Sworn Enemies - Rebel Hart Page 0,67
sun before landing on the turf tails up. The ref looked over at me, but I was still too shocked to speak.
Kris nudged me, and I just managed to get out, “We’ll receive.”
“Very well.”
The ref motioned toward our team, letting everyone know we were receiving first, and then Kris had to physically drag me off the field. It didn’t take long for the rest of the Widows to notice my shock.
“Quinn, what’s wrong?” Cal asked, putting a hand on my back.
I still couldn’t answer, so Kris stepped forward. “Lila’s over there. She’s playing for Colorado.”
“What!” a chorus called in shock.
Their eyes all shot across the field, and just like she always did with us, Lila was already standing out on the field, waiting for her team to catch up.
“Bitch!” Mala barked.
George and Max exchanged heartbroken looks, and then Max’s jaw clenched, and her expression turned angry. “I thought she was fucking dead or something.”
George slammed her fist into her palm. “Let’s fucking smash her.”
I looked at Cal and shook my head. “I can’t. We didn’t account for that power. We couldn’t even beat Lila when she was playing against us.”
Cal grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the team. “You have to stop this. You’re the captain. If you waver, the whole team will crumble beneath you.”
“Quinn!” I looked over toward the stands, and Zeke was looking back at me with concern.
I shook my head until Cal snapped his hand in front of my face to bring me back to attention. “We can beat them. We can beat her. You believe in this team, right?” I nodded. “You’re not just a run of the mill player, Quinn.” He took my helmet from my hand, pulled it over my head, and then smacked it. “Now, get out there and fuck ‘em up.”
I nodded but didn’t go back toward the team. I walked out onto the field and took my mark, staring Lila down. Both teams bled in around us until we were prepped and ready to go. The noise around me faded away until all I could hear was my breathing. I ducked down, the sound of the whistle far from me, and I didn’t hear anything again until someone was screaming my name.
“Quinn!”
The ball was in my hand, I’d backed away from the center, and Lila was charging at me like a freight train. I looked around, trying to find someplace to dump the ball, but she was like a big, impassable wall in my way. I couldn’t see around her, and soon, she smashed into me, taking me to the ground. The ball went flying from my hands and rolled along the turf. I tried to scramble to get it, but Lila kept her knee buried in my back.
“Not so fast, captain,” she huffed at me. Colorado ran over and scooped up the ball and started off toward their end zone. I tried to shove Lila off me, but I didn’t have the leverage to do so.
I could hear Cal screaming from the sidelines, and finally, a yellow flag went flying through the air. A ref rushed over to pull Lila off my back, and at the very least, she relented to his pull. I got to my feet and glared at her, and she smiled at me.
“Unnecessary roughness!” the ref called. “You’re off to a bad start.”
The penalty was the only thing that kept Colorado from snagging an immediate touchdown, but they did so easily on the next play. Even with Cal’s new plays in the mix, Colorado had our every movement memorized. They knew exactly how to spread their players against us, and they allowed Lila to stay trained on me as much as she wanted. I spent the entire game getting pummeled by Lila, who was clearly out for revenge more than she cared about winning the game. Not that she had to dedicate much energy to that front—her team did it for her. With them knowing our plays as well as we did, we couldn’t get around them. We managed a couple of field goals, but they were a drip in the pot compared to the multiple touchdowns Colorado got while Lila had me locked up. When the final whistle blew, the score was forty-three to six. Not only did Lila cost us the game, but she cost us our semi-pro chances.
Everyone stayed fifty feet away from me as I filed off the field. Cal made a single attempt to put an arm on