Chapter 12

MASON

“Fucking hell, Mason! Stop!” Liam yells in my face. He and Stan are trying to push me out of the living room, away from the fucking asshole.

“He’s fucking dead,” I spit out, letting them push me into the cold air outside.

“He’s on your team,” Stan tries to reason. If he’s not careful, he’s going to get a punch in the face too. I want to fucking kill Cameron fucking Armstrong.

I don’t give a fuck if he’s my “teammate.”

First, he forced himself onto someone. Second, it was my girlfriend. And third, he called her a worthless whore!

The next time I lay my eyes on him, I’m punching him in his stupid, fucking ugly face. How fucking dare he.

“I don’t give a fuck,” I snap at Stan.

“You can’t fight your teammate,” he replies calmly, unbothered by my anger.

“You will get kicked off the team, you fucking idiot,” Liam snaps. “Think about your scholarship, going pro, all of it. Think about everything you’ve worked for, Mason!”

I drop my shoulders at his words.

He’s right.

All season, Coach has been going on and on about being part of a team and looking out for one another. Apparently, being on the team is like being part of a family.

Someone should tell that fuckhead you don’t try to kiss your family’s girlfriend.

“Take a deep breath,” Stan says, lifting his hands up as he breathes in and lets out a long, deep breath.

“What are you doing?” I frown as he keeps repeating it.

“Woosha,” he simply answers. I can’t help the small chuckle that slips from my lips.

“Ah, got you smiling. I win,” he says, jabbing his finger at me.

“Are you calm now?” Liam asks, lifting his eyebrows.

“Where’s Lily?” I ignore him and begin to look around the front yard for her.

“Brittany took her,” he replies.

I scrunch my face up, confused. “Took her where? Why?”

“Mase.” He sighs. “She hasn’t seen you lose it. I have.”

I sigh, dropping my shoulders. He has a point. Lily has never seen me when I rage out. I don’t know how she will react. More than likely, she’d be shit scared of me and will probably want nothing to do with me.

But then again, it’s Lily.

She always surprises me.

“I’ll call Britt and see where they are,” Liam says, clapping his hand on my shoulder.

“Make sure he doesn’t make a break for it because he probably will,” he tells Stan, who nods, looking like he’s going to be taking his job seriously.

“Come sit down,” Stan orders, nodding to the curb.

“This is a new low,” I mutter as I lower my body down to the dirty concrete. I never thought I’d be sitting in the gutter drunk when I left for college.

“You know there are ways to get back at that asshole that are not punching his face in. Just ignore him. Live your best life. I mean, it won’t be as satisfying, but it’s still revenge.”

When the fuck did Stan get so smart? He’s always seemed to be like the dumb guard who may have had one too many head knocks.

“And I mean, you’ve got the girl. I don’t know her, but I’m almost certain she won’t run away with that dickwad.”

“Did you just say dickwad?” I laugh, shaking my head—and regret it instantly. It makes me want to vomit.

“Fuck,” I groan, clutching my head.

“You know I had a girlfriend once,” Stan begins before launching into a huge story of a girl and his feelings, but I can’t concentrate on what he’s saying. I’m too focused on trying not to throw up.

“Mason.” I barely hear Lily’s voice from behind me. I spin around a little too fast to see her standing next to Brittany. She is looking at me like a scared little mouse.

“Lily,” I say as I get to my feet.

“I didn’t kiss him, I swear! He forced himself onto me, and I slapped him because I didn’t want to kiss him, and I promise you I would never ever want h—”

“Stop,” I cut her off, holding up my hand. She bites her lip, looking as if she’s about to burst into tears at any second.

Taking two big steps forward, I pull her into my arms, squashing her body into mine.

“I know you’d never do that,” I say, resting my cheek on the top of her hair.

“I want to kill him,” I state matter-of-factly.

“Me too,” she agrees, wrapping her arms around me.

“I feel really gross.” She sniffles.

I pull back, only to see tears building up in her eyes. Suddenly, I’m ready to fight again.

