Maverick

The bittersweet taste of the truth hung heavy on my tongue the next day. After Josie confessed to wanting to bring justice down on Derek, my head spun during all of my classes. I couldn’t let her risk her life for me.

I hadn’t seen Derek since that night. He disappeared from my mother’s life and my own. I’d spent most of the next two years looking over my shoulder, scared that he’d try to come back and finish the job. It was the reason I decided to start football and begin working out. To be able to defend my family and myself.

After a while, I stopped thinking about him coming back. Which meant I didn’t know what he was into, or what he would do now to Josie or Frankie. If she started digging around in his life, he may hurt her—or kill her. Look what he did to a thirteen-year-old boy who asked too many questions.

I pressed my eyes closed on the bus ride back to campus. Most of the guys were sleeping since it was after ten, but sleep hadn’t come as easy to me this time. Every time I c