"Still nothing from Oz?"

"I'm supposed to hear from him today."

"It's only a matter of time, though."

"Yeah," I breathed out.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired," I admitted. "I just want all this shit to be over already."

Arisa's hand tightened its grip on mine. "Soon."

"God, I hope so."

She cleared her throat, before frowning and wagging a finger at me. "Keep your head in the game, O'neal. I don't want to lose against Yale."

I chuckled, snaking an arm around her neck to pull her to me. I kissed her forehead. "Yes, ma'am."

She grinned. "See you later." She went on her tiptoes and kissed me lightly on the lips.

"Be safe!" I called after her retreating back.

She waved without looking back as she walked away to meet our friends.

Taking a deep breath, I headed to the locker room.

"'Eyo, Nine!"

All eyes landed on me, quickly followed by nods and greetings. Everyone looked pretty much happy to see me. Except for one person.

"You better fucking pull your weight," Mackenzie grumbled, as he put on his gear.

"Damn, Mack. You talking to yourself now?"

He gave me the finger, making me send him a flying kiss. Lame ass wuss.

"It's never really game day without you pissing off Mack right before a game," Holden said, chortling as he warmed up on the bench in front of his locker.

I snorted. "I was barely even trying."

"You ready for your last game?"

"Eh, it's not even an official one."

"It's still against Yale."

"True, gotta bring them hell one way or another."

He groaned when he stretched his arm.

"You okay, man?" I asked.

"Yeah, got sacked at practice pretty hard last week—landed bad."

I made a face. "Ouch."

"Tell me about it."

"You think you're gonna be able to take heavy hits tonight?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"Don't act tough in front of me."

"I'm serious."

I stared at him some more. It reminded me of Mauri. I made the mistake of being careless once. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Nobody else was going to die on my watch.

I was about to scrutinize him some more but Coach walked in and told me to put my gear on.

*****

Fucking hell.

This was like a rewind of my last game—only worse. It was against Yale, too. But they weren't only targeting me this time. Mack was close to losing his shit. Jasper looked defeated already. Holden had gotten sacked way too many times that he didn't look his best right now. He was off. We were all off.

"We're fucking better than this," I spat.

It was the last down before half-time. We needed to goddamn score.

"Okay, new play." I clapped and pointed to the defensive line. "You, you, you, and you—switch to the left like this—" I paused to draw the play. "Mack and Jasper will stay on the right."

"Both?"

"Yeah."

Mack frowned. "But—"

"I know, it will leave one end wide open and you guys vulnerable. But that will make them focus on you. They'll think I'll make a pass and stop you from getting far."

"But you won't make a pass?"

"No." I turned to Holden. "Can you run it?"

He nodded.

"I don't wanna push you—"

"I can do it."

That was all I needed to hear. I looked at our fullback. "Take care of him." Then to Holden, I added, "Run like hell."

He grinned. "Like you've never seen."

"Don't let them think they have a chance." I held out a hand. "Ready? On three. One, two, three—"

"CRIMSON!"

We went to position. The other team got confused and tried to switch a couple of times as I called out the play. I tried not to smile. There was no reason to gloat, not until we had a touchdown.

"Hut!"

As expected, they ran after Mack and Jasper. I backed away and gave the ball to Holden. He made a run for it, wasting no time. I didn't get to see what happened next because I was tackled.

Fuck.

"Like that?" the asshole sneered.

"Ugh." I made a face. "Get the fuck off me. Your breath stinks."

"Fuck you," he said, finally getting off.

"No, thanks. But tell your mom I said hi."

He was about to come at me when the crowd made a collective groan. I turned and saw Holden on the ground. He was at the end zone, but he was curled on the ground clutching his stomach.

Just as I was running towards him, the buzzer for half-time went off. Holden was sweating buckets as they transferred him on a stretcher.

"What the hell happened?" I demanded, following them towards the locker room.

"A couple of guys tackled him right after he scored a touchdown. They got flagged but..." Mack shook his head and his jaw clenched. "The damage has already been done."

I had to keep in the rage that was boiling deep inside me. I couldn't lose my shit. Not now. Not yet.

I'd settle it out on the field. I'd settle it with them losing. To think, this was only a damn charity game.

I shook my head, about to walk ahead and check on the team. I was sure they were just as angry as I was. But we needed to direct that energy to the game and focus. Or else, the enemy would get what they want.

"Hey."

I stopped and turned to Mack. He looked awkward as shit as he looked down and shifted on his stance.

"What?"

He frowned, but still didn't say anything.

"Spit it out."

"You're a jackass."

I blinked. "Wow, thanks."

"You have the tendency to choke."

"I have a gag reflex, but okay."

"The team could do without you."

"Are you trying to piss me off or something?" I didn't know where he was going with this. I was already pumped up as it was without him trying to provoke me, which wasn't working because it was only slightly annoying at this point.

"It fucking grates me to admit it," he continued, shaking his head as though he couldn't believe what he was about to say. "But the team isn't the same without you."

Wait, what?

"Playing with you again tonight..." He sighed. "The atmosphere's different. You ignite the fight in us. I didn't even realize it until tonight."

Holy shit, where did this come from?

"You don't have to say anything."

Oh, thank God. Because I was at a loss for words. This came out of fucking nowhere.

"Just, uh—Just wanted you to know." He didn't wait for me to reply. He walked around me and went ahead to the locker room.

That was so random. But I was sure that that must've been hard as fuck for him. I appreciated that. In fact, I didn't know that I needed that.

Damn, this night was turning weirder.

When we got to the lockers, I headed straight to the infirmary room to check on Holden. I hoped he didn't break anything serious.

"Can you take off your shirt?"

"I'm fine."

"We need to check if there's any internal bleeding."

"I'm fine," Holden repeated firmly.

"Don't be stubborn, man," I said, walking towards them. Holden was sitting on the bed with the medic in front of him. He was soaked in sweat.

"You have to get cleared by me if you want to get off that bed."

"I'm really fine!"

"What's happening here?" Coach Sax asked.

"He won't let me check him."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm fine!"

"Boy, don't use that tone with me."

Holden's jaw clenched.

"Now take off that damn shirt."

Holden's eyes switched to me. I gave him a what-the-fuck look. I didn't get what the big deal was. We always get checked for injuries, especially after a fall like that. This wasn't new.

He sighed and started taking off his shirt with the medic's help. His eyes never left mine.

"Nine."

I turned around and saw Jasper holding out a ringing phone. Wait, that was my phone.

"It kept ringing so I figured it might be something important."

I got my phone and nodded to him. "Thanks."

I deliberately didn't put it on silent in case Arisa or Oz called. I didn't want to miss out on anything.

I looked at the screen.

It was Oz.

"Yo—"

"Got word from Clyde."

Ah, just the news I was waiting for.

"We got it wrong, man. Mauri's father isn't a politician, his uncle is."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, Senator Adder."

Wait, Senator Adder... Senator Adder from the Ordo event in New York?

"Guess who Senator Adder's son is?" my best friend asked, keeping me in fucking suspense.

"You didn't stitch this, did you? When did you get this? It got infected."

My eyes wandered to the medic tending to Holden's injury—on his arm...

I stared at Holden's wound, my brain going on fucking overdrive. Just as it felt like it was about to burst, Oz spoke again.

"It's Holden."