Kickin' It (Red Card) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,79

Was I actually standing in front of a man with a gun and telling him to put it away?

“No, you see, this wasn’t part of the plan, Parker. The plan was us. Together. Your future was us!” He waved the gun around. “You were the only one who said no! Who had the balls to look at me and say no! Do you realize what that does to a man? I could have made you great! I was everything to you! I saw the hero worship in your eyes, and then nothing!”

My eyes widened. “Erik, you were my coach, nothing more. You took advantage of me. Who knows who else you took advantage of!”

“They were never you. There’s something so sweet about rejection, about the chase,” he said in a pitiful voice. “It was always about you, about us, about your shining career and me as your mentor. You never gave me what I needed, I asked again and again, and after once you just shut down, you rejected me, so now I’m going to reject you . . .” His gun slowly moved from the assistant to me. “You fucking left me!”

“Because you raped me!” I screamed. “You’re sick, you need help!”

His eyes turned cold. “Is it wrong to love you? To love your talent? To want to spend my life with someone who loves me just as much? I know how you feel about me. Those smiles you sent my way. The provocative clothing you wore to get my attention. The times you looked at me while you showered. I watched you, you know. I watched you every day after practice, when you would close your eyes and moan my name.”

I choked back the urge to hurl as I remembered all those days I thought I heard someone in the locker room and nobody was there. The lonely nights I practiced on my own and thought my imagination was getting the best of me. All the times I asked my coach, who I trusted, to stay outside and walk me to my car because I was scared.

The very coach who was a predator.

Who raped me when I trusted him most.

Erik’s hand started to shake.

Either he was having second thoughts or I had an opening to try to fight him. Adrenaline pumped through my body as I walked toward him. “Is that why you left the university?”

“I left because some little snitch told the athletic director about the allegations!” Shit, they finally did something? When I was gone? Really?

“It wasn’t me,” I lied. “I would never do that to you.”

“You’re a whore!” he roared. “You don’t deserve me.”

“No.” I shook my head as I felt my future dissolving right in front of me. “I don’t, but if you put the gun down . . .” I’d what? Run away with him? Or just let him shoot me and pray he’s a horrible shot? “Just . . . calm down.”

“You won’t leave with me.” He sounded so young and confused; more so, he sounded sick and immature.

A few people trickled onto the field behind him, including three of my teammates, and then an eternity passed as Erik watched me. And then I saw Matt, only Matt, his face pale. How was he here? How did he even know I was in trouble? I took a step, time stood still. Was this it? Was I going to die in front of the man I loved just to save him? To save the people who now meant the world to me? “Alright. I’ll come with you.”

“Great.”

God help me. My legs felt like lead as I approached him. “Just put the gun down, alright?”

He dropped his arm to the side.

The gun fell to the ground.

And I remembered Coach Darius’s words:

“Kick them twice.”

I put my hand on Erik’s shoulder and then reared back and kicked him in the nuts as hard as I could, three times, before he fell to the ground. I scrambled for the gun, stood, and towered over him with it aimed where I’d kicked. “Move once and I’m shooting it off.”

Sirens sounded around the stadium as a security guard ran toward us, followed by at least six policemen and finally the chief of police in a black suit, looking more ready for an expensive dinner than an arrest and almost homicide. He trained his gun on Erik.

“Erik.” Johnny held his hand out for me to stay still. “You’re under arrest for the rape of Parker Speedman as well as aggravated