by L A Cotton
But one thing was for sure…
The boy I’d met at the party was long gone.
Chapter Eight
Kaiden
I watched Lily flee from the room the second Mr. Jenkins dismissed class.
“She’s one crazy cookie.” I elbowed Bryan in the ribs, and he stuttered. “What the fuck, Thatch? I’m just saying, if you ask me, you had a lucky escape.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you.” I stormed from the room with him hot on my heels.
“Don’t tell me you actually like her?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
It didn’t.
She was Coach Ford’s daughter.
Off-limits.
But it didn’t mean I liked hearing him talk shit about her.
“Oh, hey, Kaiden.” Lindsey and two of her friends appeared. She wrapped a possessive hand around my arm. “I was just talking about you.”
“All good I hope,” Bryan said around a shit-eating grin.
“Of course. You know the pep rally is coming up on Friday which means we’ll be assigning rally girls to each football player.”
“You guys do that?” Bryan’s eyes almost popped out of his head.
“Well, not officially, Principal Kiln frowns upon it.” She leaned in closer as if she was about to share the secrets of the universe with us. “But unofficially, we take our roles as rally girls very, very seriously.” Lindsey made a show of licking her lips. “See you around, guys.” Motioning for her friends, they all took off down the hall.
Bryan flopped against the locker bank, clutching his chest. “If you don’t tap that, I will die a slow, painful death. She’s sex and sin all wrapped up with a pretty little bow.”
“Not interested.” I shook my head.
“Thatch, you’re killing me here. Do you have any idea how much I’d give to have a girl like that offering it up to me on a platter?”
“So, you bang her.”
“But she doesn’t want me, dude. She wants a piece of the Thatchman.” He tapped me on the chest. “And imagine Monroe’s face when he hears you’re banging the hottest girl in school. Taking his position and his girl… he’ll fucking hate it.”
“What’s happening?” Gav strolled up to us.
“Just trying to convince Thatch to take what Lindsey is offering.”
“That girl has trouble written all over her.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s the point.” Bryan gawked at him.
“Speaking of trouble…” Gav flicked his eyes down the hall to where Jenson Monroe and his guys were making their way toward us.
“Thatcher,” he said, coolly. “All set for Friday?”
“Friday?” I took the bait.
“Yeah, the pep rally. You can hold my helmet while I stand beside Coach and get the crowd pumped.”
“I heard Coach is going to announce the starting lineup for the game against Marshall Prep Friday too.” Bryan smirked. “So maybe you’ll be the one holding Thatcher’s helmet while he steals your team right out from under you.”
Anticipation crackled in the air as Monroe snarled, stepping up to Bryan. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me.” Bryan didn’t miss a beat, squaring off with the Raiders quarterback. “Go on, Monroe. You know you want to.”
Jenson’s teeth ground together as he clenched his fists at his sides. I shifted closer to Bryan, ready to intervene if necessary. It was one thing to push each other’s buttons, but I wasn’t about to risk game time for this asshole.
“Bry,” I said. “He isn’t worth it.” Sliding my arm around his chest, I eased him away.
“You know, Thatcher. It’s real cute the way you walk around all high and mighty as if you’re too fucking good to go a few rounds with me. Or maybe it’s because you’re scared. Maybe the rumors about you are full of sh—”
I was up in his face in an instant, chest to chest with him, pure rage flooding my veins. “You want to test that theory?” My brow arched.
Monroe flashed me a knowing smirk. “I knew you had it in you. Just like your old man.” My eyes widened and he chuckled darkly. “Oh, you thought we wouldn’t find out about that? It’s called Google, asshole. And it won’t be long until everyone in school knows exactly what kind of guy your old man is.”
Anger snaked through me like poison, turning my rationality into venom.
Anger at my dad, at Monroe. Anger over the fact that Rixon East had burned down on the most important year of high school. It wasn’t fair that I was held to the same standards as him, but that was life. There was no escaping your name or its history.
Fuck.
“Bet Coach must love having you here. Every time he looks at you he must want to—”
“Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Monroe, I suggest you both get to class,” Principal Kiln yelled. “Now.”
“Yeah, we’re going, sir.” Monroe sneered at me as he walked off down the hall.
“Asshole,” Bryan hissed.
“Yeah.” My chest heaved as I tried to calm the fuck down.
But Jenson Monroe would get what was coming to him. I just had to wait to hit him where it would hurt most.
On the football field.
The mood at practice was tense. Everyone felt it. Coach spent the entire time scowling as he watched us run drills and work through plays. His scrutiny burned into me from across the field. The stifling anticipation ahead of Friday’s announcement.
“Okay, bring it in,” he eventually yelled after a grueling ninety minutes. Sweat rolled down my back, my jersey damp and dirty. The Raiders defensive players had been brutal today, slamming into me as if we were playing the game of our lives. It didn’t take much to figure out what was going on. I’d seen Monroe smirking, high-fiving them, and cheering them on from the sidelines. He was gunning for me and he’d roped his team in to do his dirty work.
Asshole.
I ripped my helmet off and traipsed over to the huddle.
