Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 111685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“Oh.” His head bent down, almost shyly. “And I do want to stay with them. I’m sorry I said that.”
Okay.
Yeah.
He was confused. So was I. He wanted me, but he wanted them. He was still a kid. Everything is overwhelming when you are seventeen. But I could do this. He could do this.
I framed his face, my forehead falling to rest on his. “You and me.” I made sure his eyes were looking in mine, even as I had to pull him down since he was so much freaking taller. “We’ll figure it out, but I got you. You got me.”
He hesitated, then nodded with me. “Okay. Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Another hug. This one I had taken Georgia’s role and I just wanted to hug him for the rest of his life. I wanted to shield him from everything, take care of him, protect him, love him, guide him, challenge him, but most of all, I just wanted him to be okay. That was job number one.
He pulled back, flicking his hand up at his eyes, his head turned away. He flicked his hand a couple more times before the crowd sat and we went with them. He nodded toward the field. “You and Reeves. He good to you?”
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.