Page 104 of Game on, Love

“I’m giving you a minute to rethink your words. We all are adults here, and you have absolutely no room or right to speak to a stranger like that,” Raina said sharply. Sean, who picked up on her sharp tone, straightened up slightly.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to offend—”

“No. Wrong choice of words again,” She shook her head. “You have no idea who I am, but I know who you are. You think just because you’ve known him for years, you can decide what’s good for him and isn’t? He’s an adult, and you need to be more respectful towards him. Going behind his back to go to his Dad? Wrong. Speaking to me like that? Wrong.”

“He told you—”

“Tell me this, Sean. Why do you keep questioning his ability to manage a career and personal life at the same time?”

I stepped forward as she stared down at Sean, who was completely taken aback by her. “Look, I didn’t mean to imply that.”

Raina just shook her head in disappointment, like each time he opened his mouth, he was choosing the wrong words, and I agreed with her.

“I don’t care what you meant. If you want to support him, you don’t do it by undermining him and going to other people in his life to back off or fix up matches for him. He has been focused long before I came into the picture, and he’s had the same goals since I’ve been here. Life threw him for a spin, but instead of giving him the room he needs to breathe, if you constantly take away the things that actually help him find his focus back, you’ll have much bigger issues in life.”

“She’s right, you know. I haven’t felt this focused like I did today. And she’s a big reason why.” I said evenly, and Sean looked at me as he pressed his lips together. “Honestly, I’ve looked over you constantly speaking to my Dad because I know he has been involved in these conversations before, and I don’t want him to feel like you’re cutting him out. But you can’t speak to her like that. Not now, not ever. If the next words that come out of your mouth aren’t you apologising to her, the nextI’llbe doing is finding a new agent.”

Sean’s eyes flared at my comment before he turned to her. “I’m sorry. I overstepped.”

Raina gave him a single nod before she turned to me, her voice softer. “I’ll give you two a minute.”

I nodded, watching her as she walked out of the building before turning to Sean.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Dude, she is—”

“No,” I said sharply, picking up on his tone. “I mean it. Not to me or anyone else. I would suggest even not to yourself.”

He sighed, before running a hand through his hair. “Okay, Okay. Let’s take a minute here. Damn, man, I’ve never seen you like that before.”

“Well, get used to it.” I rolled my shoulder, shaking off the strain that had formed. “But seriously, what were you thinking?”

“I didn’t realise it was serious. I had seen pictures on social media, but I didn’t realise it was just one person; it always only had you in a shot. So when I saw you two by the stands, I couldn’t help it, Okay?”

“What pictures?” I frowned, and he gave me a bewildered look before realising I was being serious. He pulled out his phone and handed me where one of my fan pages had this array of pictures from the times I’d hung out with her in public. I’d gotten good at ignoring them, but it was like when she was around, I’d stopped caring. I scrolled through the pictures and realised it was really only me who you could make out, and thankfully, there were none from our date.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t slightly concerned about the rest being there, but that night felt special in a way different to the other ones, and it was only just for us.

I ran a hand over my face before handing Sean’s phone back to him.

“You want me to get them taken down?” He asked, sliding it back into his pocket.

“I need to ask her. I’ll text you,” I replied, and he nodded. “You’re sure about ODI and T20I?”

“Yeah, one of the coaches confirmed it this morning. Today looked great, too; you’re definitely in the mix now. They’ll make a fair play against the rest and announce it in time.”

I nodded.

“Sorry about earlier. I really didn’t mean any harm.”

“Yeah, well, don’t repeat it, and we’re good.”

He gave me a single nod before I walked out of the building.

Raina was standing by the gate, waiting patiently with a hand tucked in her trousers, her eyes fixed on the door.

Her lips turned up in a smile as I made my way to her.

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