It was not much. It was not an apology and it was not protection, but it was honest in a building where honesty had grown thin over the past 2 weeks. And Joe carried it with her out into the hallway, filing it away alongside everything else she was learning to notice. She walked out of that office with 4 days standing between her and a hearing that could end her time at Asheford before it had really begun. A hearing built on a lie planted by someone who had never once had to face real consequences for anything in his life.
She did not go back to her dorm right away. She walked instead toward the football field where afternoon practice was already underway. Players running drills under Coach Reyes's watchful eye. Whistles cutting through the September air. She found Grant near the sideline, toweling sweat from his neck, laughing at something Wade had said.
He noticed her approaching before Wade did, and something in his posture shifted. A flicker of surprise quickly smoothed over into his usual easy smile. "Ohio," he said. "Didn't expect to see you here." Joe stopped a few feet away, close enough to be heard clearly, far enough to make clear she had not come to shout.
"Paige has bruises on her arm," she said. "From your friend." Grant's smile faltered just slightly. I don't know what you're talking about. I think you do, Joe said, her voice level unhurried.
I don't have proof yet, but I will. Is that a threat? Wade said, stepping closer, some of his earlier smugness curdling into something harder. No, Joe said, and she looked at Grant when she said it. Not Wade, because she understood in the way her father had taught her to understand things exactly who was really in charge of what happened next.
It's a fact. You can laugh at me. You can spread whatever you want about my family. I've let that go because it cost me nothing real. She paused and something in her voice shifted quiet and absolute.
But when you touch someone who can't protect themselves, that ends here. The field around them had gone quieter. A few nearby players slowing their drills to listen. The way people always slow down when they sense something is about to break open. Grant recovered his smile, though it did not sit quite as easily on his face this time.