Page 239 of Off the Pitch

“How’s your hamstring?” Liam asked as I shut the door behind us.

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “I started physio on it, and Hugo wasn’t kidding, Ellie is mean!”

“That bad?”

“Oh my God, man. You have no idea. But the good news is I should be ready for the start of the season.”

“Amazing,” Liam said, clapping me on the shoulder and grinning. “I’ve missed you. It really wasn’t the same without you.”

“Yeah. I really wish I could’ve been there.”

Liam smiled at me, giving me another hug. “Next time, yeah? Promise me?”

“I promise. You’ve gotta get there too though. Can’t have you getting old and retiring.”

“I’m, like, three years older than you, asshole.”

“Three years though. That’s a long time. You could be dead.”

“Fuck off!” Liam snorted, collapsing onto his spot on the sofa and immediately grabbing the bag of salted pretzels I’d gotten for us to snack on. “No Félix today?”

“No,” I said. “He’s got a work thing. He’ll be back later.”

“That sucks. I wanna meet him.”

“You already did. You were just being an asshole, remember?”

“Yeah, well I want to meet him again,” Liam said, waving off my accusation and stuffing pretzels into his mouth. “Gotta make sure he’s good enough for you. Christian and I came up with a list of questions.”

“Who the fuck are you, my dad?”

“Mate, I just want to make sure he’s a good guy.”

“He is. You just wanna be nosey.”

“Well, yeah. You won’t tell us anything about him.” Liam gave me an accusing look, which was difficult when he looked like a fucking hamster.

“What do you wanna know?” I knew I was giving in, but I’d prefer to answer their nosey questions rather than let them ask Félix. I’d die if that happened.

Liam thought for a moment. “What does he do?”

“Business things mostly. He just started up a company to tackle the climate crisis.”

“Is he rich then?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Just curious.”

“Mate, you have enough money to buy your own Maserati! None of us are exactly suffering financial hardship! It’s not like I need some sugar daddy to rescue me.”

Liam shrugged, as if conceding the point. He thought for a minute, considering his next question. “Is he a good kisser?”

“Why the fuck would you wanna know that?”

“I don’t know. Curiosity?” Liam shrugged. “Is he a better kisser than Dani?”

“Y-yeah. I don’t know he just, he makes me melt. Like whenever I’m with him it feels like my insides are goo.”

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