Page 107 of Playing the Game

“It’s another big match tomorrow.”

“No shit,” Jonas replied a little too loudly. Some of the other lads looked over.

They were playing Canonbury. The fixture that had been keeping Jonas awake. Facing his old club would be difficult enough. Now that he’d become embroiled in this ridiculous affair with Adam, his whole life seemed out of his control.

“Maybe don’t bother with Sunday,” Jonas said. “This has run its course. Don’t you think?”

Adam moved close. His citrus cologne filling Jonas’ nostrils. God he’d missed that smell.

“No I don’t think that at all,” he said. “There’s nothing romantic going on with me and Jen. For now you’ll have to believe me.”

This guy was taking the absolute piss. Yet he had an earnestness about him that Jonas found hard to ignore.

“Sunday,” Jonas said. “I want to talk properly.”

“You got it.”

“Oi! You two. Concentrate,” Javier bellowed.

They resumed passing. Something that Jonas and Adam were particularly good at with each other. It appeared even under the current conditions they still had it.

Training went off without any more incident. Jonas hatedtaking a back seat to whatever Adam had going on, but he had no choice.

Am I kidding myself?

In the interests of keeping himself busy, he’d offered to host Tito and Noah. The night before a match could be an antsy affair. Tonight was double.

“You okay?” Tito asked.

Jonas had cooked a pasta dish and could barely eat a morsel.

“Of course,” Jonas replied.

He forced a forkful down.

“Is it because we’re playing Canonbury tomorrow?” Noah asked.

“Kind of. It’s shit playing your old teammates. Not that I ever was really one of them. They didn’t like all the advertising campaigns I did.”

Those underwear shots had been directly aimed at the gay male market. Perhaps it was Jonas trying to show the world who he was. Or maybe the millions he’d made had powered him.

Tito crossed his legs on the big chair.

“Doesn’t bother me who I play. It’s not personal.”

“I bet Shaun Riggs will think differently,” Noah said.

Shaun Riggs had played for Brockton for years before leaving in a straight swap for Jonas at the end of the last season. He’d gone under a cloud after clashing with Udo and subsequently the rest of the team.

Jonas hadn’t even considered the effect tomorrow’s match would have on Udo. He made a mental note to message him later.

The rivalry between Brockton and Canonbury stretched way back before any of them were born. It was generational.

“Can we talk about something else?” Jonas asked.

“Sure,” Tito replied. “How about you and Adam?”

Jonas thought his heart had stopped beating for a second. “What?”