Traitor (30 page)

Mom knew I was home before I could even say anything. “Reese Michael, you get in here right now.”

Crap. What could I have done? I racked my brain to figure out what the issue could be. I made sure the toilet seats were down, the dishes were done, and I’d been gone without causing any kind of craziness that would result in mom’s friend’s husband, Officer Dooley, to have to come visit. I thought I good.

She called out again. “Reese, you get in here!”

I walked into the kitchen to find my mom decked out in baby blue gear. She was all smiles. Before I could argue, she wrapped me in one of her big hugs that embarrassed the crap out of me when we were around the guys. “Good luck tonight, baby! Dad and I will be there!”

“Thanks, mom,” I muttered through the death grip she had on me. I slipped out by twisting away and kissed her on the cheek so she wouldn’t be mad. “I just gotta go grab my iPod out of my room. Ash isn’t here, is she?”

Mom’s smile faltered a little bit. “She dropped your car off. You know how I feel about you loaning your car out.”

“I didn’t exactly give her my permission. You were here when she took it. Why didn’t you say anything if it bugs you?”

Her face took on a mothering look, and I knew I was in for it. “I know how you feel about her. I don’t want her to feel unwelcome. I just, it’s just…there’s a lot about her and her family…I just think it would be easier if you distanced yourself.”

“Mom, we went over this – “

She held her hand up. “I know, I know, I know, some sort of something crazy and whatever. I don’t need the details, and quite frankly, I lost track of everything when you tried to explain it to me. Just don’t tell your father that you’re some kind of bodyguard now. He wanted you to go to college.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, Mom.” I leaned in and gave her one more kiss. “I love you, and please don’t embarrass me at the game. Keep the screaming to a dull roar.”

She laughed. “I’ll try my best.”

I headed out of the kitchen, grabbing onto the doorframe and slinging myself around the corner. Mom yelled from behind, telling me about how if I did that one more time, I would be cleaning the walls myself with my toothbrush. She said that all the time. Hadn’t happened yet. I just laughed and went upstairs to my room.

My room was a disaster, thanks to all the extra guys around. Desmond was lying on his bed, typing feverishly on his computer with a pair of big studio-style headphones on. His head bobbed to the music I couldn’t hear.

He caught sight of me, smiled, and pulled the headphones down around his neck. Rock music filled the room. “Hey, mate. Big night tonight, I hear?”

I nodded as I dug through my desk drawer in an attempt to find my iPod. “Yeah,” I muttered distractedly. “First football game.”

“You know, you’re playing the wrong footie.”

I snorted. “Ever think you guys got it wrong?”

He shook his head and laughed good-naturedly. “One country against the rest of the world? I think you guys are the ones with the meaning of football backward.”

“Whatever, dude. You gonna come tonight and see what it’s all about?”

Desmond nodded. “Suppose I might as well. I’ll round up Issac and Aiden. We’ll all come.”

I tossed him a crumpled up twenty that I made mowing the lawn the last time. “It’s five bucks a person to get in. This one’s on me.”

Desmond looked at me, seemingly surprised. “You know, I think you’re all right, no matter what Liam and Aiden say.”

I laughed. “Whatever, dude. Don’t get too emotional on me.”

He laughed as he put his headphones back on. “Never. And go Seahawks!”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t going to correct him. When he looked up and saw the poster on the back of my door that said
Skyhawks
, maybe he’d get the hint. At least he got the name of an NFL team to keep the correct sport.

After digging for another five minutes, I finally found my iPod. As I stuffed it in my pocket, I turned to my dresser drawer and snatched the away football jersey that hung off the corner. It needed to come with me to Ashlyn’s.

***

Mom gave me the address to Ash’s new place, and I walked the couple blocks to her house. The whole way there I twisted the jersey in my hands. It’s a wonder it didn’t get twisted in half. God. You’d think I was asking her to prom.

No, it wasn’t a big deal. I was just giving her the jersey to wear, and getting to the school. It was time to focus.

After knocking on the door a couple times, Mrs. McVean came to the door. She smiled brightly and opened the door wide. “Hey, Reese. Ash is downstairs with Liam. They’re watching a movie.”

