Page 28 of The Player's Lounge

For the first time since his reincarnation, Quint could visualise himself and Leo living their lives together here.

He walked into the lounge and slumped in one of the armchairs, letting it envelop him with its intimate comfort. Harry followed him in.

“Learn to see him here.”

Quint turned to face him. “I can already,” he said.

Harry nodded. “I know you can, mate.”

A tear slipped down Quint’s cheek, and he sniffed, roughly wiping it away. It was the only response he could offer Harry for this generous gift, but that was all he needed to see in return—happiness mixed with all the sorrow that came with Players. They hugged each other until Harry pulled away.

“Come on, I’ll drop you back in Chiswick, then you can think about starting to move your stuff in. The sooner you feel like this is your home, the sooner, well… I think you know the rest.” Harry winked.

Quint knew for sure. This felt like a brand-new phase of life that he was moving towards. This was exactly what he needed to cast off his current thought patterns and move forward with a positive outlook.

Yes, he would make arrangements to move here as soon as possible, but first thing was first, he had to go to Wrap’d to clear out his office so that he could close that particular door firmly shut.

ChapterThirteen

Leo was in his element. The fact that blades of sunlight pierced through the clouds, brightening up his morning only made being here all the more a formidable experience. The amazing weather was surely a great omen for the meeting that was about to change things for him and Kai.

He clutched the rucksack containing his laptop close to his chest, reminding himself of all the hard work stored on it that had brought him to this very moment.

After taking advantage of the hotel breakfast buffet, he felt energised and ready to jump into it. Leo walked over to the tube station, slapped his debit card on the barrier, then made his way down the steps to the platform.

He wanted to be early, so he’d left with plenty of time to spare. Already comfortable with the tube network from his reccy last night, he made a mental note of the changes he’d have to make and confidently strutted onto the District Line train to Earl’s Court.

After a five-minute wait at Earl’s Court, he jumped onto the Wimbledon train to Fulham Broadway, the anticipation building as this was to be his last stop before a ten-minute walk to the Wrap’d studios.

When he arrived at Fulham Broadway, he had a strange feeling of déjà vu. His stomach fluttered and he felt it in his heart. As he took in the buzz of the iconic black cabs and double-decker buses bustling around the Broadway, he felt like he belonged here.

People chatted animatedly outside coffee shops, some stood staring into shop windows and others walked hurriedly with purpose in and out of the underground station. He was early for his meeting, so had time for a coffee, and although he’d already had breakfast at the hotel, he fancied a little sweet treat too, because why not?

He sat and people-watched for a good while, the good intentions of going over his pitch thrown out of the window due to all of the weird, wonderful, beautiful, ugly and beautifully ugly people that shuffled past him.

He almost forgot the time and decided it was time to make his way to the Wrap’d offices, even though he would still arrive at least fifteen minutes early.

After he dusted the crumbs from his knees that had fallen out of the bag of his uneaten cinnamon bun, Leo donated it to a homeless man, unwittingly racking up even more positive vibes for the day ahead.

As he approached the Wrap’d building, a text came through from Kai wishing him all the luck in the world and telling him in no uncertain terms that he ‘had this’.

He suspected Kai was still on the sofa at home recovering, cocooned in a fleece, watching murder documentaries on YouTube. As he knew he had a bit of time, Leo needed to check and make sure.

“Ploughing myself with Pepto,” answered Kai. “There’s no way I would have made it onto that train. I would have absolutely destroyed the-”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Well, I was just checking you weren’t dead, is all. I’m going in pretty soon—like, now. Wish me luck. Any final words before I make a complete arse of myself?”

“Just be you. They want us to do what we do. All we’re doing is just being real and having fun. It’s simple, really. Talk to him like you talk to me. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not, even if you think you’re not what he wants.”

“Wise words. I shall make it so,” said Leo.

“Oh, one thing, though.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Please don’t tell him I had the shits.”

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