Ruthless knight

“Liam? That doesn’t ma—”

“Just do it,” I bark. 

Come on, Liam. Man up and stop acting like a baby all the time. 

He fishes his cell out of his pocket and brings it to his ear. “She’s not answering.” 

I force myself to stand. “It’s fine.” 

Jace’s eyebrows pinch together. “What?” 

I wipe at the grass stains on my jeans. “I said it’s fine.” I pick the ball back up. “Let’s play.” 

I’m not going to let Liam’s issues get in the way of football. 

He gets in the way of enough. 

His mouth drops. “Seriously? I thought you were having a heart attack.” 

That gets a laugh out of me. “Young people don’t have heart attacks, dummy.” I give him the ball. “You throw it this time. See if I can catch it.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good id—”

The sound of his phone ringing cuts him off. 

Must be Mom. 

“Hey, Dad,” Jace bites out. 

Or not. 

Something’s changed between them the last few weeks. They used to be close, but nowadays, it’s almost like Jace despises him. 

Then again, he’s probably feeling snubbed like the rest of us due to Dad working all the time. 

“Wait…what? When?” 

I can’t hear what my dad is saying…but whatever it is can’t be good because Jace drops the phone. 

“What happened?”

“Mrs—” He swallows and tries again. “Mrs. Garcia.” 

I don’t understand why he’s so distraught about our neighbor. 

“Did she die?” 

He shakes his head. “No. She’s coming over.” He looks like someone sucker-punched him in the gut. “Dad’s on his way to the hospital.”  

That feeling in my chest is back with a vengeance. 

“Is he okay?” 

“I don’t…I don’t know.” He looks down at the grass. “I don’t know anything.” 

“What do you mean you don’t know anything? You just spoke to Dad. What did he say?”

He’s so out of it, it takes him a full minute to answer. 

“He said there was an accident. Mom’s car went off the side of the road.” He buries his head in his hands. “That’s all he would tell me.” 

That can’t be right. 

“What does that mean? They’re okay, right?” 

“I don’t know!” he screams. “I don’t know.” 

It’s like it’s the only sentence in his vocabulary. 

“They’re okay,” I whisper, more for my benefit than his. 

Mom once told me if you put positive thoughts into the universe, they’ll become true. “They have to be.” 

 “Yeah.” Appearing to gather his composure, he inhales sharply. “You’re right. Everything will be fine.” 

But it wasn’t. 

It never would be again. 

Because two hours later, we found out Liam and Bianca were in emergency surgery…

And our mother was dead.