ENEMIES(70)

I was having another ‘oh, boy’ moment, but it was more like an ‘oh, shit.’ And a laugh pulled from me, hitching up a note. I patted his knee. “He and I… Yeah. We’re… Yeah.” I noticed the best distraction ever. “Look! They already scored!”

Apollo shot over Jared. “Your boy got the ball and ran it all the way in. One fucking play and touchdown!” He tipped his head back. “YEAH, REEEEEEVES!”

A collective cheer went up around us, but Jared was grinning and laughing with Apollo a second later, and for a moment, just that one moment, all seemed right in the world.

I vowed to have more of those moments with him.





Chapter Thirty





We had three minutes to score.

Kings were down seventeen to twenty-one. Belves scored three touchdowns with the extra point scored for each, and Kings only had two with a field goal. They had possession, but were only at the fifty-yard line. It’d been mostly a running game. We needed something extra.

“We won’t get down there if they don’t throw the fucking ball!” Jared had been saying the same gripe for the last period. His hands were permanently attached to the top of his head. He kept looking from the game to the scoreboard and back again.

As for me, my heart was permanently stuck in my throat.

Stone kept getting tackled. Over and over again.

A few weeks ago, I would’ve cheered. Now I wanted to tackle those guys who kept taking him down.

It was our possession.

The ball was snapped back. Colby looked like he was going to hand it off. Their halfback was going past him, and it was a fake! A fake. Cortez, their halfback, tucked it in, but he didn’t. He didn’t at all. Wait. Where was Stone?

He was breaking through, running down the middle.

NO ONE WAS ON HIM!

He was running, head down.

I jerked my gaze back to Colby. He was looking.

The defensive line was going after Cortez.

It all happened in a split second.

They realized he didn’t have the ball. They were looking… Colby’s hand went back. He launched the ball.

It was a beautiful spiral and everyone was on their feet. I mean, we were already on our feet, but if we could all jump to our feet again, we were doing it.

The ball was soaring, going, going, going, then going down. And…

Finding his target!

Stone looked back, NO ONE WAS ON HIM. He jumped up, caught the ball, a perfect cradle to his chest, and he was back down and sprinting.

Wait.

A Belves player was zeroing in on him. Their safety saw the play and was coming in fast and hard.

I was screaming. Everyone was screaming.

Twenty.

Fifteen.

Ten.

The safety was right there, angling right at Stone.

He had his arms open. He was readying to tackle Stone, but Stone stopped, pivoted, rotated his hips, and he dove in just behind the safety.

TOUCHDOWN!

I was going nuts.

Everyone was going nuts.

Kings won. There was no time. God. Was there time?

Yes. They had time. Just over two minutes. Anything could happen.

They were lining up. The kick went in. Kings were up now twenty-four to twenty-one.

Jared was groaning, bending over. His hands still attached to his head. I did glance once to make sure he wasn’t pulling his hair out without realizing it, but no. His hair was still there. He was saying now, “If they get close enough for a field goal, we’re fucked.”

We wouldn’t be fucked. We’d just go into overtime.

I patted his back. “We’ll be okay. It’ll all work out.” Truth be told, I was as close to vomiting as he was.

They had to hold them, and spotting Jake running out, I was back to screaming.

They lined up. There was the snap, and they pushed it forward, only getting an inch. They repeated this each time, getting a first down, but they were running out of time. They needed to do something. Kings defense was holding them for the most part.

“They’re going to throw. They have to throw.” Jared now had his ballcap in his mouth. He was chewing on the back strap. “They can’t throw.” His hand suddenly grabbed my arm and he held tight. “Bolston’s been shut down most of the game.”

He stopped talking.

The Belves’ quarterback dropped back.

Bolston shotput forward, running right up the side. He looked alone… I was scanning the field. He was alone. No. He wasn’t. Sprinting to catch up was Bilson.

I tracked back to the quarterback, the ball was already in the air.

Bad déjà vu was filling my mouth full of bile.

No, no, no. Miss. Or interception. Either of the two.

Then it was going down. Just like Stone had done, Bolston turned, read the ball, and reached for it. It connected…bam! Jake slammed into him. The ball bounced off his hand, then fell to the turf.

The clock was winding down, and as it was nearing the end, Jared heaved a huge sigh of relief. They did a snap, but it was done. The clock ran out. The game was over.

The Kings had won.

Jared used his hat to mop the sweat off his face. “That was a good game.” His grin was sloppy, his eyes a bit dazed. “Stone ran in all three of their touchdowns. He’s gonna be MVP for this game.” His sloppy grin beamed a bit brighter. “He’s so fucking awesome.”