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Home / Romance / Rough Play (An MLM Sports Romance) / Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Lahat ng Kabanata ng Rough Play (An MLM Sports Romance): Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

36 Kabanata

21

Richard's POVDarren had been gone since noon.No note, no text, nothing. Just the truck missing from the driveway when I got back from training and the particular quality of quiet that came from a house when the person who made it feel like a trap was temporarily somewhere else. He was probably at whatever bar gave him the least resistance on a weekday afternoon. I did not care where he was. I cared that he wasn't here.I sat on the couch for a while. Then I moved to my room. Then back to the couch. I ate something from the fridge that didn't require cooking and watched the ceiling and let the day sit on me without trying to do anything with it.The article was still out there. Briggs's voice was still in my head. The image was still the image.I had my phone face down on the cushion beside me when Sofia called.I looked at the screen for two rings before I picked up."I'm taking you out," she said."Not tonight.""Richard.""I'm serious. I'm not in the mood for—""The article has be

22

Andre's POVI pushed back from the table before I had fully decided to.I told myself it was the thank you. That I owed him that much and it had been sitting on me since the benefit and the clean thing to do was say it and be done with it. That was the reason I was crossing a restaurant toward a man I had pinned against a wall forty-eight hours ago.That was the reason.Richard was standing near the exit with his jacket half on, looking out through the glass toward the street. He didn't turn when I came up behind him. I stopped a few feet back."Richard," I said.He turned.His face was neutral in the way it was always neutral, that default flat expression he wore like a second skin, giving nothing back until he decided to. He looked at me and waited."I wanted to say thank you," I said. "For Rose. At the benefit." I kept my voice level. "You didn't have to stay with her and you did and I came in there and made it something it wasn't. So. Thank you."It cost something to say. I could

23

Andre's POVOne week out.That was the number I woke up with and the number I carried through breakfast and the drive to the facility and the tape job and the walk out to the pitch. Win today. Win the next. Then the Wolves in the qualifying round and Wood Work on the other side of it. Seven days and two results standing between me and a week in the national forest that I had been thinking about since the first whistle of the first game this season.I was focused. Sharp. Exactly where I needed to be.Tanner fell into step beside me during warm-up."One week to Wood Work, huh," he said.I kept my eyes on the far end of the pitch. "I know."He made a sound of pure anticipation. "I cannot wait to get my dick wet."I looked at him. "It's Wood Work. There are no girls allowed.""No girls allowed, huh?" He bumped my shoulder, grinning already. "Like you haven't smuggled Lexie in the previous two years.""Tanner—" I grabbed his arm.He kept going, pulling slightly out of my grip. "Honestly at

24

Richard's POVWednesday practice was supposed to run until six.I was in the middle of a contact drill when my phone buzzed in my shorts pocket. I ignored it. It buzzed again. Marcus glanced at me from across the line and I shook my head and reset my stance and we went again.When Briggs blew the whistle for water I pulled the phone out.Sofia."Ooooh," Marcus said immediately from two feet away. He had eyes like a hawk when it came to other people's business. "Is that her?""Mind the drill," I said."It's a water break." He leaned over. "Call her back. She's been—"I stepped away from the group and picked up."Hey," she said. Her voice was warm the way it always was, like she had been looking forward to this call specifically. "Are you training?""Just a break," I said. "What's up?""I have a surprise for you.""I don't like surprises.""You'll like this one." A pause. "I'm sending you an address. Come tonight. I'll be there at eight."I looked back at the group. Marcus was watching

25

Andre's POVTWO DAYS LATERRose was already in the corridor when I came out of the changing room.She was standing beside Lexie with her coat on and her earplugs in her hand, ready, like she had been here longer than either of us and was simply waiting for the rest of the situation to catch up.I stopped. "You need anything? Water, food, somewhere to sit before—""No," she said."Rose. The bleachers are going to be loud today. This is a qualifying match, the crowd is going to be—""I have earplugs," she said. She held them up, the same way she had held them up the first time, like the gesture explained everything and further conversation was unnecessary."Is Richard playing today?" she said.I looked at her. "Yes. He's on the Wolves roster.""Good." She nodded once. "I want to thank him.""Rose, this is a qualifying match. You're not going to be able to get near the pitch before or after—""I want to thank him," she said again. Same tone. Same finality.I looked at Lexie.Lexie looked

