Page 121 of Off the Pitch

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said with a nod. I’d been a little nervous when I’d first thought of it, since this was new territory for us. Hugo very much seemed to be taking the ‘taking it slowly’ part as literally as possible, and he was more gentlemanly than anyone I’d ever met. He was the one who’d continued to insist on separate bedrooms until I decided otherwise.

“I want a cuddle,” I added simply.

“I can do that.” He hopped onto the bed, sliding in next to me and wrapping me in his arms. I sighed, burying my face in his chest and breathing deeply, feeling more at ease than ever. I couldn’t think why we hadn’t done this before. Something inside me unclicked, and with another deep breath I felt my stress and worries easing as Hugo’s fingers traced lightly up and down my spine.

“Thank you,” I said, tilting my head up, almost begging for a kiss.

“What for?”

“For being you.” I tugged at his t-shirt, leaning up a little until Hugo tilted his jaw and pressed his lips to mine. I sighed into his kisses as spirals of warmth flooded my limbs, leaving me feeling boneless.

I buried myself back in his chest, my eyes heavy with sleep. The final thought that crossed my mind before I drifted off was: how did I get so lucky?

Chapter Fifteen

HugoI’m just leaving the training ground,mon chéri, do you need anything?

KitIf you value your windows please bring me chocolate biscuits before I hurl this godforsaken computer out one of them

KitAlso jaffa cakes please =)

Hugo

My lungs burned as sweat poured from my skin, and my whole body was shaking with exertion.

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard.

“Take it steady, Hugo.” Ellie’s voice sounded farther away than it should have, but I didn’t care. My only focus was on the pounding in my heart and the sound of my legs hitting the treadmill. A simple jog wasn’t supposed to feel like this. It wasn’t supposed to make me feel like I was going to pass out.

But I couldn’t stop. I had to keep going. There was no other choice. How was I ever going to play again if I couldn’t do something as simple as jogging on a treadmill.

“That’s enough,” Ellie said, her tone sharper than before, and I felt the treadmill slowing down beneath me. I looked around wildly, struggling to catch my breath, feeling my pulse in every limb. Beside the treadmill, Ellie and my personal trainer, Andy, were both shooting me unimpressed looks.

“Why did you stop me?” I gasped out, each word punctuated with a strained breath.

“’Cos you looked like you were gonna pass out,” Andy said, rolling his eyes at me and leaning on the side of the treadmill. “You’ve got to take it steady.”

I shook my head. “It’s not supposed to be like this.”

“Hugo.” Andy fixed me with a firm stare. “You’ve been off for nearly five months, and you broke your leg. It wasn’t going to be a magic fix.”

“This is bullshit,” I grumbled, taking a swig from my water bottle and looking around the gym. Some of the other guys were in there doing their own training sessions or working out by themselves. On the other side of the room, I saw Liam and Jordan watching each other doing free weights, occasionally breaking off to laugh or give each other ridiculous high fives. At the other end of the line of treadmills, Christian was keeping up a steady pace, his face fixed on something outside the window in front of him, his lips moving wordlessly to whatever he was listening to.

“Bullshit or not, it’s the truth.” Ellie shrugged. “And if you push yourself too hard, you’re just going to make it worse. I can guarantee you now that if you do that, you won’t be playing again for a long time.”

I swore again in my choicest French. This was the fucking worst, and I hated every single second of it. “Can I try again?” I asked, trying to keep calm.

“No,” Ellie said before Andy could even open his mouth. “Time for stretches.”

“You are literally here to torture me, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” she said with a grin. “Follow me.”

“I could just come here and do it myself,” I muttered, even though we both knew it was an empty threat. Just stepping off the treadmill had my body shaking as if I’d run a marathon, not gently jogged less than two kilometers. Fuck, my body sucked.

“See you on Monday,” Andy called after me.

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