Page 13 of Brat on the Ball

Shit.We were playing away Saturday and would be overnight in Edinburgh. The thought of someone else putting their hands on him in Wings again…

I turned off the shower, feeling worse than when I’d gotten in.For fuck’s sake, pull yourself together.

I dried myself off with a towel and was walking to my bedroom to get dressed when I noticed someone was knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” I called.

“Your favourite giant!” Finn called back.

“Fuck’s sake,” I muttered, heading to the door. I didn’t bother to get dressed. He had seen me naked before. I swung the door open and was greeted not only by Finn, but by his little boyfriend, Nathan. Before I could cover myself, he lowered his glasses and gave me a very obvious once-over. “You were right, babe. Not all rugby players are as big as you.”

“You better believe it,” growled Finn as I ran to the bedroom to get changed.

Once I’d pulled on a pair of tracksuit bottoms, I re-emerged and tried to look them both in the eye. They were both lounging on my sofa like I’d invited them over, and Finn had stolen a box of cornflakes from one of my cupboards and was shovelling them into his mouth with one hand.

“You’re OK with your boyfriend looking at other men like that?” I asked Finn casually, doing my best to get a reaction.

“Last year, he wasn’t the most confident when it came to sex. I’ll take any advancement in that confidence, especially when he’s reminding me I’m a big boy,” replied Finn casually.

“I don’t think you needmuchreminding, babe,” said Nathan, patting him on the thigh. Normally, I’d be feeling sick at the sight of them so happy. But there was a little twang in my stomach, or perhaps my heart, at the sight of them so happy.

“I’m guessing you’re not here for a cock measuring competition…” I started.

“I’d win,” interrupted Finn.

I sighed. “Weknow. So why are you here?”

“Oh. Yeah. Two things. One, to check on you. You left the celebrations early last night, and I wasn’t sure where you’d gone. Turns out we didn’t need to worry.”

“No, you didn’t need to worry. I’m a big boy. I can take care of myself.”

“Apparently, someone else can look after you though,” said Finn.

“What?” My mind immediately went to the thought of the papers getting a picture of me and the mystery man, or a picture leaking on Twitter of me and him on the dance floor. “How do you know?” I asked, pulling out my phone to check if I had any notifications I’d missed.

Finn laughed, and a second later I had a text from him. He’d taken a picture of me stood shirtless, looking down at my phone…with a very obvious love bite on my neck and red scratches through my chest hair and down to my stomach.Oh.

“Right,” I said dumbly. “What’s the second thing?”

“Nope. Not yet. What’s his name? His job? Is he good enough for our Georgie…wait, is he still here?” Finn was up on his feet, knocking the cornflakes to the floor. He took one step toward the bedroom. I put one atm out to stop him.

“My bedroom ismydomain,” I said, “and unless you want to be tied up and spanked, I suggest you keep away. He is not here. I do not know his name or his job, and nor do I care.” The last bit was a lie, but I did my best to keep my usual impassive demeanour intact.

“Noted,” said Finn, taking a step back. “Though if you’ve got any handcuffs we can borrow, I would be much obliged to you.”

“The second thing?” I asked, slowly but surely losing my ability to be congenial with the man.

“I got tickets to watch Cardiff on Wednesday,” he said. “If you’re interested, that is. They’re playing Leeds, so it should be a good match.”

“Oh.Soccer.”

“Yes,soccer.” Finn echoed me, unconvincingly. “I just thought you might like to do something that’s not studying or working out.”

“Fine,” I muttered. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You and your pink haired freak get the hell out of my house. I am going to have a nap, another wank, and write my dissertation, not necessarily in that order. And I think you’d make all those things impossible.”

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