“Nice work out there. Monroe, nice passing,” Coach said. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into you today, Thatcher, but I suggest you leave your shit at the door tomorrow.”
My spine stiffened. Gav shot me a hard look. His eyes glittering with one message. Don’t. It took everything in me not to argue with Coach, but I wouldn’t be that guy. The guy who cried foul. If Monroe wanted to play dirty, then I’d just have to play dirtier.
“I want you all to know that Friday is decision day. I’ll be posting the starting lineup for the Marshall game. It doesn’t mean those of you who don’t make the cut won’t get game time. But I have to make a decision, and my decision is final.”
A chill went through the air as the Raider players honed in on me and my guys. Aaron and Cole were the only two players who didn’t treat us like we were outcasts. Some of the guys seemed indifferent, but the majority were Monroe’s guys. Their loyalty to their quarterback, to their team, ran deep.
“Understood?” he said.
“Yes, sir.” echoed around me.
“Good, and don’t forget there’s the booster thing at Bell’s after the pep rally. I expect you all to be there.”
“Bell’s?” Bryan asked, and a few of the guys snorted.
“It’s a bar downtown. It’ll be a good chance for you to meet the boosters and break the ice.”
Just what I didn’t need, more ice breaking.
“Okay, hit the showers.”
We padded off the field, filing into the locker room. It had become them and us, with Monroe and his guys taking up most of the benches. They had left us one bench over in the corner of the room, away from the rest of the team.
I peeled out of my sweaty uniform and threw it in my gym bag, before grabbing a towel and heading for the showers. The water felt like heaven, sluicing over my aching, overworked muscles. I stuck my head under the jet and ran my hand down my face.
There was every chance Coach would start Monroe next Friday. He was the guy to beat. The guy I had to dethrone. If my surname wasn’t That
cher, I would have done that in our first week of practice. I was the better player. My stats said so and so did my performance on the field. But it wasn’t that simple.
Turning off the shower, I grabbed my towel and dried my body, then secured it around my waist. When I got back to the bench, Bryan and Gav were sitting there looking as grim as fuck.
“What?” I barked, reaching into my locker to get my clothes.
“Shit, man. We tried to stop them.”
“What?” Anger pulsed through me as I pulled out my t-shirt and saw the black marker ink scrawled across the front.
“Like father, like son.” My teeth ground together so hard it felt like I might crack enamel.
“Monroe?”
Bryan nodded. “But he’s not—”
I was across the locker room in seconds, my arm pressed against Monroe’s throat as he glared at me. “You think that shit’s funny?”
“Seemed pretty funny to me.” He snorted, but the blood quickly drained from his face when I pressed my arm harder against his windpipe.
“Wrong d-decision,” he spluttered, as his guys crowded around us.
“It’s your funeral,” one of them said.
My eyes narrowed to thin slits as red-hot fury licked my insides.
I wasn’t my dad.
I wasn’t anything like him.
And yet…
Fuck.
Immediately releasing Monroe, I stepped back, running a hand down my face. “Don’t touch my shit again.”
“You’re a liability, Thatcher,” he called after me. “You know it. I know it. We all fucking know it.”
I slipped on my hoodie, forgoing the ruined t-shirt, and zipped it up.
“Thatch, man, we didn’t—”
“You coming or not?” I asked, grabbing my bags and hauling ass out of the locker room. Before I did something fucking stupid like putting my fist through Monroe’s face.
Bryan and Gav caught up with me as I reached the parking lot. We usually rode together so I expected them to follow. But I couldn’t be in that locker room with that smug asshole for another second.
“Monroe is an asshole,” Bryan said.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s not going to let this thing go.”
I’d gotten into a fight last season, a big one. It had made the local news. I wish I could say it wasn’t my fault, but the fact was, it was. I’d landed a two-game suspension, and I’d missed my chance with the scouts from Alabama. It was a clusterfuck. But I’d pulled back the season in a record-beating turnaround. I was hoping it was enough to get the nod from Alabama, but it never came, so everything was riding on senior year.
Every-fucking-thing.
“You could talk to Coach—” My head whipped up and Bryan rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess that isn’t an option.”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing, man,” Gav said. “He’s trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t give it to him.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Aaron and Cole came jogging out of the building. “Hey, that was some intense shit back there. You good?” Aaron asked me, and I nodded.
“Listen, I don’t know what you have planned, but we’re heading to my house if you want to come and hang?”
I glanced at Bryan and Gav. They both shrugged, leaving the decision up to me.
“No pressure, man,” Aaron added. “I have a pretty sweet setup though. My sister calls it the den, but it’s just an old shed my dad let me convert into a place to hang out.”
“Sounds cool.”
“I should probably warn you though, my dad is best friends with Coach Ford.”
“Will Coach Ford be there?” I asked.
“No.” Aaron chuckled. “It’s safe.”
“Then let’s go.”
I followed Aaron to a big sprawling house on the edge of Rixon right by the Susquehanna River. A lot of the kids in Rixon East lived in similar houses. I always teased Bryan about his parents’ mansion, but this was something else.
“Dude, Bennet is rich.” Bryan let out a low whistle as we climbed out of my car and approached Aaron and Cole.
