“I appreciate it, mate,” Ollie said to Jake, genuinely, then tipped his head in my direction. “I’m in love with her, you know …” Ollie beamed. I beamed. Jake’s eyes swelled as they slid back and forth between us. “Damn, it feels good to finally tell someone else,” Ollie said and closed the gap between us again. “Now, don’t go and throw a spanner in the works, alright?”
“I thought you guys were just doing the rumpy-pumpy.” Jake smiled and shook his head in surprise. “This is brilliant. The two of you.” He gushed with his hand over his chest. “Can I be in the wedding party?” He fired his arm high in the air. “Oh! I call maid of honor!”
Ollie laughed as he took his beanie off his head before stretching it over mine and down over my ears. His mouth covered mine once more as our fingers intertwined. “Alright, alright, Mia … now you’re just rubbing it in.” Jake threw the ball at Ollie’s back, and Ollie released me before swiping the ball up from the grass and gesturing for Jake to go long.
Alicia and Bria finally showed up, followed by Isaac. The whole crew was finally here, and so was the sun, gradually moving higher above us. The skies were open, the wind was quieting, and I went through the basic rules of American football. “No tackle, we’re playing touch. You have to touch with both hands,” I reiterated. It was boys against girls. “Who’s the better catcher?” I asked in our small huddle. Bria pointed to Alicia, and I figured. “Okay, I’m going to snap the ball, and you make a run for it.”
“Snap the ball?” Alicia asked as she held a brow in the air.
“Hike the ball.” I sighed. “Screw it, I’ll just throw the ball to you, just make sure you’re in the end zone.”
“And where is this end zone, exactly?”
Huffing and wishing I was on the other team, I pointed between the two trees behind the anxious boys who stood with their arms crossed over their chests.
“Come on, ladies. We haven’t got all day!” Ollie called out before warming his hands back up over his mouth.
“Ready?” I asked.
“No,” Bria whined. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Distract Isaac and Ollie. You’re already good at that.”
Bria nodded with a wicked smile.
“Break!”
“Now we’re having a break?” Alicia asked.
Holy shit. Groaning, I rolled my eyes. “No, it means I’m done talking. Now we can play.”
After directing the girls with rapid finger gestures, I shouted, “Hike,” and Alicia only stood there while Ollie took off toward me. “Run, Alicia!”
Alicia ran to the end zone with Isaac on her tail, and I threw the ball before Ollie got to me. Ollie spun around, both our eyes on the ball in the air, only one of us silently praying for her to catch it.
And surprisingly enough, she did.
My hands flew in the air as I shouted, “Touchdown!” followed up by a victory dance.
Alicia and Bria jumped up and down as Ollie turned around with an impressed smile on his face. “Nice throw, babe.” Then his smile dissolved when something behind me caught his attention. “Mia, go back inside,” he warned with an altered tone.
“What, why?” I attempted to turn around, but he gripped my shoulders.
“Go back inside, please.”
“Room for two more?” a voice asked. Pulling my gaze from Ollie, I spun around. A sudden illness churned in my stomach, slowly devouring the rest of my insides when Maddie approached us with Oscar by her side.
“Fuck,” Ollie groaned, but the only thing possessing me was Oscar’s presence. I stumbled backward as his gaze scanned me up and down.
Maddie smirked as her gaze darted between Ollie and me. “I wanted to take a moment to introduce you. Ollie, this here is the guy Mia fucked …” Maddie cocked her head to Oscar. “How many times did you say? Was it once or twice?”
“Twice,” Oscar said through a chuckle, making my insides crawl.
Ollie snapped his head, his gaze calling me, urging me. The weight behind it was unbearable, and I shamefully peered over at him to find him shaking his head. “No …” He turned back to Maddie. “Stop this shit, Maddie,” he shouted at her. “Stop your fucking games!”
“And Mia,” Maddie scoffed, taking my attention from Ollie and back on her. She held up a palm to Oscar. “This is Oscar … Ollie’s brother.”
Instantly, all the oxygen abandoned my lungs—nothing—a wrecking ball to the stomach. Everything left me and bled across the lawn as I stood, fixed and in utter disbelief.
Ollie took a step in front of me, trying to meet my gaze, but I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t face him. Heat radiated from his touch as he gripped my shoulders, leaning in front of my face, spewing words my brain couldn’t decipher. All I felt was the steel knife lodged inside my chest. The burn. The ache. Probably the same knife that just came from his.
“I didn’t know.” My words stumbled as everything else slipped from my grasp. “Ollie, this was before you.”
“Stop talking, Mia. Don’t say another word.” The cold replaced his hands as he stepped away from me. “How could you do this to me?” Ollie asked Oscar, shoving him in the chest, “Anyone else! Why her?!”
“Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, little brother.” He laughed, the sound sick and masochistic and curdling the blood in my veins. “And for the record, the slut pulled me in first … I had my way with her first.” He took a step toward Ollie and puffed out his chest. “You broke our number one rule, Oliver …”
My feet instantly broke out into a sprint across the field and into the woods. Leaves crunched beneath my combat boots as I ran. The wind smacked against my face, stealing the little breath I had left. With no direction in mind, I ran until my legs buckled beneath me, and I caught myself against a tree. The sickness brewing in my stomach came up into my throat, and I hunched over as I threw up. My body convulsed as my eyes strained until I was left dry heaving in the middle of the woods.
After staying in that position until there was nothing left inside me, I crouched down, unable to stand on my wobbling legs. The tears stopped, but only so my mind could focus on breathing as I grasped for oxygen.
A hand against my back told me it wasn’t Oscar, but it also wasn’t Ollie.
“Are you okay?”
It was Jake.
Shaking my head, I turned to face him as I held my hand against my chest.
Stay with me, Mia.
“I’m going to get help,” Jake said in a panic, but I clutched on to him as I cried out for him not to.