Some moments in life feel perfectly ordinary on the surface but hold far more beneath them. For Jacob, that moment came on an early summer afternoon along the Wyoming-Colorado border. The sun was beating down, the mountains stood silent in the distance, and in the dusty yard outside his family’s home, he was lost in the game he loved most: soccer.
Wearing his pink and black Messi jersey, Jacob dribbled a worn ball through a set of makeshift “defenders,” six wooden poles stuck into the ground between the garage and the mobile home. It wasn’t a stadium, but to him, it didn’t matter. He called the plays aloud, imagined the crowd cheering, and celebrated his goals with his hero’s trademark gesture, pointing skyward and shouting “Pulga!”
Soccer wasn’t popular among the other teens in his area, so Jacob created his own field and his own opponents. It was his place to feel free, to push himself, and to dream. But that day’s game ended with the alarm on his phone. He needed to go to the county fair to meet his father.
Inside, the blast of cool air met him as his mom, Michelle, poked her head from the kitchen. She eyed his dirt-streaked face and sweat-soaked shirt and insisted on a shower before he left. Jacob protested, but her raised brow ended the debate. In their family, that look meant there was no point arguing.
Michelle had raised Jacob largely on her own since separating from his father. She carried the mix of pride and worry familiar to many single parents. She reminded him to put on his helmet while she gave him a bag of still-warm tamales for the journey, some for him and some for his father. Although he knew she meant it out of love, he rolled his eyes.
Despite the constant uncertainty about the day’s course, Jacob was thrilled to see his father. Not everything had been the same since his father returned from the Army. Their former intimacy and easy laughter frequently gave way to conflict or disappointment. Jacob hoped it would be better this time, though.
With his mother standing at the window with her fingers on the cross around her neck, he strapped the tamales to the back of the ATV and roared down the dirt driveway until he was no longer visible. With its food vendors, rides, and crowd noise, the fair was waiting. But so did the undercurrents of family strain, the unpredictable nature of his father’s mood, and the unspoken hope that maybe, this day would be different.
But little did Jacob know that this day would soon going to change his life once and for all.
If you want to follow Jacob’s journey from that sunny soccer field into a world of tension, danger, and resilience, Jacob’s Bully offers a powerful and moving read. It starts with moments like these, small, real, and full of meaning, before taking a 360-degree turn that will flip the script of Jacob’s life and of his family.
Follow Jacob, a teenage boy navigating a strained relationship with his father, the protective love of his mother, and the relentless torment of local bullies. What begins as an ordinary summer day quickly spirals into a dangerous chase with devastating consequences. With a rich atmosphere, twists and turns, secrets, deception, thrill, and so much more, this novel captures the painful realities of harassment, fractured families, and survival, while delivering an unforgettable story of resilience and the high cost of silence.
Get your copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967109605.
