Page 58 of The Fly-Half

“Seriously?” I asked, staring at him. “Since when?”

“Since fucking forever. Jesus Christ, Jonny, how did you not know?”

“I don’t know! But you could’ve bloody told me.”

“Yeah, like you’d have listened,” Aiden said exasperatedly. “You’d have just insisted you were only best mates, not that you used to get so bloody jealous of anyone else who wanted to be his friend.”

“I did not!”

“Yeah, and you didn’t nearly punch that kid, what the fuck was his name, that guy who tried to tell everyone Devon was his best friend? When you were fifteen.”

“Chris Jackson,” I said without a second thought. Fuck. I hadn’t thought about that in years. Not since it had happened.

“There you go,” Aiden said, his smug smile returning. “Seriously, though, I’m happy for you. Even if it’s taken you until now to figure your shit out.”

“Thanks, I think,” I said, taking a longer sip of my tea now it wasn’t going to burn my tongue. “We’re still figuring it out. Mostly because I think I’ve got some, er, protective issues to work out on the pitch.”

“Jonny, you were always gonna have those,” Aiden said as he scooped up more cookie dough, a fondness to his voice I’d not heard in a long time. “You’ve always been Devon’s shadow, and even when we were kids, you never liked the idea of him getting tackled. You got past it then, and you can do it again.”

I’d forgotten about that.

“Maybe,” I said. Then I shook my head. “Nah, you’re right. I will or I won’t have a job.”

“There you go then. But don’t be too hard on yourself, all right? Sounds like you just caught on to the fact you’ve been in love with your best mate of, what, thirteen years?”

“Fourteen.” I frowned, suddenly processing what he’d said. “Love?”

“Well, yeah,” Aiden said like it was obvious. “It’s not going to be anything else, is it?”

I stared at him, then smiled, warmth spreading across my chest, making it feel like my heart had grown three sizes. “No,” I said. “Probably not.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Devon

“Aiden’s comingfor Christmas by the way,” Jonny said as we sat on the bench in the changing room getting ready to head into the gym. We didn’t have a match this week, but that didn’t mean our training load had lightened. “I spoke to him last night.”

“Yeah, how’s he getting on?” I asked as I laced up my trainers. I hadn’t seen Aiden in years except through pictures on Instagram, and it would be nice to see him again in person. Especially if he brought more of his fabulous cookies.

“Good, business seems to be going well. Although he called me a cheap bastard for not ordering more.” He chuckled. “But he’s going to bring cookies for Christmas, and I promised to take him to The Court. Although getting laid is up to him.”

I snorted. “Yeah, just turn him loose and I’m sure he’ll be fine.” From what I’d heard, Aiden had game and he was cute too, so if he wanted to get laid, he wasn’t going to have any trouble.

“That’s the plan,” Jonny said. “Although I guess I should make sure he doesn’t cause trouble.”

“Nope, that’s not your responsibility.” I slid up next to him and nudged him with my knee. “Your only responsibility is to have fun.” I leant in closer. “And fuck me senseless.”

Jonny’s foot slipped off the bench with a thud and I bit back a laugh. “I think I can do that,” he said, rubbing the back of his knee.

“Good, I look forward to it.” I reached for my other trainer and realised Jonny was looking at me. “Something wrong?”

“No, I was just thinking about something Aiden said.”

“Yeah? What was that?”

“Do you remember the time I nearly punched Chris Jackson?” he asked casually as he fiddled with the cuffs of his training top.

“From Under Seventeens?” I asked as I dredged through my memories. The name was vaguely familiar and a spotty face with a terrible teenage haircut swam into mind. “When did you try and punch him?”

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