Page 7 of Playing for Possession
His smug grin dripped arrogance. This spoiled fucking piece of shit. He talked to me like he was a medieval overlord having to deal with a peasant. Sean’s dad was a former England captain and football legend. Adam Wallace resided on the Calverdale board, so Sean thought he could throw his weight around. We couldn’t have had more different childhoods. I’d come from a shithole area where everybody told me I’d never amount to anything. Sean had probably grown up with a butler to warm his golden toilet seat and wipe his arse for him.
“Jack’s fine. He’s just young and enjoying himself. He’ll knuckle down when the season starts,” I said.
On the crowded dance floor, Jack leaned in to the blonde woman in his arms as they swayed together.
Sean spoke in a casual, teasing way. “Looks like someone’s got lucky. That makes a change. You never really see Jack leave with a woman, do you?”
My hand clenched painfully around the mezzanine railing. “Good for him. Better to keep your personal life private. Nobody wants their dirty washing all over the front page.”
Sean’s lips thinned. He didn’t like that. The papers never stopped going on about his love life. He’d had some bad press a while back about his pencil dick. It had brightened my whole week.
He held his arms open. “You know me, I’m an open book. Then again, I don’t have anything to hide.”
I turned to face him. His eyes gleamed with a challenge. What did he know? I’d pulled every string I could to get Jack transferred here, where I could keep him close and protected. Sean’s gaze drifted back to Jack. He’d turned his back on the blonde woman and was dancing with a guy. The pair of them were jumping up anddown and screaming to the music at the top of their lungs. Ollie Fox. Another spoiled nepo-baby like Sean.
The world must be an amazing experience for people like Sean and Ollie. When you were born into the kind of wealth these clowns had been, you started the game ten paces ahead of everyone else on the board. My childhood had been about survival. These two had spent a lifetime having every whim catered to, and it showed.
Ollie’s face was always beaming from billboards or the covers of magazines. Apparently, it was possible to top the charts even when you sang like a gang of seagulls fighting over a spilled bag of fish and chips. It shouldn’t have been surprising considering his dad, Mortimer Fox, had made a whole career out of it.
My mind drifted to the pretty daughter. She’d sat in that Fizzz meeting, prim as a princess, and not said a word. It was all so beneath her. What did she care? She’d be jetted out to a sunny spot, have money thrown at her for posing on a sun lounger, and then flown home. These people never felt a scrap of shame about grabbing every opportunity that someone else deserved. I’d bet she was furious that the commercial wouldn’t go ahead. Joanie Fox had probably never heard the wordnoin her life.
“Amazing what passes for music these days, isn’t it?” Sean raised an eyebrow. “Still, it looks like Ollie gets on well with Jack. I always see them together... enjoying each other’s company.” Sean took a casual sip from his bottle. “He needs to be careful. It’s so easy for gossip to spread. I wouldn’t want Jack to have the same trouble he had at Yorford. I’d like to think we’re a more... inclusive environment.”
My fingers burned with the urge to smash my drink into his face. One more fucking word and I’d throw him over the railing, and no one could blame me. Jack and I had never had an honest and frank conversation about any of this stuff, but I knew my brother. I’d long suspected, even if I didn’t know for definite.
There were no openly gay footballers in the Premier League, and I couldn’t blame Jack for wanting to keep his personal life private. It was a short-lived career. You did your best at the game, you made your money, and you got out. I’d bet he didn’t want to be some sort of trailblazer or spokesperson. Behind his cocky facade, Jack was sensitive. I didn’t give a fuck what people thought about me. I had a hide like a rhino. But the locker-room banter that rolled off me cut Jack like blades.
When the guys had started giving him a hard time at Yorford, Jack had broken down in front of me. Occasionally, you’d get a club that was toxic. There were rivalries and cliques when coaches played favorites, and there was a fine line between banter and bullying. Yorford was a battleground. I’d done everything I could to get him out of there.
My fingers tightened painfully around my glass. Anger swirled hot and tight behind my rib cage. No good would come of a fight with a teammate, but I had to let Sean know that Jack wasn’t a soft target.
I met Sean’s smug glare and lowered my voice. “If you fuck with Jack, you fuck with me.”
He watched me in silence for a beat then threw his head back and let out a rough peal of laughter. “What the fuck, Earnshaw? Why are you getting all worked up? Are you threatening me?”
Where I came from, you didn’t back down from a fight. You had to stand your ground. That’s the way Dad had raised me. Not that it had worked out well for him. Everybody thought I was a thug. I had to do better. That was the only way to set a good example for Jack. If I punched this prick in the face, the board would back him, not me. I sucked in a breath and counted to ten in my head.
I kept my voice level. “Nah. You’d know if I was threatening you, Wallace.”
Sean’s casual grin tipped over into a look of cold fury. We stood in silence, assessing each other’s anger. Who was going to strike the match and light the flames? It better not be me, or I was fucked.
“I know you’ve got your eye on my armband. You think you can do what I do?” He leaned in and his stench of booze made me take a step back.
Sean had talent to burn, but he was lazy and entitled—the type to get wound up by those of us who put in the hours.
His nostrils flared. “I’m the captain. Not you. If you don’t want a problem with me, then you better step the fuck away. Stop licking Rob’s arse and back off. I know you’re gunning for my position.”
Is that what this was? Sean wanted to make sure I knew what he knew so he could keep me in my place. It wasn’t my fault that Rob had started using me to deliver his instructions. The lads didn’t listen to Sean anymore. They didn’t respect him. Who could blame them when he acted like this?
I took another calming breath and held my hands up. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about Jack, but you know how harmful gossip can be. I know you’re better than spreading false rumors. I don’t want to be the captain. I just want to play football.”
He surveyed Jack and Ollie on the dance floor. They’d moved closer, whispering into each other’s ears. What the fuck was Jack doing? He had to be drunk. If he was trying to play his cards close to his chest, he wasn’t doing a good job of it.
“The rumors don’t look false to me, Earnshaw.”
My temper flared like a whip cracking up my spine. “I don’t want your fucking armband. You breathe a word about my brother or hurt him in any way, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
Shit.I’d been doing so well at staying calm.
