As soon as the whistle went, the Knights exploded into action, surging forward with the lethal combination of power and speed we’d been perfecting. It didn’t take long for us to turn over the ball and within seconds it was coming my way. Devon’s pass was a long one, but I saw it coming and snatched it out of the air, taking off down the pitch as fast as I could.
The crowd was roaring, and the tiny glance of my peripheral vision showed me nobody was close enough to catch me. The pitch ahead of me was clear, and I added a slight curve to my path to aim for the posts, diving across the line and sliding gently across the turf to set the ball down and score.
My first try of the season, and all within two minutes.
I was pretty fucking pleased with that.
Charlie jumped on me as soon as I climbed to my feet, Bailey clapped me on the shoulder, and Kegan ruffled my hair. “Power of the mullet,” he said with a grin.
“It’s the shorts too,” I said, winking at him. “Less restrictive.”
“You can’t convince us all to wear slut shorts,” Bailey said.
“I dunno, I think they’d look pretty good on you. You’ve got the legs for them.”
“You’re not wrong there. I’ve been trying to grow them a bit, and my arse too.” He twisted slightly as Devon lined up on the pitch to kick the conversion. “Do you think it’s working?”
“Yeah, mate. You look great. It’s definitely getting bigger,” I said, wondering if it was gay to look at Bailey’s arse or just a favour to a mate. I was going with the second since he’d asked. And I didn’t want to fuck Bailey. That was Hunter’s job.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
Or maybe they switched.
That was a thing, right? I needed to ask Ezra before my patience snapped and I word vomited inappropriate questions at Bailey.
Devon kicked the conversion with ease, putting us seven points up, and the match resumed.
Nottingham seemed to have woken up a bit since I’d basically walked through their defence, and the next ten minutes or so were rough as they pushed us, trying to get through. They even managed to get into our twenty-two, attempting to heave each other across the line, but that was quickly put down by people like West, Jaden, Hunter, and Gabriel.
I hovered out on the wing, watching, waiting.
And when the chance came, I took it.
The ball came my way and I bolted. This time, Nottingham’s defence were ready and a few of them came with me, keeping pace surprisingly well. I put on another burst of speed but already knew I wasn’t going to make it. I had to get rid of the ball and see if someone else could get it further forward.
Bailey had come with me too, and it was easy to pass the ball backwards into his arms as someone clattered into me, sending me sprawling onto the pitch. But Bailey was quick on his feet, dodging around their attempted tackles and getting the ball over the line with an outstretched arm as he was finally brought down.
By the time we got to half-time, we’d scored four tries and Nottingham had managed to claw one back, which I secretly thought was a mark of generosity on our part because we totally could have shut them down if we’d wanted to.
“You’re playing well today,” Devon said as we helped ourselves to a snack and a drink from the station in the centre of the dressing room. “If you keep that pace up, nobody will be able to catch you.”
“That’s the dream,” I said with a grin as I picked up a banana, suddenly wondering if I should buy some for home so I could practice deep-throating cock with them. Although if a bit broke off and I choked, I was fucked because nobody was coming to save me. I’d have to Heimlich myself on the kitchen counters.
Maybe I’d look at ordering a dildo instead. That’d be the safer option.
And it wouldn’t put me off bananas for life.
Devon gave me a long, appraising look that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my insides twist nervously. Then he broke out into a beaming smile. “You look happier too, and more relaxed. Jonny noticed it as well. You look good, Danny.”
“Thanks,” I said, swallowing and trying to pretend I didn’t want to vomit. Because how the fuck had he noticed something was different? Had I suddenly changed?
“I heard my name,” Jonny said, appearing beside me before I could get any more words out and taking an orange out of Devon’s hand. “What are you saying about me?”
“Not about you. I was just telling Danny that he looks good and that you noticed it too.”
“Yeah.” Jonny looked at me and nodded. “You’ve calmed down a bit, but you look, I don’t know, happier? Did you get a girlfriend or something?”
“No. No, nothing like that,” I said, hoping to fuck that my face or voice didn’t give me away.
