Page 14 of The Fly-Half

Jonny

Just cos you’ve already won shit with Marseille doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be trophy-less =P

Devon

I suppose. I guess we could try and win one for you.

Jonny

Your charity is fucking boundless.

A message flashed up from Peaches and I knew I should open it because that was where my chances lay.

But he could wait another few minutes for a response.

CHAPTER SIX

Jonny

“You’ve got D&D tonight, right?”Devon asked from his spot on the bench beside me where he was lacing his boots. We were just getting changed to head out onto the training pitch for our afternoon session where we’d spend the next few hours running practice drills, doing some skills training, and whatever else our coaches had in mind.

Knowing Gavin, the sadistic bastard in charge of physical performance, it would be something nasty disguised as something fun.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod as I pulled on my hoodie over my long-sleeved training top. The November chill was biting hard and I didn’t want to freeze my nips off while I waited for the rest of me to warm up. Shorts I could do, but my legs seemed to have given up protesting about the cold years ago. “You should come sometime. I bet Ryan wouldn’t mind if you wanted to join us.”

“Maybe. It does sound fun.”

I grinned and nodded, happy that after months of talking about our campaign, I was finally getting closer to convincingDevon to take part. I knew he’d love it once he got going even if he was nervous to start with. He kept bringing up the fact he’d never played anything likeDungeons & Dragonsbefore, but before August I hadn’t either! And now I was spending several hours a week as a dwarven rogue with a pet gosling and loving every single second.

“You’ll love it, I promise. And I’m sure Rory’s got some spare dice you can borrow. He’s got enough of them.”

Devon nodded as he tugged the tongue of his boot up, shooting me a half smile. “Sounds good. But, er, I can’t do tonight.”

“Why not?”

“I’m going out.”

I frowned. Devon never had plans unless they were with me. “Going out? With who?”

“Peaches,” he said quietly as he reached for his own hoodie.

“Peaches?”

“Yeah, we’re going to get a drink.”

I swallowed, trying to wash the taste of acid out of my mouth. “I didn’t realise you were still talking,” I said as I shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket, ignoring the way they’d balled into fists. I couldn’t believe Devon hadn’t told me he was going out with Peaches. Had he really thought I’d react that badly?

Clearly, he had.

I didn’t know why, though.

I wasn’t that much of a miserable git.

Just because I wanted to keep Devon safe from wankers didn’t mean he couldn’t tell me what he was up to. It wasn’t like I could forbid him from going out. I only wanted to know where he was so I could find him if anything went wrong.

“What?” Devon asked flatly, shooting me an offensive amount of side-eye, his dark eyes shining with stubbornness under the fluorescent lights of the changing room.

“I didn’t say anything.”

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