Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Shit, shit, shit,” I murmured to myself. “I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
The wind blew, and I winced at the bite of the frigid air.
“Fuckin’ cold as fuck,” Tommy grunted as he pulled his toboggan down lower over his ears.
I looked at my brother and snorted. “You should’ve worn a heavier jacket,” I informed him haughtily.
My brother nudged me, but stayed there next to me, trying to share my warmth.
I didn’t complain, though.
It was twenty something degrees and the windchill was making it feel closer to fifteen degrees. Any warmth, at this point, was better than nothing.
I was just happy it wasn’t raining in addition to the strong gusts of wind whipping through the stands.
“Here we go,” Jessie stood up a little straighter.
I turned my attention back to the field, barely opening my eyes wide enough to see, and started to chant ‘you can do it’ in my head.
I’d been saying it aloud, but I kept getting funny looks from everyone around me because I sounded like the dude from The Waterboy each time it left my mouth.
The center snapped the ball, and Linc caught it.
The moment the ball hit his hands, Linc went down hard when an opening in the offensive line allowed one of the other team’s linebackers through.
“Shit fucking hell,” Jessie grunted.
Tommy leaned forward in aggravation, too.
“Kid’s a machine, man,” Tommy said as Linc stood up.
Jessie grunted in reply and tightened his arm around me tighter.
“Go baby! You can do it!”
I turned to see the woman I’d been trying hard all night to ignore standing in the front row, blocking the view of the people behind her and causing them to have to stand if they wanted to see what was going themselves.
Selfish cow.
I turned away and tried to ignore her, but her voice was so fucking annoying.
And, to be honest, I was a little bit pissed.
I’d been to more of Linc’s games this year than she had, and I wasn’t even Linc’s mother. How convenient now that Linc starts getting the attention of college scouts that she finds her way out of the woodwork to ride on his coattails.
Thank God Linc had Jessie for a father, because I knew he wouldn’t allow Margot to get her claws into him.
“Pass the ball.”
I whipped my head around in time to see Linc throw the ball, and I gasped.
“Wow, that’s a really far throw!” I crowed.
Jessie’s eyes followed the ball, and I felt him tense.
The ball sailed for what felt like forever, straight into the waiting hands of a player from the other team.
“Son of a fucking bitch!” Jessie growled deeply.
“What a shame,” came that annoying voice from behind me.
I looked away from the game, my heart sinking, and watched as Margot slipped away through the crowd with a fucking smile on her face.
What a bitch.
How could she be smiling like that and not feeling terrible?
I looked back to the game in time to see Linc running, his legs looking so powerful in motion, his arms pumping quickly, as he raced toward the man who was making his way easily down the field while the other players were still gathering themselves off the ground, seemingly unaware that the ball had been intercepted by the other team.
But Linc was.
The crowd all around me was going wild as the opposing player ran as fast as he could down the field toward the end zone.
Nobody saw Linc coming, though.
But I sure did.
I saw Linc hit the player hard.
I also saw the ball fly up and out of his hands as Linc dove for it.
Then, before it could even register with anyone what the hell was going on, Linc had the ball in his hands and was running toward the opposite end of the field.
And no one, not one single player, was in a position to stop him.
There was confusion all over the field as players tried to scramble up and into action.
Nobody but Linc and one other player, who was clearing a lane for Linc by knocking opposing players out of his way, seemed to recognize that Linc was just seconds away from scoring.
By that point I was jumping up and down, screaming so loud that my throat hurt.
Tommy and Jessie were doing much the same, as well as the other members of the Dixie Wardens who’d been able to attend tonight.
When he finally made it into the end zone and threw the ball down so hard that it bounced high into the air, I was out of breath.
“That’s my boy!” Jessie cried loudly, pointing at Linc with one outstretched finger.
Linc pointed back, almost as if he were waiting for Jessie to do it, and held a fist high in the air.
Jessie followed suit, and I realized that something silent had passed between the two men.
I loved that they shared something like that.