The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Instead, Karen rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God. You seriously think you’re the only one who knows?"

Roxie almost looked at her.

Karen never even glanced in her direction.

"We’re her best friends, bitch. We know everything."

They knew fucking nothing.

Karen knew fucking nothing, and she had still answered without missing a beat. Roxie’s eyes immediately burned.

Angela caught on just as quickly and stepped beside her. "What exactly did you think you were exposing?"

Bianca’s smile weakened.

Roxie tried swallowing past the pressure building in her throat. She had spent years afraid that Karen and Angela would find out the truth and pull away from her, yet here they were, learning that Roxie had hidden something huge from them and choosing her before they even knew what the fuck they were defending.

Her eyes filled faster than she could stop them.

Fuck.

Roxie looked away and blinked hard, but one tear slipped free anyway. She wiped it off immediately, furious that Bianca was standing there to see it.

Bianca studied Karen. "So the overdose isn’t news?"

Karen went still for barely half a second.

Angela did too.

Roxie noticed because she knew them well enough to catch it, but neither gave Bianca anything else.

Karen crossed her arms. "Is that supposed to impress us? Good job becoming a creepy stalker who can’t let go of Roxie. News flash, Zac is single. Go maul him for all we care. Leave Roxie alone."

Bianca stared at both of them. "Her mom’s dead because of drugs."

Angela looked Bianca over. "You know something about a dead woman. Congratulations."

Another tear escaped before Roxie could stop it.

She turned her face away and wiped that one too, but there was no hiding what was happening anymore. She could barely breathe around the relief hitting her because Karen and Angela were still there. They had heard overdose. They had heard drugs. They now knew Roxie had hidden something enormous from them, and neither one had stepped away from her.

Karen moved closer instead.

Angela’s shoulder pressed against Roxie’s.

Roxie felt ridiculous for ever believing they might hate her, and somehow that only made her cry harder.

She covered part of her face with one hand while trying to get herself under control.

Bianca’s expression shifted when she saw it. "She wasn’t just some dead woman," Bianca said. "Claire was a junkie who spent half her time in motels with random men."

"Shut the fuck up," Roxie said, her voice breaking enough to make her hate Bianca even more.

Bianca looked at her. "Why? They already know everything, remember?"

Roxie’s stomach twisted.

Karen stepped forward. "We already fucking know."

"Sure you do."

"You’re really standing in a school hallway dragging somebody’s dead mom because that’s all you have?"

Roxie wiped under her eyes again. Karen was lying through her fucking teeth and somehow making it sound like Bianca was the stupid one.

Angela moved closer until her arm pressed firmly against Roxie’s. "You can make Roxie sound as bad as you want. All you’re proving is how shitty you are."

Bianca’s expression hardened. "Nobody was talking to you."

"You made it everybody’s conversation when you started saying it out loud."

Bianca laughed. "Please. Roxie makes everything everybody’s business."

Angela’s face stayed flat. "Nobody cares enough about your life for you to have anything else to talk about, so you keep digging through hers."

That got her.

Bianca stepped toward Angela. "Excuse me?"

Angela held her ground. "You heard me."

Karen moved beside her. "What, did you think we were gonna hear her mom overdosed and suddenly decide Roxie’s disgusting? That’s fucking pathetic."

Roxie sucked in a shaky breath.

That was it.

That was the exact thing she had been terrified of for years.

She had imagined Karen finding out about Claire and remembering every time Roxie had lied about why she could not go somewhere. She had imagined Angela thinking about the bungalow, the unpaid bills, Roxie working constantly and all the other pieces suddenly making sense. Worst of all, she had imagined them looking at Roxie and seeing Claire in her.

Dirty.

Trashy.

The drug addict’s daughter.

Instead, Karen had just said the fear out loud like it was the stupidest fucking thing Bianca could possibly expect from them.

Roxie pressed her lips together, but another sob slipped through anyway.

Karen immediately looked at her.

That almost made it worse.

Roxie shook her head quickly because she could not deal with Karen comforting her while Bianca was still standing there. "I’m fine."

Karen’s expression said she knew that was bullshit, but she turned back toward Bianca.

Roxie wiped her face and tried to breathe normally while her other fear crept in around the relief. If Bianca told everyone, Karen and Angela would only be the beginning. People at practice would whisper. Girls in the locker room would know. Football players would hear. Everyone.

Claire would become Roxie Jones’s junkie mother.

Roxie would become the junkie’s daughter.

Every stupid rumor about her would suddenly have something people could connect back to Claire.

Bianca was still talking.

"Maybe you should ask Roxie what people said about Claire around that motel."

Roxie’s head snapped up. "I said shut your fucking mouth."

Karen stepped in before Roxie could move. "Nobody gives a shit what some motel gossip said about a dead woman."

"I guess Roxie does."

"Because she was her mother, you fucking psycho."

Silence followed.

Karen seemed to realize what she had said a second after it came out.

Lily grabbed Bianca’s arm. "We’re leaving."

Bianca pulled against her. "I’m fine."

"I don’t care. Coach Miller’s gonna come out if this keeps going."

Bianca glanced toward the corner leading back to the gym before returning her attention to Roxie. She raised her middle finger before Lily pulled her around the corner.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Roxie stared at the empty corner while trying to wipe the last of the tears from her face. Karen and Angela were still beside her, close enough that she could feel both of them waiting, and somehow facing them now scared her more than facing Bianca had.

This was the moment Roxie had avoided for years.

They knew.

"Rox," Karen said quietly.

Roxie gave a shaky laugh and finally looked at her. "I’m sorry."

"You shouldn’t be. Whatever you are going through right now, we’re here for you."

A broken laugh escaped Roxie before she could stop it, immediately mixing with another sob. She covered her mouth and looked away because she had already cried enough in one fucking hallway.

Angela touched her arm. "We’re always here, Rox."

Roxie looked back at them.

Neither looked disgusted.

Neither looked angry that she had hidden it.

Neither looked at her like Bianca’s words had suddenly explained something dirty about Roxie.

The relief hit hard enough that Roxie’s face crumpled again.

"Fuck," she whispered, wiping at her eyes. "I thought you guys were going to fucking hate me."

Both of them stared at her.

Karen’s expression changed first. "For what?"

Roxie shook her head because she could not explain the years behind that question without crying harder.

Angela wrapped an arm around her while Karen stepped closer on the other side. They had found out in the worst possible way. And here they were, still standing beside her.

"We love you. But you need to tell us everything now, okay?"

Roxie let the tears fall as she nodded.

"Everything."