Page 21 of The Scrum-Half (Lincoln Knights #3)

Matty

Mason and West were plotting something. They kept whispering to each other and looking over at me, thinking I hadn’t noticed. But neither of them was subtle.

“Whatever you’re planning, stop it,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest and leant back in my seat, trying to get comfortable as the coach wound its way towards Skegness.

I was tempted to have a nap, but that felt dangerous.

It would give them uninterrupted scheming time and I didn’t trust anyone else to put a stop to it.

“We’re not planning anything,” West said mildly, shooting me a pleasant smile that didn’t allay my fears.

“Sure you’re not.”

“Nope. Not about you anyway,” Mason said.

“Why don’t I trust you?”

West shrugged. “That seems more of a you thing.”

“Agreed. You’re being paranoid,” Devon said, piping up from the seats across from Mason and West. He was wrapped up in a huge Knights hoodie because even though the weather was surprisingly mild for early April, Devon had spent eight years living in the south of France and had a very different idea of what cold was.

“You’re not helping,” I said.

“Was I supposed to?” Devon smirked. He had one leg thrown across Jonny’s, the pair of them completely comfortable being open about their relationship.

It had surprised me when I’d first found out about it because, although Devon’s pining had been obvious, I’d never thought Jonny would get his head out of his arse and see what was right in front of him.

I’d also been shocked by how open they were, assuming it would go against some sort of club guideline. But, as Jonny had pointed out, the people who wrote those hadn’t imagined their players being open about shagging each other, so they’d never thought to write anything against it.

I sighed and shook my head. Their scheming wasn’t worth worrying about. I’d simply have to keep my wits about me and hope I didn’t end up in the North Sea.

“Matty.” This time the voice belonged to Danny, and I leaned sideways slightly so I could look back at him. He and Charlie were sat a few rows behind me, the pair of them watching me with far too much interest.

“Yeah?” I asked, wondering if I really wanted to know what was about to come out of his mouth.

“Who was the guy you were chatting to on Sunday? The blond guy with Hannah.”

The whole coach seemed to go silent. A sea of expectant faces stared at me. At least, that was what it felt like.

I could have lied. It wouldn’t have been totally unbelievable to say Harper was Hannah’s brother or cousin, and I wasn’t going to examine how I apparently had a thing for highly competent blonds with long hair.

But since I was considering inviting a bunch of them to Jack’s birthday, they were going to find out sooner rather than later.

And I could just picture one of them asking Hannah about her brother and unravelling my lie before we’d even done the cake.

No, it was time to come clean.

“His name’s Harper,” I said casually. “He’s Jack’s nanny.”

There was another moment of silence as everyone processed what I’d said and I braced myself for the wave of questions.

“You found someone then?” Bailey asked, shooting me an encouraging smile from his seat next to Hunter. They were just behind Danny and Charlie, and I saw Hunter lean over the back of the chair to whisper something to Danny. Hopefully telling him to think before he spoke.

“Yeah, and he’s really good with Jack. And Jack loves him.”

“That’s good then,” Frankie said. “How’s his rugby knowledge?”

I waved my hand and chuckled. “Not great.”

“Neither is Rory’s,” West said. “I’m not sure if he’s actively trying not to learn or—”

“He’s not going to retain anything if he’s watching you,” Mason said with a chuckle, patting West’s thigh loudly. “I’m pretty sure your shorts are smaller than everyone else’s.”

“Not as small as Danny’s,” Bailey said as he put his hand over the seat to ruffle the top of the winger’s mullet.

“Hey!” Danny batted his hand away with outrage and everyone laughed. “You’re just jealous cos you couldn’t pull them off.”

“Nobody could pull them off, Daniel. They’re so small they’re usually lodged halfway up your butt,” Bailey said, blowing him a kiss.

“Fuck off.”

The three of them began bickering playfully, with Charlie quickly joining in to defend Danny’s fashion choices.

I shouldn’t have been surprised how easily they’d been distracted, but I was.

If it meant my home life wasn’t in the spotlight, though, I’d happily listen to hours of Danny talking about why shorter, smaller shorts were a necessity.

Something about ease of mobility, which sounded like bollocks to me but I wasn’t getting involved.

“That was easy,” Mason said, walking up the coach to flop into the empty seat next to me. He glanced behind him, his mouth pulling down in the corner as he winced. “Oops, didn’t mean to throw Danny under the bus.”

“Thanks. I appreciate the rescue.”

“Yeah, well, I figured you didn’t fancy being interrogated about your nanny.” He patted my knee. “I’m glad Harper’s working out, though. Sounds like being a bossy, overbearing bastard hasn’t scared him off.”

“For once.”

“By the way,” Mason said as he looked around and lowered his voice. “We weren’t planning anything to do with you. It’s Jaden’s birthday tomorrow, so we were thinking about putting him in the sea and were wondering how much you’d object.”

“I don’t care who you put in the sea as long as it’s not me, not deep, not dangerous, and you stop if you’re told to.”

“Done.”

“You do know Jaden’s just going to drag you down with him?” Jaden was on a par with Mason’s weight and maybe an inch shorter, so they’d be evenly matched. And he wasn’t going to let Mason get away with staying warm and dry.

He grinned. “Yeah, but as long as he goes in, I don’t mind getting wet.”

