by L A Cotton
“Surprise,” she said, leaning in to hug me.
“Nice to see you too, Lil,” Avery said, shaking his head with disbelief.
“I have hugs for you too.” I looped my arms around his broad shoulders. “Do your parents and Ashleigh know you’re here?”
“No, we thought we’d drive back and surprise you all.”
“Best surprise ever.” I welcomed them into the house. Everyone was going to flip when they saw them. Avery and Miley were attending college. He was at Notre Dame and Miley went to Northwestern. But they had their own apartment now halfway between the two.
Avery took off down the hall, but Miley lingered behind. “So, senior year. Tell me everything.”
“It’s been… interesting so far. You heard about Rixon East burning down?”
“Yeah, your uncle called Avery the other week. I can’t imagine that having Rixon East kids at Rixon High is going down too well.”
“It’s mostly the football team. You know what they’re like.”
“Oh, I know.” Her lips thinned. Miley and Avery hadn’t had an easy start to their relationship. He’d been the star quarterback and she’d been the eager school newspaper reporter who betrayed the town’s precious Raiders. But despite their differences, their history, they had made it work.
“I’m so happy to see you,” I said, lacing my arm through hers.
Miley was like the big sister I never had, and although we still talked now and again, it wasn’t the same as having her here in Rixon.
By the time we got outside, everyone had swarmed Avery, all wanting their hug or handshake.
“Miley, sweetheart, get over here,” Aunt Hailee hurried over to us, pulling her into a hug. I let go of her and gave them space.
“God, it’s so good to see you.”
“Hey, where’s Uncle Xan?” Avery asked, glancing round.
“He… uh… he’s not doing so good.” Uncle Cam ran a hand down his face and the two of them started a hushed conversation.
Xander was Ashleigh and Avery’s uncle, Cameron’s younger brother. Sometimes he came to family gatherings and was the life and soul of the party, but other times, like today, he didn’t.
“Okay, everyone, let’s eat.” Dad ushered everyone to the huge table. Whenever my aunt and uncle came and the Bennet’s came over, we had to get out the extra chairs. It was loud and chaotic and messy, but it was family.
The kind of chaos that calmed your soul.
Avery waited until everyone was seated and then cleared his throat. “So we didn’t come back just to visit,” he said, pulling Miley into his side.
They had survived senior year, two years of living away from each other at different colleges, our families. Avery and Miley were couple goals, and like the rest of my family, I braced myself for whatever he was about to say.
“Well, go on, Son,” Uncle Cam said. “Spit it out before Aaron eats all the steak.”
Everyone laughed, but Avery looked a pale shade of green.
“I… we…”
“We’re engaged.” Miley blurted out around a huge smile.
“Engaged?” At least two of the adults spluttered.
“Cameron,” Aunt Hailee chided. “This is great news. It’s great news, congratulations.”
“Your mom’s right, Son, it is great news. I was just a little shocked there for a second. You never said anything…”
“It just kinda happened, Dad. I love Miley and moving in together over the summer only cemented what I already know: that I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Poppy and Sofia both let out a dreamy sigh, while Aaron leaned over to shake his hand.
“Congratulations, man. I have only one question. When’s the bachelor party?” Everyone laughed.
“What says you, Coach?” Avery tipped his head at Jason.
“You can’t call me that anymore, Ave. I’m not your Coach.”
“Nah, you’ll always be my Coach.” Something passed between them.
My dad had been there every step of the way through Avery’s football career, from Pee Wee to middle school to high school. He’d never liked my cousins calling him uncle. Of course, Ashleigh refused to listen when she was a little kid, and she liked to give him crap about it now, but not Avery. From the second my dad had started training him, he’d always been Coach. It was their thing. The way Mom called me Lily Star.
“You’re young, Ave. Really fucking young.”
“You were only a sophomore when you proposed to Fee,” Avery countered.
“You got me there, kid. Fuck… I mean, shit… you’re all growing up, aren’t you?” Dad ran his eyes over each of us.
“Yeah, babe.” Mom said, winding her arm around his shoulder and kissing his cheek. “They are.”
Chapter Fourteen
Kaiden
I gently kicked Lily’s chair and she glanced over at me.
“What?” she mouthed, and I slid the note to the edge of the table. Frowning, she plucked it from me and pressed it into her palm and turned back around.
Yesterday, Bryan had been moved to a different seat after he made inappropriate noises when Mr. Jenkins was going over the lesson. When we’d arrived in class today, he had informed us we were to stay separated. It sucked for Bryan, who was now sitting next to Carrie-Ann Trombley, the class know-it-all, but it was a definite upside for me.
I was walking a fine line, I knew that. But after riding the simulator with Lily on Saturday, I didn’t want to just kick her out of my life. I couldn’t. She wasn’t like anyone else. She didn’t only see the boy from across the river.
Lewis Thatcher’s son.
An Eagle.
She saw me.
My stomach did a little flip when she leaned her arm back and dropped the note on my desk. I’d asked her if she would be at the game Friday.
Yes.
She had the neatest handwriting, which didn’t surprise me for the girl scared to live life outside of the lines.
Will you be at the party afterward?
