Page 94 of Playing for Keeps
Javier stood. “He’s staying with us for the time being.”
“Very wise.”
They left them to it. As soon as the door closed, Steven sprang to his feet. He walked over to the window. Javier stood next to him. He put his arm around his shoulder.
“Don’t fight it, my friend.”
So he didn’t. They both stood there. Javier protecting him as he sobbed. A heady mix of frustration, outrage and fear sweeping through his system.
How the fuck were they going to get through this?
TWENTY-TWO
UDO
The locker room had been empty when Udo arrived. He figured that they would all be dissecting the day’s news in the canteen. He glanced over at his spot. At that point he had no idea if he would ever sit there again.
He wiped his eye with his sleeve. If Steven could face people, then so could he.
He needed to speak to the team. There was nothing else to be done. He charged onto the corridor outside. A couple of the physios were there. To his horror, they didn’t meet his gaze.
Pushing it down, he made his way to the stairs.
“Udo,” Meg, one of the physios called.
He turned.
“I’m totally behind you. No matter what any fucker says. You got that?”
Udo almost burst into tears.
“Me too,” Amy, the other physio, added.
“Thank you,” he said. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
Fired up from their comments, he continued his search for histeammates. As predicted, they were all in a huddle in one corner of the canteen.
“And where is he?” Shaun asked.
He sat in the middle, evidently leading this court of public opinion.
“What do you mean?” Colin asked.
“He’s skulking away at home. Can’t be man enough to face up to what he’s done.”
“I’m here, Shaun. What is it exactly you think I should be facing up to?”
Everyone snapped to attention. Shaun had an arrogant expression on his face that screamed trouble. Udo hated confrontation. Today he had no choice. Deep down he didn’t give a fuck what Shaun thought. He did, however, care about the others. He’d begun to really care about them.
“That you’re screwing the boss,” Shaun replied.
Udo froze. The only sounds were the staff in the kitchen banging around. Everything in the canteen was silent.
“I’m in love with our assistant coach.”
He glanced at Adam, who nodded like a glimmer of sunlight breaking through the worst storm clouds.
“Call it what you want,” Shaun said. “It’s not right.”
