Line Of Scrimmage (11 page)

I tilted my beer bottle to my lips when I got a glimpse of him, Jack Unger. He had entered the bar with some dude I didn’t know and had never seen before.

When he noticed me, he made a beeline straight toward me. Is he serious? I watched him approach and I turned my swivel barstool around to face the pretty douchebag.

“Hey coach.”

I eyed him cautiously. I couldn’t move my mouth to speak words to this bastard. I think I kind of nodded but I had too much to drink and my motor skills were a bit wonky at best. 

Mike stood and shook Jack’s hand. “Hey Jack, how’s it going?”

“It’s going.” Jack smiled and the guy behind him walked away to summon the bartender.

“I heard you were coaching flag football.”
Mike stated.

“Yeah
, this year I think I can take my team all the way.” Jack gave him a game show host smile.

“Mason coaches the Mustangs. What team did you get?” Mike asked.

I already knew the answer. He had the Trojans, we hadn’t played against them yet.

“The condoms.” He was trying to be funny but Mike was too dumb to catch the joke. “The Trojans.”

Jack had a lot of nerve waltzing in here. I was pissed beyond belief. Jack must have noticed my scowl because he frowned then smirked. Dirtbag!

“You okay Mason?”
Jack asked.

“What do you think?”
My audacity was on overload.

“I don’t know. That’
s why I’m asking.” I think he was taunting me. Or was it the alcohol?

“Do not ask me a goddamn thing!”

“Woe guy, calm down.”

“I have no problem rearranging you
r face.” I said it and I meant it. Jack’s friend showed up with two bottled beers in his hands and on the tail end of our verbal spar.

“Mason, dude,
I know you’re not serious?” Jack asked maybe stated. I’m too drunk to know the difference.

I stood and was glad I was two inches taller than this fucking prick. “You
are a backstabbing bastard.”

Jack grinned a
t his buddy and that only made matters worse. I was now furious as fuck. He wasn’t taking me seriously.

“Mason, dude, chill.”
Jack huffed with little regard to how thoroughly pissed I was.

“Chill, fuck you. You moved in with her and you want me to chill. I told you she was mine.”

“You told me that shit months ago. Out with the old and in with the new.”

Did he just say the crap to me? I reached for Jack,
that slimy bastard. Mike grabbed my arms just as Jack took a step back to escape my fury.

“Mason, what the fuck i
s your problem?” Mike asked me. I could see he was confused. He was always in the dark.

Jack felt the need to speak for me. “Your brother has his diaphragm in a bunch because I’m with Kari now. I live with her.
We’re a couple.”

“Jack, w
hat the fuck are you talking about?” Mike asked more confused than before.

My brother
hadn’t put the pieces of our little suburban melodrama together just yet. Mike wasn’t privy to Kari’s comings and goings but I knew Jack had moved into Kari’s place. They were dating each other and although I had been tempted to stalk him on the streets and beat the dog shit out of him, I had refrained but now he was in my line of sight and I wanted to smash him into a million itty-bitty pretty pieces.

“Listen Mike, your brother dumped his mistress. It’s not my fault
. I had nothing to do with it.  If Kari wants to cry on my shoulder I have no problem with it.” Jack said all that shit just to send me into a rage.

“Fuck you!” I yelled over the music.

“Fuck you!” Jack yelled back. We had a little crowd taking notice.

“Hey!”
The barkeep and owner barked over the music. “You guys sit down and chill or take that shit outside.

We all regarded the barkeeps words carefully.

“Let’s go you fucking thieving motherfucker.” I baited Jack. I wanted an old fashioned street rumble.

“What dude, you looking for a fight?”
Jack asked me when he had to know the answer.

“No
dude, I’m looking to kick your ass.”

Jack grinned at me exposing all his perfect ultra-white teeth.
“Mason, buddy, you had too much to drink.”

“Fuck you, chicken shit motherfucker.”

That caught his attention. Jack turned on his heels and went straight for the door. I was only two paces behind him. Jack’s friend placed the two beer bottles on the top of the bar. Mike was following behind me with Jack’s friend in tow. We all marched out of the drinking establishment. We were in the quiet night of the parking lot.

I could have just hit him right there but
sucker punches weren’t really my thing and I had more to get off my chest. “You couldn’t wait to swoop in.”

“No, I did wait. I waited until she was single and I was single.
Come to think of it, she was always single.” Jack raised his hand and waved it in my face. “No ring. I’m free and clear.” He was really goading me into kicking his ass.

I
felt a foreign hand on me. I glanced down and once again Mike was holding my forearm. “Don’t make a scene.” Mike spoke with a twinge of forcefulness. Hello asshole we already made a fucking scene.

I ignored Mike
’s warning and Jack’s bullshit, “Kari is mine.”

“No Mason, Tess is yours. Get a grip!”
Jack snarked.

“You
cocky motherfucker.” I barked.

Before I could think straight my fist balled and my hand left my side and
ended up smashed into Jack’s nose. I had punched him. Shit he had punched me back. I felt him connect with the side of my jaw. We were fighting, a full blown fisticuffs battle royale. I wanted to rip his head off. The thought of him fucking my Kari, sticking his cock inside her sent me into a blind rage. She was once mine and in my brain she still is mine.

I hit Jack again, this time my punch landed on his chin. Shit
, this douche hit me again. I hit him, three times, five times. I’m too drunk to count.

