Page 137 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

Aaron

“Good, that’s good,”the team’s physical therapist, a hulk of a guy named Monty, said. “Keep up the exercises and you should be good to go Friday.”

“Thank fuck,” I murmured, and he chuckled.

“I hear Iowa are interested.”

“That’s the hope.”

“Well, good luck, kid. You’ve been an integral part of this team the last three years.”

“Thanks, Monty.”

“Now get dressed and get out of here.”

“Will do.”

Someone knocked on the door and he said, “Come in.”

Ezra and Cole ducked into the room, grinning.

“It couldn’t wait?” He arched his brow at them.

“Sorry, Mont,” Cole said. “But we really needed to speak to Aaron.”

“Fine, I’ll leave you three to it. It’s my lunch hour anyway.”

“Thanks again.” He slipped out of the room and I said, “So, what couldn’t wait?”

Ezra looked at Cole and then me. “We overheard Coach Ford and Macintosh talking just now and it sounded like Iowa are sending someone to the game Friday.”

“For real?”

Cole nodded. “Heard it with our own ears. Probably wasn’t supposed to come find you and tell you, but this is huge, Aaron. It’s—”

“Fuck.” The wind knocked clean from my lungs as I braced myself on the table. “It’s happening, it’s really happening.”

“Fuck yeah, it is.” Ezra clapped me on the back. “This is it, bro. Your time to shine.”

“I… fuck.”

They both chuckled.

“I didn’t think it was going to happen.” I ran a hand down my face, my heart thundering in my chest.

“Well, it looks like the tide is turning in your favor.”

“We should celebrate tonight,” Cole said. “Beer and pool at Bell’s?”

“I’m in,” Ezra said, surprising me.

“What, no Leigh tonight?”

“Fuck off, asshole. We’re not that bad.”

“You are pretty bad.” Cole smirked. “But we get it. You went through a lot of shit to get here.”

“Well, I’m sure I can drag myself away for one night. We should invite McKay too.”

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