Playing Dirty(7)

He let out a long yawn. “I’m tired,” he mumbled, sounding irritated. “The job is killer.”

I swallowed. “You know, man, I could always help you out for a little bit,” I said. “I’d even let you pay me back.”

He didn’t reply immediately, and I knew he was going to refuse me, just like he always did. “You know I don’t take charity,” he grumbled. “I’ll be fine, I’m just a wee bit off.”

“Right. Hope it all works out.”

“Yeah, it’ll be all right. Anyway, how about you? How’s things?”

I chuckled. “Man, I had the weirdest chick stay with me last night,” I said before launching into a story about the anonymous blonde who’d bedded me all night and then snored so loudly I barely slept. “I’ve got the worst fuckin’ hangover, too,” I finished.

“Time to get back to the bottle, then,” Connor said in an exaggerated accent. We both laughed; it was an old inside joke of ours. “Hair of the dog, they say.”

“Not today,” I replied. “I’m on the way to the pitch. I’m already late, can you believe that?”

“That’s a bit rum of you,” Connor said. He laughed. “Being late on a Monday! You’re lucky they don’t chuck you aside.”

“I’m blessed,” I said, grinning even though he couldn’t see. “Anyway, I’m driving, so I’ll let you go, mate. Talk to you soon.”

“Yep. Have fun.”

We hung up and I continued the drive in silence, mulling over the conversation. Connor had sounded far more tired than usual, and if he stayed in the construction industry for much longer, I didn’t think he’d have any joints after a few more years. He’d always been a smaller guy, and I thought a less physical job would suit him far more. I desperately wanted him to get out of the business and find something like an office job, but he was too determined to stick things out on his own.

When I pulled into the stadium parking lot, reporters mobbed my car. I groaned. “Just what I bloody need right now,” I mumbled. “Thanks, you lot.”

“Jay! Jay!” The reporters cried, and I tried to flash a friendly smile. One of them elbowed her way past the crowd and kept pace with me despite being a foot shorter than I was.

“Jay,” she began with a winning smile. “Is it true you spent last night with three different women?”

I laughed. “Love, if that were true, I wouldn’t be walking today,” I said with a grin. “You know that’s bollocks.”

The reporter giggled politely. “So am I to take it that you have a new lady love?” When I didn’t immediately answer, she pressed on. “Someone serious that you’re going to settle down with?”

I snorted. “Nope. Not at all,” I said with a grin, shaking my head.

I knew it wasn’t what she wanted to hear; she wanted to hear me say something like, ‘oh, I’d love to settle down, I’m just looking for the right person’. But that wasn’t true. I wasn’t looking for Mrs. Right at the moment (more like Mrs. Right Now, if you catch my drift) and as far as I could see, I wouldn’t be settling down anytime soon. If I actually did, then the woman would have to be someone special.

Really bloody special.

And that definitely wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.





Chapter Three

Kate



After seven hours in a cramped jet, I was dying to get out and stretch my legs. Thankfully, the plane wasn’t stuffed full of tattooed soccer players like the online ads had suggested, but there were a couple of squabbling kids to my right that kept me distracted for most of the time we were in the air. I’d never really been a huge fan of kids, and I’d always thought I’d be the kind of woman who never had them, but there was something so cute about this pair. Even their little accents were adorable.

“Are the little ones bothering you?” A kindly woman looked at me from over her knitting. “These were the only two seats together on board.”

I blushed. “No, they’re fine,” I said. “They’re cute.”

The woman gave me a tired smile. “Just wait until you have wee ones of your own,” she said in a sage tone. “They won’t be so cute then.”

Aside from the kids, the ride had been pretty quiet, and although I normally liked flying, the last couple of hours had been torture. My ass ached from the thinly padded seat and I felt like I’d been breathing in the same air for my whole life.

I couldn’t wait to get a breath of the fresh Manchester air.

“Kate!” Lizzy screamed my name as she saw me finally enter the arrivals lobby, and she threw herself in my direction. I barely had time to recognize her before she hurtled across the room and wrapped her thin arms around my neck, and I was surprised to find tears in my eyes. What was happening to me? Why the hell was I becoming so sentimental? I’d only seen her a few weeks ago before she left.