His piercing stare bored into Steven’s soul. For a second, he froze.
“Yes,” he said. “I think it will help. Don’t you?”
“I do.”
“Is there anything troubling you, Udo?”
“No,” he replied, breaking their eye contact.
Steven didn’t believe a word of it. Something was impacting Udo’s confidence.
“I won’t pry. Although I want you to know that if there is, then you can always come and talk to me. I promise it’ll be between us.”
To his credit, Udo didn’t lower his head. Instead he nodded.
“Thank you, Steven.”
“Not a problem. Now how about we spend the rest of the hour talking about our players. I think there’re a few set pieces we can try that will appeal to your style of play.”
He busied himself with getting his laptop out of his bag. Inreality, he needed to break the atmosphere. Udo was carrying a burden. It was as clear as day.
There would be no getting his skills back until he dealt with it. Yet there was more to Steven’s need to help. He found Udo intriguing and it was more than just his model looks. Although they were fire.
As he fired up the computer, Steven undid the buttons on his polo shirt.
“You okay?” Udo asked.
“Yeah. It’s a warm one today.”
In reality to become infatuated with a player was madness. He would have to extinguish it and be professional.
FOUR
UDO
Saturday came around more quickly than Udo liked. His daily sessions with Steven had been useful. Although concentrating had been a challenge. Being in a small room with Steven sent his mind swirling in all sorts of directions. Thoughts that were unwelcome. He had to listen to Rob and push those feelings down. He’d very nearly been exposed at Chelsea. He had no intention of risking it all again.
They were playing at home this week. He walked down the increasingly familiar corridor from the players’ car park. Some of the staff greeted him. A couple clapped him on the back. In the past he would have seen that as pressure. Yet talking to Steven about the club and why he loved being there, Udo had begun to view things differently. They genuinely wanted him to do well. Not just for Brockton FC, for him also.
He walked into the locker room to find most of his teammates were already there. Adam nodded at him across the room. It meant the world to have the captain on his side as well as giving him a level of protection.
For the first time since he’d moved, his body hummed with anticipation. That had to be a good sign.
“Hey, Holtmann,” Shaun shouted.
Udo’s blood ran cold. Ever since he’d arrived in January, Shaun had taken a dislike to him. It happened sometimes. Usually after an altercation on or off the pitch. Shaun seemed to have hated Udo on sight.
“Shaun?”
“What’s this I hear about you getting special treatment from Cox?”
How the fuck did he find out?
Once again, all eyes were on him.
“He’s been giving me some tips on adapting to your playing style,” he replied.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Colin said.
