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Mali is pacing, but she’s not nervous. She wears her hair in a high ponytail, but she’s not nervous. She’s got her favourite suit on, but she’s not nervous.

It’s not raining, which is a surprise because it’s been raining nonstop for the entire week. She kinda hoped it was raining this morning, because there’s a chance Zach would have been at her front door. She only lives down the street from work, but she would have hopped into his car all the same. It’s still pretty much the only place he talks to her. He’s not talkative, but he does answer questions. Most of the time, they sit in silence, and it’s not awful. She’s thought about asking him to do the silly word-association game that she’s doing with the other players for social media, but she thinks he’d hate that. There’s still some disconnect between who he is when no one is around and who he is in the office.

Mali skipped breakfast, and now it’s lunchtime, and she regrets it because her stomach won’t stop rumbling. She knows Blyke are on their way, so she has no time to run out and grab something. They sent representatives, which could mean nothing at all, but it means more than a no. It’s entirely plausible they’ll want nothing to do with the club, especially as she’s negotiating for a team sponsorship without the one player they’re gunning for. But, if she can pull it off, they might also be able to get new kits, television advertisements, and possibly, if the team is on form, money for building upgrades.

Blyke made it clear the team could have all that and more if they have Zach on board, but Zach said no. There was no wiggle room in it, and she knows from some of the things he’s said in passing that he thinks he’s only good for one thing. She doesn’t want to be another person in his life to be wary of.

So, when she turns up to the office after her lunchtime stroll around the river to ease some of her nerves and every player is in there, it doesn’t make her feel better.

“Guys, the reps won’t be here for a while. You don’t have to wait around,” she says, in lieu of a greeting.

“Can we know who they are yet?” Kai asks, with a pout. Usually, she’d have given in by now, but no one on this team has any chill. They’ll have spent the sponsorship money and thrown it up on social media before she has a contract on her desk. There’s nothing wrong with wishing for something, but there is something as too much hope. She doesn’t want to give them half of something she’ll have to take back moments later.

“Not yet, but it’ll probably be good for them to see some practice.”

“Get Azan to ask her,” Toby says. Mali pretends she can’t hear him, because he’s not wrong. She has told Zach who it is. “She’s letting him fuck her, so she’ll definitely tell him the sponsor.”

Mali feels the colour drain from her face. What the fuck ? She’s not sleeping with him; he barely even talks to her. And even if she was sleeping with him, she wouldn’t deserve for it to be shouted across the entire office. Everyone goes quiet, and she might truly be sick. She avoids Zach’s eyeline as her fingers shake. She’s not expecting him to say anything. He never defends himself, let alone her. She blinks the tears out of her eyes, hating the way she cries the moment she’s embarrassed, or frustrated, or sad, or happy. The office is quiet. Way too quiet. Until…

“What the fuck did you just say?” Zach replies, and the tone of his voice forces her to look at him, though she thinks it wouldn’t have been all that long until she did. Lightman looks about as terrified as he should be, if Zach’s posture and quick strides are anything to go by, but Ezra gets there first and pushes Toby against the wall.

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?” he asks, his voice a low, deadly calm. Frankie holds Zach back, but his rage is visible.

Ezra steps closer. “I asked you a question, Lightman. I don’t remember there being a time you were ever allowed to talk to a woman like that, and certainly not on this team.”

“She’s—”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Ezra says, his voice deathly low. “I don’t care. You speak to Mali—you speak to anyone—like that again, and it’ll be the last thing you do.”

“It was just a joke.”

“Try being funny next time, big guy,” Frankie says. “You’re fined, and one more wisecrack from you and you’re off the team.” Her hand is still balled in Zach’s T-shirt, and she forces him to turn around.

“Walk it off,” she mutters, and he does. He storms out of the office without so much as a glance at her. Is he annoyed for her? Does he think it’s ridiculous that anyone would think they were sleeping together because he gave her a T-shirt one time? Or is she not as sly as she’d hoped to be whenever she looks at him?

“You okay?” Frankie asks, and Mali blinks furiously. She hates that she starts crying the moment she feels overwhelmed. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath.

“I’m not sleeping with him,” Mali mutters. “I… He barely talks to me.”

“Even if you were, Toby would be in the wrong. The guy’s a dick. I’ll deal with him. You going to be okay?”

Mali shakes the adrenaline from her fingers and blows out another deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah. We just need the team to be a team today. They need to hide the petty hatred until the reps have gone.”

“I’ve got you, girl.”

