Senior Year Box Set

“I didn’t expect you would have a backbone. I think I need to mark up that pretty face of yours so you remember this day,” he said.

Then he lunged at me with his knife.

I knew he wasn’t just playing with me. After all, I’d just read about him using a knife to rob a woman when he was just a little older than I was now. I bet it was his weapon of choice, and if I weren’t cautious, he would slice me up. I felt myself drop down into the zone—the place where I performed at my best. This was a life-or-death situation, and there was no question I needed to treat it as such.

Cassidy and Fritz had schooled me on how to disarm someone with a knife. What seemed so simple on the practice mats didn’t seem quite so easy anymore. I watched as he made some jabs with his knife. He was a lot quicker than I first thought.

I waited for him to make another feint and then grabbed his right hand. I planned to turn under his reach and either disarm or toss him. He jerked his hand back, and I found out he had old-man strength. Since I had hold of his wrist, he pulled me towards him. I was off-balance, but my training kicked in, and I brought my elbow up and struck him in the face. Blood began to flow out of his nose. He threw a punch that caught me over the right eye.

I bounced back to see if he was going to back off.

He stood tall, closed his knife, and put it in his pocket. He had a crazed look in his eyes.

“I’m going to beat you to death!” he bellowed and charged me.

He walked right through my hard jab to his eye. I saw a huge right hook coming for my head and ducked my chin and turned into it, so he hit my forehead. I heard bones break and staggered back. He stepped back and shook his hand, so I took that opportunity to kick him right above the knee. Then I followed that up with a kick to his chin. His jaw snapped closed with an audible crack, and I would bet he chipped some teeth.

I will hand it to him, he wasn’t out of the fight. He waded back in, and I hit him with another jab to his other eye. That one I got just right, and it rocked his head back. He tried the same bull tactic he’d used before, but I was ready for him this time. It looked like when he got inside, he planned to hammer my ribs. I used my elbows to wallop him in the head with a right and left. He staggered back, and I used his momentum to put him on his back.

This time, I wasn’t going to see if he would wave the white flag and surrender. I hit him in the throat, hard. His eyes got big as he tried to breathe. At that moment, both Chuck and Paul came crashing into the room. They’d heard Mr. Rios yell.

“Shit!” Paul yelled. “We need help in here!”

“Carlos! Carlos … Oh, My God! Carlos!” Elena screamed when she saw her husband clawing at his throat.

“Dad!” Tomas yelled. “We need help!”

Two men with University of Oklahoma polo shirts rushed in and took charge.

“We have to clear his airway.”

A woman who was with them came in, opened a bag, and pulled out a scalpel and tube. I about threw up when she poured iodine on his neck, cut him open, and pushed the tube into his throat. You could hear his lungs suck in much-needed air.

An ambulance crew was on site for the upcoming game. They rushed in and checked the training staff’s work before hauling off Mr. Rios.

Mom waded through the crowd.

“You’re bleeding.”

That caught the attention of the training staff. They put a bandage on my eyebrow and declared I needed stitches. I was taken to the training room, where I got four of them.

When I was done, I had to deal with the police. I silently thanked Fritz and his team for their foresight in having me wear a bodycam because the cops didn’t buy my story at first. It seemed that no knife was found. The police later found it in Mrs. Rios’s handbag. Her husband had given it to her at the hospital.

◊◊◊

Coach Michaels found us after I’d been stitched up and talked to the police.

“That was a first. I’ve never had the father of a recruit attack someone before. I’m not quite sure how I should handle this.”

“It wasn’t Tomas’s fault that his dad did what he did. If you’re interested in him, don’t stop recruiting him because of what happened. That is, unless he knew what was planned,” Dad said.

“What do you think about that?” Coach Michaels asked me.

“Do whatever you think’s best.”

I was still a little shook-up and probably would feel differently after I’d put some time behind this. Right now, I would rather never see the kid or his family ever again. If it were up to me, I would probably ban the father from ever stepping on campus. I could just imagine him roughing up the starting quarterback so his son would get playing time.

I was glad when they let us go back to the hotel to take a break.

◊◊◊

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Mom said when we were finally alone.

I just looked out the window of their hotel room.

“Are you okay?” Dad asked.