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We took our place in our spot as the cheerleaders started to chant. The team rushed out on the field and everyone screamed. I smiled at Bella. I loved this feeling when everything started to happen, and I turned to look at Jackson as he ran by, laughing with Nick.
We each shot two shirts into the crowd at the beginning of the game, and I laughed as a girl caught it and waved. We kept running around until the start of the game, returning to watch it just under the rest of the crowd. We took the lead early on despite the other team’s best efforts and I watched as Jackson ran out to play for a bit. He was playing more and more, and I licked my lips as I watched him. He was sexy when he was out there playing football. I could see that he was meant to do this and wondered what would happen if we did work out and he ended up moving. Depending on how long we’d been together, he might want me to go with him, but I was finishing school. I loved my campus and my life here. I blinked as I pushed the thought away.
We won, and Bella and I rushed through the showers. We hurried home to change into skirts and T-shirts before guests started arriving. I put a little make-up on as Bella called my name. I might not survive this.
I walked out into the living room as some of the girls from the team walked in, hugging them as they passed me by. We all got the snacks out and had the guy with the keg set it up in the corner of the kitchen. This place was small, and I missed Jackson’s apartment for a moment.
Others started arriving, and the music came on. I knew that Bella talked to the neighbors and since it was a weekend, most of them were fine with a small party. We just needed to pull the plug before it got to be too late. Some of the players came in and I looked for Jackson, not seeing him yet.
Joe walked in with some of the other guys, looking around the small room with a glint in his eyes. He found me and sneered, locking gazes with me as he began to stride across the room. Bella walked up to me and looked over as he came up to both of us.
“Hello ladies,” Joe greeted us as he let his eyes flick over my body, slowly taking it all in. I resisted the urge to shiver as I stepped away, searching the room for Jackson. Joe asked where the keg was, and Bella told him, watching as the guy walked away.
“He’s a bit of an asshole. I’m glad that I never hooked up with him, as pretty as he is,” Bella said with a laugh. I tried to relax as the music got louder and voices filled the room.
I went to the kitchen for one of the drinks and felt someone close the fridge and press me against it. I looked behind, not able to move as I pressed against the steel to push myself back. The person turned me around, and I found myself pressed against the counter, staring at Joe.
There were people around us, but nobody seemed to notice as he pressed harder into me.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Joe said.
I tried to push him away.
My back was digging into the counter. “Let me go, Joe.”
Joe grinned and didn’t move an inch.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Let’s go somewhere more private, Emma. What’s in the backyard?”
I knew there was a lot of people out there. I didn’t know what he wanted, but my instinct was to get away. Joe took my hand and pulled me from the kitchen and outside as I stumbled behind him, trying to pull away.
It was too crowded, and I was having trouble breathing as I looked around. Joe tugged me to a spot where there was a bench under a tree and some bushes. There were people just a few feet away, but I felt so alone as he pulled me to him.
I cried out just as someone burst through the bushes, shoving Joe away from me.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Jackson yelled. “Are you okay, Em?”
I nodded before Joe pushed himself up and hit Jackson in the jaw. I screamed as the guys started to fight, clearly harboring more resentment than just this incident. They moved into the main part of the yard and got into it as I cried out for Bella.
She came running and gasped. Jackson was getting a few more punches in than Joe. The quarterback was bloody as some of the other guys separated them.
I didn’t know what this could mean for Jackson and his career. He let the guys pull him back, calling something else out to Joe before he turned to me. Jackson wrapped his hands over my shoulders and moved me under the tree as everyone started talking behind him, asking what happened.
