by Melinda Minx
“One point per touchdown,” Aiden shouts back. “First to three points wins. No kicking the ball. You guys can start on offense...I figure you need all the help you can get.”
Coal nods, then looks back at me. “Okay, here’s how I see it. There are two main strategies: the best is for them to make Aiden cover you, his height advantage will mean that even if Rita can’t blitz me well, it will be really hard to get a complete pass off to you.”
“So you think Aiden will cover me?” I ask.
“No,” Coal says. “Aiden wants to blitz me, I’m sure of it. Rita will cover you. With Aiden blitzing me, I won’t have much time, so shorter patterns are ideal. One quarterback sneak per four downs means I can only run the ball myself once each time we’re on offense. I’ll save that for when I think I can make a touchdown.”
“What pattern should I run?” I ask.
“Do a tight buttonhook,” Coal says. “There are no first downs, but the field isn’t very long. As long as you gain some ground each down, we can get a touchdown pretty easily. Move on third hike.”
I punch my palm and jump up on the balls of my feet. “Good, yeah, I’m ready!”
“We snapping?” Coal asks.
“No,” Aiden says. “Take five steps back from the line of scrimmage, quarterback starts with the ball there.”
Coal takes the steps back, while I stay on the line.
“If you cross the line at all,” Aiden says, “that’s your quarterback sneak, even if it’s just one step.”
Rita lines up across from me. I give her a mean look, but she just avoids my gaze. Her head better be in this game, or she’s going to lose for sure.
Coal readies his arm to throw, then shouts, “HIKE!”
He said on three, so I don’t move.
Rita runs right over the line.
“Offsides,” Coal says. “What do we get for that?”
“Five steps,” Aiden says.
“Five Andrea steps, or five of my steps?’
“Andrea’s.”
I take five steps forward, and I see Aiden angrily whispering into Rita’s ear. We line up again.
“HIKE!” Coal shouts.
No one moves this time.
“HIKE!”
Again, no movement.
“HIKE!”
I rush across the line, and Aiden tears forward shortly after me. Rita looks up lazily, and she comes after me at least four steps behind me.
I run as fast as I can, then spin around after six steps. The ball is on its way to me as I turn around, and I reach up to grab it.
I see Aiden right on top of Coal, but it’s too late, he got the ball off to me.
I’m slow to turn back around to run, and by the time I start running, I hear one of my flags tear off my belt.
“Got you,” Rita says.
“Took you long enough,” I sneer back at her.
“You don’t have to be a bitch about it,” Rita says.
“Oh, I’m the bitch now?”
Rita scoffs and rolls her eyes. I stamp back to where the flag fell: the new line of scrimmage.
“Huddle up,” Coal says.
“One huddle per four downs from now on,” Aiden says.
Aiden sure likes to make up new rules as the game goes on. The desperate attempts of the losing team.
“Alright,” Coal says. “We want to steal a touchdown right now. First to three wins, so a quick touchdown will break their morale.”
I smile. It’s nice to see the SEAL—the warrior—taking charge.
“How do we do that?” I ask.
“You afraid to take a hit?”
“A hit?” I ask nervously.
“You’re not allowed to tackle in flag football,” Coal says, “so hopefully Aiden won’t tackle you, but I want you to screen him. I’m going to run the ball, and I want you to just stand in front of Aiden with your arms out wide.
“He won’t tackle me?” I ask, gulping.
“He shouldn’t,” Coal says. “I don’t think he’s enough of an asshole to do it, but if he does, I’m going to insist on a ten-step penalty.”
“So you’d sacrifice my safety to win this game?”
“Don’t you want to win?” Coal asks.
“Yes.”
“On two.”
We line up, and I look far into the distance, pretending like I’m going to go long.
“HIKE!”
I pause, Rita and Aiden both flinch, but don’t cross the line.
“HIKE!”
I rush left and back, putting myself right in front of Aiden and shielding Coal from his blitz.
Aiden takes a step toward me, then digs his heels into the grass as I extend my hands out.
