Page 28 of Pitch Prince

We both stood immediately and followed him out. Callum led us both to the room I shared with Callum and closed the door. His face didn’t once budge from the frown that seemed deep-set in it now.

With the door closed, Callum finally exploded. “Steve fucking told Wesley. About last night.”

For a second, I thought he meant about us. But Callum’s eyes were firmly fixed on Finn. “Fuck,” I said when Finn didn’t respond. Finn looked grey again and I moved to sit him down on the bed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. What does this mean?”

“It means that Finn and I are in major fucking trouble. I’m the captain, I should have told Wesley immediately. And Finn should never have been in that kind of state in the first place. It threatens the team’s cohesion and our reputation if it gets out.”

“So…what does this mean for you and Finn?” I asked. “Are you going to get a bollocking?”

“At least. It’s made it worse that I didn’t talk to Wesley myself. Maybe I should…”

“Go on,” I said. “Go and talk to him now. I’ll look after Finn here.”

“Steve better not put a toe out of line,” said Callum as he headed for the door. “That man has enough skeletons in his closet that could come out if he’s not careful. He’s hardly an example of fucking propriety.”

Finn and I were left alone in the room as the door closed.

“Shit,” he finally said.

“Shit indeed.”

“Do you think I’ll get kicked off the team?” he asked. Finn looked up at me and for the first time since I’d known him I thought I saw tears in his eyes.

I could have lied to him to make him feel better. But with Wesley’s reputation for bluntness that lie would be blown out of the water pretty quickly. “I don’t know, bud. You fucked up pretty bad this time.”

Finn looked down to hide his face, and I could see his shoulders shaking. “C’mere, mate,” I said. I sat down next to him and reached an arm around him. He sobbed into my shoulder for a solid five minutes as I did my best to console him.

Callum knocked before walking back into the room. Finn jerked away from me as if afraid of showing any sign of weakness but with his red, puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks and the soaked shoulder of my t-shirt it wasn’t the most convincing of things.

Callum sighed and shook his head gently. “Finn, Wesley…wants to talk to you. I’m sorry mate.”

I stood up at the same time as Finn but he held out one arm to stop me. “I’ve got to do this myself. I’m not having you mixed up in this crap too, and I need to start taking responsibility for myself.” He gave me one watery smile before the door closed behind him.

“Fucking hell,” I put my head into my hands, rubbing at my eyes to clear the beginnings of any tears. Callum sat down beside me and rubbed my back with one of his hands.

“How you feeling?” he asked.

“Shit. How are you? What did Wesley say?”

“I clung onto my captaincy by the skin of my teeth, he’s angry I didn’t report it to him immediately. I made sure you weren’t implicated but…Finn crossed a line. There’s no coming back from what he did, especially with a player complaint from Steve.”

“Is it rubbish that I’m glad?” I asked, sounding horrible at the sound of my own question. “Not glad that Finn is gone, that’s…awful. But it was a long time coming. I didn’t want you going too. You’re my best friend on this tour.”

Callum squeezed my side and I felt a shiver run through my whole body. I thought he might have noticed too. “About last night…”

“Stupid mistake,” I cut in. I didn’t want the embarrassment of theI’m straight, I can’t do this, please don’t tell anyoneI’d had so many times in the ultra macho rugby environment. “Forget about it. We both needed some kind of relief, we both got it. No need to dwell.”

“Well, yes, but…” he started, but I cut him off again.

“Seriously, Callum. Talking about it…won’t help. I don’t want to keep thinking about it, and I don’t want to effect our friendship. Because that’s the one thing on this tour I cannot lose after losing Finn.”

“OK,” said Callum. His hand snaked around my shoulder and pulled me in closer to him. So close we could kiss if we wanted to. But the only thing more devastating than a rejection now would be a rejection later. So I laid on his shoulder and let the tears leak out slowly for Finn.

13

Chapter Thirteen - Callum

How could I solve a problem like Rhys Prince? The man was starting to take up more and more of my waking hours, and it was getting harder to deny to myself or to him that I had feelings, both physical and emotional, for him. Since the night we’d showered together and the day of Finn’s unceremonious departure from the Lions we hadn’t spoken about what happened. And Finn seemed just fine with that.

---