching his eyes tight as his grunts, and vocals invade the stadium.

The cords of the guitar break out heavy and loud and the drumsticks beat against the snare a mile a minute.

His lyrics scream out and he does that thing metalheads do.

Bangs his head around as they perform on the stage.

Her heartbeat is hard to forget

Her voice is ringing in my ears

You’re drowning because I’m the stranger in her bed

You can’t cover it up now

The bruises you left

And you dealt the cards and put the gun to her head

Now you’re bleeding in sweat

Self-destructing in a bed of silver you laid

Did you really think we couldn’t raise ourselves from this hell

You can nail me to the cross

I’ll still find you in three days

burn me at the stake,

I’ll make sure you suffocate in the smoke I made

Messing with her is the biggest mistake you ever made

You wanted an enemy and you’ve created me from clay

I’m fire from the heavens, a wolf in sheeps skin

Did you really think we couldn’t raise ourselves from this hell

You can nail me to the cross

I’ll still find you in three days

burn me at the stake,

I’ll make sure you suffocate in the smoke I made

The Jumbotrons display the classic gray static like a television without a signal. White noise blares through the speakers. The image switches to the black computer screen with green letter codes typing. The period dots blink, showing a loading screen.

Static switches again and a video pops up like a Facebook reel.

Brody is filming himself with a bottle of vodka in his hands, forcing a girl to drink. He tosses the girl wearing nothing but her underwear onto a bed, clearly intoxicated and falling in and out of consciousness. Guys on the team take turns to have their way with her.

It’s static again, and a new video starts to play.

Someone filmed Brody and I throwing fists on the football field. I can taste the blood on my lips again. Lineman kicked me in the stomach, and the shock wave of the sound sent the same pain to crawl back into my bloodstream. Brody punches my face, tossing me into the turf with dust flying.

“It came out of your mouth that you wouldn't do this to my sister!”

"But Trash isn't your sister, now is she?”

I watch myself on the screen.

I had used a hand to lift myself up. I'm visibly shaking. Brody socks me again in the jaw, throwing me back to the ground. He steps over me with a finger pointing at my face. “She decided to play the game, and you’re not sweet talking me out of it!”

“You said you wouldn’t do this to them!”

“I’m not going to delete those damn pictures of that piece of trash!

” Brody spit in my face. He twisted his fist in my hair, pulling me up to face him.

I can still see his eyes burning into mine that day.

“Ask me one more time, and you won’t be breathing.

” He punches me in the face again. “Now are we good, Crab?!”

I pull my eyes from the screen. People in the crowd cover their mouths.

They are in shock, gasping, and it's sinking in.

The ones near me turn heads. The terror is written in their eyes, knowing they just watched my teammate beat the shit out of me on the big screen.

I shake them off and keep climbing up the narrow stairs.

Page 69 of Dirty Roulette

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