Sworn Enemies - Rebel Hart Page 0,6

it was a choice between the Widows or the Vipers, the Widows won out every time.

The first quarter of the game was expected, if not slightly slow. It was a battle of the defenses as both teams managed to advance a handful of yards before running out of downs and having to turn over the ball. Minnesota was a more controlled team than the Vipers, however, so a shift came at the beginning of the second quarter when the Vipers tried for a play on fourth down and got sacked. They had to give the ball back to Minnesota right where they stood, leaving Minnesota within field goal range.

“Goddammit!” I barked at the screen. “Why would they go for that play? None of them has the control for that!”

“That’s Wild Zeke for you. Give him an inch, and he’ll try to take a football field,” Hollie replied.

Things went from bad to worse. It was like Zeke was the only one who cared to play solid ball. Minnesota got the ball up the field for a touchdown and successful two-point conversion, and about five minutes later, they intercepted a pass and ran it back sixty yards for another touchdown. Kris scooted her barstool a bit down the bar from me, no doubt feeling the anger permeating off of me. By the third quarter, the Vipers were playing like middle-schoolers. They were fighting more amongst themselves than with the other team, and all of their plays were plagued by a hundred and one mistakes that no one this late in the game should still be making.

“Turn around!” I screamed when Zeke tossed downfield to his receiver, who was still running with his back to the ball.

One of Minnesota’s players got in between the ball and the receiver and jumped up for a killer interception. Zeke bolted out from the pack and tackled the receiver to the ground, but that didn’t stop Minnesota from jumping up and chest-bumping one another triumphantly at another successful turnover. The camera cut away from the fray on the field, but not before Zeke threw his hands up in anger at his team. The third quarter ended with an embarrassing score of twenty-nine to three.

“Jeez,” Alec murmured, leaning against the bar with his eyes on the TV. “They’re stinking up the place.”

“Please get me more booze,” I grumbled. Without even looking back at me, Alec reached below the bar, and when his hand came back up, it had an already-crafted Long Island in it. “I love how prepared you are.”

“I know how you get when they lose.” Alec turned to walk down the bar. “I’ll get started on another one.”

I lifted the new drink to take a sip. “They could still pull it out.”

Kris looked over at me with one eyebrow raised. “Sure, if by ‘pull it out’ you mean they’re going to lose. Badly.”

I groaned and watched. The fourth quarter was more of the same. Zeke was starting to lose his cool, so the little bit of skill they had on the field quickly evaporated. When the final countdown started, the teams stood around and let the clock run down. The Vipers scored no more points that game, but Minnesota took another touchdown and field goal, bringing the final score to a horrendous thirty-nine to three.

“You guys could play circles around them,” Alec commented. When he wasn’t working at the bar, he was helping out with the team. He took Fridays off so he could be there for games, and he usually had the late shift on Saturdays, so he could attend Saturday practices, too. He knew our team as well as I did. “Too bad you guys can’t be semi-pro.”

The sentence was uttered as nothing more than a passing notion, but it drove straight into me like a stake. We drank our way through the end of Alec’s shift and then packed up to leave. Kris, Jansen, and Hollie all climbed into Hollie’s truck and were off after some tipsy goodbyes. Alec pulled me over to his old Jeep Cherokee and opened the door to let me in. He tapped the top of my head like I was a dog.

“Don’t brood so hard. You’re going to peel Benny’s paint.” Benny was the name he gave his car. He shut the door, walked around to the driver’s side, and climbed in. “Teams lose sometimes. It’s okay.”

“Do you really think we could go semi?” I asked.

Alec recoiled a bit. “Huh?”

“You said it’s too bad we can’t go semi-pro.