I stood at the doorway as he made his way down to the kitchen. I started to shut the door when I heard Brady’s voice travel up the stairs.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked.

“Chicken spaghetti. I thought Maggie might like it since it’s your favorite,” Aunt Coralee replied. Then, dropping her voice a little: “I wish you’d take the time to get to know her.”

“Just talked to her. She, uh, wrote to me,” he replied.

“And? Ain’t she sweet?” Aunt Coralee sounded so sincere.

“Sure, Mom. She’s real sweet.”

But Brady didn’t sound very convinced.

Told Ya to Run

CHAPTER 2

WEST

I was getting drunk. That was my main goal tonight.

Slamming my truck door, I headed toward the field where I could already hear the music blasting and see the bonfire lighting the darkness. This was our last Friday night before football became our lives for the next three months. Everyone would be celebrating. Couples would be hooking up in the back of pickup trucks, everyone would have a red Solo cup full of beer in their hands, and there would be at least one fight over a girl before the night was over. It was the end to our summer and the beginning of our senior year.

But I was going to need a beer or six to celebrate. Watching my dad throw up blood as my mother wiped his forehead with pure fear in her eyes—that had been too damn much. I should have stayed home, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Every time he got sick, the little boy inside me came out¸ and I hated that feeling.

I loved my dad. He’d been my hero my entire life. How the hell was I supposed to lose him?

Shaking my head, I ran my hand through my hair and pulled hard. I was ready for the football field, and next Friday night I’d be back in my pads and helmet. But I wanted to feel some pain now. Anything to numb the reality of my life.

My phone started vibrating, and I pulled it out of my pocket. Every time it rang and I wasn’t home, terror gripped me so strongly, I felt sick. Seeing Raleigh, my girlfriend’s name, was a relief. It wasn’t Mom. Nothing was wrong. Dad was still safe at home.

“Hey,” I said, wondering why she was calling me. She knew I was headed to the field party.

“You coming to get me?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

“Didn’t ask me to come get you. I’m already at the party.

“Are you serious? I’m not coming if you don’t get me, West!” She was pissed. But Raleigh was normally pissed at me about something.

“I guess I’ll see you later, then. Ain’t in the mood for this tonight, Ray.”

Raleigh had no idea about my dad. He didn’t want people knowing how sick he was. We kept our mouths shut and, since the local hospital wasn’t sufficient to treat advanced colon cancer, we took him to the hospital an hour away in Nashville. Usually you couldn’t keep shit like this a secret in a small town, but we did for the most part. Made it easier that my momma didn’t have many friends in Lawton, never had.

As a kid I didn’t get it, but now I did. My dad had been the golden boy in high school. He was Lawton’s claim to fame after playing football at the University of Alabama and then going on to play for the New Orleans Saints. While my mother, she was a total princess—her father pretty much owned most of Louisiana—and my father had fallen in love with her.

But right after my dad blew out his knee, killing his career with the Saints, he found out he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant. He married her against her family’s wishes and brought her back here to Alabama. The town saw it as: He’d been their hero, and she’d stolen him from them. Seventeen years later and they still kept her at a distance. But Momma didn’t seem to care. She loved my dad. He and I, we were her world. And that was it for her.

“Are you listening to me?” Raleigh’s high-pitched scream snapped me out of my thoughts.

Raleigh and I were a particular kind of couple: She liked being on my arm, and I liked the way her body looked. There was no love or trust between us. We had been dating for over a year, and she was easy to keep at a distance. And right now that’s all I had the time for.

“Listen, Ray, I’m getting a headache. I need a break. Let’s take a break, and we’ll talk about it next week, yeah?” I didn’t wait for her to respond, and hung up. I already knew it would be yelling and threats about how she’d go sleep with one of my friends. I’d heard it all before.

I just didn’t care.

I picked up the pace and headed across the grass and between the trees to the open field where the parties always took place. The field belonged to Ryker and Nash Lee’s grandfather. They were cousins and both played on the team. Their grandfather had been letting people use this field for parties since his sons had been in high school. It was just on the outskirts of the town limits, and their grandfather’s house was the closest thing to us. And even that was a good mile away. We could make plenty of noise and not worry about nosy neighbors watching our every move.

I scanned the field and found Brady Higgens, my best friend since elementary school. He’d been passing me the football since we were in Pop Warner. Best quarterback in the state and he knew it.

Brady held up a beer in greeting when he saw me coming toward him. He was sitting on the tailgate of his truck, which he’d driven up here so we could use the generator in the back to play music. Ivy Hollis was tucked between Brady’s legs. No surprise. They’d been together a lot this summer. Ivy was a senior and head cheerleader and determined to claim Brady now that his ex-girlfriend had graduated and moved halfway across the country.