Quinn started saying that maybe we could have people over to our place. I just shrugged. Every once in a while, we’d have people over; it always got over crowded and someone was always trying to get into our rooms to have sex.
“I don’t care, but I’m locking my door.”
“You can lock the door with you and me inside it, babe,” Micah said, putting his arm around my shoulders and I watched as Sophia’s eyes locked on his arm.
“Not a chance, unless you want to watch that new Channing Tatum movie with me,” I laughed.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Come on, Em, I could do that thing that makes you scream real loud.” I know I looked flustered; I couldn’t help it. Micah was good, but it wasn’t happening. I started shaking my head.
Jace slipped his hands, followed by the rest of his body, in between the two of us, forcing Micah to take a wide step back away from him. “Come on, Em and Q; let’s get back to our seats.” He looped my arm through his elbow and walked off with Quinn following on the other side of him.
“Real smooth. I don’t need someone intervening for Jaxon, he does that enough. You know we aren’t together, right? I can talk to whoever I want about whatever I want.” Although I was glad he rescued me away from Micah, I didn’t want him to think that I was Jaxon’s. I don’t need someone trying to maneuver me away from guys when Jaxon wasn’t around to do it himself.
“I know that Jax cares about you a lot.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll never be together, like that.”
He gave me a confused look. “Why wouldn’t you?” he asked. “You’re perfect for each other.” Quinn stepped up next to us with a beaming smile, looking victorious.
“I don’t date. Anybody. Period.”
His look told me that he hadn’t heard about my rules. “You’re a strange girl, Em.”
“He knows all of this about me. I told him basically my life story the first day we met,” I countered.
“Just don’t hurt him, he doesn’t need that again.” He looked right at me when he said that and my heart started beating through my chest. What did he mean by ‘again’? Wasn’t that what I was trying to prevent here? How come no one understood me, and more importantly, how come I was starting to not understand myself?
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid!” I snapped in return. I took a deep breath and stepped back from the two of them, “I’m going to the restroom, and I’ll meet you at the seats later.” Jace gave me an apologetic face.
Quinn tried to follow but I shook my head at her, and told her I’d be right back. Instead of going to the restroom, I walked all the way out to our car. Lying down in the back seat, I stared up at the fabric on the ceiling. What the hell was I doing with Jaxon anyway? Why did I bother getting close like this with someone. Without breaking my rules, I was somehow breaking them. Every time Jax was near me, it was like everything I had tried to push away in the past was rushing at me full speed. The problem is, I enjoy every second I spend with him. We’ve talked about this; we’ve talked about what my needs are. He seems to understand and he continually tells me he can handle it. I just needed to stop listening to everyone else around us.
By the time I made it back into the stadium, they were already ten minutes into the third quarter. The concessions and the walkway under the stands were completely vacant, besides the few stragglers trying to finish off their cigarettes before they went back to their seats. From under here, you could feel the rumble of the crowd above. Some were bouncing their feet, most were cheering loudly. I walked up the stadium stairs to where Quinn and Jace were sitting. I heard Jaxon immediately, even before I could see him.
“Well where the fuck is she, what if something happened to her?” he sounded panicky and irritated with whomever he was talking. “You said she went to the restroom fifteen minutes ago.” Had I really been gone that long?
Jace responded, “Dude, chill out, she’ll be back.” When I walked toward our seats, I saw Jax leaning up on the railing barriers talking to them. He had his helmet on like he needed to be on the field at a moment’s notice. His last name was called and with a frustrated breath, he turned around and hustled for the field before he could see that I’d made it back.
“Where the hell have you been? I just tried to call you!” Quinn yelled at me as I sat down between her and Jace.
“I needed a breather; I must have left my phone in the car.”
“The car? You were supposed to be in the bathroom!” Quinn screeched at me.
“Jax was freaking,” Jace began. “I didn’t mean to make you mad, I’m sorry.”
“Everything’s fine, Jace. You didn’t do anything wrong. Protecting your brother is what family does.”
“But I shouldn’t have even opened my mouth about the two of you. He’ll kick my ass for meddling.”
“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” I begged. He nodded his head and patted my leg.
“Man, I wish he would have seen you before he headed back out there. Now he’s going to be distracted,” Jace complained.
At that, I stood up with my hands above my head clapping and yelled, “WOOO GO JAXON!” He was all the way on the opposite side of the field but his head instantly stood up from his ready stance and looked directly at me. From all the way over here, I could see his piercing blue eyes. He gave me the “okay” signal with his fingers, gesturing if everything was all right with me. I gave him the signal right back and he nodded his head and smiled, then returned to his ready position. “I think he’ll focus now,” I said to both of the wide-eyed busy bodies on either side of me.
