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The game started off relatively normal…or at least the first quarter did. And Ian did in fact score a touchdown and blow me a kiss from the endzone.
But then in the second quarter, Ian got shoved down. I knew it was part of football, and I saw Braden help him back up, but as soon as he was back on his feet, I saw him search the stands and I could have sworn I saw his shoulders sag in relief when he saw I was still here.
Within a minute after the game resumed, Braden went down. And this time, I saw who’d done it. It wasn’t someone on Emporia’s team. It was Tucker Yates.
“Oh. My. God,” I choked out, barely even registering that I was speaking out loud.
“What is it, Ky?” Izzie asked.
“That wasn’t Emporia,” I whispered, not wanting anyone other than her and Melissa to hear.
“What?”
“It wasn’t one of Emporia’s players that just pushed Braden down. It was one of the guys who hurt me. I’m pretty sure it was one of them who knocked Ian down too. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the people they pushed down are two of the four people in the entire world who know what they’ve done.”
“Shit,” she gasped.
“There’s nothing that can be done unless a ref sees it,” I sighed. “But if they keep turning a blind eye or the guys are purposefully waiting until the refs’ heads are turned, Ian and Braden could end up leaving here on stretchers.”
“He’s tough, Ky. They both are. They can take care of themselves,” Melissa assured me. “And ifwesaw Tucker roughing Braden up from all the way up here, you can bet they did. If he tries that again, he’ll get thrown out of the game.”
Just as I said that, Braden stood back up, but one of the referees called a time out. Coach Jefferson went to talk to the referee. The next thing I knew, Tucker was being benched and replaced with someone else.
Damn it. That wasn’t good. At all. All that would do was piss off the “Three Stooges,” as Ian and Braden liked to call them. And those three pissed off equaled people getting hurt.
I watched with bated breath as they played the last three minutes of the first half. Ian got knocked down one more time, but he got right back up and I couldn’t say for sure if it was one of our guys or one of Emporia’s that did it.
Still, my stomach twisted into a knot. I just had this awful feeling that something serious was about to happen to my boyfriend or one of my best friends, or to both of them.
