“Killed it today.” Alex ruffled her hair as they walked past, nowhere near as affected as Erin. “Can’t wait to have you back.”
“Might need a new set of lungs before that can happen.” Straightening, Erin couldn’t keep the smile from her face. As much as every part of her body ached, she’d managed to run her fastest time since her injury and achieved another tick on her checklist for returning to the squad.
Her hamstring had healed well, and she’d relished the return to full team training. It gave her something to focus on, something to build toward, because watching the team fight on four fronts week in and week out while she sat on the sidelines was starting to drain her.
But soon she’d be back out there with them.
A few feet away, Lia and Cerys were laughing together. It grated on Erin’s nerves. In the six weeks since Erin had left Marbella—and the five weeks since Erin had overheard Lia’s phone call with Hannah—she and Lia hadn’t spoken, and though she’d never admit such a weakness aloud, Erin missed her.
Whenever Erin had glimpsed Lia over the past few weeks, she’d seemed chipper, a contrast to Erin’s sourness over what had happened between them. Was Lia’s perkiness a result of her and Hannah smoothing things over?
Why did Erin care if it was? She had no right to Lia at all.
“There’s one last thing I wanted to mention today before I let you go.” Ayla called the team to attention once the last players had finished the drill. “I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now that a certain star striker is getting back to her best.”
At her side, Alex nudged Erin with their shoulder.
“So it’s about time we started to think about our formation. We’ve always used one lone striker up top, but once Erin is available, I think we should be playing her and Lia together. So we’re going to need to change some things. The coaching team have been talking about this for a long time, and we have a plan for how to do it that we’re going to introduce over the next few weeks. Just giving you a heads up now.” Ayla clapped her hands together, her usual sign of dismissal. “That’s all for today. Get yourselves showered, and enjoy the rest of your day—apart from Erin and Lia. Please, can the two of you stay behind for a few minutes?”
Dread sat low in Erin’s stomach as the rest of the team dispersed, leaving her and Lia alone with Ayla.
“Come closer, will you? Don’t make me shout.”
Reluctantly, both Erin and Lia shuffled closer to where Ayla stood.
She glanced between the two of them, a crease between her eyebrows. “How are you both feeling about what I said?”
Lia shrugged. “Hard to say until we’ve tried it, but I’m always happy to try new things. And it’ll be better if we can both play together.”
Ayla glanced at Erin.
“I agree.”
A few moments passed while Ayla waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When she didn’t, Ayla sighed. “Okay, excellent. Well, this is an awkward thing to say, but I’m not going to skate around it.”
Erin stiffened, and she clenched her hands into fists, nails digging into her palms. She did not like the look on Ayla’s face one bit.
“I’ve noticed some tension between the two of you lately.”
A laugh nearly bubbled past Erin’s lips. Tension. Like that summarised what had happened between them in Spain.
“I know you didn’t get along when Lia first joined us, but I thought you’d put that behind you.”
“We have,” Erin said. And then they’d slept together, and Erin had ruined all their progress because she was too guarded. Now she couldn’t look at Lia without wanting to pull her close and tell her she was sorry.
Or push her against the nearest wall and kiss her senseless.
Erin was trying so hard not to notice Lia at all that she noticed every damn thing about her: the ripple of the muscles in her thighs when she sprinted to meet a long ball; the curl of her talented fingers when she did bench presses in the gym; the arch of her neck and the dip of her collarbones when she shrugged out of one shirt and into another.
It was maddening.
Erin was more distracted now than she ever had been. More distracted than she would be if she wrapped herself in Lia again.
She couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. If she’d never let this happen in the first place, she’d not be in this position now.
Ayla pursed her lips. “So what’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Everything.
