Page 13 of Resist Me

I wondered how my dad would react when Willow told him she was moving. It made sense that she was waiting. To put it simply, he wouldn’t be happy. I was just waiting for the day he called me, ready to beat me down with his words since his fists couldn’t reach me anymore.

That was all I needed to get my head back in the game. It was my motivation to succeed, and some bruised ribs weren’t going to stop me.

Chapter 5

West

Some bruised ribs were going to stop me.

The clock was moving slower than normal, I was sure of it. We had thirty seconds left in the third quarter and it felt like I’d been hit by a semi-truck. I hadn’t been knocked down as hard, but every little thing made pain flare in my side.

We were leading but not enough for me to be confident about a win. A lot could happen in the last quarter and, if I was being honest, I wasn’t in any shape to make sure we succeeded. If we lost, it would be because of me.

When the time ran out, I dropped to my knees and hung my head. Between my pain and frustration, I was overcome by the kind of exhaustion that felt like it could break me. It traveled straight through to my bones and wrapped around my mind, trying to snuff me out.

With a deep breath, I got to my feet and joined the others by the benches. Kai gave me a quizzical look. I dropped my gaze, working my jaw as I tried to muster the strength to admit defeat.

“You have to take me out,” I said.

Coach narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

I lifted my shirt. The bruise was just beginning to form, but it was clear that it was going to be bad pretty soon. Kai rushed forward and brushed his fingers over it. Even though it was a light touch, I recoiled.

“Shit,” coach growled. He tossed his clipboard to the ground and fisted his hands. “Adler, can you carry us through?”

Kai blinked a few times, then chewed on his lower lip. When his eyes flitted to me, I knew that he was hesitating for my sake.

“It’s fine,” I assured him. “Someone has to do it.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “Let’s finish this.”

I sniffed, nodding along as they went over the plays. As soon as they went back to the field, I dropped onto the bench. I’d rather leave altogether, but I wanted to see this through to the end.

Grabbing my phone from my duffel under the bench, I checked my messages. My eyes were watery, but I smiled when I saw a text from my sister.

Wombmate:Hey, bitch. Kai said you’re playing tonight. Are you killing it out there?

West:All I do is kill it. Miss you, dumbass.

She sent a middle finger emoji followed by heart hands. I chuckled and put the phone away so that I could focus on the game. It took Kai a minute to get into the swing of things but once he did, I felt pretty confident in our upcoming win. That was the thing about Kai. He was good at literally everything. I bet someone could hand him a trombone and he’d figure it out by the end of the day.

I wasn’t like that. I wasn’t dumb or anything, but I didn’t have a natural affinity for things the way he and his dad did. In every sense of the word, I was pretty average except when it came to football. Maybe it was just because I put so much of myself into it. If I applied that kind of effort somewhere else, I might find other skills, but this was what I wanted to do. It always had been. I was probably a cliché, but it didn’t matter.

Lincoln crouched as he watched the game unfold. He bounced on his toes a little when it got intense and I cocked my head. It seemed like a bad position for a sprained ankle. Now that I thought about it,he’d been pretty light on his feet yesterday when we practiced together.

Was he lying? And if so, why? Maybe he was tired of football after all this time. I assumed he’d be entering the NFL draft this year, so that didn’t really make sense.

Matt got us a touchdown, which drew my attention back to the game. I leaned forward, watching every move. By the time the clock ran down, my eyes felt strained from my efforts not to blink.

We won. Fuck, we won.

I got to my feet and winced but tried to ignore it. Once Kai was in range, I threw my arms around him. His grip on me was agonizing and after a second, he swore and pulled back.

“I’m okay,” I assured him. “You’re a fucking badass.”

“It was you, West. If I had to do that the whole game, I would’ve thrown in the towel at a certain point.”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. You’re amazing.”

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