After the Game

Seeing Riley in the stands wasn’t enough to keep my father’s presence on the sidelines from screwing with me. He had moved to stand with the coaches as if he had the right to. Did he think this would make me play better? That seeing him there was the support I needed?

The pass was incomplete again, and we were out of chances. Defense would step in now and try to recover some momentum for us. I jerked my helmet off and walked over to the water. I was avoiding my father at all costs.

“Brady!” Coach called my name. That was the one voice I couldn’t ignore.

I turned to him.

He was stalking toward me. “What the hell is wrong, son? You were off the first part of last week, but that was nothing like this week. You can’t complete shit.”

I saw my father following him and realized he was going to say something too. I couldn’t do this. Not here. He needed to leave.

“At this rate, we won’t be able to come back after halftime with a miracle. Where is your head?”

I pointed toward the man coming toward us. “Why is he on the damn field?”

Coach turned to see my father, then back at me with a frown. “Your dad?”

“He doesn’t play football; he’s not a coach. Do you see anyone else’s dad down here? He needs to get the fuck up in the stands, where he belongs.”

“Brady!” my father’s voice boomed with warning that I rarely heard from him.

“Don’t you dare correct me, you cheating sack of shit. I don’t want you here! I don’t need you here. I can’t stand the fucking sight of you!” I was screaming now, and some of my teammates could hear me. I just didn’t care.

He stilled at my tirade and stared at me in disbelief. Was it because I was yelling at him or because I’d called him a cheater? I wasn’t sure.

“You need to leave the field, Boone. There are obviously family issues here, and y’all can get that shit settled off the field. But tonight I need the boy’s head in the game. You’re affecting it.”

“We need to talk about this. You don’t know everything,” Dad said, his voice lowered.

I took a step toward him and glared at him eye to eye. “I fucking saw you. I. Saw. You. With. Her. Get out of my face. Get off my field. And leave.”

I waited until he blinked and looked away from me. He understood. Without a word he walked past me and toward the exit. I wanted to vomit. Again. Talking to my father like that was hard. Hating him so much was painful. We’d been close my entire life.

This was like ripping off a part of my body and tossing it away. I turned to the stands to see Riley standing up. Her gaze was locked on me, and I could see the concern from here. She looked like she was about to bolt down here. The idea of that actually made me smile. Not a big one, but enough to remind me I wasn’t alone. She was there.

“Can you do this?” Coach asked me, bringing me back to the problem at hand.

“I don’t know,” I told him honestly.

He sighed and ran his hand over his almost-bald head. “I can’t play Hunter yet. He’s not ready for this.”

They all needed me. This was on my shoulders. It wasn’t my dad’s dream. It was mine. No one could take my dream or claim it as their own. Riley had taught me that. She was right. I took a deep breath and looked back up at her one more time. I gave her a small nod to let her know I was okay. Then I looked for my mom. My father hadn’t gone back to sit by her. She was watching me too. I gave her the same nod, then turned back to my coach.

“I’m ready.”

He studied me a moment. “Thank God.”

West was waiting for me. He hadn’t come over to us, but I knew he’d been watching carefully.

“Something is seriously fucked-up. You gonna be okay?” he said as I stood beside him.

I shrugged. “I can play now. But no, I doubt I’ll be okay for a long time.”

“This has to do with your dad?”

I just nodded.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Yeah, fuck,” I agreed.

Our defense stopped them from scoring and Gunner’s eyes made contact with me. “You good?”

“Enough to win this game,” I told him. Then the three of us jogged out to the field with the others on the offensive line. It was time to score. I had to even the scoreboard before halftime, and I had four minutes and thirty-six seconds to do it in.

“We’re running this play,” I told West, and he nodded. That meant he was up.

With a quick handoff, I gave West the ball, and he took it and made the first down. Just what I needed. One more of those and I’d pass to Gunner. He could run it in.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The crowd cheered just as the last ten seconds ticked away the first half of the game. We had managed to tie it up before halftime.

I glanced up to see Riley’s eyes on me. Just looking at her helped. Knowing she was there. I wanted to look at my mom and check on her, but if my father had taken the seat beside her, it would rattle me. I didn’t want to see him. I had to get my head clear and ready for the last half.

“What the hell did your dad do to piss you off?” Gunner asked as we walked into the field house.

“Shut up. Jesus, Gunner,” West barked at him in disgust.

I wasn’t telling them now. My mother didn’t even know yet, but she would. My father would come clean. Then my family would explode. Nothing was ever going to be the same.

“Let’s focus on winning this game first,” I told him, then walked ahead of both of them and into the field house, with the familiar smell of sweat, deodorant, and the desire to win.

Back Off, Serena

CHAPTER 43

RILEY

One point. The difference between kicking a field goal or going for two. West had taken the ball and gone for two. In that five seconds, I didn’t breathe. I was pretty sure Willa didn’t either. The entire Lawton side was on their feet in silence. Not sure what to expect. It was a gamble. Had they just kicked a field goal, it would have tied the game and gone into overtime. But the moment Brady handed West the ball, an audible gasp went through the stands and everyone was on their feet.

Because if West failed, they lost the game. By one point.

West made it through the other team’s defensive line and the crowd erupted. I actually sank down and let my heart rate slow. That had been a massive gamble that I couldn’t believe they took. But Brady had returned to the field after halftime playing differently. Less methodical and more aggressive. He took several chances. A few didn’t work, but this one did.

The team all piled on top of one another as fireworks went off behind us. They were prepared to win this game. They’d even had fireworks set up. I wondered what they would have done had we lost.

“That was insane,” Willa said, sitting down beside me.

I just nodded.

She shook her head in disbelief. “They’ve never been that risky before.”

She meant Brady had never been that risky before, but she wasn’t going to say it. I understood. She didn’t know what was going on tonight. No one did. But they’d all seen Brady pointing and yelling at his father. Then his dad had walked off the field. I’d heard people whispering about it most of the game.

Willa never asked me or mentioned it, though. I was thankful for that. She seemed to know something was wrong but it was a secret.

“The boys will be a bit in the field house. We can wait until the crowd clears some before we walk down there.”