Page 81 of Playmaker

Two words have my cries of agony subsiding and my body locking up not in pain, but infear. Cameron’s mouth slams shut, his lips forming a thin line as he realizes what he just said too.

In front of my brother.

“What the hell did you just call her?” Ethan narrows his eyes and glances between us, and finally, after thirty seconds of silence, it clicks. “Mystery Girl is fuckingMaddie? My littlesister?”

“Ethan . . .” Cam starts. He gets to his feet, but Ethan shoves him back with his hands. It shouldn’t do much considering Cameron has a few inches on him and alotmore muscle, but Cameron doesn’t try to defend himself either. He takes the shove and allows it to propel him backward.

“You fuckingliedto me!” Ethan shouts. “When the hell were you going to tell me you were messing around with her? Howdareyou do this to her. You know she’s had a crush on you since we were kids. We’veallknown it. Now you’re going to break her heart and store it with all the others you’ve collected? You’re no better than Michael!”

This time, when Ethan shoves him again, Cam holds him back. “I didn’t lie to you, Ethan, I just didn’t know how to tell you. It started during break, and—”

My brother lands a punch that comes out of nowhere and sends Cam flying to the ground. Blood drips from his nose onto the slab of rock beside me, and I let out another cry of pain that has nothing to do with my ankle and everything to do with the realization that things between us are coming to an end.

“Fitting, isn’t it?” Ethan seethes. “You punched Michael for breaking her heart before I could, so now I’m getting a head start before you inevitably do the same.”

Wait.

Cameronwas the one who punched Michael?

It shouldn’t be my main focus. Not when the two boys in front of me are staring each other down like a UFC fight will break out at any minute, so I tuck the thought away and shift my focus to my brother. Ethan isn’t going to be okay with this, and I’m done holding on to the possibility that things can still work between us. The timing has never been right, so why would now be any different? When things settle down, when this news of Cameron and me sinks in for Ethan, I highly doubt his opinion will drastically change.

The look of hatred he’s giving us says it all.

“I’m not him,” Cameron pants. “If you just let me explain—”

“Andyou.” Ethan snaps his eyes to mine, seeming oblivious to the fact I’m in no mood to hear a lecture. “This whole time I’ve been tiptoeing around making a move on Maya because I was so worried about hurting you when thewholetime you were fucking my best friend. And you didn’t have the decency to talk to me about it first?”

Guilt threatens to swallow me whole.

“There’s no service!” Maya pants, quickly taking in the scene. Her eyes dart from Ethan looming over Cam, to the blood on his face. “What the fuck happened?” Then her eyes meet mine, and the expression on my face must give it away.

She inhales deeply before she says, “Okay. Whatever the hell you found out needs to be dealt with later. We need to help Maddie. Maybe you guys can try to move the boulder.”

“Move the boulder?” Ethan looks incredulously at her. “How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

“Fuckingtry!” Maya snaps. “She’s your sister, Ethan. Pull yourself together.”

Everyone is screaming, and a day that started out so good comes crumbling down around me. I can do nothing but listen to the bickering, unable to walk away.

“Just wait.” Cam spits blood onto the sand and walks over to the side of the canyon. There’s a piece of wood on the ground, likely from another tourist, and he grips it firmly as he walks back over to me. “Okay,” he says, wedging it between the rocks. “I’m going to try to—” He grunts and pushes with all his might, and the slight relief it brings makes me sob from the reprieve.

“It’s working.” I gasp.

“Good.” He grunts. “Ethan, help me push it.”

“Don’t fucking talk to me,” Ethan spits icily at Cameron. The pain written across Cam’s face makes my heart shatter into tiny pieces, but my brother helps him regardless, and leans into one side of the boulder.

With Ethan pushing and Cameron using the wood for leverage, they free my ankle after three attempts. It hurts even worse now that it’s freed and the blood flow returns. I land on my back, staring up into the sky, and stars continue to form from the pulsating pain.

“Holy fuck.” I don’t need to look at my brother to know he’s staring at my ankle, and when I sit up to inspect the damage myself, the bile immediately rises into my throat. There’s a golf ball on one side from the swelling, and a deep shade of purple has already formed from the bruising, traveling halfway up my calf.

My chin wobbles again, but before the tears slip out, Cam whisks me into his arms and holds me close to his chest. “We’ve gotta get you to a hospital,” he says.

“Absolutely fucking not,” Ethan hisses, but when he tries to tug me out of Cam’s grasp, it causes my ankle to hit his arm, and I scream in agony.

When that scream echoes into the canyon, Cameronexplodes.

“Fuck off!” he shouts, holding me tighter against him. “She needs to go to the fucking emergency room, and you’re that worried about the fact we’re together?Thatis what you’re concerned about? Fuck off, Ethan. We can discuss everything else later when she’s safe and under a doctor’s care. Get your priorities in fucking line.”

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