Ten minutes later, Cole scored a much-needed touchdown. Quinn and I jumped up and down. Jace clapped but he gave a determined look to Jax. I watched as he nodded back to his brother. This twin communication was bizarre to watch. When our team got the ball back, all of the offense including Cole and Jax lined back up on the field. The ball was snapped back to Dalton and he launched it toward Cole almost instantly. Cole caught it between his hands and tucked it in protectively. He started shuffling trying to get down the line. He didn’t see it coming, but one of the defenders came barreling for him from his right side. I heard Quinn’s intake of breath right before the crash. When the guy smashed into the side of Cole, the ball flew high in the air and Cole hit the ground hard, straight on his back.
All of a sudden, Jaxon was in the air and he snatched the ball so fast almost none of the defenders noticed. By the time they realized the ball didn’t come down with Cole, Jaxon was half way down the field. Everyone in the stands stood, yelling for him to run faster. Jaxon passed the end zone effortlessly without even being touched. He let the ball slip through his fingers and pointed right at me with a huge grin on his face. I pointed back to him and clapped. I’ve got to hand it to this sexy man, he was good. He didn’t stand down in the end zone and celebrate either.
When I looked over at Quinn, my smile dropped. She was still staring out into the field. When I followed her line of sight, I noticed Cole was still lying down flat on the ground. During his fall, his helmet must have been knocked off. Jace, Quinn, and I immediately moved up against the railing. Jaxon was sprinting back to Cole’s side. In his haste, he slid on the ground on his knees to stoop right next to Cole and pulled his helmet off as well. We all watched as Jaxon cupped Cole’s face and practically yelled at him in obvious frustration. Quinn took a stuttering breath in. I think Jace was about to jump over the side and take off running; his knuckles were pale white gripping the railing. The coach and the team medics were already jogging across the field.
Then Jaxon reached out his palm and Cole grabbed it. When Jaxon pulled him to a standing position and we all watched him walk normally back to our side of the field, everyone jumped up and cheered. Quinn let out a long relieved breath. I looked at her and noticed a tear slip down her face, but she quickly batted it away before anyone else could see. When Cole reached the bench, he sat down and chugged water from a squeezable plastic bottle. Jaxon walk
ed by, patted him on the back, and sat next to him. Jace obviously couldn’t take it anymore; he swung his legs over the railing and went to sit on Cole’s opposite side. We watched as they all talked to each other. Cole shook his head at something Jace said and both he and Jaxon burst out laughing. It was a relief to watch; laughing meant Cole was okay.
Quinn and I both sat back in our seats to continue watching the remainder of the game that had resumed while we were glued to watching Cole recover from his knockout. I was a little disappointed none of the guys had come over to talk to us about what had happened. They hadn’t even looked back our way. They really were each other’s best friends sitting there in their own little world, talking and joking around.
The score was tied and the other team had the ball. Their quarterback was almost immediately sacked and the ball was returned to us. I was surprised to see Cole suiting up and going back out there.
“It must not have been that bad, Quinny,” I told her while pointing at him.
“I still don’t think he should be going back out.”
For the next two plays, Dalton threw straight to Jaxon as he ran it down the field getting closer and closer to the end zone. He must have deemed him fit to catch his precious golden boy throws, after that last touchdown. I don’t know why I was extremely uncomfortable watching Jaxon get tackled. I’d seen Cole get tackled numerous times. This was football and it was expected. Each time I watched him go down, my stomach dropped a little bit more and without realizing it, I grabbed Quinn’s hand on a particularly hard hit.
“It’s not so easy when you care about them is it?” Quinn squeezed my hand back.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said avoiding her eyes.
“Whatever, your heart knows what I’m talking about, and one day your brain will catch up.”
“My heart is for pumping blood not for caring about a boy and whether he gets hurt or not.” I realized how unconvincing I must sound when Quinn just rolled her eyes at my response.
In a trick-play, we watched as Dalton handed off the ball to Jaxon. He took off in a dead sprint right into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. I hope he didn’t think he was getting more than a hot air balloon ride for the additional touchdown. One of the defenders chasing Jaxon couldn’t stop his momentum and barreled right over, knocking him to the ground.
I stood up and impulsively yelled, “Hey!” It just popped out of my mouth. Jace turned from his spot on the bench and smiled perceptively up at me. I rolled my eyes at him while Quinn covered her laugh with her hands. These two were getting on my nerves.
Jaxon was the first one to stand back up. He surprised us all when he reached his hand out and helped the other guy to his feet. So many of these guys would have yelled or even started a fight with that guy for knocking them over. Not Jaxon though, he helps them up and laughs along with them.
The game ended shortly after that and we had won thanks to Jaxon’s last touchdown. For obvious reasons, I loved when we won games, but mostly I loved it because the guys were in such a better mood afterward. Last year, we lost two games, and Quinn and I avoided Cole like the plague for the rest of the weekend. Usually by Monday, he had cooled off. We learned the hard way freshman year though, when he used to snap at us over absolutely nothing. It took us a while to realize that his attitude was related to football.