He looks left, and I step left just as he does. Blocked!
I predict he’ll try to move right, and I step right. Again, just as he moves right.
He’s wasted many seconds now, and I see his eyes bulge as Coal rips across the line with the ball tucked under his arm.
“Get him!” Aiden shouts. “Rita!”
Aiden finally breaks past me, chasing after Coal, but Coal’s head start on him is too big. Only Rita has a chance of getting him.
Rita holds her arms out as Coal approaches. He looks like he’s going straight toward her. When he’s a few steps away, he lets out a load roar.
Rita screams and jumps out of the way. Coal runs straight into the end zone. He spikes the ball. Touchdown!
“What the fuck, Rita?” Aiden shouts, getting up in her face. “He’s not allowed to tackle you! What are you jumping out of the way for! You lost us a fucking point!”
“It looked like he wasn’t going to stop!”
“Sorry, Rita,” Coal says, grinning. “I shouldn’t play so dirty. Let’s re-do the down since Rita didn’t know the—”
“Did you see me tackle your sister?” Aiden snaps back at Rita. “No! I’m not allowed to tackle her, I had to stop and go around her! Why the hell do you think Coal would tackle you? How stupid do you have to be to think that he would actually tackle you? You pull the fucking flag off his belt, how hard is that?”
“Hey, man,” Coal says, stepping up in Aiden’s face. “There’s no need to be a huge cock about it.”
“You’re the one that scared the shit out of her,” Aiden says.
“You don’t call a woman stupid.”
“You don’t threaten to tackle my girlfriend!” Aiden shouts.
Rita shouts, “Shut up! Both of you!”
I bite my lip. This doesn’t look good. Damien is staring with his jaw wide open, and Mom is fully awake now.
Aiden and Coal both stop talking and look at Rita.
“Coal,” Rita says, “I realize you weren’t going to tackle me now. Thank you for your apology. We don’t need to re-do the down. I’m done playing.”
Coal nods. “Sorry again. It’s a draw, no winners, no losers.”
“And Aiden,” Rita says. “I’m sorry I was so fucking stupid. I’m so sorry that I ruined your chances of showing off and beating Coal at a backyard flag football game where my mom is sleeping in a lawn chair—the proving ground of real manhood—and I’m sorry that you were so upset that he bought Netflix stock that you had to be a big baby and constantly try to one-up him—”
Aiden swings his hand into Rita’s face—a back-handed slap.
Before the slapping sound is even finished echoing out, Coal’s fist slams into Aiden’s rage-filled face. Aiden collapses onto the ground in a heap.
Panic and dread rushes through me. Is Coal going to lose it again and kill Aiden in front of my family?
I try to scream, but my voice catches in my throat.
But then Coal stands motionless above Aiden. He doesn’t go in to hit him again. He simply places a hand lightly on Rita’s shoulder and pulls her hair out of her face. Tears are streaming down her face, and there’s a big red mark all across her face. Blood is dripping out of her nose.
Damien is charging across the yard now, straight toward A
iden.
I run after him, and when Coal sees that Damien is going straight for Aiden, he grabs him and holds him back. “Trust me man, it will feel good now, but you don’t want to do it.”
Aiden is groaning on the grass, blood gushing out of his nose and onto the grass.
He gets back up and jabs a finger at Coal. “You fucker! You’ll regret this!” He skulks away through the fence and toward the driveway. Damien is fighting Coal for everything he’s worth to get loose from his grasp.
Mom is up and rushing toward Rita.
Coal’s fist is still clenched up. He’s furious—I can tell—but he’s keeping his cool.
“Shit,” Coal says, “I shouldn’t have hit him. I—”
“Like hell you shouldn’t have!” Mom shouts. “That bastard hit my daughter! You should have hit him again!”
Coal takes in a deep breath, his big, wide chest heaves. Damien breaks free from Coal’s grip and runs straight for the fence.
Rita is sobbing, so I wrap my arms around her and hold her.
“Go stop Damien,” I shout to Coal. “Hurry!”