“Can we go home now?” she asks, looking up at me with big, sad eyes. God, I fucking hate that asshole. Probably more than I hate Oliver Kingsley, and that’s saying a lot.

***

I wake up the morning after the stupid party with Lily snuggled into my side, her hair in my face, and a dead arm. This is how I want to wake up every day. I try not to move too much, but the need to use the bathroom is calling me.

I slip my arm from under her head as slowly and gently as I can, but I still wake her.

“Go back to sleep, Princess,” I whisper, kissing her forehead gently before slipping to the bathroom.

Once I’m back in my room, I expect her to be sleeping again. So when she’s sitting up with the blanket tucked up under her chin, I’m surprised.

“I think we need to tick something else off our list tonight,” she states as I climb back in next to her, wrapping my arms and legs around her, just like she had been doing to me.

“You’re such a koala,” she says, laughing as she tries to break free from my hold.

“You can talk.” I chuckle, pulling her back to me. “This is how you sleep all night,” I tell her as I push my head into her chest, just like she does.

“I do not.” She giggles, trying to push me away again.

“So what do you think we need to do tonight? Go streaking?” I tease as I roll myself on top of her.

“Sure, we can go streaking.” She smirks.

“Nope. Not happening,” I say, resting my chin on her chest.

“It will happen.” She smiles.

“I think you should sneak into my dorm tonight,” she whispers.

“Oh yeah?” I grin before noticing a hint of sadness cross her face.

“Or do you want to stay the night here again?” I ask, trying to read her expression.

“How’s that going to help us tick things off our list?” she sasses as she wiggles her body underneath me, sending all the blood in my body straight to my groin.

“I’ve gotta pee.” She laughs when I pin her down.

“Are you sure?” I ask, leaning forward so our lips are almost touching.

“Yes!” she exclaims and keeps wiggling. “I will pee in your bed, Mason Cooper,” she warns.

I sigh in defeat and fall to the side of her. “Be quick!” I yell as she runs out of my bedroom, making her laugh again.

I wasn’t joking. I lie flat on my back, counting backward from one hundred, trying to calm myself.

I reach forty-two when I’m interrupted by my phone vibrating. I frown as I reach for it. Who the hell would be calling me?

When I see Coach Moore’s name on the screen, my stomach begins churning with nervous knots, or maybe it’s all the alcohol from last night.

“Hello?” I answer, sitting up straight.

“Hi, Mason, it’s Owen Moore.” Coach’s voice comes out gruff and a bit pissed.

“Hi, Coach,” I say as Lily walks back into my room, frowning slightly.

“Are you able to come to my office today?” he asks, making the knots in my stomach tighten even more.

“Sure. Of course. What time?”

“Half an hour,” he states before the line goes dead.

“Who was that?” Lily asks as she slips under the covers again.

“Coach. He wants me to meet him in half an hour,” I explain as I jump out of bed. I need to shower. I can’t go meet Coach smelling like stale alcohol.

“What for?” she asks, watching me as I go through my drawers, trying to find some clean clothes.

“I don’t know.” I frown, hoping it’s not about last night.

“Maybe he’s getting you to come in to tell you Cameron is a jerkface and is getting kicked off the team.”

“I highly doubt it,” I reply, starting to worry he has somehow heard about my attempt to fight Cameron and that I’m the one who’s going to be kicked off the team.

“Dreams are free.” She yawns.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell her. I quickly kiss her forehead before running off to the bathroom for the quickest shower of my life.

Once I’ve showered and returned to my room, I find Lily sound asleep again. I kiss her head once more.

“I’ll be back,” I whisper. I know she won’t hear me. I can’t quite explain why I did it. Perhaps she’s right, and I am becoming a big softie.

I make my way over to the stadium and head straight inside to the coach’s office. My stomach is doing flips.

I knock on his open door, causing his head to snap up from the papers he’s currently frowning at.

“Ah, Cooper. Come sit,” he says, gesturing to a seat in front of him.

I do as I’m told, feeling my hands begin to shake with nerves.

“I need to talk to you about something I learned yesterday.”