Forever (Empire High Book 8)

Chapter 27

Friday

Matt

“We’re going to get arrested,” Mason said as he finished his bottle of beer and tossed it on the ten-yard-line.

I shook my head. “I got permission from the principal.”

“You got permission to drink on the field, run around like maniacs, and have sex on school grounds?”

I laughed. “No, not exactly.” But the season was over anyway. At least until the championship game in December. That would leave plenty of time for the field to be fixed up.

“Then we’re going to get arrested.” Mason made a one-handed catch on a pass from Rob. “So we better get this touchdown before the cops show up.” He turned to Jacob. “You ready, little man? This one’s coming to you.” He pointed the ball at him.

“Ready!” Jacob yelled and crouched down with his hand on the ten-yard-line.

He was the perfect little wide receiver. I smiled. Kind of like me.

“Hut, hut!” Nigel yelled.

I wasn’t sure why he was yelling that. He was on the other team. It was me, Mason, Tanner, and Jacob against Rob, James, and Nigel. Team Caldwell versus Team Hunter. And somehow they were up by a touchdown. Nigel was their secret weapon. For someone who seemed to know very little about football and sports in general, he was kind of a beast. But I also didn’t want to admit that the Hunters were whooping us.

Mason stepped back from the line. I sprinted behind Jacob, trying to create a clear path for him to the endzone. Jacob caught the ball perfectly. He turned to start running, but James lifted him into his arms and started sprinting in the opposite direction with him.

Jacob laughed as James carried him toward the wrong endzone.

Fuck.I ran after them. I was almost there when James handed Jacob off to Rob.

“Lateral!” James yelled.

“Jacob, squirm free!” I yelled as Rob crossed the twenty-yard-line.

And a second later Rob bent over, releasing him. “Little dude kneed me in the junk,” he groaned, gipping the front of his sweatpants as he fell to the ground.

I laughed as Jacob sprinted toward the correct endzone now.

Nigel tagged him out on the five-yard-line.

Jacob had almost dodged him. Maybe he’d be even better as a running back.

“Who taught him to do that?” Rob grimaced.

“Shake it off.” I put my hand out for him.

“Easy for you to say. Your balls didn’t just get violently attacked.”

I laughed and helped him back up to his feet. And then I ran over to Jacob. I put my fist down and he fist bumped me.

“Good job, grandson,” Tanner said. “You did that perfectly.”

“Thank you, Abuelo.” Jacob fist bumped him too.

Wait. Did Tanner tell Jacob to hit Rob where it hurt? Rob was still limping a little. I stifled a laugh. Okay, yeah. Tanner definitely told Jacob to knee Rob in the nuts. I probably should have said something about that not being okay, but we were still losing right now.

“Hut, hut!” Nigel yelled even though no one was lined up.

I sprinted to the endzone and so did Tanner.

Mason tossed the ball to the right to Tanner.

James jumped up. He almost caught the ball, but he ended up tipping it.

It landed perfectly in Tanner’s arms.

And then Rob completely decked Tanner.

Jesus.I ran over to them. “It’s tag football, not tackle, man.” I’d made that explicitly clear. The last thing I needed was for someone to break a leg before the wedding. I grabbed the back of Rob’s shirt and pulled him off of Tanner.

“He started it,” Rob said.

Tanner laughed and sat up, but didn’t stand. “How did I start it exactly?”

“By being super Tannery.”

Tanner brushed a leaf off his shoulder. “That’s the only way I know how to be, Young Robert.”

“Stop calling me that! I’m not young. We’re all adults here. Well, except Jacob. And…maybe Nigel?” He turned to Nigel. “How old are you, man?”

“It’s very rude to ask a boy his age,” Nigel said.

Rob shook his head.

“You really should have played in high school,” Mason said and slapped James’ back. “That was almost an interception.”

“Yeah.” James shrugged.

I knew he’d wanted to play back in high school. But his parents wouldn’t let him. And for some reason Rob played soccer instead of joining the football team. It would have been way more fun doing this together. But that’s what nights like tonight were for.

“Enough of this lame tag team stuff,” Rob said. “It’s tackle football now. Unless you guys are scared of us.” He lifted his chin like he was ready to start a fight right now.

“Scared of Team Hunter?” Mason chuckled. “Never.”

Rob turned to me and raised his eyebrows.

