Page 99 of Blood Sport

Ethan inhales slowly and stands to his feet. “Gotcha. I’ve got your back and you have mine.”

I half-heartedly smile and pat him on the shoulder. “All we have to do is get through the game and you can go have a drink with your girl.”

That puts a smile on his face.

“You’re right. We’ve got this. If we stick together, the hunter can’t take us both down.”

I nod. “You’re exactly right.”

“Okay, Raiders, it’s show time!” Coach calls from his spot at the front of the room, and gestures for us to follow him out to the tunnel. The cheering from the crowd intensifies as the MC for the night announces the game is minutes away from starting. “Let’s go out there and put on a great game for the fans.”

“Yes, Coach!” the team says in unison as they make their way out of the locker room.

I linger behind to tie the laces on my cleats before following the team out. As I pass by the single-line formation to join Coach at the front, I can feel Mile's eyes searing a hole into the side of my head. The hole gets bigger when I stand in front of him. I can feel him watching me like a hawk.

What crawled up his ass and died? I understand he’s pissed about the accident, but he has to fucking get over it eventually. We’re best friends for fuck’s sake.

A moment later, we run out onto the field, and the crowd erupts in loud cheers and hollering. The atmosphere makes me smile. This is why I love soccer. This is why I enjoy coming out here each week to put on a show. It’s all for the fans. The lights, the cheers, the smell of the fresh grass, and the adrenaline give me a high I’ve never felt before.

Both teams form a line and face the crowd, ready to sing the national anthem. My eyes scan the crowd until I find a pair of amazonite eyes staring back at me. Evie smiles and waves at me. Her sleek two-toned hair is straight over her shoulders, and she looks fucking stunning wearing a Raiders jersey with the number twelve on it, something I haven’t seen on her yet. I might need to take that off her later tonight and remind her why she should be wearing my number—fifteen.

Before I can return her smile, her face falls as her eyes move to the right of me. Frowning, I lean forward to see Miles two players down from me looking between Evie and me, a murderous gleam in his eyes and his jaw clenched so hard I can hear his teeth grating together.

Oh, fuck.

32

Evie

I swallow hard at the sight of Miles glaring at Jaylen and me. His jaw is clenched, and his eyes are hard, the normal green color now dark, almost black. Jaylen must see the look he’s giving us because he nods in my direction reassuringly as if to say, ‘It’s okay’.

Damn, I didn’t know Miles is still pissed about the accident. Or is he angry for another reason? Oh, my God. He better not have found out that I snuck out last weekend to see Jaylen.

“What’s up with Miles?” Rylee leans over to whisper in my ear.

I shrug and look away from the field to meet her eyes just as the national anthem finishes. “I guess he’s still pissed about the accident. It’s been ages since it happened, so I thought he would’ve gotten over it by now.” I don’t mention the potential for him to be angry over me sneaking out when I was supposed to be on house arrest because she too doesn’t know.

“We both know how protective Miles is over you,” she says as we sit down. “Have you talked to him much since you got out of the hospital?”

“Yeah, a little. He sends me a text message every day to check in, but I haven’t seen him in person for over a week. We haven’t had a chance to properly talk about what happened.”

All Miles knows about that night is that Jaylen offered me a ride home, and that was it. As far as he knows, it was an innocent act that he overreacted about. So, why is he shooting daggers at Jaylen from across the pitch as they move into their positions?

“Well, just talk to him after the game if you get the chance,” Rylee suggests as the whistle blows for the start of the game, an eruption of cheers bellowing around us.

The Jets get to kick off, so I watch as Jaylen runs forward to try and steal the ball from the opposing team. Despite the tension between him and my brother, he plays as strongly and efficiently as he normally does every single game. Somehow, Preston gets the ball off a Jets player and passes it to Ethan who runs with it down the field to where Jaylen is standing in front of the goalkeeper, ready to strike if he gets the chance.

Unfortunately, the ball is stolen from him, now moving down to the other side. My eyes find Miles on the field, and I notice that he’s watching Jaylen when he should be keeping an eye on where the ball is since he is an attacking midfielder. He’s standing with his hands on his hips, not moving a single muscle. I can’t tell if Jaylen can feel his eyes on him, but if he does, he doesn’t show it.

As the first half continues, I can feel the intensity radiating off Miles in waves from where I’m sat in the crowd. I don’t know why he’s so focused on shooting Jaylen daggers when he needs to focus on getting the ball to him. He has already missed a few opportunities to score because he wasn’t paying attention to where the ball was. They would’ve been on target thanks to Jaylen.

The whistle blows, signaling the end of the first half. Watching as the Raiders and Jets rush off the pitch to take a break, I exhale a sharp breath and slump in my seat. The score is 2-1 with the Jets in the lead. This is unheard of for the Raiders. They have never been down on points in the first half, so the fact that they are must be putting a lot of pressure on them.

Jaycee leans past Rylee and Candie to look at me. “Well… that was something.”

“Yeah, what the hell was that all about?” Candie comments, looking between us. “Miles seems distracted.”

“He better get over whatever is bothering him if he wants to help the Raiders get back on top.” I sigh and run a hand through the ends of my hair. “I’ll talk to him after the game to see if he’s okay. Maybe he’s having problems with Cindy and he’s taking it out on Jaylen because he is already angry about the accident.” Honestly, who knows what the fuck is going on with him, but it’s putting the Raiders in jeopardy. If they lose, they’re out of the finals.

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