Watching a movie my ass
, I thought. Instead of saying that, I smiled. “Thanks, Mrs. McVean. I gotta get to the school, but I wanted to drop this off.” I gestured to the jersey in my hand.

She smiled again. “That’s nice of you, Reese. I’m sure she’ll be happy to wear it tonight. Emily and I will be there, too.”

“Is Tess holding down the fort?”

“You could say that.”

I didn’t ask any more. “Okay, well tell Tess I said hey. I’ve gotta get moving so I’m not late.”

“Sure, sure.”

I slipped past her and headed down the hall and to the stairs. I made sure to make a racket to warn lover boy to lay off for a minute.

Ashlyn yelled up the stairs. “Reese, you always have a way with timing.”

“Just be glad I didn’t pop into your room.”

Liam responded this time. “If you ever get the urge to just ’pop’ into Ashlyn’s room, remember that I will pop you right back in another capacity.”

I skipped the last two steps and jumped to the landing. “Oh, shut it, you nut. I’m not trying to get with your girl. Today,” I added, and smiled when Liam’s face went three shades of purple.

I walked over to a small couch that separated her bedroom space and Roslin had set up to be a living room for Ashlyn. Roslin had basically created a mini apartment down here. Posters of Ashlyn’s favorite bands lined one wall that also had Christmas lights dangling across the top. A small disco ball hung on fishing line overtop a writing desk that was situated in the corner and caught the rainbow lights as it turned, making the room a kaleidoscope of colors. It was pretty sweet.

Not to be distracted, I stood in front of Ash, grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. I grinned brightly, picking the words I knew would irritate Liam the most. “I have a proposal for you.”

Liam audibly ground his teeth. That was what I was hoping for. Ash rolled her eyes at me, but smiled anyway. “What do you want?”

I pulled my jersey from behind my back. “So, I’ve got two of these jerseys, and I only need to wear one tonight. You know the drill, the players give the jerseys out and all, and I want you to wear mine tonight. It’d be cooler if I didn’t have to give it to the art teacher again.”

Liam snorted in derision. “Are you sure even she would want to wear that ratty thing?”

Ash waved a hand behind her to quiet him. He pursed his lips, but said no more. That made me feel pretty good. “Liam, stop,” she said as she returned her attention to me. “I’d love to wear it.”

I’m pretty sure I’d never smiled that wide in my life. As I handed the jersey over, I held her hand under the fabric a little longer than necessary. She gave me a look, but didn’t pull away.

Hell yeah.

“Game starts at seven. Don’t be late!”

Ashlyn smiled. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

This was going to be my year; I could feel it. Tonight was just the beginning.

T
HE AIR WAS
electric down at the field. As I parked the Jeep, I saw guys bouncing and hitting one another in the shoulders, just totally jazzed for the game.

There’s nothing that could beat how it felt to get out on the field, I was sure of it. After playing varsity for the past two years, I had come to appreciate the first game of the season. It was a fresh start; a new beginning and a chance to play the best yet. The jitters that I felt at the initial kickoff reminded me how great it was to play football.

One of the freshmen that was good enough to dress for varsity ran up to the car and poked his head in the passenger window while I unbuckled. “Hey, Williams, nice practice yesterday! I’ve never seen hits like you laid down. I’m hoping if I hit the weights, I’ll be able to do that too.”

I was completely confused. I hadn’t been to practice in four days. My mouth opened and closed while I tried to think of something to say.

All of a sudden, there was a familiar voice. “Yeah, I heard they were pretty impressive!”

The freshman turned and smiled at Roslin as she slid across the hood of the Jeep. “Rozz!” the boy exclaimed. “Glad you could make it!”

Roslin smiled and gave him a high five. “Wouldn’t dream of missing it. Hope you get some time in, Ben!”

The guy flushed crimson. “Uh, yeah, thanks! I’ll see you later.”

As he walked away, Rozz took his spot leaning into the passenger window. “Don’t tell me you don’t even know your own teammates.”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t make a habit of learning the freshmen names until later. More importantly, what hits was I laying down at practice?”

Roslin winked. “Big ones, apparently. I watched ESPN for three hours yesterday learning lingo before I came to fix things on your team.”

