Page 103 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Aaron

“Nice place, Bennet,”Deacon said, taking in the man cave.

“Told you. The setup is pretty sweet.” I grinned. Easy. Light. The Aaron Bennet swagger they all expected to see.

I hadn’t really wanted to invite them here, but Cole and Deacon hosted the team enough and I figured I could use the distraction. So I’d invited some of the younger players over. The ones who would take the helm next year after we graduated.

“Who wants a beer?” I asked. “Just don’t tell Coach, okay?”

“Sure thing, man. You got it,” one of our safeties, a guy named Dylan, said.

Cole grabbed some beers from the minibar and passed them around. Dad and Coach Ford didn’t care if we had a couple of drinks so long as nobody drove home or showed up to practice late. They’d gotten up to much worse back in the day.

“Thanks for inviting us,” Deacon said.

“It’s all good. You have us over at your place enough.” I shrugged. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Hey, so we were talking.” Dylan nudged the guy next to him. “Do you think we’ll go all the way this season? I mean, Coach seems to think we can do it. But what do you think?”

Me.

They were looking at me as if I had all the answers. Because I was their captain, the one they were supposed to look to.

“Fuck yeah, we can—”

The door swung open and Ezra appeared.

“Holy shit, E’s here,” Dylan gushed, and just like that I became invisible.

“Thought you were busy,” I said.

“Change of plans. Ashleigh isn’t feeling well. What we doing?”

“Drinking beer and shooting the shit.” Deacon shrugged, acting cool. “Quinn wanted to know if you think we’ll go all the way this season.”

A quiet chuckle left Ezra. “You’re asking the wrong guy.” His eyes flicked to mine.

“Nah, man, we want to know what you think. You’re new to the team, but you’re killing it out there. We’d be nothing without you and Kandon on offense.”

I chugged on my beer, draining the damn thing dry. So much for looking at me like I had all the answers.

Cole kicked my foot and mouthed, ‘You good?’

I nodded.

What else was there to say? I was the person everyone looked to until someone better came along.

The guys grilled Ezra some more, breaking down his favorite plays and predictions for our upcoming games.

“You want another?” Cole offered me a fresh beer, but I shook my head. “Where’s Sofia tonight?” he asked.

“Her and Poppy went over to Halston to see Peyton. Girls’ night or some shit.”

I’d heard Sofia talking to Mom about it earlier.

“Girls’ night. In Halston. What are they doing?”

“How the fuck should I know?” I ran the bottle cap through my fingers. “Braiding each other’s hair and giving each other manicures?”

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