But most of all, I ignored the sound of my heart breaking.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jason
“This isn’t over,” Thatcher spat as he finally relented, letting Aimee slip her arm around his waist and lead him away. She glanced back, her eyes saying things I didn’t want to hear.
Cam and Ash were on me in a second, helping me stay upright as they guided me over to our friends and teammates.
“Fuck, man, you’re a mess,” he released a shaky breath. “You need the ER?” I threw Grady a ‘fuck you’ expression, and his hands went up. “Is it too early to say, ‘told you so’?”
“Grady?” I hacked up a mouthful of blood, leaning on Ash for support. My ribs burned like a motherfucker and I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure Thatcher hadn’t broken something.
If he had, I could kiss the play-offs goodbye.
That was assuming this didn’t land on Principal Finnigan’s desk first thing Monday morning.
Fuck.
I’d really fucked up. But I’d been caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Yeah, Cap?” Grady asked.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“Come on, we should probably get out of here before the cops show up.” Cam barely met my eyes, disappointment radiating off him.
But screw him.
He didn’t know the whole story yet, no one did.
I’d tell them eventually, but first I needed a shit ton of Advil and a bottle of Jack.
I managed to crawl into the back of Asher’s Jeep, Mya climbing in behind me while Cam and Hailee sat up front. There was no sign of Felicity, but I was almost certain I’d seen her there, standing with the girls.
Maybe I dreamed it up.
A mirage in the middle of one of the worst fucking beatings of my life.
A beautiful angel in the middle of my own personal hell.
“Guess the rumors are true,” Mya said, studying me intently.
“Yeah, and what do they say?” It hurt to fucking breathe let alone talk, but there was something about the way she looked at me that had me intrigued.
“You’re not just a pretty face.” Her lip curved. “Before you pass out, tell me one thing. Was it worth it?” She kept her voice low, as if we were sharing some big secret.
“So worth it.” I sank back against the leather, swallowing a groan and closing my eyes. “So fucking worth it.”
Her hearty laughter was the last thing I heard.
“What the fuck were you thinking, bro?” The veins in Asher’s neck throbbed with frustration. “We’re this close to State and you go and screw it all up and for what? To say you have bigger balls than Thatcher? It makes no sense, none.”
“Ash, leave it,” Cam said coolly, his eyes hard on me.
“Leave it? Are you fucking kidding me? He’s out. When Coach gets wind of this, and he will, he’ll have no choice but to pull your,” he jabbed his finger at me, “ass from the team. All that hard work for nothing. I just don’t get it. You told us all to leave it, so then why the fuck did you—”
“ASH!” Cam roared, and his eyes grew to saucers.
“What?”
“I said, leave it.”
“Yeah, whatever, I’m out. I need a beer or something.” He stormed from the room, the door slamming behind him.
“That went well,” I smirked, the pain meds and whisky slowly working their way through my system.
“Jase, come on, cut him some slack. He’s only worried. We all are.”
“Yeah, yeah, save me the Mother Teresa routine. I knew what I was doing when I went down there.”
“So why’d you do it?”
“Like you don’t already know.”
“For her?” His brow hit his hairline. “But why?”
Why?
That was the question I’d asked myself over and over since getting back to Ash’s house.
“Because the thought of him hurting her any more than he already had kills me.”
A slow smile cracked his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Took you long enough.”
“Doesn’t change anything,” I groaned, pain burning through every part of me.
“I think it does. I think it changes everything.”
“I’m not that guy, Cam. I’m not like you.”
“You just got your ass handed to you... for a girl. I think you’re more like me than you give yourself credit for.”
I snorted. “I had him.” There was no way Thatcher had the upper hand on me. Sure, I was bloody and bruised but so was he. My knuckles were busted wide open to prove it.
“So in the end you risked everything... for a girl.”
“Not just any girl.” My head dropped back, my eyes shuttering as the reality of everything sank in.
Asher was right. I’d blown everything I’d ever worked for. But it wasn’t for nothing.
It was for her.
And I’d do it again. Over and over, if it meant protecting Felicity from the likes of Thatcher and his goons.
“He has some images of her... us.” I groaned the words, guilt slamming into me. It was all my fucking fault. Thatcher might have been unhinged but I’d given him the ammunition he needed to come after Hailee and then Felicity. All this time, I’d thought by not caring, by not giving a crap about anyone around me, I was protecting myself. But they weren’t the weak link.
I was.
“Images, what kind of... oh, shit.”
“Yeah,” I breathed out. I still had no idea how he got them, but I’d seen them with my own eyes; me and Felicity in my car down by the lake. “He threatened to send them viral unless I agreed to the fight.”
“Did Aimee know? She was the one who messaged Asher.”
“I have no idea why the fuck she was there. She turned up at my house to warn me it was a setup, that Thatcher intended on fucking me up enough to ruin my shot at playing in the play-offs.”
“First Hailee, now you and Felicity. This isn’t just some harmless prank, Jase; it’s more serious than that.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“We have to report him.”
“I started it.” I ground out. “None of this would ever have happened if it wasn’t for that video I sent him of me and Aimee.”
“True but that was between the three of you.” Cam rubbed his temples. “You never passed that shit around. He’s out of control and there’s still nothing stopping him from sending those images to everyone. We have to report him.”
“Give me some time to figure this out, yeah?”
“Jase...”
“Twenty-four hours, that’s all I’m asking.”
“Fine. But if you don’t handle this the proper way, I will. Coach and Principal Finnigan are going to blow a gasket when they find out about this, maybe the truth will soften the blow.”
I didn’t share his optimism, but it was hard to worry about the play-offs when I currently felt like I’d never lift a ball again.
“You look like shit. You sure I can’t take you to the ER?”