Page 11 of The Hooker

It’s my turn to drive but Jamie does instead claiming I’m traumatised by last night. He’s not entirely wrong about the traumatised bit. I cleared it with Adam to bring Westley with me today—he just needs to stay out of the way—and I set him up in a corner away from everyone. I don’t want him out of my sight, and I need to figure out how to block the gap in the gate before I leave him in the garden. And also Poppy feels bad about it even though it’s not her fault. I don’t want to stress her. She doesn’t deserve that.

That’s how I end up at a café on my break, sitting outside in the wind with grey clouds threatening rain, with Westley at my feet chewing on a toy, and Liam staring at me across the table over his cappuccino.

“He what?”

“He ran away.”

“Not Westley, what did Jamie do?”

“He helped me find him and made me stay with him.”

Liam rolls his eyes. “And the bit about the hugging and wanting to kiss him? What about that?”

“What about it?” I lean down to pat Westley and avoid Liam’s eyes.

We’ve been friends since second year uni when we both ended up living in the same six-person flat that tested the health code. He was doing an English degree while I studied sports science. And even though I don’t read the fantasy books he writes, and he doesn’t watch the TV shows and movies I love, we bonded over rugby. He’s the one that got me into it.

Before Liam, I was focused on netball and hadn’t watched many rugby games despite being born and raised in Auckland. My parents weren’t interested in it and neither was Sage, so besides playing a few touch rugby games in PE at school, I hadn’t been exposed to it.

Watching that first game with Liam? It transformed me. Caught my attention and it hasn’t shifted yet. Not even when I played a game and came away with a sprained ankle and a cut on my knee I still have a scar from.

“You know exactly what. It’s taken you this long to realise you treat him differently than your other friends?”

“We work together.”

“You have special handshakes with the other players and kiss their cheeks?” Liam stares at me intensely.

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. And I only kissed his cheek once,” I mumble.

“It means everything. It means you’re comfortable with him. You never kiss my cheek.”

“That’s because you’re my friend, and I don’t—” I cut myself off and swear violently.

He sips his coffee. “Exactly. I’m your friend, and in the nearly ten years we’ve known each other, you’ve not once kissed my cheek. Because you do that to people you want to fuck.”

“Hey!” I glance furtively around the café and hope no one’s listening.

“Fine,” he amends. “People you want to be in a relationship with.”

My head drops into my hands, and I rub my temples. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I work for him.”

He scoffs. “No, you don’t. You both work for NZR. You’d probably only need to sign a disclosure form and stop treating him.”

Technically, Liam’s right. We’re both contracted by New Zealand Ruby, so I don’t workforJamie, but he is my patient. I’d be breaking the patient code of conduct if we do anything while I’m treating him. I could lose my licence. “But I like treating him.”

“If you stopped treating him, you might be able to date him.”

Also technically true. Though hazy with former patients, if our relationship developed away from the professional environment, which it did with the carpooling, it wouldn’t be as huge of a code of conduct issue.

“I know, but…” I raise my head. “I don’t know if he wants that, and I don’t want to throw him off his game during the championship or make him uncomfortable.”

Liam’s probably right. I’d talk to management and sign something to make sure there wasn’t a power imbalance and Adam would take him on. But I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable or assume anything. And I don’t want to talk to him about my newfoundfeelingsin the middle of the championship and throw him off.

“He’s a dude. He’s a dude you carpool with, and he helped you find your dog and made you sleep in his house and probably dried your tears. He wants that.”

“But how do you know that? What if he’s just being nice?”

“Because I’m also a dude, and when I want to sleep with a guy, I do the same thing.”

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