The Endgame Is You (Rixon Raiders 4)

I knew how to fix us.

Felicity

Tears streamed down my face as I watched Jason and his teammates celebrate. The thirteen-thousand strong crowd was on their feet, clapping and cheering, celebrating right along with them.

I watched with nothing but pride and love as Coach Faulkner found

Jason and pulled him into a hug before holding his shoulders and saying something to him. Jason nodded, his eyes wide with understanding.

“Your boy did good.” Hailee nestled into my side, her own pride and excitement swirling around us. This moment didn’t only mean a lot to me, it meant a lot to all of us. Cam, Asher, Hailee, even Mya. We knew what football meant to Jason, what this moment would mean for him.

I dabbed my eyes, trying to get a hold of my emotions. Being here to witness this, seeing the guy I loved more than anything make his dreams come true... well, it was easy to forget all the strain and distance between us over the last few weeks. My heart swelled for him. The boy from Rixon with a dream of making it. A boy who had stolen my heart and refused to let it go.

He wanted football and me.

If only it were that simple.

“Flick, you should go down there,” Asher said, nudging me from behind.

“What? I can’t just—”

“He’s looking for you.”

Sure enough, Jason was searching the crowd for me. We hadn’t been able to sit in the VIP section since there was six of us, so I’d given Elodie my ticket and she and Jordan were down there, while I sat in the bleachers with my friends.

The second Jason’s eyes found mine, everything melted away. On shaky legs, I hurried down the steps to the barrier. Jason jogged toward me, his smile radiant and eyes filled with sweet relief.

“You did it,” I breathed, pressing my palms against his shoulders. His hair was damp and messy, his Quaker jersey streaked with mud and grass stains as his helmet hung at his side.

“I can’t...” He swallowed roughly. “This is... I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, Jason.” One of my hands slid to his cheek. No matter what happened between us, wherever our road led, I would always want this for him. Even if it became the thing that ultimately destroyed us, Jason deserved this.

He deserved his dreams to come true.

“I am so proud of you.” I leaned down to kiss him, and a chorus of cheers broke out behind us. My cheeks pinked and I tried to pull away, but Jason slid one of his hands around the back of my neck, anchoring me in place. “Babe, I couldn’t have done it without you,” he whispered against my lips. “I need you, Felicity Charlotte Giles. I will always need you.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the guys charged at him, yanking him backwards.

“Sorry, Fee,” Griff yelled. “But we need to borrow our fearless leader.”

Laughter escaped my lips as I watched them.

Part of me wanted to hate the very thing that might one day take Jason from me, but right there, in that moment, I could only feel joy.

Jason

We didn’t stay and party with the team. Despite their protests, after a couple of drinks, a lot of high fives and congratulations, I wanted nothing more than to celebrate with my friends and my girl, so we left.

“Shit, man, that was really something.” Asher clinked his beer against mine as we sat huddled in a quiet booth toward the back of the bar underneath Asher and Mya’s building. I hadn’t wanted to be accosted by adoring fans, not tonight.

“You know, after that performance, teams will be lining up for you?”

“Don’t speak so soon, there’s still another two years left.” And after Linc, we all knew how quickly your dream could go up in flames. His surgery had gone well, but his rehab would take a while. If he played again, there was every chance he wouldn’t be the same player.

Asher snorted. “We’ll see. Come graduation, you’ll be signed with the Eagles or the Steelers, I’ll be ready to start up a new branch of my old man’s business, and fuck knows what this one will be doing.”

“Hey.” Cam punched his arm. “I have plans.”