My eyebrows arched. “’Fix’ things?”

“Oh, come off it. Your coach was so mad you hadn’t shown up, you’d have been a sitting duck otherwise. I just modified some things to make it look like you were here. No big deal.”

There was no denying that. Roslin grinned and went to the back of the Jeep, opened the hatch, and grabbed my gear. When I went to meet her, she shoved it at my chest and grinned. “Go get ready, big boy. You’ve got a game to win.”

With that, she disappeared. Dang faeries. Always coming and going and changing peoples’ memories.

Cool.

***

I found my regular spot in the corner of the locker room and put my headphones in. Rock music poured into my ears, and I started getting ready for the game.

An hour later, the guys were prepped and we were headed to the field to get some practice and warm-ups in. After a little while, I looked into the stands to see Rozz and Ashlyn sitting in the front row, watching. I figured since they were here, I’d show off a little bit.

My buddy Bryson was the quarterback, so I nodded his way and he got the hint. We’d played together since third grade, so this would be fun. I nudged the freshman that had come to the car to talk to me. “Hey, Ben. Wanna get warmed up? Help me out and guard me.”

You would have thought I told the kid he had won the lottery. “Yeah, yeah, sure!” He popped up from where he was sitting on the bench watching, and came to stand by me. The little dude was barely at my armpit.

I knocked him in the helmet. “Let’s go, man.”

We motioned to Bryson and he let loose the first ball. Ben was actually a pretty good defender and kept on me tight. He’d probably see some playing time this year.

Problem was, I wasn’t just human anymore.

I put on a burst of speed and almost juked him out of his shoes. He fell over and I was wide open. Going back to a jog, I turned back to find the ball. There was plenty of time to show off before I needed to catch it, so I acted like I was shining my nails on my shoulder, then turned and caught the ball behind my back.

The guys who were watching lost it.

Whoops and whistles came from along the bench. Coach shook his head and hollered at me. “Just save something for the game, Williams!”

I smiled. I couldn’t wait to get this game started.

R
OSLIN HISSED BESIDE
me in irritation. I could feel her shaking with anger. That was the first time I’d ever seen her so worked up. “That idiot! He’s going to get noticed, and we’re going to be in trouble.”

I laughed. “Did you really think it was going to be easy to keep him under control?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t think it could be any harder than you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m still human, aren’t I?”

“Don’t kid yourself; you’ve never been human. You’re just more fragile than the rest of us at the moment.”

I sighed. “Don’t forget Liam. He’s a little more breakable than me.”

Roslin patted my back. “Don’t worry. With Reese as your Protector, he’s safer now. There’s no target on his back.”

She was right. Liam was safer now that he wasn’t my Protector. The thought gave me some relief, but it wasn’t as much as I’d hoped for.

We watched people file in and mill amongst one another as it grew closer to game time. The sea of baby blue and navy blue began to surge around us, taking on a very real feel of the ebb and flow of the ocean. The chatter of the crowd grew into a low roar as the student section began to fill up and all the students vied for each other’s attention.

Roslin’s anger disappeared quickly as the pre-game announcements began. She was literally bouncing in her seat. She hugged me excitedly, and the fire behind her eyes was contagious. “Ashlyn, I’ve never been so excited for something so trivial in my entire existence!”

I laughed. “I’m not sure how I should take that, Rozz.”

“You know what I mean!”

Once again she hugged me and just shook with excitement. Who knew a high school football game could be so exciting. She turned to me and looked at me seriously. “Is there a stand to buy memorabilia here?”

“Huh?”

“Shirts and stuff! I want to dress the part of a patriotic high schooler!”

She was a serious case. I was scared to see what she’d come back with as her spoils of shopping, but I pointed it out in the corner of the stadium. “See that little hut thing down there? By the concession stand? They’ll have stuff.”

She squealed with delight. “Great! Thanks. I’ll be right back!”

I shook my head in amusement as she bounded away, bouncing off of people as she went and drawing stares. She thought Reese was going to attract attention, well, she was the maniac way too excited to go be at a high school football game. I figured she’d be the one that caused more of a stir. None of my human schoolmates were ever as pumped as she seemed to be. Maybe I could just claim she was ill.