‘You guys were close?’ I didn’t know. The media around their relationship was patchy at best. Since the incident, that’s all they would talk about.Player knocks out Manager.From all our chats I knew that Oliver had respected and liked Cole.
Oliver swallowed thickly. ‘He was probably one of the best friend’s I’ve ever had.’
This revelation stunned me to my core. ‘Wait… what?’
‘He was my oldest and closest friend. We went to high school together. We went through all the same clubs, starting to play in small competitions. Then he went off to university and we drifted apart but we stayed in touch via emails and the odd phone call. When the club he was managing in Ireland started doing really well, suddenly everyone wanted him. The life of a football manager is tenuous at best. You never know when you could be picked up or dropped. When the club’s winning everyone loves you,but if you have a string of losses everyone’s out for your blood.’
I held my breath, doing my best not to do anything to break the spell of honesty Oliver was under.
‘We both kept up with the other’s career. When he started managing the bigger clubs, he was the one that lobbied for me to be drafted to this club. There’s only so much sway a manager's opinion has but he went hard for me. Put his job on the line telling them I was the best player. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even be in the position I am. I wouldn’t have played for England in the World Cup. I wouldn’t-fuck.’He pinched the bridge of his nose.
The room had grown quiet as he’d talked. I wasn’t sure when Rosie and George had stopped talking, but they were listening to Oliver with matching expressions of empathy.
I gripped his hand tighter. Half expecting him to pull away and shut down, I was floored when he did the complete opposite and wrapped the arm hanging over the back of the sofa around me, crushing my body tightly against his.
‘When you told me about that night before, you told me what happened with Ashley. What happened with Cole?’ I asked quietly.
‘I told you before that I found the coke and confronted her. She stormed out and I didn’t know what to do, so I went to the one of the few people I thought I could trust. Only when I turned up at Cole’s place—she was there. It was like some kind of sick joke as that’s when I realised she’d not only taken my career from me but she’d also poisoned my best mate against me. She was cowering behind him, acting like I was a fucking monster and he… he fucking believed her. It destroyed me. Then he started yelling at me. Saying…’ He trailed off—the words too much for him to say.
‘My entire world had just been flipped on its head. So, yeah—when she went on to announce she was leaving me forhim—I got really fucking angry. I didn’t see the paps until it was too late. They swarmed just as I swung.’
‘Wait, how did the paps know where you were?’ Rosie piped up, brows furrowed. ’If they don’t know where you live then how did they follow you?’
A lead weight settled in my stomach. ‘She tipped them off.’
‘Bingo,’Oliver said. Not a single trace of emotion in his voice.
‘Do you know it was definitely her?’
My head snapped to Rosie who held up her hands defensively. ‘I’m not saying it like that. What I mean is if you can prove that it was her that called them, then you could discredit her story.’
Oliver shook his head, the expression of pure dejection on his face gutted me.
‘She was always weird about people looking at her phone. But there was always one number that would call her about once a week. She said it was an old high school friend, but I memorised the number it came up that often. When it all went down I had a hunch and called it. It was one of the paps who used to follow me around all the time. Once he heard it was me on the other end of the line he hung up. The number got disconnected not long after.’
Suddenly, Oliver’s weirdness earlier over answering my phone, made sense. My back teeth ground together so violently they were moments away from crumbling to dust. How could someone emotionally manipulate another person they claim to love? The thought of ever hurting Oliver like Ashley had caused my stomach to twist uncomfortably.
Disentangling our fingers, Oliver leaned forward and ran a hand down his face, scrubbing at his jaw. ‘Doesn’t fucking matter anymore.’
‘It matters, mate.Youmatter.’ The thickness coatingGeorge’s throat as he rasped out those words lifted Oliver’s head. He flashed his brother a grateful smile.
I swallowed and glanced at Rosie who wore a puzzled frown. I could see the gears in her head turning—running over everything Oliver had said and trying to figure out a way to fix it. That’s what she did. If you were lucky enough to become a part of Rosie’s life then you had to deal with her constant desire to put everything right for the people in her world. She chewed on her bottom lip, staring at a random spot on the carpet.
‘Right.’ George cleared his throat, slapped his hands on his thighs and stood up. ‘I need food and I’m not leaving this house until you admit you cheated or I beat you. Whichever comes first.’ He jutted his index finger at me with a determined smile.
Oliver chuckled. ’I should probably make up the guest room for you then.’
My head turned to Oliver who smirked at me as he leaned back against the sofa, his thigh once again brushing up against mine.
‘What the fuck? You have more faith in her than me? Your own brother?’ George cried indignantly. Rosie smiled, looking up at him. He caught her staring and momentarily forgot what he was saying. ‘Yeah, so, uh I’m gonna make pizza. That cool with everyone?’ He didn’t wait for a reply as he hurried past the sofa towards the fridge and began pulling out ingredients.
I raised my eyebrows at Rosie who was still grinning after him. When she caught me staring her smile dropped to the floor and she shook her head at me, mouthing:what?
Rolling my eyes, because now was not the time to unravel that particular thread, I started to stand up.
‘Actually, we should probably get going.’ I subtly nodded my head to Rosie in the direction of the front door.
Oliver’s head snapped up at my declaration. ‘What? Why?’
