Page 58 of My Brother's Teammates

I turned to him. “She’s not yours to give, Jason. Jesus. Snap out of it, asshole. She was being mistreated by a piece of shit and now she’s being worshiped by three pretty decent guys. Guys you were happy to call your best friends. We care about her.Icare about her, Jace. A lot. She’s a fucking angel. And I didn’t just save you from getting benched. I saved you from getting your ass beat.”

He sank back in the seat. “What the fuck was Coach thinking?”

“He was thinking that you were leaving me open to get killed. You’re pissed at me, fine. That’s shit for off the field. On the field? You protect me. Did you want one of those big fuckers to break my goddamn neck, Jason? You left me open and got me sacked six times. Six times I took the brunt of your bullshit at someone else’s hands. You sacrificed me, but you were also willing to sacrifice our team. Like you’re the only person who’s worked their ass off for this team.”

He was quiet for a minute and then sighed. “I’m sorry. I fucked up. I’m so angry at you. I trusted you and you took advantage of her.”

“No, I fucking didn’t, Jason! I didn’t take advantage of her. I tried to stay away but I… I think I love her.” I nearly choked on the words, but I’d gotten them out. I stared straight ahead and squeezed the steering wheel. “I’ve never loved anyone so what the fuck do I know? But I feel like the fucking sun comes out when I see her. Or when she texts me. Or when I think of her. I want to be around her all the time. She makes me happy. As much as I care about you, man, I’m not letting her go. I swear to god no one will treat her better.”

He was silent for so long that I thought he was done talking to me but when I looked over, he was pale and staring back at me with wide eyes. “You love her?”

I cleared my throat and nodded. “Yeah. Pretty sure Hud and Axel do, too. This is going to sound crazy, Jace, but Gran told us it was going to happen.”

He didn’t get to say anything else because Hudson ripped open my truck door and dragged him out. I swore and rushed out to stop Hudson from driving his fist into Jason’s face. I’d just gotten him off when Axel came at him.

“Stop! What the fuck is going on?” I grabbed at Axel but he shoved my arm away and grabbed Jason.

Pinning him against the side of my truck, Axel was angrier than I’d ever seen him. “Why’d you do it? Of all the shit you could’ve said or done, you stoopedthatfucking low?”

Jason didn’t fight back, didn’t even try to defend himself. He looked up at the house and looked like he might cry. “Is she okay?”

Pins and needles of anxiety filled my body in an instant. “What happened?”

Hudson jerked himself free and pointed wildly at the house. “She’s gone. Jenny is fucking gone.”

“What?” I grabbed for my phone and saw the last text I’d sent her the night before. We assumed she’d passed out while waiting on us to get back from the bar. She’d left us with a brutal case of blue balls by sending that sexy picture, but it was our own fault for getting caught up with Coach. I’d sent several texts to Jenny late the night before, full of dirty promises and things too sweet to repeat.

Axel threw something at me. “Everything’s gone. She left. I found that on the bathroom floor, though. It paints a pretty clear picture of why she left.”

I recognized Jenny’s cellphone and tapped in her password, everyone knew it was Jason’s birthday, and the picture looking back at me made me feel sick to my stomach. Looking at the block of text above the picture, I felt my body sag.

“Why’d you do it? You hurt her, Jason! Did you think that would just hurtus?” Axel shoved away from Jason and paced in front of him. “You know we pushed those women away and got the fuck out of there. We spent the next few hours stuck in the smaller bar with Coach, talking about our choice to talk things out with you instead of beating you bloody.”

Jason rubbed his face but it did nothing to bring color back to his face. “I was sure you’d leave with them. Or that you’d at least fuck around with them for a while.”

Hudson shouted and jabbed his finger into Jason’s chest. “I would never do that to Jenny. I’m a better man than that. Why are you fucking friends with us if you think we’re such pieces of shit, Jason?”

I looked back at the picture and then shoved the phone into my pocket. “Great photography skills, Jace. It looks fucking great.”

“Her stuff’s gone?”

Axel glared at Jason. “Everything.”

“Did she leave a note?”

“Yeah, Jason, she left a note. It says fuck you for trying to control me and for hurting me when it didn’t need to happen.” Turning to me, Axel checked his watch. “I’m going to look around campus. Hudson’s going to check the library spot. You want to take the road around town?”

I nodded and blew out a shaky breath. “She couldn’t have gone far. She had to pack and load everything up by herself.”

“Unless she had help.” Hudson wouldn’t meet our gazes. “Jason might’ve just pushed her right back into Professor Hall’s arms.”

“I’d be glad to check his house.”

***Jenny***

AssoonasDadopened the door, I threw myself into his arms and sobbed. I’d managed to keep it together on the drive to their house but there was something about seeing my dad when I was upset that just knocked me off kilter. Any control I thought I had was shattered instantly.

Even bigger than Jason, he plucked me off the ground and carried me inside while calling out to Mom. “Mary! One of the goblins is here and it’s leaking!”

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