Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(37)

“It’s not so easy when you care about them is it?” Quinn squeezed my hand back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said avoiding her eyes.

“Whatever, your heart knows what I’m talking about, and one day your brain will catch up.”

“My heart is for pumping blood not for caring about a boy and whether he gets hurt or not.” I realized how unconvincing I must sound when Quinn just rolled her eyes at my response.

In a trick-play, we watched as Dalton handed off the ball to Jaxon. He took off in a dead sprint right into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. I hope he didn’t think he was getting more than a hot air balloon ride for the additional touchdown. One of the defenders chasing Jaxon couldn’t stop his momentum and barreled right over, knocking him to the ground.

I stood up and impulsively yelled, “Hey!” It just popped out of my mouth. Jace turned from his spot on the bench and smiled perceptively up at me. I rolled my eyes at him while Quinn covered her laugh with her hands. These two were getting on my nerves.

Jaxon was the first one to stand back up. He surprised us all when he reached his hand out and helped the other guy to his feet. So many of these guys would have yelled or even started a fight with that guy for knocking them over. Not Jaxon though, he helps them up and laughs along with them.

The game ended shortly after that and we had won thanks to Jaxon’s last touchdown. For obvious reasons, I loved when we won games, but mostly I loved it because the guys were in such a better mood afterward. Last year, we lost two games, and Quinn and I avoided Cole like the plague for the rest of the weekend. Usually by Monday, he had cooled off. We learned the hard way freshman year though, when he used to snap at us over absolutely nothing. It took us a while to realize that his attitude was related to football.

The team was walking along the field after the game shaking hands with the opposing players. Quinn and I found the stairs and went down to meet up with them. She was walking at a much quicker pace than I was, and I had to take longer strides to keep up with her. I smiled as I watched her dodge and dart through the other players to get to Cole. When we reached him, she stepped right up to him and put her hands on each side of his face. I didn’t hear what she asked, because I was still a couple of paces behind. His face became serious instantly and he nodded his head looking directly into her eyes. They stared at each other for a bit, until surprisingly, Quinn took the initiative and crushed her lips to his. I froze in my steps.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cole extended his arm behind him and handed his helmet off to whoever would take it. Jace grabbed it from his hand. He brought both hands to Quinn’s waist and walked her backward, never breaking the kiss. When the back of her legs knocked the bench, he sat her down while he kneeled on the ground in front of her, his knees in the dirt. He separated from her mouth and we all watched, as he talked to her in a low voice. He looked like he was asking her questions while she would nod her head ‘yes’ or shake it for a ‘no’.

I started to step forward so I could hear what they were talking about. These were my two best friends in the whole world, taking this monumental leap, and I just wanted to be there to see everything happen. Jaxon grabbed the hem of my shirt from behind and pulled me backward until I collided with his chest.

“Let them do it, Beautiful.” I remained quiet and nodded, while I kept my eyes glued to the two of them.

From behind, I heard Jaxon ask his brother if he had a pen, then he reached around me, grabbed my hand and started writing on it. I pulled my eyes away from my two friends on the bench who were deep in conversation, and watched Jaxon etching letters into my skin. His hands were sweaty and warm from playing, but I didn’t mind. When he was done, he smiled at me and let my hand fall from his. I brought it up to read.