Page 11 of The Game

Shame, though, he really was not bad at all to look at, not at all.

We were half way through the practice when the speech of tyres signalled the return of the Lancashire Lion. He strode towards the nets, his tall, imposing body shifting like a lethal cat on the prowl for the kill. Blue pads lined his shins, and a helmet replaced his faded cap. I thought of my promise to Waller and before my legs could turn to jelly under the derisive ice of his stare or I could rip my tongue out at the prospect of what I had to do, I jogged over to him. His unwavering eyes focused on my face. The stare of a lion is truly terrifying.

"Listen, about the fact I said you hated women."

He didn't speak, he just waited. Arsehole. So, I blabbered on. "I didn't mean it, okay. Can we just move on for the sake of the team?"

There was the briefest pause where his pale blue eyes stared at me then he blinked and stalked right past me, pulling down the guard on his helmet with not a word muttered in my direction.

Fine. Just bloody fine, you goddamn sodding twat.

"Line me up." He demanded as he ground to a halt at the stumps. The machine activated, he growled, "fast," and the dial was turned to the highest bowl velocity.

The rest of the team and I sat back and admired his batsmanship as he smoked what would have been sixes outside of the confines of the net, with the fury of a battering ram.

We were walking back to lunch when he brushed past me. "Going to bench me now, Rivers?" His words were a scathing hiss that made a shiver crawl along my spine.

He didn't wait for a response and threw his helmet onto the equipment pile, heading into the building without a single word to his team.

Groaning, I shoved my hands in my pockets, Waller blabbed more than any girl I'd ever known.

"I can't believe it's tomorrow." Little guy jumped up and down, which in turn made Jasper jump like a loony and bark his head off.

"It's come around quick," I replied, passing him a piece of toast spread with chocolate. Too fast I thought to myself. We weren't ready. I knew there was still an element of relaxation flooding through the player's area. Our friendly matches in the run-up to the start of the season had only helped enthuse the general feeling of ease spreading around the team. So far we had been pitched against new teams created in the last year since the BPL had rocketed into the stratosphere. New teams lacking the top-drawer players the Red Cat side presented. That wasn’t going to last and there’d been rumours of major signings from abroad coming over for the season. The British Premier League was about to become as British as the Football Association.

"Did you ask Cole if he wanted to come to the game?" I took a bite out of my toast topped with banana.

Sammy nodded and sprayed crumbs everywhere as he said, "He's excited. He wants to know if we can collect autographs afterwards."

I winced. I was sure they could if we won. If not, the language that would be flying around that players area wasn't the sort I'd want assaulting my young nephew's ears. "Sure, let's keep our fingers crossed we win."

The little guy did the cutest fist pump I've ever seen. His face screwed up. "Sure we will because you've been training them."

Ah, bless his naivety.

The truth was I didn't know if we'd picked the right team. Waller and I had spent days considering our notes. Something still didn't feel right to me, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

Since my apology, the Lancashire Lion had deigned to be in the same room as me. However, he refused to acknowledge my existence, or that I was breathing the same air. Some days I wondered if he even knew I had a pulse.

Maria walked in, and popped her bag on the kitchen counter. She was on the dot for her start time, although I knew the sneaky woman had been in the spare room folding a mountain of washing before her hours had officially begun. "Morning," we all chorused at the same time. I leant over and kissed the little guy on the top of his head. "I've gotta dash. I might be home late tonight, kay?"

He nodded, eyes wide. "I'll be up. I'm too excited to sleep."

"Shh. You've gotta sleep, otherwise, how will you be able to cheer us on tomorrow? What if you fall asleep during the game because you didn’t sleep well?"

He thought hard on this while I gave Maria her last few instructions, his face scrunched up in concentration. It was all levels of cute. "I know," he exclaimed, as I grabbed my keys and took a deep breath, hoping it would fill me with the force I needed to get through this last day.

"What's that?" I glanced in his direction.

"I'll drink coffee like you do when you're tired."

Maria burst out laughing. "No, no, no my boy. You will never be allowed to have caffeine, not until you're at least forty." She helped him down from the stool. "Come on, let’s gets ready for school."

As I walked out of the front door, I could hear him asking what caffeine was. I grinned the whole way to work. That boy could make me smile for hours.

Work.

I never used to think of cricket as work, but the Red Cats had somehow transformed my lifelong passion into a spectrum of uncertainty with which I didn't know how to deal. It wasn't even the Red Cats. It was him. I knew that. I was hoping he'd quit before I seriously had to consider my future, because in truth the situation was intolerable, and I'd already been through this once in the last year. This position with the Red Cats was supposed to be my second chance to keep the life I loved.