I folded the note and looked up to check if Mr. Jenkins was distracted. Happy he was, I kicked her chair again. She didn’t turn around this time, but she did sneak her hand behind her. I dropped the note in it and watched her open it.
What I wanted was to see her eyes. You could tell so much about a person when you looked into their eyes. But where Lily was concerned, I’d have to take whatever scraps I could get.
Mr. Jenkins stood to explain something to the class, thanks to a question from Bryan’s new desk neighbor. I breathed a sigh of relief when he finally sat down and continued grading papers. Lily slipped her hand back and I plucked the note from her fingers, our hands lingering.
I could still remember what it had felt like to hold her hand Saturday, which was fucking weird considering I’d never really held hands with a girl before. I would never tell the guys, but it had been like a seismic shift inside me.
It was fucking terrifying. To feel so much for a girl who had the power to ruin you. Well, her father anyway.
I didn’t get close. I didn’t let girls in. They were a distraction. Nothing more than something to work off the tension.
But not Lily.
She was different.
Smoothing her note out on the desk, her one-word response wasn’t any surprise.
No.
I scribbled a reply underneath.
You should come. I heard Bryan might be there.
Passing her the note back, I waited for her reaction. She smothered a snort of laughter, but not enough because Mr. Jenkins' head shot up and he fixed his eyes on me.
“Problem, Mr. Thatcher?”
“No, sir.” I couldn’t even be angry he’d singled me out instead of Lily.
She waited until the coast was clear and slipped me the note back.
If I did go, and I’m not, I wouldn’t be going to see Bryan…
Her words hit me dead in the chest. Lily Ford, the quiet girl scared of the world, was flirting wit
h me… at least, I fucking hoped she was.
Shit.
What was I saying?
I wasn’t supposed to be encouraging this. If Coach Ford found out I was actively pursuing his daughter, I wouldn’t step foot on the football field again this season. And I needed game time. I needed to get in front of scouts.
But I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I hadn’t been able to stop Saturday when I’d watched her staring at the simulator, a mix of fear and frustration glittering in her eyes.
And I couldn’t stop myself now.
I didn’t reply. I didn’t want to push her, and I didn’t want to cross a line we couldn’t come back from.
Even if I really really wanted her to show at the party Friday.
Friday was bittersweet torture. On one hand, I was so fucking ready for a new season of football. But I didn’t want it to be like this; playing with a team who didn’t want me here anymore than I wanted to be here.
“Hey, Thatcher, hold my shit for me, will you?” Monroe called over. “Since you won’t be playing, I figured you might as well make yourself useful.” He and his guys exploded with laughter.
“Ignore him. You’ll get to play,” Gav said.
“Yeah, whatever,” I grumbled.
My mood had only gotten darker as the week went on. The atmosphere at home was unbearable. My old man wasn’t working due to a flare up with his back, but me and Mom knew the truth. He’d relapsed, and I was pretty sure it was all because of me.
So I’d avoided the house as much as possible. Part of me hated leaving Mom alone, but I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t be there taking his constant taunts and jibes. It was like picking at a scab, picking until it festered and festered, poisoning your bloodstream, infecting your soul.
Now I was about to walk out on the field and watch another guy steal the spotlight.
I checked the laces on my cleats before grabbing my helmet. Coach Ford entered the room, ushering everyone into silence.
“First game of the season and we’re the ones to beat. Marshall is going to come at us and come at us hard. Work together, push hard, and follow the playbook. Monroe, you feeling good, son?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” His hard gaze flitted over me like I was no one. Fuck. It stung. I didn’t expect him to welcome me to the team with open fucking arms, but I’d hoped for more than… this.
The most I could hope for tonight was the Raiders taking a comfortable lead and Coach giving some of the second-string players a chance to switch on in the second half.
“Kick ass out there,” Gav said to Bryan who was quiet beside us, psyching himself up. He was the only Eagle to be in the starting lineup. But the Raiders had a couple of holes to fill in their defense after losing some of their more experienced players last season.
“Okay, this is it. Let’s go.”
The rumble of the crowd above us reverberated through me, feeding the adrenaline already pumping through my bloodstream. But it was tainted with frustration, a silent storm swelling in the pit of my stomach.
I wasn’t used to taking a back seat. I was used to leading, to calling the shots. It went against every natural instinct to fall in line behind Monroe and the rest of the team to then follow them out onto the field.
But this wasn’t my kingdom, it was his. I was just a bystander along for the ride.
The noise of the crowd was ferocious as we emerged onto the field, Monroe cutting through the game night banner like a knife. I headed straight for the bench, sinking down with a thud. Gav joined me just as Coach glanced over at us, hesitating for a second. But then he went back to his team, issuing final words of advice.
“This sucks balls.” Gav grumbled.
“Yep.”
“Are we really doing the party after?”
“If it’s a choice between getting fucked up at Lindsey’s or going home to my dad… I know where I’m headed.”
“You sure you’re just not going in hopes of seeing a certain girl?”
“She said she isn’t going.”
I hadn’t asked Lily again. We’d written each other a few notes back and forth in class, but Mr. Jenkins had paired us up with the person next to us, so there hadn’t been a lot of opportunity.
