Game Changer (The Field Party)

I had no words. I knew of his friends because I’d seen them in the store. I had seen him in town with them. I probably knew their parents. It didn’t seem appropriate to ask who it was. I should say something. The sadness in his eyes made sense now. This night was one nightmare after another for him.

“I’m sorry,” I said, wishing I was better at this.

“Thanks for not letting me jump,” he said, then nodded his head toward the store. “Your parents.”

At the reminder of my angry parents, I turned to see my mother opening the store door, her eyes on me.

“Bye,” I told him, not having time to say more but wishing I could. Closing his truck door, I hurried toward my mother before she could run after his truck and demand to know who he was and why I was with him.

My chest was so heavy with all that Asa had to face tonight, my mother’s loud voice didn’t even make me flinch.

We Weren’t Supposed to Lose Our Friends CHAPTER 7

ASA

Ryker Lee was the first one I saw as I walked toward the ambulances and police cars lighting up the field. It wasn’t a bonfire that lit the darkness tonight. We weren’t about to have a party and celebrate a victory. Memories at this field had always been good ones. We had partied here, laughed here, broken hearts here, and grown up on this field. Tonight it was something different. Something none of us ever imagined.

Ryker’s arms were crossed over his chest as his head hung forward. I wasn’t sure from here if he was closing his eyes to block this all out or thinking about the horror of what he had witnessed. The pain he’d endured as he watched his girlfriend deal with the reality her brother was dead.

We weren’t supposed to lose our friends. We’d all gone through the darkness of West Ashby losing his dad to cancer last year. It had been awful. We had all felt useless but wished we could ease his pain. Yet, we hadn’t lost West. Nash had gotten close to the new kid, Haegan Baylor, earlier this school year and he’d been killed in a car accident, but he hadn’t been one of us. Hunter Maclay was one of us. He was a Lawton Lion.

I stopped beside Ryker. His head lifted slowly and his gaze locked on mine. He looked as fucking shocked as I felt. I wanted to say something. Anything. But nothing seemed like the right thing to say. We stood there silent, both feeling the weight of this on our chests. Ryker’s was heavy because Hunter had been his friend and his girlfriend’s twin brother. Mine was a sordid mess. I’d considered ending my life tonight. Walking away from it all. Leaving those close to me in this kind of pain. I hadn’t thought of them once when I stood on that bridge. It had all been what I needed to escape.

Ezmita saved me, but she also saved those who cared about me from this grief. I wasn’t sure how to repay her or if that was even possible. I didn’t think it was possible to return a favor like this one. Hell, it couldn’t even be considered a favor. It had changed the course of life. Mine and everyone around me.

No one had been able to save Hunter, though.

“How did it happen?” I finally asked. The phone call I had gotten from Nash said that Hunter had been killed. He’d been shot. But why? How? This was the field. Who would have a gun out here shooting at people? This was Lawton, Alabama. Crime like this didn’t happen here.

Ryker took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face. He seemed to be struggling to keep himself together. I’d never seen Ryker close to breaking down before. However, he appeared to be on the verge.

“It…” He paused and swallowed hard. “The fucking bullet was meant for me. Not him. Me.” He stiffened as he said it, then shook his head and laughed hard. “They were fucking shooting at me. ME!”

“Ryker,” Nash’s voice called out, and I turned to see Ryker’s cousin headed toward us. He nodded his head at me in greeting, then looked back to Ryker. “They need to talk to you. The officers you spoke to earlier.”

Ryker looked at Nash, but he didn’t move. “Okay.” He said the words tightly as if he wanted to yell that they could all go to hell.

“Aurora is here. She’s with her parents. If you can pull it together. They need to hear what happened too,” Nash told him.

At the sound of his girlfriend’s name, he snapped out of his building rage. He looked as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Why was someone shooting at him? I didn’t understand, but asking more seemed like a bad idea at the moment. Ryker was about to deal with shit I couldn’t imagine.