Lib Novel Page 96
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“Disqualified?” Mom chokes as I open our truck passenger door.
Disqualified and banned from the team for three weeks. That’s my punishment for standing up for my teammate. I don’t even get to stay until the end of the tournament and mom had to drive all the way from Stoneview on a workday to pick me up. I had no other way to get back home.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” I reply in the smallest voice possible, holding the ice pack against my knuckles.
“I am…so disappointed in you, ‘Me.” It hurts, because I know she means it.
I go to the back of the truck, and I’m putting my bags and stick in the back when a hand touches my shoulder.
“‘Me, are you okay?”
I snap around to face Nathan.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper. If my mom sees him…
“I came to watch your game against N.S. High.” He pauses and a full smile lights up his face. “I didn’t realize you were going to make it so entertaining.”
I chortle despite the ridiculousness of the situation. “I’m stronger than I look, aren’t I?”
He shakes his head, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Mm,” he pretends to think, “no, I believe you just caught her by surprise.”
We both laugh, only stopped by Jake’s cold voice. “The cutest fucking couple in the tri-state area.”
He approaches us until he’s standing right next to Nathan. He’s not the same man that fucked me in the closet. I can already see it.
“So eager to cockblock,” Nate growls.
The Whites always get my complete attention. That’s how I didn’t realize Mom had gotten out of the driver’s seat and came around to the back.
“What the hell,” she scolds.
I jump in surprise and turn to her, my voice stuck in my throat from the fear of her confronting the two men I know she loathes.
“You…” she seethes at both Jake and Nathan.
“Ms. Williams,” Nathan smiles.
“Don’tMs. Williamsme. You two have caused enough trouble as it is. I don’t want to see you around my daughter. Not now, not ever again.”
“Mom,” I panic in a mix of embarrassment and deep anxiety about her getting involved with the Whites. “Let’s go.”
She takes a deep breath, a step back, and nods at me to go. We’ve barely taken another step that she stops and huffs. “No. You know what? No.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
She turns around and walks back to the boys. She points an accusing finger, altering between both of them. “Let this be the first and last warning. If I see you around my daughter again, I’ll have you both put in jail.”
“Jail,” Nathan snickers. “Now that’s a bit extreme.”
“You think that’s funny? Because as far as I’m concerned, you’re an adult and she’s a child. That’s statutory rape in my books.”
“Mom!” I scream in shock. “Stop it, please.”
“She’s eighteen,” Nathan retorts.
“Not when you met her, you piece of shit.”