Page 72 of Well Aware

I watched as she was knocked to the ground so hard that her head whipped backward.

Her hands went back to catch her fall, which was when she broke her arm as the woman landed on top of her.

I heard the snap of her bone breaking, and decided that I would never, ever be able to unhear that sound.

I was running down the steps toward the bench as her teammates pulled the woman off of her.

She was crying, holding her arm that was bent at an unnatural angle.

The center ref, Eloy, was hovering over her as she was carried off the field.

I waited impatiently at the sidelines as she was carted over on a side-by-side.

Eloy was talking to her, but stopped when I got to Magnolia’s side and said, “Are you okay, baby?”

Magnolia’s pain-filled eyes found mine, and I saw relief written in them. “I’m…”

Eloy looked stunned. “Who are you?”

I leveled my gaze on him. “Aren’t you supposed to be reffing a game? If you can call what you’re doing reffing.”

Eloy looked like I’d punched him in the mouth.

He opened his mouth and then closed it.

But I had a point, and he knew it.

He disappeared back onto the field, his steps stiff. You could tell that I’d pissed him off.

I looked back at my girl, and she said, “Take care of Iris?”

“I have her, darling. I have her.”

EIGHTEEN

I just want someone to love me for the raging, unpredictable, horrific bitch that I am.

—Magnolia’s secret thoughts

MAGNOLIA

I had a broken ulna.

So broken, in fact, that it required surgery to repair.

It was a fine ending to a pretty shitty day—at least for me.

For the Cowgirls, other than losing me for the rest of the game, they’d done pretty damn well.

We won the game 4-2, and no other players were hurt in the game besides me.

Unluckily, again for the United States Referee Association, all eyes were on them. And the professional soccer world was not happy.

This was now three games in a row where we’d had issues with our refereeing and not a single person was liking what they saw. Not professional team owners. Not the league officials. Not the players. And certainly not the fans.

My arm breaking had made worldwide news, and the USRA was scrambling to come up with answers to questions that they couldn’t get out of answering.

To be completely honest, it was quite comical to see everyone scrambling.