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No matter the sacrifice.
“Here he is, the man of the hour.” Dad grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into his side. “We’re proud of you, Son, real damn proud.”
I smiled tightly at the group of men gathered around my old man.
“Must be something, Kent, watching your kid follow in your footsteps.”
“It’s something all right.” His hand tightened. “The question is though, does he have what it takes to go all the way?” It came out lighthearted but I didn’t miss the lingering bitterness.
“Coach seems to think so, and I for one, am rooting for you, Jason.” Grady’s dad chimed in, tipping his beer in my direction. I gave him a small nod of appreciation.
“He just needs to learn to rein in his emotions. Take tonight for example...”
I tuned out, my teeth grinding behind my lips. I didn’t want to hear about how I messed up or how I threw away the team’s perfect season.
“Excuse me,” I said, shucking out of his grip. “But tonight is supposed to be a celebration, so I’m going to do just that, celebrate.” Stalking away, I didn’t expect to hear him call my name.
“Jason.” I turned slowly, narrowing my eyes on my old man. “I was just shooting the shit with the guys, you know how it is.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled.
“You’re annoyed.”
“I’m not annoyed, I’m just... It doesn’t matter.” I let out an exasperated breath.
“I think it does.” His audience had dispersed, leaving the two of us and a boat load of shit I didn’t want to deal with.
“You know,” he stepped closer, hands jammed deep in his pockets, “I remember what it was like to be young. To have the world at your feet. To think you’re invincible.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “But we’re all human, Jason. We all make mistakes.”
“You are such a fucking hypocrite,” I spat the words. “Standing up there tonight to talk about sacrifice and dedication and what it means to be a team.”
“Watch your tone, Son,” he said coolly, glancing around to make sure no one had overheard me. Because God forbid someone actually saw the real us, the father and son behind the fake smiles and state records. “I know you’re still upset over me and Denise—”
“Upset? Is that what you think? That I’m upset about you and Denise?” Bitter laughter rumbled in my chest. “I’m not upset about you and Denise; you two deserve each other. You have no fucking idea what it’s been like growing up in your shadow, a man respected and revered by an entire town. Knowing that without you, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today, but at the same time, knowing I’m who I am because of you. Cold. Callous... Cruel.”
“Jason, I—”
“Save it, Dad,” I ground out. “You have everything you need now, right? You have Denise and a son you can live vicariously through. And me? I’ve got football. At least I know the game will never disappoint me.”
Felicity
“Have you seen Jason?” were the first words out of Hailee’s mouth as she hurried over to us.
“No, we’ve been here the whole time,” Asher said.
“Crap, he and his dad got into it and Jason stormed off. He looked pretty pissed. I was going to go after him but someone stopped me to talk about the paintings.”
“Fuck,” Cam grumbled, pulling Hailee onto his lap. “This is the last thing we need.”
“You should go after him,” Asher said to me while I obsessed over how his best friend held my best friend. Intimately. Tenderly. As if she was the most precious thing in the whole world.
“I don’t know,” I said, dejection crawling up my throat like a cockroach, “he didn’t seem pleased to see me earlier.” In fact he’d acted like seeing me was the last thing he wanted. “Maybe I should just leave.”
“Ride or die, remember?” Hailee said, her eyes pleading with me. “At least try to talk to him. He looked really upset.”
My heart ached for Jason and I wanted to go after him, I did, but I wasn’t sure my heart would survive another rejection.
“He needs you, Fee.” Asher gave me a half-smile. “Besides, if you don’t go after him, one of us has to and I’m sure he’d rather see a pretty face than Cam’s ugly mug.”
