“Get off me,” he snarls, slapping my hand away. “I’m good.”
“Like hell you are. If you can’t handle it, ride the bench and wait until you can,” Knox argues.
Jaxon shoves him and a ref steps in. “We’re playing a clean game here.”
A medic checks Jax’s eyes, and he’s declared fine to play. Coach Carpenter is clearly ready to pull the plug, but we have limits and he wants Jax to shine, to reveal what he can do.
“One play. We get the goal,” I demand.
The others agree and I feel the shift in mood, but Jax is a black cloud that’s burning up. It’s a matter of time before he goes supernova at this point.
I’d feel better if I knew what was causing it.
I’d feel a lot better if he could wait to have his meltdown until we got home.
But that’s not Jax’s style.
JAXON
Fuck them. Fuck all of them for being fine. Fuck all these assholes and fuck… fuck me too. The second the ball is in the air, I move. I’m not waiting. I can take any hit. I can handle it all because I do plenty. I can handle it. It’s not too much. She’s not too much. And if Daisy… I don’t see the tackle coming. It’s dirty. Two guys on me. One tackles me from behind, the other from the side. I feel the way my back tweaks before I hit the ground and I do the only thing I can think of. I drive my knee into the guy’s stomach until he wheezes and rolls over.
Killing death itself is like killing the memories.
And since neither of those are possible, I’ll have to take it out on these assholes.
The guy that’s on top of me get an elbow to the stomach and I drive my cleat into his ankle until he lets out a “take it fucker” in my ear.
I shove him off me and struggle to get up. My back is fucked. I don’t know if it’s a muscle or bone, but it’s fucked and they’re going to pay. I didn’t have anyone there to make her pay.
But I will.
No one gets to forget her.
My sister deserved better and she’s going to get it.
I don’t remember getting to my feet, but I remember the yelling. Knox trying to hold me back and me shoving him to the side and slipping my leg out so he’s on the ground.
A haze of red falls over me while Daisy sobs in my ear, begging me to end it, telling me she needs help, telling me she doesn’t know how to make it stop. My parents saying I can’t save her. She has to save herself. She’s not mine to protect.
But she should have been.
If I would have stayed. If I hadn’t gone to play a pick-up game.
If I just would have answered the fucking phone!
“Jax! Hit the bench!” Coach Carpenter yells.
I didn’t hit the bench for her. I’m not stopping until it’s done. Until we’ve won. Until we can rest. Daisy deserves better. She’s going to get it. She’s going to fucking get it no matter what it costs me.
It cost her everything.
I’ll give the same.
“On the bench, now!” Coach yells.
FuckingCoach. Trying to tell me that she doesn’t want to be saved. That she likes the torture. He deserves what he’s going to get. I’ll give it to him. I’m bigger. I’m younger.
He’s her father. He should know better. He should do better!