“Nice place,” I said.
“Yeah, it’s okay.” His lips quirked but not in a conceited way.
I liked the guy. He was only a junior, but there was something about him. He was levelheaded and kept his cool on the field, and he didn’t kiss Monroe’s ass like the majority of the team.
“Come on.”
We followed him around back, passing a double garage, and slipped through a gate secured with a keypad.
“You guys want drinks? Snacks?”
“Hell yeah,” Bryan and Gav high-fived.
The yard was huge, complete with a swimming pool, and the shed Aaron had talked about. There was a wooden gazebo housing a grill and garden furniture, and a treehouse at the other end of the yard.
“Me and my sister used to hang out there all the time when we were kids.” Aaron noticed me staring.
“Twins, right?” I’d heard the guys talking about it.
“Yeah. And that,”—he pointed toward a tall guy heading toward the woods edging their yard—“is our foster brother Ezra. But he keeps to himself.” A strange expression washed over him.
“He goes to our school?” I hadn’t noticed him around.
“Yeah, he’s a senior. But he’s going through some stuff. Come on.” Aaron motioned to the kitchen door, and we all filed into the Bennet’s house.
“Mom usually keeps the refrigerator and cabinets stocked.” He began rifling through the shelves. “Bingo.”
“Aaron is that—oh, you’re not Aaron,” his sister frowned at me. “Kaiden Thatcher? You brought Kaiden Thatcher to our house?”
“Relax, Sis. We’re going to hang out in the den.”
“Does Dad know you’re—”
“Goodbye, Sis.” He gave Cole a six pack of beer and threw me a bag of chips. “Come on.”
“I invited the girls over,” Sofia called after us. “Maybe we could come hang out—”
“Don’t even think about it,” Aaron replied with a chuckle.
“Are they always like this?” I asked Cole.
“All the damn time. But Sofia is—”
“My sister. She’s my sister, asshole.”
“Seriously, you need to let that shit go,” Cole grumbled. “It was just a stupid game. Nothing happened.”
“Good,” Aaron grumbled. “And it’s going to stay that way.” He opened the door to the shed and we filed inside.
“Holy shit. This is the bomb,” Bryan dived onto the huge sectional pushed up against one wall. It divided the room in two halves, facing the television and games station, with a pool table and old-fashioned pinball machine on the other side.
“He’s right, this is pretty sweet,” I said, accepting a beer from him. “Your parents won’t mind you drinking?”
“So long as we keep it low-key they don’t mind. My dad is pretty cool like that.”
“Man, I wish my dad was that cool,” Gav said.
I didn’t reply. They both knew what an asshole my old man could be. He didn’t like me having friends over, let alone kicking back with a beer.
“Will the girls come out here?” Bryan asked, fighting a smirk.
“I hope not,” Aaron grumbled.
“Shut up, man,” Cole nudged his ribs. “You love it when Poppy comes and hangs out.”
“Oh, fuck off.”
“Poppy as in Coach’s daughter?”
He nodded. “We grew up together, we’re friends.”
“Friends friends or like friends-with-benefits friends?” Bryan waggled his brows.
“Just friends.”
“What about the blonde one… Peyton? You think I have a shot with her?”
“Peyton isn’t like most girls,” Aaron said. “She’d eat you alive.”
“And I’d enjoy every fucking second of it.”
Everyone laughed at that. But I wasn’t laughing. I was th
inking about Lily. About her bright-blue eyes and soft-pink lips. I was thinking about how hurt she’d looked yesterday morning.
“You up for a game of pool?” Aaron said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Count me in.” I nodded.
Because anything was better than daydreaming about things I could never have.
Chapter Nine
Lily
“I’m going over to the Bennet’s house; do you want to come?” Poppy stuck her head around the door.
“No, I don’t think so. But thanks for asking.” I barely made eye contact with her, staring at the ceiling instead.
“A little birdie told me Kaiden Thatcher and his friends are over there…”
“They are?” I frowned.
“Yeah, Aaron invited them or something. Anyway, they’re holed up in the den and Sofia wants to go annoy them. You should come.”
“I don’t know…” I was sure Kaiden wouldn’t want me there.
“People are never going to notice you if you spend your life hiding away,” she said.
“People?” I finally sat up and met her soft gaze. It was like looking at Mom; they were so similar.
“Boys… one boy in particular. You know what I mean.” The corner of her mouth tipped. “I think you should come.”
“It’s probably not a good idea.”
“Because…”
Because Kaiden kissed me and then couldn’t get away from me fast enough when he found out about Dad.
“See. You can’t think of a reason. Let’s go.”
“Poppy, I’m not sure—”
“What’s the worst that can happen? You’ve been to the Bennet’s house hundreds of times. It’s familiar territory. Sofia will tease the guys for ten minutes then get bored and we can hang out in her room. I already invited Ashleigh.”
“What about Peyton?”
“She’s working a double shift at Cindy’s.”
“She works too hard,” I murmured.
“Yeah, but you know how she feels about paying her own way.”
Sometimes I wondered if it was more than that. If being with us was too much of a reminder of everything she didn’t have.
“Yeah, I guess.”