Page 3 of Play Action Pass

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The next day, Emerson called Jacoby, but he didn’t answer. She hated when he ignored her. She called every hour but he still didn’t pick up. Part of her sulked and wanted to hide her head under the covers. However, this was her twin. When he hurt, she hurt. So, when he still hadn’t picked up the phone by the evening, she decided to go over to his condo and hash it out.

Driving over to his condo, she waved at the concierge before entering the elevator that whisked her up to the penthouse. She unlocked his door, confused when silence greeted her. The alarm wasn’t on, which meant he had to be home. More confusing were the boxes stacked up in the living room. It almost felt like he was getting ready to move.

“Jacoby?” she called out, heading to the kitchen and turning on the light. “Are you ignoring me? Jacoby?”

She headed toward the bedroom but he wasn’t there. Not in the bathroom. He wasn’t anywhere, which really perplexed her. As she passed by the window, she happened to glance over toward the large hot tub spa, and saw Jacoby facedown in the water.

“No!” she screamed. “Jacoby!”

Fear. Panic. Denial. She rushed toward the door, threw it open, and jumped in the tub. Turning him over, she ignored the fact his eyes were open but unseeing.

“No, no, no!” she sobbed, trying to push him from the water to the decking. “Jacoby, please. Please don’t do this. Wake up. Wake up, damn you!”

He was dead weight, already stiff from rigor mortis, a fact she tried desperately not to think about. It might have only taken a few minutes to get him out of the water, but it seemed like a lifetime. She had to get help, but she didn’t want to leave him. Her mind fractured with different decisions. Did she leave him to call for help? Start CPR? Running, she headed back to the kitchen where she threw her purse and yanked out her phone, placing a call to 911 as she ran back.

“What is your emergency?”

“My brother! Please, he’s not breathing!”

“Okay, I’m here for you. Tell me the address so I can get first responders on the way.”

Emerson rattled off the information, then the dispatcherwalked her through checking his vitals before starting CPR.

“Please don’t leave me, Jacoby,” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “You’re my twin. You’re supposed to grow old with me.”

Finally, the first responders arrived, escorted by police and the building manager. The EMT took over from her, and the police led her away. Sobs poured out, and she half collapsed into the policeman’s arms. After that, everything became one big blur. People came in and out, a million questions were asked, and she did her best to answer them. At some point, her parents arrived and she stared hollowly at them. They didn’t even come over to console her. Instead, they stood in the corner, talking with the detective. At one point, her mother even grinned.

She hated them. They lost their son, and yet they were grinning. She didn’t want to be related to such horrible people. Then the gurney went past her with a black body bag strapped on it, and she knew what was in that bag.

Her brother was dead.

Her twin.

Life was never going to be the same.

Chapter Two

It all came down to this last play.

Seven seconds to throw the ball into the end zone and score a touchdown.

“Ideas?” Crew asked, while they all stood in a huddle.

“Play-action,” Kaiden Demay suggested.

“They’ll be watching for a fake play,” another player said.

“Not to me,” Kaiden replied. “They’ll be expecting you to throw me the ball. I can draw their attention, while Crew passes to Regan.”

All eyes looked at Regan, who was an offensive guard.

“Me?” he asked, looking a little perplexed.

Crew nodded, liking the idea. “No one will think about covering you. All right. On the snap, Kaiden, you take off to the left and Regan to the right and get in the end zone. I’m passing to you, big guy.”

“I’ll win us the game,” Regan assured.

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