All Chapters of OFFSIDE HEARTS: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Rain tapped against the windows of Liam’s apartment building, a steady rhythm that made the silence between them unbearable.Noah leaned casually in the hallway, hood still up, hands shoved in his pockets. But his eyes—dark, steady—never left Liam’s.“You need to leave,” Liam said, voice clipped.“Tell me you don’t feel it, and I’ll go,” Noah replied, soft but firm, like he wasn’t afraid of the storm building between them.Liam’s throat tightened. For a long moment, neither moved. The words hovered on the tip of his tongue denial, cold dismissal, something to end this madness. But nothing came. The silence said too much.Noah’s grin curved slow, dangerous. “That’s what I thought.”Liam’s jaw clenched. He stepped back, forcing the door closed between them with more strength than necessary. The slam echoed down the hall.On the other side, Noah’s laughter was low, muffled by the wood. “See you tomorrow, Coach.”Liam leaned against the door once it was shut, his chest heaving. His pulse

The morning after the match, Liam arrived at training before dawn.Sleep had been impossible. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Noah standing too close in the parking lot, voice low, eyes daring him to break.By six a.m., he’d rewritten the recovery schedule, doubled the intensity, and convinced himself discipline would cure everything. Control was his weapon. Control was the only shield he had left.The players groaned when they arrived, one by one, to find cones lined up, heart-rate monitors waiting.“Thought this was supposed to be a light day,” one muttered.“Not anymore,” Liam said flatly.He didn’t look at Noah when he said it.But he felt him. Always.By the third drill, sweat plastered shirts to skin. Liam barked instructions, his voice sharp enough to slice through fatigue. He didn’t smile. Didn’t soften. Didn’t give anyone especially Noah—the satisfaction.Noah, of course, thrived. His shirt clung to him, breath heavy, but he ran every drill like it was a challenge throw

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

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

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