After the Game

I glanced back to see where her attention had been turned to and saw Gunner approaching us. I was ready for this. In a way I had asked for it by kissing her in public. Gunner was my friend, and I hated all the shit he had been dealt. However, his family and the rest of this town had equally hurt Riley. I wouldn’t allow him to embarrass or hurt her any more.

I prepared myself as I positioned my body in front of hers. The time had come for this, and I wouldn’t let her down. It was my chance to prove to her just how much she meant to me. This wasn’t some high school fling. We were more than that.

“Since you’re gonna make out with her in public, I figured I’d come over here and be friendly. So the whole damn field party knows this is good. I’m not hating on Riley or you,” Gunner said as he and Willa appeared at my side.

Gunner looked at me but directed his words to Riley. “Glad you came, Riley Young.” It was his way of letting me know this was okay with him. Maybe he wasn’t giving Riley the apology she deserved, and I hoped one day he would. But for now I could accept this. I still stood partially in front of her because it made me feel safer. Like no one could get too close.

Riley glanced toward Willa, then back to Gunner. “Thanks. Me too.”

Gunner turned to my mom. “Gorgeous as always, Mrs. Higgens.”

Mom smiled. “Thank you, Gunner. You played an amazing game. You boys never cease to surprise me.”

Gunner glanced at me. “Yeah, well, Brady never ceases to surprise me.”

I smirked, knowing the last call could have gone badly but I’d run over it with Coach and he’d told me if I could pull it off, then go for it. We’d make the headlines.

“Go big or go home,” I told Gunner.

He chuckled. “Yeah. Well, we went big, all right. Can’t wait to see what the paper says about it in the morning.”

Me either.

“See y’all at the field?” he asked.

I really wanted Riley alone, but I figured we would stop by for the team’s sake. “Yeah. We will be there.”

Gunner shook his head, smiling. “This year has been full of surprises. I’m almost scared to see what happens next.”

I knew what he meant. It had all started with Maggie coming into our family and West losing his dad to cancer. The whole dynamic of things shifted, then West changed. For the better. Then Gunner’s family went to hell with secrets no one expected. Now I was dating Riley Young.

I knew what was coming next. The smile left my face. Because what came next was my tragedy. The perfect Higgens home was about to fall apart around us.

I glanced over at my mother. “You ready to go home?” I asked her.

“Yes, but I don’t want to rush you.”

“I’ll see y’all later,” I told Gunner and Willa.

Riley said her good-byes to Willa and they whispered about something that made Riley laugh.

“Come on, we will walk you to your car,” I told her.

I wasn’t letting her face this crowd without me. She was now the center of attention, and I knew she could feel the eyes on her. I had kissed her and Gunner had acted like they were friends. This town was stirring in it.

“You don’t have to do that. I can get there okay by myself,” Riley said.

She apparently didn’t know that the scene we had just given everyone had made her an open target. People would want answers. And they wouldn’t come to me to get them. They’d go after Riley. I was going to keep her safe from that.

“I’m walking my girl to her car” was all I said in return.

This Was the Field Party, But After a Game It Was Brady’s Show

CHAPTER 45

RILEY

It was exactly twenty-eight minutes later when Brady pulled up in my drive.

Mom had been waiting on me when I walked inside, and I’d told her about the game although she had watched it. I left out the bit about Brady and his dad. When I told her Brady was coming to get me to take me to the field party, she beamed like I’d just won an award.

I had been worried about leaving them to watch over Bryony longer, although she was asleep and rarely ever woke up at night. Still, she was my responsibility. I didn’t like to leave her with my parents too much. Our life had been so different before Brady Higgens had walked back into it. I wasn’t used to having anywhere to go.

“I’m so glad things went well. You’ll have fun at the field. I remember you always talking about going when you were younger. That got snatched from you,” she’d said.

I was coming home from the field party when Rhett had pulled down a dirt road and raped me. That wasn’t a fond memory, although the result was my daughter. The moment I held her in my hands, the emotions regarding that night faded. They no longer seemed important. She was all that was important.

Mom was now in her bed, and I locked the door behind me as I stepped outside to meet Brady halfway on the sidewalk. He’d been coming to the door to get me. I liked that about him.

“Everything okay?” I asked him, knowing his mother would have wanted answers once they were alone.

He looked pained. Like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “No, not really. Doubt it will ever be okay again. She asked and I told her to talk to her husband about it.”

“You called him her husband?” I asked

He nodded. “I can’t call him anything else. I even hate calling him that.”

“Was he at home?”

He shook his head. “No. And when she called him, he didn’t answer. My guess is he ran off to tell his girlfriend they were about to be exposed. Fucker left my mother there alone. He didn’t even tell her he was leaving. She knows something is very wrong. I can see it in her eyes.”

“Should you go home and stay with her? What if he comes home tonight and tells her?”

Brady paused at the passenger side door. “I thought about it. But if he’s going to tell her, I don’t think she would want me there. That would upset her more for me to hear. I’m not planning on staying out too late, though.”

I didn’t blame him. His mom was going to need him soon.

He opened the door and I climbed inside.

I watched him walk around the front of the truck, and instead of tonight’s victory being a reason to celebrate, it was the furthest thing from his mind. His father had taken that from him too.

We drove in silence toward the field. His hand held mine firmly as if he needed the reassurance that I was there. That he wasn’t alone. I thought about his mom and wondered if she was facing his father now or if she had any idea as to what was to come.

When he pulled into the darkness of the trees and toward the light of the bonfire, I remembered a night like this one in August when I had come here. I hadn’t planned on getting out. I’d just wanted to see it. See the people here that I had left behind. The only person I saw was Brady, and he glared at me. That one look had told me how unwelcome I was. He hadn’t had to say anything.

Now here I sat with my hand in his, in his truck, about to walk into this scene while his world fell apart around him. Life was funny like that. The twists and turns it made were never expected. You couldn’t predict this. That made life interesting, worth going on and seeing how it would change.

Brady didn’t know that yet. He would find out one day. When this was a memory. The pain would heal. Telling him that didn’t help the present, though. So I kept my mouth shut and looked at him as he stared straight ahead. As if getting out of the truck was too much right now.