Page 55 of My Brother's Teammates

“They took advantage of you, Jenny! You were heartbroken and homeless! Have they all touched you? Did they touch you, Jenny?!” Jason turned his attention to Ryder and seemed to grow even larger. “You put your hands on my baby sister. Fucking asshole.”

Ryder uncrossed his arms and shook his head. “Jace, I don’t want to fight you, but if you think I’m going to let you hit me, you’re wrong.”

Axel stood up and tried to get between the other two. “Just breathe, Jason! Dammit, if you stopped to listen for one second, you’d know that we care about Jenny and would never hurt her.”

“What do you think will happen to her if it gets out that she’s fucking three different guys on the football team, Axel? You’ve seen that shit before. We all have. You want to turn my baby sister into one of the girls that people look at and make train jokes about? That’s what you’re going to do to her. She’d be better off coming out with the fucking professor.”

“Watch it, Jason.” Ryder stepped closer to him. “That’s not what this is. No one else will ever touch her.”

“You’renever going to touch her again!” Jason swung at Ryder, but it was a mistake. Ryder shifted to miss the punch and snapped his own fist out, connecting with Jason’s face with a disgustingcrunch.

“I told you, Jason. You’re not going to beat the shit out of me because you’re angry. Axel and Hudson are too good to hit you back, but I’m not.”

I covered my face with my hands and turned into Hud’s chest. I didn’t want to watch another second of it. I felt sick.

“You broke my fucking nose, asshole!”

Axel sounded frustrated. “You could’ve just let him hit you and get it out of his system, Ryder. Damn.”

“I’m not a fucking punching bag!” Ryder’s voice shook with anger like I’d never heard from him. “I had enough of being an angry fuck’s outlet a long time ago and I’m sure as hell not going to let my best friend do that to me. And thatiswhat you are, you idiot. You’re our fucking brother. Learn to talk with your words before you come at me again.”

Hudson swore at the sound of gravel being kicked up behind me. “Watch his arm! The game!”

I pushed out of his arms and turned to see Ryder and Jason rolling around on the ground, hitting each other, while Axel tried to pry them apart. I did the only thing I knew to do. It was what had always worked when Jason had wrestled his friends in high school and gotten carried away, too. I sucked in a deep breath and then screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn’t stop when it hurt. I didn’t stop when my lungs clenched. I didn’t stop until I got what I wanted, which was Jason standing in front of me, shaking me while shouting my name.

I was weak when I finally closed my mouth but I still managed to smirk up at Jason’s bloodied face. “I’ve still got it.”

He shook me hard before yanking me into his chest and hugging me hard. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.”

Ryder was right there, looking me over. “What the hell was that? What happened?”

Axel and Hudson were still wincing as they came closer. Hudson rubbed his ear. “I used to hear things.”

“No more fighting. No more hitting each other. I mean it!” I pushed out of Jason’s hold and punched him in the arm. “I love you, Jason, but you can’t control who I date. I like them. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s not the same as when I was with Landon. You know that. These are your best friends. For good reason. They’re good guys.”

He backed away. “Fuck that, Jenny.”

“Don’t talk to her like that, Jace.” Hudson reached out to touch me and Jason smacked his hand away. “Okay, I’m getting bored of this shit.”

“No wonder you guys were so eager to surprise Jenny before we left town. Were you hoping to violate my baby sister once more before we left?”

I slowly backed away as they grew louder with each other. I hated what I was seeing in front of me, and I knew it was all my fault. I was a coward. I couldn’t watch them beating the crap out of each other again so I did the only thing I could. I ran away.

***Ryder***

Thefirsthalfofthe game had one play left and I was shaking to get into the locker room and beat the hell out of Jason. He’d let six of the biggest motherfuckers we’d ever played against through the line to sack me. I felt like I’d been hit by a fucking train and we were losing, but apparently that didn’t matter, not if Jason was getting his petty revenge. The last play was called and I watched Jason blow a kiss at the defensive lineman across from him. Then he turned to me and winked. He was trying to get me killed.

Fury fueled me as I made a quick play change before the ball was snapped. Instead of looking down the field for Axel, I tucked the football into my chest and ran. I wasn’t a running quarterback. My arm was my true skill. I wasn’t going to let Jason hang me out to dry again, though. I dodged a tackle and after running fifteen yards down the field, I spotted Axel. He was covered. Across the field, I saw Hudson and launched the ball at him. Just before I was taken down hard, Hudson caught the ball just inside the endzone. We’d at least scored once before heading into the locker room.

I yanked my helmet off and stormed towards the sideline. I let my anger win as I threw my helmet at the wall behind the benches. Axel was at my side right away, his eyes narrowed.

“We all see it and we’ll handle it but showing your ass out here isn’t going to do anyone any favors. You want the rumors to start about you? Ryder Tuff can’t control his temper? Sit the fuck down and don’t forget who you are.”

I took a handful of breaths so deep that it hurt and grabbed the front of his face mask to silently thank him. Settling on the bench, I let my head hang low and I did my best to appear calm. Axel was right. Professor Hall was right. Everyone was waiting on me to fail. One slip up and it wouldn’t matter that I’d had a pristine record my entire college career. I’d have everything from my teenage years dragged out and I’d be labeled a loose cannon. I’d be printed in articles next to my dad with questions pondering how long it would be until I made the same mistakes as him.

As if what he’d done could be called simple mistakes. Beating the shit out of your wife and kid anytime you weren’t on the field wasn’t a fucking mistake. Driving your wife into oncoming traffic during a fight wasn’t a fucking mistake. And because I’d reacted as a teenager I was painted with the same brush as the man who’d killed my mother.

I had to be better than everyone, calmer than everyone. I had to get perfect scores to prove that the labels I’d been given as a kid weren’t true. On the field and in the classroom. It was the only way to not lose everything. The president of the college had been a fan of my dad and he’d ignored the fact that I’d failed nearly every class in school and had barely attended a single class some months. He’d given me a chance so he might have a winning football team for a change. It was a chance that he’d made clear wasn’t permanent, or more than just that.

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