Crossing Lines

22. Anything but hate

I waited as most of my teammates funneled out of the locker room to head out to the field. It was the big rematch game against Kingsley and while I was focused in on winning, I had something else I had to deal with first.

I spotted him as he turned to leave and quickly made my way over putting my arm out stopping him from stepping out of the lock room.

"What's your problem?" Justin sneered.

"You." I glared. "Pull another stunt like you did at the party again and you're done. If I hear one homophobic thing come out of your mouth, hell if you even think about saying some shit like that again and I'll tell coach and get you kicked from the team. You don't want to test me Justin."

Justin glared right back at me but he kept his mouth shut. At least he knew what was good for him. He didn't say anything else just shoved past me to make his way to the field. We both knew my words weren't a bluff and if I told coach about the things Justin had said he'd be off the team before he could even open his mouth to defend himself. The season was almost over we didn't need to lose our best receiver but that didn't mean I was going to let him keep getting away with that shit.

"Who knew you could be so scary." Monroe chuckled walking up to me obviously having heard the conversation.

"Thank you for punching him. I never got to tell you that." I looked at my best friend.

"He deserved it." Monroe clapped me on the shoulder with a nod.

—

The first half of the game was neck and neck. We were trading scores, both of our offenses in an intense battle. Jake was a damn good quarterback and sometimes when I watched him out on the field I felt a little jealous. He honestly looked like he enjoyed the game. He seemed to command the field every time he stepped on it and that was a feeling I never thought I'd feel.

When I stepped on the field it wasn't love of the game I felt. It was like a huge weight of pressure fell right on top of me. I was competitive to a fault sometimes and maybe that's why I threw myself into the sport like I did. But I knew the truth, I knew who I stepped onto that field for and it wasn't myself.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. I needed to focus on the game and I couldn't think about all the shit in my life that would just get in the way of our win. I wouldn't let my team down.

Westerly had the ball first in the second half so it was my turn to run out onto the field and get my team some points on the board.

I stood behind the offensive line and looked at my receivers on each end. Justin stood on one side ready and on the other stood Jetson. I knew on the field I could trust them both to get this done when we needed it to.

The ball got hiked and the second it landed in my hands and I was running back looking for my target. It didn't take long to see Jetson breaking away from his cover and getting open.

I threw the ball and watched it spiral perfectly right towards Jetson. I held my breath only releasing it when the ball hit Jetsons hands.

He caught it.

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading onto my face as I watched him take off down the field. Jetsons strength was his speed. He wasn't as big or tall as some of the other guys on the team but he was good with his hands and he was fast. So it didn't surprise me as I watched him sprint downfield. And I wasn't surprised when the crowd went crazy when he scored the touchdown putting us in the lead.

The win was in reach and I wasn't going to let it slip away this time.

Once our kicker scored the extra point securing us a four point lead over Kingsley it was Jake's turn to take the field.

He jogged out on the field with a wave of confidence I had come to expect with him. He was calling out plays to his team the second they lined up. He was all business and seeing this side of him, well it did something to me.

He looked good out on that field. I mean who could really blame me for observing that.

He was still the enemy, just a very hot enemy.

The play started and I watched as Jake scanned the field for his target. He was so focused he didn't see the defensive player, at least he didn't see him before I did. I watched one of my guys get through the offensive line and make a beeline straight to Jake.

The fall was almost in slow motion as I watched Jake get sacked. I had less than a second to be happy about that win.

Less than a second before the scream filled my ears.

I felt the dread fill my body. I just stood there frozen as the scream was ripped from Jake's throat as his body landed on the ground.

He was hurt, badly. It was the only reason for that type of reaction. You didn't scream like that for a little twist or a pulled muscle. This was not good.

I hadn't expected this reaction from me. I mean whenever I saw someone get hurt I felt something. It was never fun to watch but this was so different. There was this sinking feeling in my stomach. It felt like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed my heart tightly.

I shouldn't have felt like this for Jake. This feeling I had to just run to him, to make sure he was ok. This feeling that I wanted to pull him into me and take every ounce of pain from him.

I hated Jake, I should hate Jake. He was my enemy, my rival. He was egotistical and a huge dickhead. He drove me to the point of insanity. But this feeling inside me was anything but hate.

All I could do was stand there as I watched Jake get carted off the field a pained expression on his face. I just stood there watching trying to remember exactly when I started to feel differently about Jake Oliver.

A/n:

This is one of my favorite chapters of my book! I was so excited to share this with you I almost posted it early a bunch of times.

I am going on a short trip with my family but I'll be gone on Monday. I will try to post the Monday upload as usual but I'm not sure how good my service will be. So that chapter might be slightly late but it will go up either late on Monday or on Tuesday.

Thanks for reading
-Cora Leigh