The Trouble with You (Rixon Raiders 1)

“Aimee has nothing to do with this.”

“You fucked Thatcher’s sister and sent him a video of the two of you.” It was low, even for my best friend, and it had raised the stakes in their war. But he’d had his reasons. For as messed up as it was, Jase never acted without motivation or provocation and Aimee hurt him in a way few ever had.

“Yeah, well she was a conniving bitch who got what she deserved.”

“There’s something very wrong with you; you know that, right?” I hadn’t known what he planned to do to Aimee, but even if I had, there would have been no stopping him. He’d let her in, only for her to throw it back in his face. And in his twisted logic, Jason had only been killing two birds with one stone.

“Go fuck yourself, Chase. You don’t know what it’s like walking in my shoes.”

“Boo fucking hoo. You have this whole goddamn town at your feet. But it doesn’t mean you can walk all over people, Jase. There are consequences to your actions. Just because you didn’t pull the trigger on this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have your prints all over it. If you hadn’t started this thing with Thatcher, Hailee would never have got caught in the crossfire.”

“You think I give a shit?” He folded his arms across his chest, raising a brow. “You have no idea what it’s like living with her. Pretending everything is fine when it’s not fucking fine. My mom left because of her.”

“Hailee?” I frowned, confused. “Your mom didn’t leave because of Hailee. She left because your dad couldn’t let go of his past.” He was married to the game, the future he’d lost out on, the future Jase had within his grasp.

Anger ignited in his eyes, the muscle in his jaw pulsating. “I’m talking about Denise, dickhead. They were working things out until she came along.” He all but spat the word.

“Jase, come on, it was over.” Things had been rocky between his mom and dad long before Denise came onto the scene. “This thing with Hailee, it isn’t fair. She isn’t her mom. You can’t keep punishing—”

“You think I’m punishing her?” He barked, a wicked glint in his eyes. “I’m not punishing Hailee; I just don’t fucking like her. She thinks the sun shines out of her mom’s ass. She has no idea what a homewrecking bitch she really is. Do you know she chased him? She spent months sniffing around my dad when he and mom were trying to work things out. I’d catch her calling him, even caught them almost fucking once, and I heard Mom call him out on it.”

“Shit, man, I didn’t know…”

“No, you didn’t.” His expression was guarded.

“You never said anything?” But then it was no surprise. Jase was a closed book to everyone around him. Me included.

“What was I supposed to say? My dad, a local hero, a man everyone worshipped, was a cheating son of a bitch who cared more about getting his dick wet with some whore than fixing his marriage?”

“Does he know you know?”

“What do you think?” he snarled.

Mr. Ford didn’t know. If he did, there was no way Jase would have still been living under his roof because shit would have hit the fan long before now.

“You could have left with your mom, moved to Pittsburg and transferred schools?”

“And risked my whole future?”

Even now, with the truth laid out before him, it still all came down to football. I couldn’t blame him for resenting Hailee’s mom. Hating her, even. But Hailee wasn’t her mom. She wasn’t the responsible party here. She was just another innocent kid caught up in the mess her parent created.

And she had no idea about the truth of the situation.

“I get it,” I admitted. “I’d hate her too. But Hailee is—”

“Hailee is a sanctimonious bitch who thinks she’s better than me. She always has. Did you know her old man was a big hot shot football player at college?” I shook my head, anger rippling up my spine at the way he talked about her. But I wasn’t about to start something I wasn’t sure I could finish.

Jase went on, “Yeah, played running back for Rutgers. He knocked up Denise when they were in junior year and left her carrying the baby while he pursued football and pussy.”

“I had no idea.” But it explained some of Hailee’s attitude towards football, towards us. The team.

She’d grown up with no father because he chose the game, the life, over her and her mom.

“If you hate her so much, why haven’t you told her the truth?”

Jase’s eyes darkened, but I saw the hesitation there. When he didn’t answer, I added, “Know what I think? I think you’re lashing out at her because you can’t go after Denise. Deep down, you know your dad will pick Denise because he loves her, and people do crazy shit in the name of love. And that scares you.”

I’d known Mr. Ford since I was just a kid and I’d never seen him act with Mrs. Ford, the way he did with Denise. He didn’t just love her, he adored her. And for the first time ever, Jason wasn’t first string in his father’s life.