Blind Side(93)

“What the fuck!”

I reached out blindly for the faucet, but was met with a wet t-shirt instead. Then, in my blind disorientation, the water shut off, I was thrown a towel, and all but shoved down until I was on my ass with my back against the cold tile wall.

“Cover your anaconda,” Zeke said, his voice one I’d recognize anywhere. I used the towel to wipe my eyes clean before I laid it over my lap and looked up to find him and Holden standing over me.

“Out,” Holden said, snapping his fingers to the two other guys who had been in the showers with me. They gave me a look that said thoughts and prayers before dipping out at our captain’s orders.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

“Riley,” Zeke called, ignoring me, and where the two guys had just disappeared, she peeked around the corner, making sure I was covered before she walked all the way in.

“Sorry for the barbarian ambush,” Riley said, crossing her arms as she joined the other two standing over me. “But we didn’t know what else to do to get you to talk.”

“Talk?”

“We want to know what’s going on,” Holden said, filling in the gaps. “And not the bullshit lie or half-truth you’ve been spitting when someone is brave enough to press you. You’re not okay. And if being with Maliyah was really what you wanted, you’d be over the fucking moon instead of a human version of Eeyore.”

I sighed. “I do want to be with Maliyah.”

As soon as the words were off my lips, Riley gave the guys a look, and they both stepped back just in time for her to turn the faucet and make icy cold water rain down on me.

“Riley! What the fuck!”

I held up my arms to shield myself from it — not that I really could — until she turned it off again. The towel over my lap was soaked now, and cold.

“You’re getting an ice bath every time you say some stupid shit like that,” she warned. “So I’d try again if I were you.”

I growled. “This is bullshit, I’m not—”

I tried to stand, but Zeke met my chest with a firm hand, pushing me back against the wall.

“Stop trying to handle whatever is going on alone,” he said, his voice loud and firm. “Goddamnit, Clay — can’t you see your friends are worried about you? You’ve been there for every single one of us at one point or another,” he continued, and I looked behind him at where Riley and Holden nodded in agreement before my eyes met Zeke’s again. “Let us help you now.”

Something raw and emotional snagged in my throat, and I tore my gaze from them, looking at the empty shower hall as I swallowed down whatever it was that was choking me. I was silent for a long while, shaking my head, intent to come back with some sort of argument.

But I didn’t have one.

Instead, I finally relented, sighing and letting my head fall back against the tile.

“It’s a long story,” I croaked.

Riley carefully lowered herself down onto the wet tile next to me, not a care in the world that it was going to soak her shorts when she did. She reached over and grabbed my forearm.

“We have time.”

Zeke and Holden sat down, too.

“We could move somewhere that isn’t the shower,” I suggested.

“Not a chance,” Riley said. “I need that faucet threat hanging over you. Literally.”

I smirked, then blew out a breath, and told them everything.

I was shocked at how easily the words came once I started, beginning with the deal I’d struck with Giana and ending with the nightmarish scene at her apartment — which was the last time we’d spoken.

All three of them leaned in, listening intently, and at the end of it all, they exchanged looks before Holden shook his head and said, “So, you did all this for your mom?”

I nodded. “I know it might not make sense to you, but she’s… she’s done so much for me, given up so much…”

“I understand more than you’d think,” Holden said, his stare severe where it held mine. But he didn’t elaborate before he added, “I get it. She’s your mom. She raised you. But, man… she’s the parent. She’s supposed to do that.”

I frowned. “Okay… so?”

“So, you’re the kid. You’re her son. And as much as you love her and want to help her, she’s an adult who needs to first help herself.”

“But she can’t. Not without me.”

“Yes, she can,” Riley said. “Your mom made a lot of choices that got her here. And I know you feel like you need to fix it for her, but if she doesn’t have to do the work herself?” Riley shrugged. “How is she ever really going to learn the lesson and grow?”

“This is not your battle,” Zeke added. “We are all for you helping your mom if rehab is what she needs, and we’ll figure out a way to get her there. But this? Accepting money from Cory in exchange for giving up the girl who’s made you happier than we’ve ever seen you?” He shook his head. “That’s not the answer.”

“But what else can I do?” I asked, throwing my hands up. “I already took out a loan. I can’t just keep doing that. My dad won’t help. And I don’t want to enter the draft early.”