This was a bad idea. A very bad idea. But I wasn’t backing down from the challenge. Besides, it had been a long time since I’d played a real game of football. “Bring it.”

“Hut, hut!” Nigel yelled and grabbed the ball. He tossed it at James to throw.

James threw it back at Nigel almost immediately. Nigel ducked under my arms and side-stepped Mason. Tanner and Jacob ran after him, but it was too late.

Son of a bitch, Nigel was so fast and sneaky. Nigel slammed the ball down in the endzone and did a backflip.

I blinked. Where did he learn to do that?

“My nimble little man!” Rob yelled and high fived him.

I shook my head. “Huddle,” I said to my team. “What’s the plan here, we can’t let them win.”

“Should I do what Abuelo told me again?” Jacob asked.

“Probably don’t do that again,” I said. “But it was great.”

Jacob nodded.

Tanner patted his shoulder. “Maybe do that again.”

“Let’s do the play from high school,” Mason said and nodded at me.

Theplay. He didn’t have to say anything else. This one always scored. “And break!” I yelled and ran into position.

As soon as Mason stepped back with the ball, I sprinted forward straight at James. But then I broke hard left and ran toward the endzone.

Mason faked the ball toward Tanner. And even though Mason didn’t throw it, Rob tackled him.

I turned to look over my shoulder again just as the ball sailed through the sky and landed perfectly in my arms.

And then James slammed into my side. Luckily I had more weight on me. There was no way I was going down. Not this close to scoring.

I heard yelling to my right but ignored it. I elbowed James off of me and sprinted into the endzone. “Suck it!” I yelled and slammed the ball down. I turned around and all I saw was carnage. Oh shit.

“Fuck,” James said. He was holding his hand over his face and blood was seeping out between his fingers.

And Rob and Tanner were in a fist fight nowhere near the endzone.

And Jacob and Nigel were circling each other like they were about to lunge.

“Everybody stop!” I yelled.

Rob paused with his fist in the air, like he’d been caught red-handed. Which he had. Tanner shoved him off as I ran over to Jacob. I scooped him up before he could tackle Nigel. And then I turned to James.

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to hit your face.”

James laughed, but then winced. He lowered his hand. “It’s fine.”

But it wasn’t fine, his nose was gushing blood.

“Tilt your head back.” I put my hand on his forehead so he’d look up.

“This is why we should have stuck to tag football,” Rob said. He tore off his shirt and tossed it at James. “You Caldwells and your crazy ideas.”

“It was your idea,” I said as I helped place the shirt under James’ nose.

Rob lifted his hands. “This is your bachelor party, man. I didn’t plan this. Sounds like the best man’s fault.”

“I agreed to tag football, not this,” Mason said. “This was all you, Rob.”

“Psh. I don’t remember suggesting this,” Rob said.

“I remember it,” Jacob said. “You said ‘It’s tackle football now. Unless you guys are scared of us.’ And we weren’t scared of you.”

Damn right, Jacob.

Rob laughed. “Okay yeah, fair. That sounds like me. In my defense, I drank a lot before we started playing.”

I stared at him and sighed. “You have a black eye, Rob.”

“I do not.”

“Yes you do. Brooklyn is going to kill me. She was so excited about the wedding photos.”

“You should see the other guy,” Rob said.

I turned to Tanner. Who looked perfectly fine. Not a hair out of place.

Tanner laughed. “You barely touched me.” He lightly kicked the back of Rob’s legs and Rob fell to his knees.

“Stop it with that kung fu stuff, man,” Rob said. “I was trying to have a good old-fashioned brawl. Not whatever you’re doing.”

“So you want me to crack a bottle of vodka against your head?”

“What?” Rob shook his head. “No.” He stood back up. “But I’m not against putting your head in a toilet.”

Tanner shuddered. “What in the world? Where do you even come up with this stuff?”

“It’s a swirly,” Rob said.

“A what-y?”

“You’ve never heard of a swirly? What planet are you even from?”

Nigel cleared his throat. “This planet. Can we finish the game real quick?” he asked.

“No.” I gestured to the bloody shirt covering most of James’ face. “The game’s done. It’s a tie.”

“But ties are for simps and paupers,” Nigel said.

What the hell did he just say?“No, we’re done.”

“But…”

“Nigel, the game is over.”

“I really am fine,” James said. He lowered the shirt. The blood had stopped but the lower half of his face was covered in blood. And Rob’s black eye was looking worse by the second.

