Sworn Enemies - Rebel Hart Page 0,74

He looked over at me. “Anything to add?”

I stood up and looked at the Black Widows. They all smiled back at me, and a blazing fire of determination burned behind their eyes. I had a whole speech planned, but at that moment, anything I was planning to say didn’t need to be said. “Let’s go out there and give them a battle they won’t forget.”

Cal put one hand on my back and stuck the other out. “Bring it in.”

We hopped up and piled our hands on top of Cal’s. I tilted my head back and screamed, “Widows!”

“Widows!” They called back to me.

A security guard led us from our locker room out onto the Vipers field, and my jaw dropped. The thrum of thousands of fans found me before we stepped out into the afternoon sun, but when we did, I could see each and every seat in the stadium was packed. At least half of the spectators were wearing black and red and erupted when they saw us walking out.

“Whoa!” Alec pointed up into the stands, and running along the wall right behind our bench was a giant Black Widow mascot.

I punched Cal. “You didn’t have to do that.” He’d alluded to a big surprise earlier in the week but hadn’t told me what.

“If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it,” Cal replied.

We made our way over to our bench and situated ourselves, and after about twenty minutes, the captains were called to the field. It was George and Max that stood up when it was time to file out, and I smiled at them. With Lila gone, none of the Widows had been more dedicated to the team than them. I started out to centerfield and noticed Zeke across the way, making his way out with a pair of Vipers at his sides, as well. We met in the middle, and Zeke held out a fist. I bumped it.

“I don’t think I need to tell you two, but I’ll say it anyway, keep it clean out there.” The ref looked at Zeke. “Call it.”

“Tails.” The ref flipped the coin into the air, and it dropped down onto the turf, tails up. Zeke looked over at me. “We’ll kick.”

I shrugged. “It’s your funeral,” and he laughed.

The ref motioned that the Widows were receiving first, and we turned to head back to our benches. My back was barely to Zeke when I felt a tug at my jersey. I turned, and he was smiling at me.

“I love you.”

My smile grew. “I love you.” I raised an eyebrow. “No mercy.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe in mercy.”

Everything between that moment and standing on the field to wait for the kick was a blur. The roar of the fans and the heat sweltering in my body—all of it pumped me up until I thought my bones were going to jump out of my body. I side-eyed Jansen, but she was already low to the ground, ready to run. The whistle blew, and the Vipers’ kicker charged forward and kicked the ball high into the air. It sailed down the field, and for a second, I was worried it was going to go short, but Jansen raced forward at lightning speed and snagged it. The Widows took off as the Vipers charged her, each of us colliding with their defensive line as they tried to get to Jansen.

I was on Jansen’s feet, shoving guys aside as I did when a Viper cut out from upfield. I peeled off to the right of Jansen, and just as he was about to jump and tackle her, I lept and hooked his feet, taking him down to his face. Jansen continued, threading her way in and out of Vipers until she was running across the line into the end zone. I jumped to my feet, unsure that I’d seen that right, but before long, there were Widows jumping up and down around me. We started the game with a kick return!

“I’ll take it!” I screamed.

We kicked the ball off to the Vipers next, and they fought not to be outdone. Though they didn’t run it all the way back for a return like we did, their movement up the field was quick. We knew that without Lila’s power on defense, our best hope was going to be to score more points. That said, we could lock the Vipers up pretty good, and I was elated when Zeke wasn’t able to get the ball out of