Chapter 136 IT WAS HIM ALL ALONG
Chapter 136 IT WAS HIM ALL ALONG
MAX'S POV
The library is too quiet for the amount of noise blowing itself up in my head.
Flipping over another page from my book, I wince when I see the new page.
I know why the professor was warning us to start reading early now.
Forcing the words to try to stick itself in my brain, I wonder why I have to go through all of this torture, especially when it's for a midterm I didn't plan for.
Who has time to attend classes when your body is quietly falling apart from the inside.
The only thing keeping me from just succumbing to the pain is the championship coming up.
My jaw still aches faintly from the rookie’s punch.
I'm impressed. He doesn't look it, but that kid can actually pack a mean punch.
Dante’s cold warning sits heavier inside of my chest, more than the actual bruise itself.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I nearly pissed myself when he calmly warned.
He didn't even raise his voice, I've never seen him raise his voice towards me for years.
It's like he decided I'm not even worth the trouble it'll be to raise his voice.
As calm as autumn weather, he calmly “informs” me that if any rumor about Micah pops up once more, the only thing the scouts would remember is the fact that I've had a shitty okay for seasons now.
He said it calmly like we were discussing the weather, even though I was nearly shitting myself
I hate how effective it was on me, and I hate the fact that I know he can actually deliver on his promise.
The bastard.
So here I am, rubbing my eyes to focus on the one page that looks like French to me.
Remembering his father's words weeks ago, Peters King has offered me a way out.
All I had to do was replace Dante and become the name on everyone's lips instead of Dante.
All because of one stupid will Dante's mother put out about how he will lose ownership of the school if he doesn't graduate and go professional.
The old man didn't care that he'll lose everything or that he has enough money now to travel to a different city everyday, he just wants to oppose Dante, and he's using me to do it.
And I actually agreed like a stupid idiot, because I was actually desperate and foolish enough to think that it might actually put me ahead of Dante for once.
Fucking prick.
Both of them.
Here I am splitting hairs over the cost of treatments I haven't even started yet, trying to balance schoolwork and the team, yet they're playing with the ownership of the university like it's some kind of flimsy prize.
I need to last long enough to set up and sign a contract that might pay me enough to cover the costs of my treatments, so it's not public and no one ever finds out.
Dante doesn't even need King University.
He's rich enough to buy three of King University, most of the boys on the team are rich enough to do the same.
Yet here I am broke and almost penniless from trying to manage my pains with medications.
It's so unfair!
Now look at me. Dante’s still an untouchable bastard, and a captain that everyone listens to.
He still walks around with nothing to fear while I'm on my last nerve, hoping no one asks me once again why I'm looking so pale and feverish.
After everything that's happened, I have nothing to show for it except a threat hanging on my head, and a bruise on my face.
The championship is coming really close, and one good run is all I'll need.
One bad thing happening, and everything I've been holding together would collapse and be destroyed.
I need room. All I asked that selfish prick to do was underperform .
He still has several seasons to go after this championship, he still has more championships to play in, yet Dante stepped in and shut the whole thing down.
Wait.
Dante?
As if possessed, something pushes me to glance up from my book, and the sight I see makes me freeze.
Micah is right across me at. Table with his head buried in a notebook.
He looks smaller and much more tired than me, so I'm happy he's also suffering this season.
But what actually stops me in my tracks is Dante .
He's leaning right against the wall on the far end, buried in the shadows.
He's not doing anything at all. He's just standing there, watching Micah.
I watch him blankly for a moment, and I notice he doesn't do anything else for a while.
He doesn't glance up or even check the room for the entire time I'm watching him.
He's been looking at Micah for the past four minutes, with the same focused look he usually has when the game is tied and it remains five more minutes.
There's something raw in his look, something that doesn't match the cold captain face he usually saves for the rest of us.
My brain instantly stalls for several long moments and the unthinkable starts to form inside my mind.
The pieces of what's happened so far starts fitting itself right into my mind one by one before forming a full picture.
The rumors about Micah kissing a guy, the way Dante’s been extra attentive and protective of Micah.
That same possessiveness that doesn't make sense since they're just teammates.
Plus, the way Dante shut me down the very second I even tried to blackmail him.
The whole thing, and how awfully quick they went from being strangers to close buddies.
The guy Micah was accused of kissing wasn't some random guy on campus.
It’s Dante.
Dante King, the same person that's been involved with Micah since the beginning.
It was because of him that the rumors with Micah started in the beginning.
The same Dante is now standing right away from Micah’s line of sight, but he's looking at him like the rest of the world is just background noise.
My mouth opens up, but no sound comes out of it.
I have never been so sure of something in my life, like I am now.
It's Dante.