Page 15 of The Fly-Half

“Would you like to tell your face that?”

“What about my face?”

“You look like I just slapped you,” Devon said sharply, his irritation clear. I sighed and rolled my shoulders, trying to force the rising tension out of my muscles.

“Sorry,” I said, but I knew it sounded fake. Devon huffed and let out a low growl of frustration as he stood.

“Yeah, you sound it.”

He tried to walk past me and I reached out to grab his arm, stopping him in his tracks. Even through his hoodie I could feel the warmth radiating out of his muscles, which were surprisingly firm. I hadn’t noticed that before. And even now it seemed like a weird thing for me to notice, especially when I was trying to convince Devon not to walk off.

“I am,” I said softly. “I know I’m being a wanker.”

“We’ve had this conversation, Jonny. You can’t protect me forever.” He looked up at me with sorrowful eyes and for a second it felt like there was more going on inside him than I knew. But then I blinked and it was gone, and I wondered if I’d imagined it. “Look, Ryan and Rory are friends with Peaches. If they say he’s a nice guy, then you should trust them.”

“I do.”

“No,” he said, a lingering sadness in his tone. “You don’t. And you don’t even realise it.”

I felt irritation rising inside me again, hot and sharp. It was like I’d poured a whole bag of sour sherbet onto my tongue, only somehow the feeling was in my chest, not my mouth. “What does that mean?”

“The only person you’ve ever trusted is yourself.”

“And you! I trust you.”

“Do you?” Devon levelled me with a hard stare, his challenge clear. “Because you’re not acting like it! It’s like you think I’ma fucking teenager or something. Fuck’s sake, man, I’m twenty-seven. You don’t get to decide shit for me because I’ve dated some assholes in the past. Yeah, I’ve fucked up, but that doesn’t mean you get to be a dickhead about it.”

His voice was cold and I realised the rest of the changing room had gone deathly silent. Everyone was pretending they weren’t watching us. I was pretty sure Bailey was trying to lace his feet up instead of the boots that were still on the bench beside him.

“You’re right,” I said, gently relaxing the grip on his arm. “I don’t. I’m sorry. I hope you have fun.”

Devon hummed and I didn’t think he believed me.

But I wasn’t sure I was telling the truth either.

“What was all that about?” asked Matty as Devon stalked off towards the changing room door, letting in a blast of cold air as he shoved it open.

“Nothing,” I said, trying to ignore the unimpressed look on our captain’s face. He believed me as much as Devon did.

“Yeah, and my toddler didn’t strip butt naked and cover himself in jam this morning. Don’t lie to me, Jonny. I’m deep into gentle parenting and I will use everything I’ve learned on you.”

I chuckled wryly. “I have no idea what you just said.”

“I spend half my life watching people talking about parenting so I can attempt to make sure my son turns into some semblance of a good person,” Matty said. “And I will use that knowledge to make you apologise to Devon.”

“But I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah? Then why did he walk off looking like you kicked his favourite puppy?” Matty asked, folding his arms. “I don’t think Devon’s gonna go all John Wick on us, but still, I’m not having division in my squad.”

“Is this because of Peaches?” West asked as he appeared behind Matty like a ghost out of the shadows, which was pretty fucking impressive considering the sheer bloody size of the man.

“Peaches? Like the fruit?” Matty looked between West and me with bemusement while I secretly wondered if it was possible to suddenly develop Force powers and strangle West with my mind. Not enough to kill him, but enough to make him stop talking.

“Nah, he’s a friend of Rory’s,” West said casually. “He and Devon have been chatting and Jonny’s mad about it.”

“I’m not mad!”

“Yeah, right,” West said, looking far more amused than he had any right to be. He tilted his head at me. “Jonny thinks Peaches is gonna break Devon’s heart or something, but Devon can’t get hurt if he doesn’t go out with him.”

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