Page 149 of Off the Pitch

“I don’t need my hand holding,” I said as she shepherded me down the stairs. Ellie just rolled her eyes at me.

“Andy and I are coming to watch so we can evaluate your progress, dumbass.”

“You are so mean to me,” I said, then stuck my tongue out at her.

“You love it.”

“That is incredibly debatable.”

I pushed the door to the training pitch open, and slid through, taking in a deep breath and savoring this moment—the one I’d thought I wouldn’t get to.

“It’s Hugo!” Jordan’s cry was followed by a loud medley of cheers, and as soon as I stepped onto the pitch, I was engulfed in a giant group hug which dissolved into what felt like endless individual hugs and fist bumps and high fives.

“We missed you man,” Liam said.

“We really did,” Christian added.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you,” I said, failing to play it cool as a giant grin spread across my face. It was nice to know they’d missed me.

“It’s not the same,” Jordan snorted. “Nobody else is gonna kick Christian’s ass into shape.”

“Excuse me?” Christian’s face was the picture of mock indifference.

“C’mon, man. You know it’s true.”

“What happened to your neck?” Micah asked, sidling up behind Christian and giving me a smirk.

Fuck. I slapped the hickey and felt my face heat. Kit and I were definitely going to have words.

“Hélène get a little excited?”

“No,” I said and sighed. There was absolutely no point in hiding the truth, but I was grateful both Lucas and Christian hadn’t told anyone. “I’m seeing someone new.”

“Who?” asked Liam, raising an eyebrow.

“His name’s Kit… He’s a friend of David’s.”

There was a moment of silence. Then Liam grinned. “I knew it. Jordan, you owe me a tenner.”

“Aw, what?”

“You lost. He is dating Kit.”

“Wait a minute. Since when?” Jordan said.

“Um, June,” I answered, not quite sure what was going on.

“Fuck’s sake,” Jordan sighed. “I never win anything. I thought it would take ages.”

“Wait a second. You knew?”

“Well, obviously not,” Liam said. “But we had a hunch.”

“Yeah, man. You were giving him proper heart eyes when we were at the pub,” Jordan added. “Just a case of waiting for you to get your fucking act together.”

“You two are the worst,” I said, but I still laughed. Apparently, I hadn’t been able to pine as discreetly as I thought I had been.

“Is there a reason you’re all standing in a huddle?” We turned to see Alex, the assistant coach, staring at us with a smile.

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