I shook my head incredulously. Even now, he couldn’t see past football.
“Fuck, that came out wrong.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I mean, I get why you couldn’t play tonight; to be honest, I’m surprised you came at all.”
I hadn’t wanted to, but Dad insisted. Even Mom had given her blessing.
“What I mean is, I need you. You and me, Chase. We need to see this thing through together.”
“I don’t know if—”
“I know.” He held up his hands. “And I get it, I do. But we worked too hard for this, you worked too hard for it.”
“Listen, Jase, I’m not sure Penn is—”
“Fuck Penn. You’ve got to do what’s best for your family, I get it. It was always my dream anyway. But this year, it’s ours. I can do it without you, but honestly,”—Jase locked eyes on me—“I don’t want to.”
“Worried you’re nothing without your star wide receiver?” I smirked.
“Damn right I am. Kaiden is good but he’s no Fourteen.” He gave me a rare smile. “So what do you say, Chase? Are you in?”
“I can’t promise anything but if Mom is okay and the doctors are happy with her progress then yeah, I’m in.” Coach had already said I could cut back on practice if I needed to.
Relief settled in my best friend’s eyes, his shoulders sagging, and for the first time in my life, I saw Jason Ford lower his walls. He really meant every word he’d just said.
And that meant something to me.
Despite all the highs and lows and events of the last few weeks, the fact he’d finally managed to look past himself and football, meant something.
“So, you and Hailee, huh?” He flicked his head over to where the girls stood pretending not to watch us.
“Yeah, is it going to be a problem? Because I’ll lay it out there now; if you make me choose, it’ll be her, every damn time.” He was my best friend, but I was done being his puppet. I needed Hailee. I couldn’t really explain it, but I needed her. And now I finally had her, I had no plans on doing anything to jeopardize that.
“Guess I’d better get used to it then.” Jase shrugged but I saw the tightness around his eyes. “You know, we still need to get Thatcher back for what he did to her.”
“Jase, I’m not sure—”
“He’s going down, one way or another, he’s—”
“Who’s going down?” Hailee finally came over, guilt flashing in her eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
“It’s fine.” I hooked an arm around her, pulling her into my side.
“So, what were you talking about?”
“Ask lover boy.” The corner of Jase’s mouth tipped and I flipped him off.
“Ask lover boy what?” Ash appeared, his arm slung casually around Felicity who looked less than impressed at being dragged into our small gathering.
“I think they’re plotting something,” Hailee said, throwing me a dubious look.
“No plotting,” I said. “I promise.” But Jase’s eyes sparked with something dangerous, and I knew he wouldn’t let this thing with Thatcher go.
“The guys want to know if we’re headed to Bell’s?” Ash asked, his arm still around Felicity.
“I’m not sure—” I started but Hailee pressed her hand to my stomach. “It’s okay, if you want to go, we can go.” She nodded reassuringly.
“Fee, baby, you in?”
“Do you promise to stop calling me that?” Felicity rolled her eyes at Ash.