Page 119 of Necessary Roughness
“The thing about teachers,” Bryson said slowly, “is that they do both. Good teachers, at least.”
Jayden pointed. “What’s going on down there?”
Other students around us were murmuring in confusion. Two Westview players were jogging toward our student section, with a third man in street clothes right behind them. My breath caught in my chest.
It can’t be…
Jayden was grinning widely at me. “Sloane, do yousee this?”
“She’s watching, idiot,” Bryson hissed.
“I’m just making sure!”
Ten rows in front of us, Knox Maddox and Logan Hunter climbed up the fence until they were standing against the railing in the first row. Seconds later, Roman Langford grunted his way up to join them. The three of them stood side-by-side, squinting up into our student section.
Then Knox cupped his hands over his mouth and roared, “SLOANE!”
“She’s right here!” Jayden shouted, jumping up and down and pointing at me.
A warmness spread in my chest as all three of my boyfriends found me in the crowd, three sets of intense eyes.
“I’m going to get so many views on TikTok,” Jayden said while pulling out his phone. Bryson tried to take it from him, and the two brothers play-fought for control of the device.
“Sloane, I’m sorry!” Knox shouted. The rest of the students around us were completely silent, so his voice was perfectly clear. “It’s all my fault.”
Glancing around at half the student body, I replied, “We can talk about this later.”
“No!” Logan insisted. “We have to talk about it now!”
“All the success we’ve had this year is because of you,” Knox told me. “Well, not all the success. But most of it. We never would have made it to this championship if not for you. You’ve brought out the best in us.”
His words echoed what Bryson had said about me becoming the best version of myself, and something warm bloomed behind my ribs.
“You had nothing to do with our loss last week,” Knox continued. “You shouldn’t have blamed yourself for it. And moreimportantly, I shouldn’t haveletyou blame yourself. It was just bad luck.” Knox glanced down at the railing like he wanted to jump over it and run to me, but then decided not to. “I need to know you’re behind me. Behindus. I need to know that when this game ends, win or lose, we can be together. Because that’s what I want more than anything, Sloane. What I want more than that trophy on the field. I just want to be with you. If you’ll have me.”
All of my doubts, all of my self-hatred, all of my guilt disappeared like a dandelion surrendering to the wind. “Yes!” I shouted back at him. “That’s all I’ve wanted, too!”
Even from ten rows away, I could see the relief in Knox’s eyes as he grinned.
“Sloane, I love you!” Logan suddenly shouted.
Knox and Roman both turned to glare at him. “Dude, you kind of stole my thunder.”
“I thought you were done!” Logan turned back to me. “Sorry for going out of turn, or whatever, but I love you Sloane Collins!”
“I love you too, Logan Hunter!” I replied, the words coming from my heart instead of my head.
Logan’s face brightened. “Did you see the dicks I drew on your paper!”
“Yes! It was very funny!”
“Which one was your favorite?”
“Let’s discuss this later!”
“It’s just that I spent a lot of time on them!” Logan yelled back. “My favorite is the one shaped like a submarine!”
Below them on the field, the head coach and a gaggle of coaching assistants—including their babysitter Zane—werewaving their clipboards and shouting at the players to come down.
