Page 15 of Lord of the Lock

“Well I am pretty handsome,” said Garrett, pushing back his famous light blond hair that seemed to get greyer by the day.

“According to whom?” Bernie asked. “Ben, you’ll be fine to stand up now. You might have a minor concussion, but I can’t see any issues with your neck or head that need immediate fixing. Stay off rugby for the next two weeks though, OK?”

“But the season is less than a month away!” I said. Ben ambled across the field. If I hadn’t seen how gangly his legs were before I’d be worried he was seriously concussed, but life for Ben was completely in zig-zags.

“Do I look like I care?” Bernie asked, then looked past me to Garrett. OK, cool. He was making a point with his boss.Again.Garrett had put me on the field against Bernie’s advice in my playing days and lived to regret it.

“So what are you really both doing here?” I asked.

Garrett sighed. “I wasn’t expecting you to go all Sherlock Holmes on my reasoning. I’m just here to watch you coach, OK? I like to see you in action.”

Right.So he was playing his cards close to his chest, and the reasoning hurt.

What it seemed like he might be saying is that I was done with playing rugby. And he was looking at me now for what I might want to do next.

“I’ve been training too, you know,” I said, cringing even as the words came out of my mouth. “Y’know, just in case anyone wants to call me back.”

“Sure, Finn. I’m not coaching Cardiff any more but I’ll put in a good word.”

Yep, definitely being frozen out.Nice.“Well, thanks Garrett. I really appreciate it,” was my reply.

Even though my heart was sinking, I turned to the lads. “Come on, we’ve got half an hour left, let’s go! It’s August, and some of you aren’t even sweating!”

“I am!” came one call, and I had to laugh. I had everyone line up and show me their tackling, and I made notes on each. Some of the boys were defensive walls, and I’d be letting Rhod know who I thought should be starting. Plenty of them had gained stamina and speed since I’d set such heavy requirements on them for training.

Once those drills were wrapped up, I sent one of the lads to get the crash pads, and let them go wild with tackling inanimate squishy objects for the last ten minutes. Once they were all done, and sticky with sweat and dust, I sent them to the showers. “Well done all, that’s the commitment I want to see in games! One hundred percent!”

“Yeah, you tell them!” shouted another voice. One I knew well and hadn’t realised I’d been missing.

“Hey, stranger,” I said. Nathan was stood next to Bernie, his shocking pink hair clashing with the streak of green in Bernie’s. Garrett stood about two feet away from the both of them. Nathan’s shoulders had rounded out nicely with a few weeks of training and there was definition in his arms that hadn’t been there before. If he had been perfect when I first met him, then his physique and confidence in meeting strangers took him to a level no man had seen before.

“Gossips,” Garrett muttered as I drew level.

“Been getting on like a house on fire,” said Nathan as he held out a pink flask. “Coffee?”

“It’s summer!” I said.

“I’m gay, it’s iced.” Nathan and Bernie high-fived, and I took the flask from Nathan.

“So you didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend,” Bernie said.

“Fakeboyfriend,” I replied.

Nathan looked scandalised. “So I can’t even tell my parents this relationship is fake but you can tell these two random friends?”

“Nathan, Garrett is Wales Rugby Union’s head coach, and Bernie is head of physio for Cardiff.”

“Oh, um…thank you for your service, I guess.”

Garrett laughed. “Do I want to know why you’ve got an imaginary boyfriend?”

“I’mright here,” said Nathan. “You can see me. Not imaginary.”

“Is fake boyfriend like another way of saying you’re friends with benefits? I don’t get it,” said Bernie. “Or is it like when you’re afraid to commit to anything openly because you’re scared of what people might think?”

And then he stared right past me with a look that I was surprised didn’t kill Garrett on the spot.

“Anyway, we should be going,” said Garrett. “Nice to see you Finn, I’ll be in touch. Nice to meet you Nathan.” He took Bernie by the arm and dragged him away, Bernie giving off a cheery wave as they disappeared behind the stands.

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