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CHAPTER EIGHT: OVERTIME

Penulis: Nelly
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-08-22 07:52:22

Liam sat at his desk, the phone burning against his palm.

The message was short, reckless, and distinctly Noah:

You watching the game highlights? Or just me?

He exhaled sharply, setting the phone face down on the desk as if that could erase the weight of it. He shouldn’t answer. He should delete it, block the number, put up the wall he kept insisting was already there.

But he didn’t.

The silence of his office stretched, punctuated only by the faint hum of the fluorescent light overhead and the steady tick of the wall clock. He picked the phone up again. Read the words once more.

Noah Rivera. Twenty-two. Bold to the point of dangerous.

And somehow, Liam had opened the door without even realizing it.

Across town, Noah sat on the edge of his couch, grinning at the screen. He could practically feel Liam’s hesitation through the delay. He knew he was pushing it, but restraint had never been his strong suit. Not on the field, and definitely not now.

When no reply came, he fired off another.
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  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER TWENTY:THE EDGE OF REASON

    The rain hadn’t stopped all morning. It smeared the glass of Liam’s office windows, the sound steady and low, like a heartbeat he couldn’t quiet.He’d been here since dawn.The desk was clean. The blinds half-drawn. The chair opposite him the one Noah would sit in felt like a threat.Every time he checked the clock, another five minutes had vanished. He’d told himself he wouldn’t message again. If Noah came, he came. If he didn’t, maybe it would be easier to breathe again.But then came the knock. A soft, almost uncertain sound.Liam’s throat tightened. “Come in.”Noah stepped inside.He looked different today not his usual careless swagger, but something quieter. His hoodie was damp, hair tousled from the rain, a small scar visible near his temple from last match. His eyes were unreadable, but his jaw was set.Liam gestured to the chair. “Close the door.”Noah did, then sat down slowly. The silence that followed was thick, heavy enough to fill the room.“You wanted to talk,” Noah

  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER NINETEEN: LINES DRAWN

    The days after the press leak felt like a fever neither of them could shake.Noah stopped checking his phone. The notifications had multiplied like rot screenshots, cropped images, tweets dissecting glances that should’ve meant nothing. Coach and player: too close for comfort? Carter’s attitude stems from favoritism?He’d turned off his social media after that. Not because he cared what people said he’d been in scandals before. But this one wasn’t about his ego. It was about Liam. And Liam didn’t have the armor Noah did.At practice, the silence was unnatural. The team picked up on it instantly. Liam’s orders came shorter, clipped. His temper usually cold and surgical burned hotter now, unpredictable. Every correction sounded sharper when directed at Noah. Every drill felt personal.Still, Noah couldn’t stop watching him.The way Liam’s jaw tightened when their eyes met. The flicker of something guilt, longing, fear before he looked away.By the third day, Noah couldn’t take it a

  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE BENCH

    The locker room had never sounded so loud.Not from laughter or talk, but from the clatter of cleats, the hiss of showers, the scrape of metal doors noise that filled every inch of the space so nobody had to address what was really happening.Noah sat in front of his locker, elbows resting on his knees, staring at the nameplate like it had betrayed him. His jersey hung beside it No. 11, neat, folded, untouched. It should have been on his back, damp with sweat, not hanging like some forgotten thing.He’d been benched before rookie seasons, tactical shifts, moments that tested his patience. But this was different. This one wasn’t about skill. This one had a name and a face behind it.Liam Wellington.The man who’d once told him, “Earn your place every day.”The man whose voice could cut through noise and still ground him.The man who now couldn’t even look him in the eye.When Liam entered, the room went still not silent, but charged. The kind of pause that happens when everyone’s prete

  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: EXPOSURE

    By morning, his name was trending.Liam woke to a string of notifications that made his stomach drop. His phone lit up with messagessome from reporters, others from colleagues. A few from friends he hadn’t heard from in years.He opened one article and felt the blood drain from his face.A photo.From the tunnel after the last game.Noah, smiling slightly, looking back. Liam behind him, caught mid-glance, expression too raw, too exposed.The headline was simple:> Coach Wellington and Player Carter: More Than Just Tension on the Field?He closed the browser before the bile rose in his throat.Practice that afternoon was suffocating.Whispers followed him from the moment he stepped onto the pitch.“Coach, should we?”“Keep moving,” Liam snapped before the sentence could finish.The air was thick with unspoken questions. Phones disappeared into pockets whenever he turned around.Noah arrived late, expression unreadable beneath his hood. He joined the drills without a word. Every move he

  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER SIXTEEN: FAULT LINES

    The air between them pulsed like something alive.Liam could still feel the ghost of Noah’s breath near his ear, the echo of those words You’ll risk everything... for this.He’d stayed.God help him, he’d stayed.Noah’s gaze didn’t move, dark and steady, challenging him to admit what was already written in the air between them. His pulse beat too loudly, and the small, enclosed space felt suddenly smaller.Liam forced a breath out, harsh and shallow. “You shouldn’t have said that.”Noah’s reply came quiet, almost tender. “You shouldn’t have stayed.”The truth of it hit him harder than any argument could.He stepped back until his shoulder hit the cold wall, forcing space between them. The air felt thinner there, but it was something to hold onto.“No more of this,” Liam said finally, his voice scraped raw.Noah’s lips curved not in amusement, but disbelief. “You’ve been saying that since the first time.”“Because it’s the only thing that makes sense.”“Then why does it sound like you’r

  • OFFSIDE HEARTS   CHAPTER 15: CRACKS IN THE WALL

    Liam arrived before dawn, long before the players, long before anyone could ask questions.Sleep had been impossible. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it again—Noah’s lips on his, the sharp taste of want and relief colliding, the sound of his own breath breaking like a man dragged under.He’d broken the rule. The one he’d built his career, his reputation, his life around.And the worst part? He wanted more.By the time training began, Liam’s face was carved in stone. He barked instructions, tore into sloppy passes, cut drills short for the smallest errors. The players traded uneasy glances none of them had seen him like this before.But Noah… Noah only smiled.During scrimmage, Liam blew the whistle. “Noah! Too slow. Again.”“I was ahead of the line,” Noah shot back.“You were lazy,” Liam snapped, voice hard enough to sting. “Do it again.”The team fell silent, eyes flicking between the two. Noah held Liam’s gaze for a heartbeat too long before jogging back to reset.It wasn’t de

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