18
Coal
Fuck! I should have just pulled him back. But hell, I didn’t hit him nearly as hard as I could have. I actually restrained myself this time. But I doubt Damien will.
I rush through the open gate in the fence, and when I reach the driveway I see Roger standing in front of Aiden’s car with a metal baseball bat.
Damien is next to him, unarmed, kicking the bumper with just his shoe.
I see Roger swing the bat against the hood, bashing a big, fat dent into Aiden’s car.
The car zooms back in reverse, but there’s nowhere to escape to other than a cul-de-sac, so Aiden stops again.
Roger runs forward swinging at air, and Damien fans out. The two of them combined are blocking the road so that Aiden can’t advance forward.
“Let him go!” I shout.
“Like hell we will!” Roger shouts. “I heard you got a clean punch on him, easy for you to say! I want my swing at him, too!”
I sigh. It’s bad enough that Andrea has to worry about her husband getting arrested. The last thing I need is for her to worry about her father and brother getting locked up for Christmas.
I’ve already got heat on me, I might as well take some more.
I grab the bat out of Roger’s hand and charge toward Aiden’s car. I leap onto the hood and slam the bat against the windshield.
The glass is all safety glass, so it breaks into big, relatively safe shards that fall down into the interior.
“You fucking maniac!” Aiden shouts at me.
I’m not going to hit him again—I’m just going to give Roger and Damien a good show. One that will convince them justice has been served.
“You piece of shit!” I roar down at Aiden through the windshield. I point the bat at him.
His eye is swollen shut, and his face is bloodied. He knows what my fist can do, I doubt he wants to see what I could do with a real weapon.
“Get off my car!” Aiden shouts.
“If you ever so much as look at Rita—or Andrea—again, I’ll fucking kill you. That’s a promise, not a threat.”
I raise the bat as if I’m going to swing, and he hits the gas.
The acceleration flings me onto the roof of the car. I curl into a ball and roll across the roof. I land on my feet in a low crouch as Aiden peels down the road. The bat hits the asphalt with a metallic cling.
Roger and Damien step to the side of Aiden’s car, letting him go past.
We all stand in silence, and after a few moments, Roger pats me on the back. “Good job, son.”
“You dumbass!” Andrea says, throwing her arms up in frustration. “You went T-1000 on his car?”
“What?” I say, not understanding her at all.
“T-1000, the scary robot from Terminator 2 who—”
“You’re calling me a scary robot now? Can an advanced robot really be a dumbass?”
“Why did you do that, Coal? This is going to be really bad.”
The police sirens are wailing in the distance. I know she’s right.
Andrea’s family is comforting Rita, and Andrea is talking to me in a low voice so no one hears her.
“Look,” I say in a near whisper. “Your brother and Dad were out for blood. I didn’t actually touch Aiden again, and if I hadn’t done what I did, Damien or Roger might have actually hit him for real. I didn’t want either of them getting in trouble.”
She looks slightly less mad—just for a moment—and then her nostrils flare. “God! You protect everyone but yourself, is that it?”
“I’m a SEAL.” It’s pointless to deny it. Once a SEAL, always a SEAL.
“I called Curly,” Andrea says. “He said he’s on the way.”
“So I’m guessing we should keep our mouths shut until he gets here?”
Andrea nods.
“Fuck that,” I say. “I don’t need some fancy lawyer word-twisting here. That asshole hit your sister and tried to run like the pathetic husk of a man he is. The last thing I want is for Curly to protect me over Rita—she needs a restraining order.”
Andrea squeezes my arm. “Coal, come on, don’t be stupider than you have to be.”
I laugh. “So you’ve given up and accepted that I’ll always be a little bit stupid, huh?”
“Yes,” she says. “But please show some restraint. You’re not a stupid guy, you just do stupid things.”
My father always said that words alone defined a man. I guess Andrea’s assessment means I am a dumbass. Hell, it’s probably worse if I have the potential to be smart, but choose not to use it. Whatever, I’d rather be a dumbass doing more or less the right thing than a brilliant sociopath.