The team was walking along the field after the game shaking hands with the opposing players. Quinn and I found the stairs and went down to meet up with them. She was walking at a much quicker pace than I was, and I had to take longer strides to keep up with her. I smiled as I watched her dodge and dart through the other players to get to Cole. When we reached him, she stepped right up to him and put her hands on each side of his face. I didn’t hear what she asked, because I was still a couple of paces behind. His face became serious instantly and he nodded his head looking directly into her eyes. They stared at each other for a bit, until surprisingly, Quinn took the initiative and crushed her lips to his. I froze in my steps.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Cole extended his arm behind him and handed his helmet off to whoever would take it. Jace grabbed it from his hand. He brought both hands to Quinn’s waist and walked her backward, never breaking the kiss. When the back of her legs knocked the bench, he sat her down while he kneeled on the ground in front of her, his knees in the dirt. He separated from her mouth and we all watched, as he talked to her in a low voice. He looked like he was asking her questions while she would nod her head ‘yes’ or shake it for a ‘no’.
I started to step forward so I could hear what they were talking about. These were my two best friends in the whole world, taking this monumental leap, and I just wanted to be there to see everything happen. Jaxon grabbed the hem of my shirt from behind and pulled me backward until I collided with his chest.
“Let them do it, Beautiful.” I remained quiet and nodded, while I kept my eyes glued to the two of them.
From behind, I heard Jaxon ask his brother if he had a pen, then he reached around me, grabbed my hand and started writing on it. I pulled my eyes away from my two friends on the bench who were deep in conversation, and watched Jaxon etching letters into my skin. His hands were sweaty and warm from playing, but I didn’t mind. When he was done, he smiled at me and let my hand fall from his. I brought it up to read.
You’re my favorite cheerleader.
I giggled at his message and playfully elbowed him. I knew I hadn’t hurt him because my elbow hit his padding, but that didn’t stop him from making a grunting noise.
When I finally heard Cole excitedly shout, “Really?” I pulled my face away from Jaxon’s.
Quinn nodded her head ‘yes’, and then they both grabbed at each other and started kissing passionately. A couple of minutes later, they finally came up for air, but continued staring at one another smiling. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I ran over to them and wrapped my arms around the both of them. Cole chuckled and wrapped his arms around the both of us and we all three sat there in a mixed up hug.
When I was ready to give them their space again, I turned to Cole, “Are you okay, from earlier?” I asked, pointing out to the field where I could still picture him lying on the ground not moving.
“I’m good, Emmy, I just got my lights knocked out. When I came to, Jax was screaming in my damn face that he would kill me all over again if I didn’t wake up,” he laughed. I turned to look at Jaxon who shrugged sheepishly.
I looked at Cole again and made a serious face. “If you hurt her, I’ll castrate you, Cole West.”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve been dreaming about this since orientation freshman year, when she let everyone in a five-yard vicinity know that I was a sex god!” he replied with a cocky tone and I watched as Quinn blushed a deep scarlet.
We all waited outside of the locker room for the boys to go inside and change out of their uniforms. Quinn just leaned up against the wall with her fingers on her lips, smiling, and looking off into the distance. I could take a guess as to where her mind was.
“This doesn’t mean you get to move out, away from me,” I said, while glaring at her with my arms crossed.
“No way. I’m not the let’s-get-married-in-college type.”
“Thank God.” I hugged her tightly, hoping that wouldn’t change anytime soon.
The guys came out, freshly showered with wet hair dripping down onto their clean shirts. Cole walked right past us, grabbed Quinn’s hand, and kept walking.
“Hey, guys, wait a second. Quinn, you’re totally not ditching me tonight to go get your love show on. You invited everyone over, you get an hour and a half, and then you better be back at our place! I mean it, this wasn’t my idea!”
Quinn frowned, forgetting she had suggested our place for the party. “Fine, we’ll be there.” Then they were gone, off into their own little world.
We got out to the truck with the motorcycle parked right next to it.
“Dude, I’ll tak
e the truck,” Jaxon said to his brother as they exchanged keys.
“Hey, Jace, can I ride with you on that?” I tried to say it softly so only he could hear.
He gave me a strange look and said, “If you want to. I’m sure you’d have more fun riding with Jax though.”
“Shut up, Jace. Get in the truck, Emerson.” Jaxon stepped in between us and opened the passenger door for me.
I leaned over to see Jace around Jaxon’s body and said, “He won’t ever take me on the motorcycle, but I’ve seen you ride around with girls. Please.” I knew I was begging, but I really wanted to know what it felt like to be on one.
“What? Jax takes girls on this thing all the time,” Jace said shocked.
“Shut the hell up, man!” Jaxon yelled. “I haven’t taken any girls on this bike since we’ve been in California.” I watched as Jace shrugged his shoulders, got onto the bike and started it up.
I turned around and stepped up into the truck. Jaxon tried to help me up, but I got into it before he could even touch me.
“Emerson, I don’t take you on the bike because the idea of you getting hurt makes me physically sick to my stomach. I need you here.” He patted the leather bench seat. ”Safe, not on the back of a motorcycle where one mistake can end you. You’re so small. It worries me even to think about you back there.” He turned my body to face him and his hands were on my thighs.
“I don’t need a protector, okay?” I breathed.
“I’m trying my fucking hardest here, Beautiful.”