“Never,” Boone palms the ball off the ground as Cael blows the minute warning whistle and causes panic. He moves quickly, and the ball is in play even quicker. We barely have time to position, and the ball bounces hard off the ground ten yards behind Josie before flicking out of bounds.
“You fucking—” Cosy spits, knowing precisely the play the Hogs are trying to run. Kaia quickly explains to Cael what’s happening. Josie stands out of bounds next to Raul, and Cael positions himself between them, blowing the whistle before any of us are even ready for it.
Brighton doesn’t flinch. He hauls his brother up over his head while Kaia and I scramble into position, but Boone’s arms are longer, and he pulls the ball toward him with one hand and slaps Kaia’s with the other.
“You can’t win this, Killer.” Boone teases her, and takes off as Kaia hits the ground with a feral look on her face.
As soon as Boone’s feet hit the dirt, he's gone and Rhea struggles to let go of Kaia fast enough. She trips for a heartbeat before digging into the dirt and finding her stride to catch up with my brother. She tries, but there’s no catching him with the head start. She reaches for his shorts, but he spins away, skips a few steps, and slides over the line for the try.
He picks himself and the ball off the ground, pointing at Kaia and returning the smug wink she had tossed him earlier. I shake my head as Cael blows the whistle to call the five-minute break, and we all gather for some water.
“Don’t get cocky,” I warn Boone and hand him the water bottle. I look over my shoulder, and Cael is smiling, chatting away with Rhea. My jaw tightens uncomfortably. “That gremlin’s not calling bad hits. Keep it clean.”
“I’m fully aware we’re down, Bri,” he says to me, snatching it away. “Maybe if you spent less time rolling around in the dirt, making out with Reaper, we’d be winning.”
I stare at him.She’d hit me hard. I hope she’s okay.I fight the urge to look over my shoulder again just to check.Is it Cael or is it her that has you so unbalanced?
“Just play. Stop showing off,” I warn.
I fix the sleeves on my jersey, rub the sweat from my palms, and stare down Cael until he blows the whistle again. It’s all I can do to keep my focus. Rhea laughs about something with Kaia, and it feels like it’s been weeks since I last heard that noise. Every day that goes by, her sad girlsmile chips away at what resolve I have, and I find myself softening to her more than I respectfully should.
“Just play,” Boone mocks in my ear as we line up.
I run my hand through my hair and take count of the opponents. Kaia is twitching at the end of their line, her body itching to move.
“Try to keep the tackles fair, Black,” Cael drawls as he passes, twirling that stupid fucking whistle. I want to choke him with it. He blows it loudly, and the second half of the game starts. The ball bounces back and forth between the teams for a moment before Cosy wins clean possession and starts to move it up the field.
Judd cuts me off to take Cosy down, and I let him—because before he can even get his hands on her, the ball gets shucked wide into Rhea’s arms. Her long legs pump fast the second she comes in contact with it. I side-step, encouraging my body forward as she barrels toward the gap between Chris and me. She’s going to slip right by because he’s slow and clumsy, barely able to stop the ball as it flies by him, and Rhea stiff-arms him straight in the chest.
Shit.
“Get her!” Boone hollers from behind me.
I didn’t need him to tell me what needed to be done. I'm just not even sure I can catch her at this point. Unlike Boone, I can admit when someone is faster than me, and Rhea, despite her strength difference, carries herself most gracefully. I chase after her, seeing the win slipping from our grasp, the closer she gets to the line.
My thighs scream by the time I get in range, and I launch from the dirt, knowing that if I miss the wrap-up, it’s over. I’m the only person close enough to stop her. My hands find the soft skin of her stomach and yank her hard against my chest. Our feet tangle. She gets three more steps before we’re hurling toward the turf. My shoulder explodes from the contact as I wrap her up and we roll clumsily through the grass. We land with her on top of me—her chest in my face, that wicked grin already there. She pops her arm up, ball still in her grip, and taps the grass above my head with it.
“Thanks for the help,” she says in a whisper that shudders through my entire body.
“Yeah,” I groan as she pushes herself off me with her nails digging into my chest. “No worries, Hellcat,” I grunt, pain biting through my shoulder.
“It was a good tackle,” Judd’s voice echoes from my left, and his hand comes into view first, helping me off the ground. “She’s just freakishly tall,” he says.
I grumble something under my breath, and Judd takes that as an agreement as we flood back to our spots down fourteen. The rest of the game goes worse, the second moral drops, and we realize that we’re the inferior team; the guy’s adrenaline deflates. Boone does his best to get them back, and we score another try, but Kaia follows it up by running the entire pitch. She hurdles Raul without pause and flips over the line because she’s just as much of a show-off as Boone.
Cael blows the whistle to end it, and we stand around out of breath and out of confidence, but Kaia is on a mission. She stomps across the field to where Boone has sunk into the grass on his knees, trying to get air into his lungs.
“Say it,” she says again, both hands on her hips.
“Never.” He shakes his head, and she squats down to get level with him.
“Say it,” she demands.
“I fucking hate you,” he grumbles, but there’s a dopey smile on his face.
“No, you don’t,” she’s quick to counter, and she pokes him in the chest. “Say it.”
“You’re better. And faster,” he pants. “Happy now?”