“Thank you,” Mali says, with a smile. She rolls her neck as she places her briefcase on her chair. Fuck, she should have eaten. Her fingers stop shaking as the last of the players leave the office. It’s just her. She wishes Zach was here.

That’s when she sees the brown paper bag. Unlikely to be a bomb, but she’s seen enough episodes of Criminal Minds to be weary. She opens it anyway. There’s a peeled orange wrapped in a napkin, a flapjack, and a chicken wrap she thinks might be homemade.

She glares at the food until she finds a slip of paper in the bottom of the bag.

You’ll be great today. [Redacted] are gonna—in your words—‘be, like, obsessed with you.’

It’s from Zach. She knows that much, even if she’s never seen his handwriting before. She’s smiling, and she hasn’t even gotten to the end of the note.

Please eat. I know you stop eating when you’re nervous.

(Don’t call me a stalker—it was in one of your drive-home infodumps.)

See you after, bro.

Zach.

(P.S. I peeled the orange so you didn’t get peel under your nails, not bc I think you can’t do that.)

(Me again. I like it when you infodump. Do it more)

Zach. Still.

Blyke sent two representatives, and Mali is still thinking about the note from Zach. They’re wearing bodywarmers, bootcut jeans, and bright white trainers, and she’s still thinking about the note from Zach. They’re so rich, and all she can think about is Zach.

Thankfully, the fact the rich guys are with Blyke isn’t common knowledge. They aren’t handing out business cards, and the logos on their jackets are too small for the team to see from the field.

The good thing about the meeting so far, despite the fact they’re pushing hard for Zach, is that they see potential in the grounds. They’re seeing things their sponsorship would be able to fix. They’re seeing things that would be good for their image, even if the Titans don’t get promoted next season. Mali’s pretty sure they will, and Blyke are keen to agree, if the practice they’re currently watching is anything to go by.

Everyone is on top form. Zach is faster than he’s ever been. Ezra is knocking people down with an ease that comes only from being as strong a lorry. Toby lifts Kai into the air like they’re dancers. It’s all incredibly impressive. Mali needs to get them inside before it all implodes.

Zach and Toby have been close—too close for their current relationship and this morning’s bust up. It’s upsetting that she needs to get them inside, because Zach looks sexy when he’s furious. He frowns, and his chest hits Toby’s with every step, and macho men don’t do anything for her, but if Zach headbutted him, she might think about it for the rest of her life.

Blyke might think they’re just fired up now, but it can all change in an instant.

“Would you like to see the facilities inside?” Mali asks, and they’re all too happy to oblige. It’s fucking freezing.

“With the funding—”

“Medic!” Frankie shouts, her voice frantic. Mali spins, desperately looking for whoever needs help. Don’t be Zach. There’s nothing she can do, no matter who it is, but she needs it to not be Zach.

Please don’t be Zach.

She sees him moments later. He’s flat out, eyes closed, arms limp. Ezra is yanking players aside.

“Oh God,” she whispers.

“You can check on him,” one of the reps says. “He’s kind of the main guy.”

“Right,” Mali replies, even though she wants to tell them they should care about him for more reasons than he can score tries. He’s a good guy. He doesn’t even want them, but she can’t tell them that right now because it feels like she might be sick. Rugby is such a bizarre game. The people are huge. They’re built to take a shoulder in the stomach and get right back up. Some of them break their noses against someone’s thigh three minutes into a game and keep playing. But something to the head, something that makes them get knocked out…

It’s too traumatising to think about.

Zach sit up, his face groggy as he realises he was knocked out. She hears him grumble, and she wonders if her running over is a good idea at all.

To the protest of everyone around him, Zach stands. He ignores medical advice, like a fool. Finally, Frankie tells him to go and sit down. There’s a steady stream of blood running from his eyebrow, and he blinks it out of his eye. Mali closes her eyes tightly. She’s not going to vomit. She’s not going to pass out. She stops in place until her head stops spinning. When she opens her eyes again, Zach is pulling his mouthguard out, and it’s truly a wonder she hasn’t been sentenced to scientific trials for how everything he does turns her on.

He sits down and rotates his arm, and even from where she’s standing, Mali hears his shoulder click back into place. He’s fine, and she’ll need to get better at dealing with people being hurt. Usually, the sight of that much blood would have her rendered useless on the ground. It’s like her body knew she needed to know he was okay. Mali didn’t pay great attention in science class, but that’s probably factual. She can check up on Zach after. When she turns back to Blyke with a smile, she wonders if it’s possible she regrets not checking on him already.