The police step out of their cars and look right at me. There are three men here, but they know with one look which one would jump onto a moving vehicle and smash out the windshield.
“You going to take me in?” I ask.
“Turn around please,” the officer says. “Hands behind your back, no sudden movements.”
“This is ridiculous!” Roger shouts. “Coal was protecting my daughter! He’s a fucking hero!”
“We still have to bring him in,” the officer says. “Now step away, sir, and calm down.”
“I’ll show you calm!” Roger shouts, and Cynthia grabs him and hisses into his ear.
“You going to create a problem for us, sir?”
“No…” Roger says, voice simmering.
They cuff me and start to pull me toward the car.
“Can we go to the station with him?” Damien asks.
“We’ll need statements from all of you,” the second officer says, “so I would ask all of you to come in as soon as you’re able.”
“So the asshole who hits my daughter gets away, but you send two cops to arrest Coal?” Roger spits.
“We’ve already arrested Mr. Alderson,” the officer says, as he opens the door and nudges me in. “Just come to the station and give your statements, let the law decide who is to blame.”
They shut the door, and I can just see everyone’s mouth moving, but I can’t hear anything through the glass.
It’s the second time in a few days I’ve been cuffed in the back of a police car. Merry fucking Christmas.
When they walk me into the station, I see Aiden. He’s cuffed, too, and sitting at a desk talking to some cop. His face is red, almost like he’s been crying. If he was crying, it was probably just out of one eye—his right eye is totally swollen shut now.
I ignore him and let them walk me through. I don’t think the cop escorting me toward the holding cell realizes Aiden is the guy that I punched because he brings me within a few feet of Aiden.
Aiden suddenly looks right up at me, and his one good eye widens. I give him a shit-eating grin, just to egg him on. I know it’s stupid to do that, but like Andrea said, I have to be at least a little stupid.
What happens next shouldn’t surprise me, b
ut it does. Aiden lunges off of his chair and launches himself head first into my gut. His big head rams into my abs like a torpedo, knocking the air out of me. I don’t fall over though, but Aiden does.
He hits the ground in a heap, with his hands still cuffed behind his back. I gasp for breath, and it comes back soon enough that I’m able to just laugh down at him.
“Really, man?” I ask. “You had one shot, and that was it? I guess you’re only good at hitting women.”
The cop shoves me forward toward one of the holding cells, while two more bend down to further restrain Aiden.
I laugh as they haul me off. That sure as hell isn’t going to help his case.
I get about twenty minutes of peace and quiet before Curly bursts in.
“You fucking dumbass!” he shouts at me.
I get up off the hard, metal bench and grin. “Nice to see you again, man.”
“You hit another fucking guy? Do you not realize how much this fucks up your case?”
“If you think about it,” I say, “when you consider the full context of what happened, it sure as hell makes it look like my marriage is real.”
Curly looks like he’s ready to punch me for being a dumbass, but then his eyes widen and his mouth hangs open. He raises a finger up, like he’s telling me to wait—I’m not going anywhere—and finally he starts to speak.
“Holy shit...Coal, you’re right. I think Montero would be hard-pressed to say your marriage is fake at this point. As we speak, Andrea’s family is all giving statements in your defense. You’re brilliant, man!”
I can’t help smiling wide and sticking out my chest. I guess I’d make a pretty kick-ass lawyer.
Then Curly shoves me so hard I fall back onto the bench.
“You dumbass!” he shouts, exploding with anger. “So instead of having to simply prove that you’re married to a woman you are obviously head-over-fucking-heels in love with, instead I have to somehow prove that you’re not a danger to society when you hit two separate guys in similar situations less than a week apart. You killed the first one, let’s not forget that. You made the whole thing so much worse—and there’s still no guarantee Montero won’t press the marriage thing either. I think I heard Andrea’s brother saying you guys got married in Vegas? Great, that unequivocally did not happen, so we’ve got family members giving false testimony now.”