I don’t really know what I was expecting to be honest, but whatever it was it didn’t include loud music, screeching, singing, and fireworks. When did a game of soccer become such a spectacle? Instead of making myself look like an even bigger loser than I felt, I just pasted on a smile and went along with it.
I thought I was playing it cool. Casual. Sitting there, smiling, drinking my beer, taking it all in. I was cool. Until number seven jogged onto the field hand in hand with a kid who barely reached his waist.
My breath hitched.
My knees trembled.
I spilt my beer all over me.
“Shit!” I exclaimed, bouncing up out of my seat, swatting at the liquid soaking through the denim. I have no idea what I thought it was going to achieve, but I kept at it.
“You okay?” Jax asked, eyeing me warily.
He’d probably never seen me like this before. Jittery, nervous, and a complete wreck. I’d never felt like this before. I didn’t like it. Not one little bit.
Pouting, I dropped back in my seat and forced myself to look around and not to focus on how good a certain player’s butt looked in those shorts. Even though they weren’t tight, the way they hung off his narrow hips had all sorts of butterflies in my stomach taking flight. I needed another drink and I needed it now.
Before I knew it, the anthem was sung, the whistle blown, and the game was underway.
For five minutes I watched the ball get passed back and forth and back again, seemingly not going anywhere. It was crazy. And by the ten-minute mark, I was bored.
“Holy hell, Elise,” Jax exclaimed, nudging me in the ribs with his elbow.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry. But, honey, have you seen that?” he asked, pointing to the middle of the field where one player stood by themselves concentrating on what was going on ahead of him. I didn’t need him to turn around so I could check his number to know it was Luca. I already knew. He hadn’t starred in every single one of my filthy fantasies over the past week for me to not recognise him.
“Yes, Jax, I know that’s Luca,” I sighed, pretending to be unimpressed. The truth was, I was more than impressed. Everything about him was impressive. While I might’ve spent a week giving Jaxson shit for being an online stalker, the reality was I was doing my own research. I’d spent more than a few nights staring at images of the man I’d learnt, at the peak of his career, was Australia’s best.
“Elise, you know I love you, but you seriously need to listen to me.”
If Jax was starting a sentence like that, I was terrified what was going to come next. “Jax, there are kids around,” I reminded him.
“Honey, if you don’t take that Italian stallion for a ride, I’m disowning you,” he declared, and from the serious look on his face, I knew he meant every single word.
“That’s a little over dramatic, don’t you think?”
“Iamover dramatic, darling. But it’s not about me…”
“It’s always about you.”
“True. But today it’s not. Today it’s about dusting off those cobwebs, changing out of those granny panties I know you’re wearing—” I scowled at him. I wanted to argue but there was no point. He wasn’t wrong. A fact I hated. “—and go and ask that gorgeous hunk of man meat out for a drink and then some.”
“Then some?”
“Fine! Be boring. Start with a drink.”
Behind us I heard snickering and turned to see three women gawking at me like I’d grown a second head or had an accidental nip slip. I felt my cheeks burn. I was sure they’d heard every single word that had come out of Jax’s mouth. I wanted to crawl under my seat and hide. After I killed him of course.
“Sorry,” I apologised meekly before turning back around.
When a soft hand landed on my shoulder, I almost had a heart attack. “Sweetheart, there’s nothing to apologise for,” the older lady said. “We’ve been coming to these games for a while now and we’ve certainly heard worse. Don’t even worry about it. I think it’s kind of funny. Don’t you, girls?”
The ‘girls’ were the same age as me, or at least close to it. One of them, the one with the most beautiful porcelain skin I’d ever seen, answered. “Yeah, it’s fine. At least it would be if you weren’t talking about our brother.”
“What?” I didn’t mean to screech like a banshee but couldn’t help it. Beside me, Jax scoffed before falling into a fit of full-blown laughter.
“Luca is your…your brother?” he confirmed. I wished he’d let it go. While I could pretend she hadn’t said it, I was living in denial. And no matter what people said, denial was a lovely place to hang out.
