Page 70 of Try Hard
She hummed, and my brain was clearly prioritising every little thing about her because, with the noise of the pitch, the sound should have been lost, but all I could focus on was her little hum and the way she nuzzled her face into my shoulder, apparently unafraid of how filthy I was post-match.
“No place else I’d rather be, Archer,” she said quietly a moment later.
I could have exploded from happiness.
However, after another second, Ophelia laughed and looked up. “I think they want you.”
I groaned, finally stepping back from her. “I’ll be right back.”
Hurley met me halfway, and I assumed it had been them yelling my name and interrupting my moment with Ophelia.
They gave me a knowing look. “This is the hardest launch this team’s ever had and we’re all a bunch of saps.”
“We’re not launching anything.”
“Tell that to your devastated superfans.”
I sucked a breath through my teeth and glanced in the direction of the group wearing my face. There was a pretty even split between people swooning over my moment with Ophelia and those clearly wishing it had been them.
“It’ll be all over the internet before you know it,” Hurley pointed out.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a handful of people, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
They shot me a doubtful look as I glanced across Luna kissing Avery and Brooke walking back over to Ophelia.
“Don’t worry,” Luna said when she broke away from Avery. “We did our best to block any pics. Everyone got the feeling Fia wouldn’t like them.”
I shot the pair of them grateful smiles. I hadn’t thought about pictures or press or anything like that when I’d run straight to Ophelia. I’d simply felt elated and she was the one I wanted to feel it with.
We probably needed to have a conversation about that whole thing. Nerves shot through me. Ophelia enjoyed her privacy. She didn’t want to be the personality on camera. I was nowhere close to being an A-List celeb, but would the small amount of celebrity I had be too much for her?
Hurley clapped a hand on my shoulder, sensing the need for a change of subject. “I hear your girl knows rugby.”
I laughed despite myself. I probably should have denied her being my girl, but I didn’t want to. “Brooke’s been giving you the report already?”
“You know it. And she seems to think Fia’s been watching you for quite some time.”
I held my hands out in question. “Why are we assuming I’m the reason she knows the rules?”
They snorted. “Because you clearly are.”
Luna smiled widely. “It isreallysweet how she couldn’t keep her eyes off you. Like, I looked at her when I scored at one point and she barely seemed to register it. Too busy watchingyou.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said, but I couldn’t help glowing. The fan club and the attention might be a problem, but, from myperspective, I’d felt like any other player who had someone they cared about watching, someone they wanted to impress. The crowd could have been ten times the size and I’d still have only cared about Ophelia.
I was really glad the crowd was not that size, though. I’d played my larger crowds. I wasn’t interested in having my casual, weekly game destroyed by all of that.
Hurley flicked my shoulder. “It’s true. Deal with it. The woman is just as into you as you are her, and everyone here knows it.”
I couldn’t help turning back to look at Ophelia. Sure enough, she was talking to Brooke but her eyes found mine the second I glanced in her direction.
“See?” Hurley poked me again as they laughed, the rest of the team joining in.
“We’re happy for you,” Luna said, moving to get us all into a loose formation for a team photo—a tradition after every winning match.
I shook my head, getting in with the rest of the team for the shot. Between my mum and the team—and how Ophelia was with me—I couldn’t help but feel elated and hopeful. Of course, there was still a part of me that just felt like that following a win. Even after years in the game, every win still felt like a triumphant gift. One I still spent every day working for, even as I was working for other things too.
How much sweeter all of those things were with Ophelia here to witness them.
