Page 37 of Flip the Field
Brady
She didn’t kissme back. I pulled away. “I love you, Amerie, and I didn’t want to lose you.” I turned away from her again, but I couldn’t stop talking. “I wanted to tell you so many times. I tried. I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out because I knew as soon as you saw the real me, you wouldn’t want to be with me. So, I held off, knowing eventually you’d find out. I just hoped you’d fall in love with—”
My words were finally cut off by her lips on mine. I stiffened and pulled back, but she persisted. I gave in and wrapped my arms around her. She tilted her head and deepened the kiss.
She pushed me back into a tree and stood on her toes as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to her. Her tongue licked where my lips met, and I let her in. We explored each other, reacquainting ourselves by taste.
She reluctantly pulled away and ran her fingertips along my lips.
“You did it again,” I kissed her fingers.
“It’s the only way I know to get your attention,” She slid her hands down my chest. “And to get you to shut up.” She pinched my nipple.
“Ouch.” I grabbed her hand.
“I love you, too.”
I stared into her eyes and knew she meant it.
“I wanted to tell you about what happened, but it’s not easy for me,” I rested my forehead against hers.
“It won’t change the way I feel about you.” She hugged me to her and I held her tight. “It had something to do with Tarrick, didn’t it?”
I leaned back. “Come on,” I took her hand. “Let’s get out of the cold.”
We walked back to her house hand in hand. She knew the worst thing about me and she wasn’t running away.
We climbed the steps and Amerie opened the door. I inhaled the familiar scent of her home and it calmed my spirit more. It was a mix of vanilla from the candles she burned mixed with the cinnamon syrup she put in her coffee.
We peeled off our coats and flopped down on the couch. I rested my head on the back and ran my hand over the plush dark green fabric.
“I know it’s hard,” She rested her hand on my leg. “It might be good for you to talk about it. I want to be with you, Brady, but if you’re dating me, it’s going to come out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I know my dad threatened to expose you. He won’t, but it won’t keep someone else from finding it out to try to hurt him politically. They don’t seem to care about the collateral damage.”
“Tarrick says the same thing,” I rubbed my chest. “That I should talk about it. He says I witnessed a racist cop beating up a defenseless Black kid and did something about it.”
“That’s good.”
“No, it’s not, because it didn’t matter,” I took a deep breath to keep the demons at bay. “Tarrick still got his face smashed and his arm snapped in two.”
“Oh, my God.”
“I was the cocky shit mouthing off to the cops,” I blinked and it took me back to that night. “We were in Miami for the state championship. We won, but we couldn’t go back to north Florida because of a freak ice storm. We spent another night in Miami and I talked the guys into leaving the hotel and celebrating on South Beach. We were all drunk and high except for Tarrick. He didn’t drink, so he always looked out for us. We were talking to a group of girls outside a restaurant and the cops pulled up on us. I was being a smart ass. Tarrick tried to get me to shut up and leave. I still don’t know why the cops went after him.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I mean maybe it was because he was smaller and seemed to be in the middle of the chaos even though he was trying to diffuse the situation, but when the cop started calling my friend the n-word and a thug, I got in the cop’s face. Tarrick stepped in between us and the cop took him down so fast. Time stopped.”
Amerie covered her mouth with her hand. Tears welled in her eyes.
“He smashed his face on the ground and his nose exploded,” I shivered as the night played on repeat in my head. “The cop pulled one of his arms behind his back and just like that,” I snapped my fingers. “It broke. I can still hear that sound in my head. And I went off. Next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital cuffed to a bed.”
Amerie blinked away tears. I ran a thumb under her eyes and cupped her cheek.
“They’d arrested all of us. Tarrick was in surgery most of the night,” I sat forward. “The next day, the DA and a public defender came to the hospital and they said if I pled guilty, they would drop the charges against everyone else.” I shrugged. “I took it. The judge gave me a year in Miami Dade County. Schools withdrew their scholarship offers. I got out in six months. I got my GED in jail and moved to Arizona and played for coach Wilcox. Finding recruits who needed a second chance was kind of his thing. And eventually that brought me here.”
“Wow,” Amerie blinked. “For someone who didn’t know how to talk about it, you did it perfectly. You have to keep telling it.”
“Why?” I was confused.