What the fuck?
We are fucking fighting. Mason dude, knock this prick out. I socked Jack and he stumbled backwards. I took this chance to pounce and pummel him. I had him down on the ground. I felt arms wrapping around my arms. I felt somebody pulling me off of him. I looked down as I was being wrenched up. Jack’s bottom lip was bloody. I had busted his lip. I looked around at the hands pushing and pulling me away. There were three guys holding me. One of them was Mike. There was a lot of shouting and commotion but it wasn’t me. 

“Mason we got to get out of here. Someone called the cops.” Mike yelled in my ringing ear. Jack must have hit me on the side
of my head. My right eardrum was ringing like a passing period school bell.

Mike was pulling me through a row of parked cars. I had my wits about me so I wasn’t protesting. Who wants to get arrested for an old school manly disagreement?
Not me. As soon as we got into Mike’s pickup truck, I heard the police sirens. We peeled out the lot and I could see that Jack was nowhere in sight. There was a little crowd that formed but all the key players were gone. I can’t believe I just did that. I want to blame it on the alcohol but I think I would have clocked him even if I was sober. Kari was right. I am a psycho.

The ride to my house was silent for the first few minutes. Mike kept checking the rearview mirror for the police and then he would glance over at me. This went on for a few blocks and about three stoplights.

“What the fuck are you looking at?”

“Mason, the therapy isn’t working
for you?”

“Shut the fuck up and drive.”

“What is going on with you?”

“Fuck you.”

“You need to get over her. This is getting old. Your shitty attitude at work is getting old. I’m trying to help you but you’re not even helping you
rself. Your shit is infecting the entire family. Mom is worried about you. I can’t keep holding your hand.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“No, you need to grow up. Kari has moved on. Why can’t you? Do you want a divorce?”

“No.”

“Your actions say otherwise.”

There were no words after that. Everything he said was true. I hated to lose. I was a winner. To win Kari meant to lose my family. To win my family meant to lose Kari. Does time truly heal all wounds? How long is it going to take me to heal? I just needed a ballpark figure so I could come to grips with my emotions.

I slept off my excessive alcohol consumption. I came out of the scuffle without a scratch. The word on the street was Jack was sporting a nice black shiner to match his busted lip. God help me four days later I was back to my old tricks.

I was parked three block
s away when I saw Jack leave Kari’s house. He never noticed me but he wouldn’t I was dipped down in the driver’s seat and I was in one of my unmarked company pickup trucks.

I waited a good ten minutes just to be sure he hadn’t forgot something
back at the house and decided to double back. Ten minutes wasn’t that long but I was taking a chance anyway.  I guess it didn’t really matter. I was relieved to see the same code still worked on the garage door. I parked across the street but I used the code to go through the garage and to gain access to the house.

I didn’t have a
n organized plan. I was just going to wing it. I had to see her, talk to her, and breathe her same air. I had been stalking her in the physical and the mental. I was exhausted physically and mentally from the separation anxiety. I needed to see her up close. Alone.

I was inside her place and everything was just as I remembered it. She hadn’t let Jack change anything and I
viewed that as a good sign. He may be a visitor and not a permanent fixture in her life.

I heard her voice before I saw her face. “Jack, did you forget something?” She yelled
out and her words traveled down the stairs as I approached the second floor. “Jack!”

I walked into her
bedroom. Kari was standing in the walk-in closet with a shoe box in her hands. When she noticed me entering her bedroom her startled gasp was painfully audible.

“Ma-son?” I think she was questioning her vision.

“In the flesh,” I smirked. I hadn’t been this close to her in months. She was more beautiful then I remember, then when I saw her on the football field. She was wearing a purple Diana Ross concert t-shirt. I missed these concert tees.

“What the fuck?
” She sat the shoebox on the floor and stepped over it. “You can’t be here.”

“Looks like I am here.” I was being cocky.
I was being my old self.

Kari
guardedly walked out of the closet but kept a safe distance from me. “Get out!”

“Make me.” I
teased with my kid in a candy store smile.

“Oh god, Mason you can’t be here. You have to go.”

“Why?” I took a step forward and she took a step back. This brings back memories of our first time.

“You know why.
You made a choice. You moved on. I moved on. You cannot be here.” She was talking to me like I was a suicide jumper on a bridge.

I took a deep breath.
“Do you love Jack?” I asked the question even though the answer might kill me or mortally wound me in the least. My candy smile was gone. My serious face took hold and my jaw clenched involuntarily.

“Mason, please don’t do this to me. You made your choice.
”

She avoided the question, a good sign. Now I can breathe.
“Kari, you fuck him, you give him my pussy?”

“Mason stop it.” She begged but I couldn’t stop it.

“
You suck his cock?” I was up in her face asking the hard hitting action news questions. The questions I didn’t want to hear the answers to. So why was I even asking them?

“Mason, please don’t do this.” She pleaded but her pleas fell on deaf
and dumb ears.

“How could you let him fuck you? Why would you hurt me like this?
You swore you were mine.”

“
What? Do you have any idea how much you hurt me? After you gave me the ring, after you said you would never leave. After you said we were forever.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.
I never meant for that to happen. I swear.”

“Well you did.
You cut me deep. You broke my heart and then just vanished.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Mason listen, you can’t come in here like this. You can’t go around picking fights with my boyfriend.”

“I was drinking.”

“So what?”

“Jack is not
your boyfriend. No, no, hell no!” I balled my fists and held them to my sides. “I refuse to accept that.”

“You heard me.
He’s my guy. Jack is living here with me?”