I snorted. I’d figured as much.

The whole bus was going to smell like wet dog coming back, but if they had fun, I wasn’t going to object.

The coach released us at one end of the beach, not far from the aquarium and the lifeboat station. As we walked down to the sand, I looked at the pier in the distance, the Ferris wheel, and the wooden rollercoaster, vague memories of trips to Blackpool with my family resurfacing.

I hadn’t spoken to them at length for years, not since everything that’d happened after we’d found out Hannah was pregnant with Jack.

My parents’ reaction hadn’t been positive—neither of them had ever liked Hannah—and it had forced me to confront some uncomfortable truths about my upbringing and what I wanted for my own kids.

Their treatment of Hannah during her postpartum struggles had been the final straw, and these days we only communicated via text at Christmas and on the occasional birthday. It was about as much as I could manage given their behaviour.

Sometimes I wished things were different because I wanted Jack to have the experience of loving grandparents, big family parties, and cousins to play with.

But it wasn’t meant to be, and I’d rather Jack miss out than spend his entire childhood being ignored, criticised, or made to feel like an inconvenience.

“Okay, gather round,” Tommy, the assistant head coach, called as he and a couple of the other coaches dumped a load of rugby balls onto the soft, deep gold sand.

“The aim of today is to do some training, have some fun, and relax a bit. And if you’re good, we’ll set you loose on the pier and you can eat your weight in candy floss. ”

There was some cheering and a few claps. The team mood was buoyant and I realised I needed to get the fuck out of my head and enjoy myself. I’d been so busy focusing on things I wasn’t looking forward to, I hadn’t thought about how nice it would be to actually relax with everyone.

And if they thought I was being a mardy bastard, they’d all rip the shit out of me anyway.

Tommy divided us up into small groups and gave us some games to play.

Technically they were drills, but on the sand with the sea behind us, seagulls wheeling overhead, and a distinct lack of astroturf and pitch markings, it just felt like we were dicking around.

Within twenty minutes all of us were covered in sand, the wet grains sticking to our exposed skin and getting into our clothes, and I was pretty sure my hair was full of the stuff. My shower would be gritty for days.

We’d all taken our trainers and socks off, and most of us were just in shorts and T-shirts, and as I watched everyone running around, laughing, and picking each other up, it made me think of a bunch of kids on a school trip. Which we kind of were.

The games were followed by some seven-a-side games of touch rugby with a few cones making up the goal line and the water line as one edge of the pitch, which immediately failed because everyone kept running through the water to get round their opponents.

And even though I’d sworn I wasn’t going to get wet, my first reaction when Jonny came charging towards me was to dart into the waves and out of reach.

The water was fucking freezing and splashed up my legs as I ran, soaking the bottom of my shorts and the back of my T-shirt, but I was having too much fun to care. I threw the ball to West and ducked behind him, laughing as Jonny swore and tripped, crashing into West and catching him off balance.

“Fuck!” Jonny yelped as he landed in the water with West beside him, the incoming waves drenching them to the bone. The water was stone grey edged with white froth, not exactly the bright blue of the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, and the pair of them shivered as they stood.

“Nice and bracing?” Devon asked with a grin from where he was stood watching, hands in his hoodie pocket.

“Just a bit,” Jonny said, shaking himself off like a dog as he trudged out of the waves. Devon realised what he was doing a fraction too late as Jonny picked up speed, and Devon laughed and swore as Jonny picked him up, throwing Devon over his shoulder and carrying him towards the sea.

“You bastard,” Devon said, still laughing as Jonny dropped the pair of them into the shallows while a few of us cheered. Then Mason tried to grab Jaden, and the seal broke on anyone else getting wet as half the team started trying to drag each other into the water.

I glanced around, trying to see who was aiming for me. It looked like I might escape unscathed.

Until Devon noticed I was still dry and grinned at me, water dripping off him, his clothes plastered to his skin. “Oi, Captain. How come you’re still dry?”

“I’m not,” I said, gesturing at the edge of my shorts.

“It’s not enough,” Bailey yelled with a laugh from where he was piggybacked on Hunter, wet legs wrapped around the lock’s waist. “Get him!”

“You’re a wanker, Bailey,” I said as I tried to dodge out of the way of my teammates, who turned on me as one and tried to grab me. Dickheads, the lot of them. One I could avoid, but six? No fucking way.

“I know,” Bailey said. “But it’s worth it.”

In the end, it was Gabriel and Ollie who managed to drag me in, but I’d given up resisting. A good captain went down with his ship, and if everyone else was getting soaked, then I had to join them.

Thank fuck we’d all been told to bring extra clothes, because it wasn’t even lunchtime.

“That was fun,” Mason said, putting a wet arm around my shoulder as we all stood in the water. “What’s next?”

I laughed and looked at the coaching staff, who were all watching us from a few metres back. They were all far too warm, dry, and sand-free. “Think we can get Clive in?”

Mason grinned and turned to Bailey, who was still sitting on Hunter’s back. “Fancy causing a bit more chaos?”

“Let’s do it,” Bailey said as he followed our gaze. “On your word, Captain.”

“Get them in, lads.”

The team charged.

The coaches swore.

And I just stood there and laughed, wondering what Harper would say about all this.