Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(97)

“Jace punched him in the courtyard after Cole dragged you off,” Quinn piped in.

“Quinn, don’t tell her that!” he said, looking sheepish.

“Guys, you can’t be mad at him. This was my fault from the very beginning. I let him convince me that I could handle a relationship when I knew all along that I would be terrible at it. I just proved myself right in the end. At least it wasn’t years down the road. I’m just trying to survive this the best way I know how,” I said sternly.

“Please don’t drink yourself into a coma again, Ems,” Quinn whined.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll never drink again, don’t worry about that. If I hadn’t in the first place the other night, I’d be sitting here cheering for my boyfriend right now. Instead,” I pointed behind me, “they’re cheering for him.” Quinn and Jace looked back to see Rachel and her annoying crew screaming Jax’s name. “Apparently, word gets out fast.”

Jace stood up and grabbed me; he lifted me into a giant bear hug in front of everyone. My feet just dangled down along his legs. It was weird because his body felt like Jaxon’s. I had to keep reminding myself not to wrap my legs around his waist and squeeze back.

“It’s not just your fault, Emmy. Don’t even let yourself think that. Please don’t let this cause you to close yourself off again. You are the greatest friend that’s a girl I’ve met. If Jaxon doesn’t come to his damn senses, then some lucky guy out there will be thankful to be loved by you one day,” he whispered in my ear. These boys were way too charming for their own good.

“Thanks, Jace, but I know I can’t do this again.” He gave me another squeeze and looked sadly into my eyes.

When someone shouted for us to sit down, he placed me back in my seat. I looked out onto the field to see Jaxon staring right at us. His eyes screamed, “Mine. She’s mine and I’ll kill anyone who touches her.” But his actions said, “Just take her, I don’t want her anymore.” I turned to look somewhere else; I couldn’t focus on what he was thinking about. I needed to remember that I couldn’t think about him at all. I concentrated on watching Cole and cheering him on when he caught the ball. See, I could be perfectly normal.

By the end of the game, we had won and surprisingly, Cole had scored the winning touchdown. I’d never seen Quinn jump up and down so hard. When the final whistle blew, Cole came barreling toward the stands. He hopped over the barrier with ease and scooped Quinn up into his arms. Their faces were attached to each other for the next few minutes without either one coming up for air. When he finally placed her down, he came over and hugged me as hard as he could. His excitement was infectious and I tried to soak it in.

“Congrats, Cole, I’ll remember this for at least the next fifty years. Thanks for making it worth it for me to come!” I yelled over the crowd’s cheers.

He turned and gave Jace the brotherly hug/pat-on-the-back thing. I couldn’t stop myself from looking out at the field one last time and searching for Jaxon. He wasn’t celebrating or talking to anyone. I watched as he slowly walked toward the locker room. By the looks of him, you would have thought we had lost the game.

Cole asked all three of us to wait for him while he changed out of his gear and showered. I really just wanted to get home and back to my bed. I felt like I had done my friendship duty by coming, now I needed to go cry some more in the privacy of my room. I’d seen Jaxon way too many times today already. I could feel the waves of pain getting closer and closer to bursting through. When Cole came out of the dressing room, Jaxon was walking right behind him. Both of them looked incredibly handsome, freshly showered, and wearing their team polo shirts. Jaxon had thrown on his black ball cap over his wet hair. He knew I loved that cap on him. I couldn’t stand here any longer.