Her Possessive Heartbreaker

Chapter 4

Tommy

Past

"Let's go Tommy! Run! Run!" I can hear my dad yelling in the crowd. He makes it sound like I am playing for the NFL right now with his over enthusiasm. I get that I am a good player but damn. This is a small hometown team. I run, faster than the Flash, and I manage to score a touchdown. The crowd goes wild and I am tackled by my teammates. Sh!t. We won? Guess I was too busy in my head to even notice.

"Great job Mathers!" I smile and watch as my parents come towards me.

"Great job kiddo. You did awesome. Keep it up and this might be your ticket to a stellar future in the NFL." My dad seems so hopeful and ecstatic. He used to play football but got injured during one of the games where scouts were assessing him. Guess now he has decided to fulfill his dream, through me.

"I guess dad but this isn't..." He immediately cuts me off.

"This might not be your ideal future but it is one that will get you places. Don't let this opportunity slip by. You are a damn good player son." Deciding not to argue, I just nod.

"Come, let's go. Your team is heading for a celebratory lunch and then we will head back to the hotel. Tell you what. Tomorrow, you can have a day just for yourself before we head back to NY." Now that is when I smile widest.

"Thanks dad!"

"No problem son. Let's get a move on."

*******************************************************

I jolt out of my bed in the hotel, remembering that my dad has a deal to live up to. I just want to relax and maybe head to the park with a few of my teammates. I send a mass text to the team and they all agree to a park day before we head home tomorrow morning.

I shower and get dressed and run to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Parents are already up and watch as I gear up to head out with my friends. We have been here a lot so I know my way around.

We are currently in California because of my away game and it isn't the first away game that we have been to over here. California is so much more different than NY. New York is bustling but here it is a tad bit more relaxed. The weather is always awesome so enjoying a park day is absolutely the best idea ever.

I say goodbye to my parents and rush out to meet my friends. We all make our way to the park a few blocks away. Some of my friends have their skateboards, while others are toting Nerf guns ready to spew c*****e. When it comes to them and battling with Nerf guns, the teams take no prisoners.

The day goes by so fast that when we are all simply exhausted, I decide to head over to the swing section to just get out of my head for a little bit. As I make my way over there, I catch in the corner of my eye a girl swinging away on none other than a tire swing. Holy crap! I haven't seen one of those since I was a child. I approach her and hear her laughing. Her laugh is like a melody to my ears. For some strange reason, it is like I am drawn to her.

I watch as the tire swings slower and slower and I walk up to her making sure I don't get hit by the tire and make a fool out of myself.

"Hi. Mind if I have a go at it?" She looks up at me with her beautiful brown eyes, with her hair in a ponytail, and my heart leaps. I might only be in 6th grade, but I do know a pretty girl when I see one. Up until this moment, girls never caught my eye. This girl here has caught my attention and my brain feels like it was slammed into a brick wall.

"I was here first buddy. I am not relinquishing my tire time anytime soon." My eyes widen at her attitude. Damn. She is spunky. Just to irk her, I hop onto the swing, watching as her eyes widen in horror.

"Hey!" She says but I just remain there.

"Look. We can either share or we can do the ultimate stare down until one of us caves. Pick your poison." She narrows her eyes at me and crosses her arms across her chest.

"Ugh. Fine. But don't spin us too fast unless you want projectile vomit landing on you." I laugh hysterically. I hold out my hand to shake hers and she does just that. With one simple touch, I am hooked for life.

"Deal." I twirl us a little bit and watch as she gets nervous from the movement.

"Relax. This is all that I will twirl us."

"Thank you." She says softly as she holds onto the chains for dear life.

"What's your name?" I ask just watching her with fascination.

"Riley."

"I like that name. It suits you." She smiles slightly and shifts her eyes downward again. She then looks up at me questionably.

"I've never seen you before here at this park."

"That's because I don't live here. I am just visiting. I had an away game with my football team. I am #27 on my team. It's my favorite number. We leave tomorrow morning though. Dad promised me a day to just relax and unwind."

"Oh. I like the number 27 too. My birthday is on the 27th." She smiles and continues to just look around not making much eye contact. I can tell she is the quiet shy type so I don't push for conversation. We continue to just swing back and forth until I hear her name being called.

"Riley! Let's go! We need to get home sweetie!"

"That's my mom. I need to go. It was nice meeting you number 27." She smiles and jumps off the tire swing. I wave goodbye at her and she waves back. She then tells her mom something and comes running back to me and hands me something. When I look at what it is, I promise to keep it safe forever. She gives me another smile and runs back to her mother. In my hand, I hold the little piece of paper that I didn't even realize she had in her hand this whole time, that she used to form a tiny football.

I watch her walk away, carefully placing the paper shaped football into my pocket, and wish that I will meet her again someday.

*******************************************************

Three Years Later

I walk to school, having just argued with my dad about not joining the football team this year. I need a damn break from it. I know my dad only wants the best for me but I can only hang on for so long to a dream that isn't mine. I demanded a break and I am taking it regardless of what he thinks.

As I get closer to the building I notice my former teammates all huddled together by the front. I need to steer clear of them. They didn't like the sudden out I took with football. I was their teammate for so long and now I am just Tommy. No longer QB Tommy. They can look up to Dylan now because he sure as sh!t was always jealous of my skills. Besides, they all must be a nervous wreck now that their playing amongst those that have known each other for years. They are basically fresh meat.

