With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men, #4)(142)

We still had time on the clock to make more points, even if it was time for the other team to take possession of the ball. We could just keep them from scoring and then go into overtime to win.

But we still had three and a half minutes left, so I wasn’t worried. A lot could happen in three and a half minutes.

All the players, except one, stood and trotted off the field to switch teams.

“Someone’s hurt,” Eva announced. “Who’s hurt?”

We could tell it was one of our players by the color of the jersey. I immediately scanned the field for Quinn’s number. When I spotted him next to Ten, I blew out a relieved breath...until a frantic Aspen asked, “Where’s Noel? I don’t see Noel anywhere.”

“He’s the one who’s hurt,” Caroline uttered, suddenly pale.

I grabbed her hand and she squeezed back.

Aspen gasped and immediately covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.”

Reese and Eva rubbed her shoulders supportively from behind while Noel’s brother’s pointed when Noel bent his knee and the coaches helped him sit upright.

“Oh, thank God,” Aspen breathed out.

But I could tell Noel wasn’t completely fine. His legs could work because he stood up and everyone clapped as he hobbled to the sidelines, but he carried his shoulder all wrong.

For the next couple of plays, the ESU defense held the other team back, but not enough to keep them from scoring a field goal, putting us three points behind. All the while, Quinn and Ten—who were strictly offensive players—huddled around Noel, where he sat on a bench and had trainers working all around him.

When it was time for the offence to take the field again, Noel, the leading quarterback, did not join them. A minute and forty-eight seconds remained on the clock, and their second-string backup had to step in for him. Quinn had to step in for him.

“Oh my God,” I uttered, covering my mouth as my stomach instantly began to churn. The divisional championships now rested on my boyfriend’s shoulders.

Aspen’s phone chimed. She checked the text. “It’s from Noel. Oh God. He says they think he broke his collarbone. They’re going to take him to the hospital.”

“Well, let’s go then,” Caroline announced. “We can meet him there.”

Noel’s family and even Eva, Pick, Mason and Reese all gathered their things to leave. “Zoey?” Caroline asked, glancing at me to silently ask if I was coming.

But I shook my head. Quinn had just been thrust into the spot of quarterback at the most crucial time ever. I couldn’t leave him now.

“I...I’m going to stay.”

Asher took my hand. “I’ll stick around with her and bring her over once the game’s done.”

Caroline nodded, and then she was gone, hurrying away to follow her family.

I glanced up at Asher. He sent me a bolstering smile. “So, I know squat about football, but I can tell your man just got put in the hot seat, right?”

“Right,” I said.

The catcher who’d taken on the punt had tried to run for it, only getting us to the fifteen-yard line. I chewed my nails as a huddle formed around Quinn and he pointed out the next game plan to them.

“But he’ll do just fine,” I told Asher. “He’ll do great.” Because he was great at everything he did.

Asher squeezed my hand. “Yes, he will,” he agreed.

I clamped my grip around his fingers, and the play began. The ball was hiked to Quinn. His lineman charged into the defensive line to keep them at bay, the clang of helmets and shoulder pads making me hold my breath. When a defensive linebacker broke free and charged him, I squeaked in fear, knowing he was about to be sacked. But Quinn spun from the tackle and dodged out of the pocket, looking down the field for a receiver to catch a pass.

Ten broke free of the safety following him. As soon as he was open, Quinn wound back his arm and launched the ball his way with a Hail Mary. When it landed in Ten’s arms perfectly, I screamed and jumped up and down. Ten clutched the ball to his chest and ran a good ten more yards before he was tackled, but I kept jumping and screaming out my excitement. I sprang at Asher and hugged him before laughing and screaming some more. After such a huge play, we still weren’t far enough down the field to try for a field goal, though. And now we only had thirty-eight seconds left in the game with the clock still ticking, and no timeouts left for our team.

Quinn had to down the ball to stop the clock, but that left us with only two tries to make it ten yards before we’d have to kick.

“You can do it. You can do it. You can do it,” I chanted, watching him as he clapped his hands, breaking up the huddle. He would have to throw—there wasn’t time to try to run the ball. And everyone knew it. So the defense covered all the receivers. Quinn looked toward Ten first. But Ten had two defensive players around him, keeping him from catching anything. So, Quinn checked out another receiver, but that guy tripped and fell.

No one was open.

The defense closed in around him. Quinn sidestepped one guy trying to tackle him and found an opening, where he began to run. Oh God, he was going for it.

Since he usually played as a tight end, he knew how to run with the ball. And that’s what he did. He broke free of the main cluster, but a safety started for him and would’ve caught him if Ten hadn’t appeared out of nowhere and blocked that guy, keeping him from reaching Quinn. From there on out, he had a free sprint to the goal line, where he made a touchdown and won us the divisional championship game.