“It’s a tie,” I said firmly. “The Hunters and Caldwells are even.”

Rob made a farting noise with his mouth.

“So does that mean it’s time for the strippers I ordered?” Nigel asked.

“What? No.”

“But it’s a bachelor party…”

“I specifically said no strippers.” I turned to Mason.

“I told them all that,” Mason said.

“But every bachelor party must involve strippers,” Nigel protested.

I just stared at him. “Why do you think that?”

“It’s a rule I think.”

I shook my head. “Definitely not.”

“But I looked up bachelor parties extensively,” Nigel said. “Lots of videos. Every single one has strippers. So I hired enough for us each to have two. Because we’re rich boys. And we earned twice the reward.”

“We have a child here, man,” I whispered and nodded down to Jacob.

“It’ll be good for him. I wish I had started my rating system when I was a young lad. He’ll get in early and really learn what kind of boobies he likes. Unless you want me to give him my rating system…”

“Stop talking,” I said.

“But I even ordered two strippers for Francois.” Nigel smiled. “So I actually get four. Because I’m Francois,” he whispered.

As if I could ever forget him pretending to be Francois the handsy waiter.

Tanner elbowed Nigel in the side and Nigel was finally silent.

“What’s a stripper?” Jacob asked.

“That’s um…” my voice trailed off.

“A person doing an honest day’s work,” Nigel said.

I mean sure.That was actually a good way to put it. But also I didn’t want Jacob to start saying he wanted to grow up and be a stripper. “It’s something that you shouldn’t repeat though,” I said.

“Why? Does Mommy not like strippers?”

Probably not.“It’s like a touchy gray area for some people.”

Jacob just stared at me. “So just talk about them with the boys at boys night?”

“Exactly,” Tanner said. “Wow, he learns fast.” He ruffled Jacob’s hair.

Jacob smiled up at him.

And that seemed to be the end of that. Thank God.

“My head hurts,” James said. “I think I’m gonna lie down.” He lay backward on the field and closed his eyes.

He looked really pale. Shit. “We should probably call a doctor.” I set Jacob down and pulled out my phone.

“No need,” Nigel said. “I have an elixir for that. One second.” He hurried over to the table of waters he’d set up. He sprinted back over with two glasses of green juice. “This will help heal the nose and stop the bleeding. And put some color back in your cheeks.” He handed one of the glasses to James.

“And this one will help the swelling stay down,” he said and handed Rob the other glass. “Actually, let your brother have a sip of that too. So his nose calms down.”

Rob looked down at the glass. “What’s in here?”

“My secret green juice recipe,” Nigel said with a smile.

Rob made a face and stared down into his glass.

Jacob tugged on Mason’s sweatpants. “Uncle Mason, can you get me some juice?” he asked and looked up at him. “I’m thirsty too.”

Mason smiled. “Of course, let’s go get some…”

“Dude, did you skeet in this glass?” Rob asked.

Nigel looked shocked. “Do you want me to?” And then he smiled again.

“What? No.” Rob shook his head and looked even more grossed out as he stared down at the contents of the glass. Why did Nigel always respond to that question that way? He definitely skeeted in his secret green juice.

“Maybe let’s wait on the juice,” Mason said and patted Jacob’s shoulder.

Jacob shrugged.

“I thought your green juice was for hangovers?” I asked.

“I have a variety of recipes. Drink up boys and I’ll call the strippers. Wait.” His shoulders slumped. “No strippers. But I did already pay for them. So I guess I just get them all after the party ends. All 14 of them.” He smiled. “That’s 28 boobies to rate. So many strippers for me.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell my mommy,” Jacob said.

“Good lad.” Nigel nodded at him.

I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t sure we were teaching Jacob the best things here.

Mason must have seen my face because he grabbed Jacob’s hand. “How about some water instead, kid?”

“Yessie.”

They walked off to the water table.

“Speaking of water, we should probably hit the baths,” Nigel said. “It’s almost time for the kidnapping.”

I looked down at my watch. He was right. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked. “After everything?”

“That’s what makes it more thrilling,” Rob said. “And you know girls give the best head when their hearts are racing.”

“Yeah, but…”

“It’s the one thing you let me plan. Let me have this,” Rob said.

I laughed. He was right. About the kidnapping thing. Not the overall plan. I’d been planning this for weeks. And it was time to kidnap my girl.