I continue until I stop dead in my tracks. A girl that I swear looks all too familiar steps out of a car and just stares at the school. I approach her cautiously and manage to walk right by her and turn my head to see her face. No f!cking way. It can't be. How?

I have her face engraved into my memory along with the paper football she left me with. Riley. The little girl with so much attitude that just made me happier for the short amount of time we were on that tire swing together. No massive heart to heart between us. No enticing conversation. Just two kids enjoying each others company was all I needed and it was the feeling I held onto for years because I wished to see her again and it came true. It f!cking came true.

Does she remember me like I remember her?

**************************************************

Present

"F!ck! Riley!" I yell out her name knowing damn well she won't turn back around. What the f!ck was I thinking? I had her right under me. I had her lips on mine and my god that was the most wonderful feeling ever. Not gonna lie, I would have given all of me to her just like she wanted to give me all of her. I saw how her body reacted to mine. This girl is my endgame and I f!cked it all up.

I should have been truthful from the beginning. I should have told her that I met her before. Before all of this drama. Before everything when being a kid was the least of our worries.

Instead, my dumbass decides to force her to choose me and beg me to stay instead of going to this f!cking football camp. I yelled at her for not being selfish. How could I have said that to her?

I didn't want any of this. I didn't want to resume football. I wanted to finish high school and pray to god my grades held up for me to get into any college and see where to go from there. I want to be me, not my father, but what he says goes and now I am stuck heading away instead of being with Riley.

She has been struggling so much lately ever since finding her father in the arms of another woman. She hasn't confronted her father and I know it is eating her up on the inside. She has continued her usual banter with me but she is just a shell of the girl I came to befriend at the beginning of the year. I want to confront him and yell at him for hurting her, for hurting her family, for making her endure the constant fighting.

I storm back into my room seeing absolute red. I can't have it end like this. She is everything to me. If I do not fix things, then she will fall right into Dylan's arms. That f!cker has had it out for me since JHS. He knows she is my Hercules heel. He'll do just about anything to make me pay for taking his position as QB. He is a f!cking dead man if he thinks that Riley will be his. If he as so much lays a hand on her, he's dead.

Dread fills me day in and day out. She won't even look at me. I took it way too far saying what I said to her. Today is the last day of school and I eagerly wait for her outside when class lets out. I pace back and forth until nobody is left. I decide to bite the bullet and call her but before I can even press her number on my phone screen, I see her walking out with Dylan by her side like the little puppy he is.

I clench my fists and anger fills my veins. Why does she have to run to him? Why does he have to show her any kind of attention? It's horrible to ask but he is after me and what is mine. He will go through any means to get to me and if need be, he'll hurt her in the process and wind up gloating about it afterwards. I can't allow that to happen. I storm towards them not wanting to waste another second without her in my life. I'll own my mistakes and hope to god she can forgive me once and for all.

"Riley, we need to talk. Please." I walk towards them watching as Dylan places himself in front of us, keeping me from looking at Riley. F!cker begins to speak and I go blank.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you now Mathers. Besides, we were just on our way to anywhere but here." My eyes glare daggers at Dylan wanting so bad to punch the sh!t out of him. If I do, he wins and I lose out on any chance at a college scholarship. I need to keep my cool. Emphasis on need.

"I don't give two sh!ts about what you think Dylan. Who the f!ck made you her knight in shining armor? She was my friend first f!cker so back the f!ck away." He comes mere inches away from my face surely ready to throw down.

"The moment you bowed out from her life that's when sh!thead. I know for a fact that you hurt her so if I were you, I'd back away." My hands ball into fists and I am two seconds away from saying f!ck it to my future but Riley inserts herself between us.

"Stop. The both of you. Dylan, can you give me a second?" She looks at him with her classic "don't f!ck with me right now" face. Stupid ass simply nods and walks off, leaving me alone with her but clearly still waiting for her. Riley turns to me with such rage in her eyes. Like the inner asshole I am, I speak before thinking.

"The f!ck Riley!? You back to wanting to be with that moron?" She narrows her eyes at me shoving a finger into my chest.

"You don't get to tell me who I can and cannot like or be around for that matter. You made that very f!cking clear when you threw me out of your house that night. You told me to choose you over your future and you threw me out when I couldn't! You did this to us, not me. You tore our friendship apart." I know I did and I am willing to beg for your forgiveness.

"I'm sorry Ri. I really am. I don't want us fighting. I don't want to lose you. Please, forgive me."

"It's not that simple Tommy. You said hurtful sh!t. Sh!t that you knew would tear me away from you. That sh!t you spewed is unforgivable." Can't blame her for not believing my apology.

"Don't do this Ri."

"I need time Tommy. I'm sorry. I'm broken enough. Have a good summer." She can't just walk away.

"Ri." I say with such sadness in my voice. She's not the only one broken right now.

"Goodbye Tommy." I watch as she walks away from me, straight towards him. I clench the paper football in my pocket feeling utterly defeated.

Tomorrow I leave for camp and knowing that scumbag will be going too makes me feel the slightest bit better.