Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Wheezing, Kristin nodded. “Yeah,” she bit out. “For now.”
Casey patted her back. “Good girl.”
A faint breeze whispered over her, dancing across her damp skin like caressing fingers. That small respite from the glare of the sun was most welcome. There was still twenty minutes left of the game to go and, God, she was tired. Tired and aching and sore as hell from the many fouls.
She wasn’t the only one who was exhausted, she thought, as the players resumed the game. All around her people panted and dragged their feet, clearly digging deep for the strength to keep moving.
Although the Seals were losing, they eventually managed to get their act together. And then they were pursuing the ball like it held the secret to immortal life. A few players almost scored a shot, but the Hounds’ keeper caught the ball each time and hurled it downfield.
When the keeper did it a fourth time, a Seal intercepted the ball and passed it to Sherryl, who managed to nail a kick that sent the ball careening into the Hounds’ net.
Well, fuck.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Slapping her hands to her head, Casey gritted her teeth as the Seals went wild. Like seriously wild. Honestly, you’d have thought they’d won the game, not merely scored a goal. But then, they probably believed it wouldn’t be so hard at this moment to—at the very least—equalize.
Casey glanced at her teammates, all of whom seemed varying degrees of anxious. Yeah, they knew the Seals could still win this game if they really threw themselves into it. As such, she’d expected the goal to fuck with her team’s positivity. It didn’t. In fact, they played even more aggressively than before.
As time ticked by and the Seals didn’t score again, the bitches began to get desperate. Careless. Reckless. They again committed fouls left, right, and center. And they weren’t even being subtle about it. The ref dished out more than five yellow cards.
During the final minute of the game, Casey swiftly dribbled the ball downfield, ready to pass it to her teammate … when Sherryl careened into her out of fucking nowhere. Casey landed hard on her arm, felt as something broke. Pain radiated up her limb, and her stomach curdled so badly she thought she’d vomit.
Cradling her arm, Casey sat upright and kept her head bowed as she breathed through the pain. Just as when she’d broken her ankle, her teammates crowded her while also yelling at Sherryl and demanding that the ref act.
Boos and outraged yells came from the bleachers. Casey just knew one of the people raging would be Eli. She could feel his fury.
Just as furious, her mink was going insane. It didn’t care for rules; couldn’t give a sliver of a fuck that it would affect the team if Casey retaliated. The mink wanted Sherryl to suffer, bleed, and cry out in pain.
Later, Casey promised her mink. They’d get to that later.
Dennis hunkered down beside her. “That’s it, breathe nice and slow.” He checked out her arm. “Broken,” he told Donahue and the ref.
“I gotta sit on the bench, I know,” said Casey. “But something better be done about what just happened, because that was personal, and we all know it.”
The ref didn’t comment. Just spun and disappeared into the crowd.
As Dennis touched her shoulder, his healing energy flowed through her, fixing the break and tackling the other wounds and turf burns. Her arm continued to throb with pain, but she still pushed to her feet … just in time to see the ref thrust a red card into the air. She smiled.
Sherry lost her shit in a spectacular fashion—screeching, swearing, and raving at the ref. Casey’s teammates saluted or grinned at her as she walked off the field with Dennis. The injury had hurt like a motherfucker, but the pain was worth it if it meant Sherryl got sent off the field. She just hadn’t been able to resist fouling Casey, had she?
Casey smiled as she saw Eli waiting for her on the sidelines—hell, he’d moved fast. Every muscle in her body sore and tight with exhaustion, she melted against him and gratefully took the bottle of water he held out.
“You okay? I wanted to kill that fucking bitch,” he hissed, easing her onto the bench as if she were fragile.
“Dennis healed me, I’m fine.” She guzzled down water, her throat unbelievably raw. “Look, they’ve added four minutes of extra time. Damn.”
Anything could happen in four minutes. Hell, she’d seen teams win during extra time. As such, she was a nervous wreck as she watched the two teams play. Aside from the player who’d substituted Casey, the Hounds were tired. They were also on their guard, though.
The Seals … it was like they’d just given up. Like every one of them mentally checked out. None tried to even create an opportunity to score, and they made little effort to intercept the ball.