26

Richard's POVThe whistle came from somewhere far away.The crowd noise returned in pieces, like a radio finding its signal. My teammates were moving around me, some celebrating the performance, some already heading toward the touchline, and I was standing in the middle of the pitch with the result sitting in my chest and my legs still going and the game already over.The commentator's voice bled through the stadium speakers.Both programs heading to Wood Work. The rivalry between O'Reilly and Williams more heated than ever. One point separating them today.One point.I stood there and let it wash over me and did not move.Marcus got to me first."Hey." He grabbed my shoulder and turned me toward him. "Look at me. One point. You hear me? One point.""I hear you," I said."That's nothing. That's a rounding error. We played well today, Richard. The whole team played well.""I know.""Do you?" He looked at me hard. "Because you're standing here like someone died."I said nothing."We're

27

Andre's POV The celebration ran until past ten. Tanner had found somewhere that would take a group of fourteen rugby players on a Wednesday night and we had taken over the back section and stayed there for hours. The win settled into the group slowly the way good results did, not loud all at once but building through the evening, getting warmer and looser as the night went on. I stayed longer than I planned to. I needed it. The whole team needed it. I got home just before eleven. The lights in the living room were off. Rose’s door was closed and the thin strip of light underneath it was gone, which meant she was already asleep or had her lamp on the low setting she used when she was reading. I knocked once, soft. “I’m fine,” she said from inside. Flat and immediate. “You eat?” A pause. “Lexie got Thai.” “Good.” “Andre.” “Yeah.” “You won. Go to bed.” I almost smiled. I went to my room and dropped my bag and sat on the edge of the bed for a moment in the quiet of the apartme

28

Richard's POVSofia showed up at seven with two coffees and her hair still damp from the shower.She handed me one without asking how I took it because she already knew and leaned against the kitchen counter and looked at me while I drank it. She was in a jacket and jeans and she looked easy and warm and like she had nowhere else to be even though she did."You packed?" she said."Almost.""You have your rain gear?""It's the woods, not a monsoon.""It's a national forest in late season." She raised an eyebrow. "Pack the rain gear, Richard."I went and got the rain gear.She was still in the kitchen when I came back out, both hands around her coffee, watching me move around the apartment with the specific attention she had when she was deciding whether to say something."What," I said."Nothing." She set her coffee down and crossed the room and straightened my collar with both hands, smoothing it flat, her eyes on the fabric rather than my face. A small gesture. Quiet and deliberate a

29

ANDREThe bus pulled into the Wood Work site and my first thought was that it was beautiful in a way that had nothing to do with anyone on it.Just trees. Cold air coming through the open door before I had even stepped off. A clearing with two clusters of tents already arranged, the forest pressing in on three sides, the sky above the treeline going the specific gray of late afternoon in a place with no light pollution. I stepped off the bus and breathed it in and for approximately four seconds something in my chest went quiet.Then the Wolves' bus pulled in behind us.I watched them file off. Marcus first, arms wide, already talking at full volume like he was personally greeting the forest. A few others I recognized from the qualifying match. Then Richard.He stepped off the bus and looked up and found me immediately.Like he knew exactly where I was standing without having to look for it.I held it. The distance between us, maybe thirty feet of clearing, carried everything it was ca

30

RICHARD'S POVMarcus appeared at the tent entrance with the energy of someone who had consumed one beer and was treating it as a down payment on several more."We're going to the oak," he said. He had his jacket on and a torch in his hand and the specific expression he wore when he had already decided something and was presenting it as an invitation out of courtesy. "Giant oak about five minutes into the trees. Few of the guys. Fire. Come.""I'll sleep," I said.He looked at me. "It's nine o'clock.""I'm tired.""Richard, come on""Marcus,I am serious. I am tired."He held the tent flap open for another second. Then he let it drop. "Oak. Five minutes into the trees, north side of the clearing. If you change your mind." He disappeared back into the dark and I heard his footsteps fade and then the distant sound of voices absorbing him back into the group.I lay on my back and looked at the canvas above me.The forest quiet was different from any quiet I knew. It had texture to it, a thi

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