“No. My knee is fine.” It didn’t ache anymore. She was annoyed it had forced her off, but the decision had been taken out of her hands, Ayla insisting it wasn’t worth the risk of exacerbating it if it was something serious.
Instead, she’d had to watch from the sidelines, praying that the team would be able to win without her. She finally knew what Erin had been feeling all those months sitting in the stands and had hated every second.
It was poetic that Erin had scored the winner.
“What’s wrong? Why are you frowny?”
“I’m just tired.”
“Bullshit. I’ve seen you tired. I’ve seen you do training drills on less than an hour of sleep. Dozens of media interviews on less than two. And you were still happier than this.”
“I’m sorry.” Lia had tried to put on a brave face, but after how her conversation with Erin had ended, she hadn’t been feeling it. She’d sat toward the front of the coach, leaving those who wanted to party—playing loud music and still drinking champagne—toward the back. “I know I’ve been miserable.”
“No shit. So tell me why. Or are you going to make me guess? Is it your father? Stepmonster? Brett? Your grandmother?” After listing each one, Cerys studied Lia’s face carefully before mentioning the next. “Okay, so…someone on the team? Adrianna and her over-the-top flirting?”
At the mention of Adrianna’s name, Lia reacted. Not much—she was quick to stop the frown before it became too pronounced—but Cerys zeroed in on the twitch of her eyebrows.
“Hmm. So it is something to do with Adrianna, but not the flirting?”
How differently Lia’s night might have ended if Adrianna had never come over to her and Erin. They wouldn’t have fought. Erin wouldn’t have gotten jealous. As much as she denied it, she had been, which was ridiculous—what for? As if Lia would rather go home with Adrianna than Erin! As if Erin—with the gigantic ego, who looked so damn self-satisfied whenever she made Lia come—could ever believe she would?
Lia was getting herself worked up again. For the last ninety minutes, as they’d travelled back to Manchester along the M6, she’d been fuming over it.
And over her own overreaction. Were things with Erin really over, all because of something so minor?
Lia didn’t want things to be over. She wanted to knock on Erin’s door in an hour’s time and have it all be forgotten. But based on the fact Erin hadn’t so much as glanced Lia’s way once the rest of the evening, she didn’t think that would be well received.
“So Adrianna and someone else on the team.” Cerys was still pressing, though Lia tried hard to tune her out. “Was it that intense argument you had with Erin?”
Clenching her hands into fists, Lia dug her nails into the palms of her hands, forcing herself not to react. “What intense argument?”
“Come on.” Cerys scoffed. “Don’t play dumb with me. You were talking to her in the changing room. It didn’t look like a happy conversation.”
“That was nothing.” Lia glanced out the window, the lights of Manchester city centre growing ever closer, and with them, the promise of being able to sulk in the privacy of her own apartment. “We argue all the time.”
“Not lately. Come to think of it…” Cerys tilted her head. “Huh. I can’t remember the last time. She smiled at you the other day; that was weird. I didn’t know she could do that.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“Why are you defending her?”
“Because,” Lia shifted in her seat, “she’s not so bad.”
“But she’s the reason you’re upset.”
“No, she’s not.”
“You can’t lie to me, Lia. You’ve never been good at it.”
“Can you drop it, please?”
“No. Because she’s clearly done or said something to you. Was she rubbing in the fact that you got taken off and she scored the winning goal? Because if she did, I’ll give her a piece of my mind. In fact, I’ll do it right now. Where is she?” Cerys made to get to her feet.
Before she could make it into the aisle, Lia grabbed her arm and hauled her back into her seat. “Don’t! Leave it alone.”
Hurt flashed across Cerys’s face. “You’ve never kept secrets from me before.”
A kernel of guilt sat leaden in Lia’s stomach. Cerys was right. They’d been friends since they were teenagers. Cerys had been there for her through it all—her shitty father, her failed relationships and terrible one-night stands, and every step of her career.