Another thing that had pissed me off.
“Peyton told Bryan she’ll be there. Ashleigh too.”
“You into her?” I asked. They’d seemed to hit it off at the arcade last weekend.
“She’s cool, but something tells me she’s already hung up on someone and I’m not looking for any drama.”
Neither was I… and yet, I found myself searching the crowd for Lily.
“Jesus,” Gav said, noticing. “You’ve got it bad.”
I didn’t answer. Because he was right. And I wasn’t sure being around Lily in my current frame of mind would be a good thing.
“Hey, Thatcher?” Monroe hollered over the rumbling noise of the crowd. “Be a good little lapdog and grab me some water.” He smirked before joining his teammates.
“I fucking hate that guy.”
“You and me both,” Gav said.
The referee called Monroe and the Marshall captain in for the coin toss. Lindsey and the cheerleaders were whipping the crowd into a frenzy, shaking their asses almost as much as their pom-poms. When their cheer ended, she sauntered over to us.
“You’ll be at the party tonight?”
I shrugged, staring right past her.
She leaned down and slid her finger under my jaw, tipping my face up and demanding my attention. “You should come. I’ll make it worth your while.” She licked her lips, before spinning on her heel, giving us an eyeful of her ass.
“Jesus, she doesn’t quit, does she? Maybe the party isn’t such a good idea.”
But Monroe would be there, acting all high and mighty. If I didn’t show, it would look like I was conceding. Like I was letting him win. My fist clenched against my thigh as a blast of anger rushed through me.
The sound of the starting whistle perforated my thoughts and I settled in to watch the game.
The first quarter passed in a blur. It was hard not to be swept up in the buzz, but the anger swimming in my veins made it like watching the game through a misted lens.
The Raiders looked strong, gaining yards, pushing forward toward the end zone, until Monroe managed to get the ball to his wide receiver who scored a touchdown, the first of three. Marshall’s defense was sloppy, and our players quickly capitalized on that, leading 38-6 by the end of the first half.
Inside the locker room, the atmosphere was electric.
“Okay, listen up,” Coach said. “Keep pushing. We’ve got them right where we need to be. Now is not the time for any theatrics.” He glanced over at me and rubbed his jaw. “We stick to the same lineup and let’s see where we are going into the fourth quarter.”
My jaw clenched.
“Get a drink, focus your energy, and keep your eye on the clock. Now is not the time to get complacent. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” echoed off the walls.
“Okay, everyone get in here.” I hung at the back of the huddle, feeling less a part of the team than I had since arriving at Rixon High. “Raiders on three… one, two, three.”
“Raiders.”
Everyone broke apart, grabbing last minute refreshments and rechecking shoulder pads and cleats, and then began filing back out of the locker room.
“You good?” Gav asked me.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
But the truth was, I wasn’t. I’d been playing football since I could remember. There had been highs and lows, moments I would never forget for both good and bad reasons, but never once did I want to leave a game… except now.
I just wanted it to be over, and then I wanted to get the hell out of here and drown my sorrows in whatever liquor Lindsey had going at her party.
“You ready to get in there, son?”
I glanced up at Coach and scowled. Was I supposed to
be fucking grateful he was giving me game time when the team couldn’t lose?
Gav nudged me hard, and I stood up. “I’m ready.” The words couldn’t have sounded less enthusiastic if I’d tried.
“Listen, Kaiden.” He pressed his hand to my chest as I tried to walk past him. “I know this is difficult, for everyone, but I can’t just bench my star quarterback because on paper you’re better.”
My eyes widened at his admission. “So you’re admitting that I am?”
“Kaiden, come on… it isn’t that straightforward, and you know it.”
“Seems pretty straightforward to me.” I stalked off toward the sideline, waiting for him to call the change.
Monroe jogged toward me, grinning like the smug motherfucker he was. “They’re all yours, QB.” He tapped my chest, but I shoved his hand away. “You need to learn to rein it in, second-string. I’d hate for you to mess up your chances before you even get started.” He moved past me, laughing as if it was all a big joke.
“Okay, let’s go Raiders,” Coach yelled, coming up behind me. “Stick to the playbook and get the job done, son.”
“The job’s already done,” I grumbled, pulling on my helmet and jogging onto the field.
A couple of the players gave me a hard look, but most of them fell into line. If nothing else, Aaron and Cole would have my back.
“We run Blue Twenty-Two. Just like we practiced.”
“We know the play, asshole,” someone muttered.
My head whipped around to the couple of players it could have been, but Aaron caught my eye and shook his head.
“Just run the damn play,” I snapped, jogging into position.
The Raiders had the win in the bag so there was no pressure there. But I felt the eyes of every single person watching, waiting for me to slip up, to drop the ball, to prove why I deserved to be on the bench.
Shaking off their judgment, I forced myself to get into the zone. Inhaling a deep breath, I glanced around down the scrimmage line, checking my players and theirs. I knew this play. I knew every damn play in the Raiders playbook. I’d made it my priority to learn them. I’d fake the pass to my running back then throw the ball down field to the wide receiver.
