"Steven Popkes - [SS] Bread and Circus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Popkes Steven)

Mike caught his breath. “Tell me you didn’t forfeit.”

“I was about to.”

“We don’t forfeit. Tell them that.”

He pushed them away and walked out onto the field, holding his arm.
Tom was pacing back and forth in front of the Braves’ goal. Across the
field, Sebastian was doing the same in front of the Legs’ goal. They were
roaring at one another.

“Tom! Tom!” He stood in Tom’s way. “Shut up!”
 Tom stopped.

Mike stared at him. “Are you ready to play now?”

“What?”

Mike held up the stub of his arm. “You’ve messed around a lot. You
beat up on poor Victor. You got a damn good taste of me. Now, are you
ready to play?”

“Play, hell. I want to kill the bastard.”

“We’re tied. We can still win.”

“Why? So you can win and get back in the majors or something? So
you can keep your pretty wife happy? Why should I care?”

Sebastian roared at them. Tom roared back.

“You’ve screwed up every game against Sebastian for six years. You
beat him up and the Legs win. Every time. Every time after the playoff,
Sebastian gets a bonus and laughs at you. You go over there again tonight
and he’ll mop the floor with you. He’s been planning for this night for six
years.”

Tom stared at him. He looked over at Sebastian and back to Mike.
Back to Sebastian. After a moment, he seemed to grin at Mike. “Okay. I’ll
play.” He went over and started talking with Vern and the defenders. Mike
was tempted to follow but he worried that Tom would change his mind.

The referees were waiting for him when he came back to the water
table. Mike knew the rules. The worst they could do was give them a
five-minute penalty. Vlad took it for Tom.

The heavy ball came out of the zone like a rocket. Miguel bounced it
back into the center zone where it was snagged by Vern. Vern dribbled it
over to one side, drawing fire. Then, he popped it in the air and head-butted
it to Tom.