Playing Dirty(17)

“I understand,” I said smoothly. Kate seemed to relax a little bit.

“You promise you don’t think I’m a brat?” She looked up at me and I stared at her lips, desperately wanting them against mine. “I mean, because I’m complaining when I’ve been so fortunate? I really do sound like a brat, I know it.”

I laughed. “Trust me,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’ve had to hide from girls in alleys before. I understand. It’s distracting, even if I love it most of the time.”

“Do you?”

The question caught me off-guard. “What?”

“Do you, I mean do you really love it?” Kate raised an eyebrow as she took another bite of fried prawns. “You don’t think it’s too stressful? You don’t want a normal life?”

“Fuck no,” I said, shaking my head. “Take my best mate, Connor. I love him, he’s a brother to me from another mother. But he has to work his arse off, just to make ends meet. And he’s always worried about money. I can tell he feels uncomfortable around me. I wish he’d just take my bloody money already. But he’s too proud, says some inane bullshit about how he won’t take any bloody charity.”

Kate nodded. “It’s frustrating, isn’t it?” She pursed her lips. “I tried to help Lizzy with school, but she wouldn’t take any help.”

Just then, my mobile buzzed in my pocket. “Hold on,” I told Kate. “Better make sure they know we didn’t wander off too far.” When I pulled my phone out and checked the screen, I saw a text from one of my mates.

‘Your bird’s sister is tossing up in the bathroom. Sick as a dog.’

Shit. “Kate, you better read this,” I said as I held up my phone to her face. “Your sister’s in some trouble.”

“Crap,” Kate muttered as she read the text. “How the hell did that happen?”

“Aye, if your sister thought she could drink my mates under the table, she was mistaken,” I said sorely. “They can down booze with the best of them. We should go check on her, come on.”

Kate stood up from the table and wrapped her arms around herself, and as we started walking back to the clubhouse, I saw she was shivering.

“Are you cold?”

“I’m fine.” Kate shook her head but I saw she was lying, and with a grin, I handed her the light warm-up jacket I was wearing. It was one of my official Manchester United pieces, and I didn’t like the idea of wrapping a girl up in it—just in case Hannah (or any other snoopy reporter) was lurking. But Kate didn’t just seem like any girl. She was different. Hell, I’d already wanted to tell her about my parents and that was the first time I’d ever actually felt like talking about it.

“Thanks,” Kate said after she’d wrapped up in my jacket. It was huge on her; the fabric billowed around her small frame as she pulled it close. “This helps a lot.”

We headed back to the football club, and I saw one of my mates standing outside, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “Jay! She’s in bad shape, man,” he said as we stepped into the clubhouse. “She’s in the back bathroom.”

“I’m sorry,” Kate said. She looked up at me with her bright green eyes; her face was twisted and pale. “I had no idea this would happen.”

I shrugged. “Shit happens,” I told her with a grin. “We’ve all had too much to drink one time or another.”

Kate suppressed a nervous laugh, and just then, I knew everything would be all right between us. She gave me an apologetic glance before dashing off towards her drunk sister, and I watched her go with a small smile playing on my lips.

Just this morning, I’d been going on about how I wasn’t even close to meeting the right girl for me, and how I wasn’t even close to wanting to settle down in a monogamous relationship again.

Now I was starting to think I’d been totally wrong about that.





Chapter Six

Kate



My head was filled with horrible thoughts: Lizzy passed out on a dirty, tiled floor with vomit caked around her mouth. Lizzy passed out, draped over the couch, a spilling drink still clutched in her hand. Jay was amazing laidback about the whole situation, but I was terrified. I’d barely even seen my baby sister drunk before, and I’d definitely never seen her get anything like alcohol poisoning.

“Kate?” One of Jay’s teammates called me from the back of the clubhouse. “She’s back here, in the loo.”

“Thank god,” I muttered under my breath as I rushed towards him. “At least one of them had the good sense to stay with her during this.”