“I love you. So much.”
“Fuck.” His voice was scraped raw. “Fuck. I never thought I’d hear anyone say those words to me.”
My heart ached. I pressed kisses against his lips, again, and again, and again. “I’m gonna say them to you all the time. So much, you’ll get sick of it. You deserve to be told you’re loved every single day.”
When we drew apart, both of us had tears in our eyes. Cody huffed, impatiently swiping his away, and I smiled. “It’s been an emotional day, and, y’know, when the love of your life tells you he loves you for the very first time…”
“Yeah. I know.” He exhaled heavily. “Speaking of telling people things, I assume your manager will want an explanation from me.”
“And the media,” I reminded him with a bright smile. “We’d better work out what to tell them about your one-man pitch invasion. Please can we use those exact words?”
“Fuck off.” Ah, there was the grumpy bastard I knew and loved. “We’ll tell them the truth. That I was scared for the person I love, and I wasn’t thinking about anything except getting to you.”
“Sounds good to me. We can make it into a sob story. The poor, broken footballer lying prone on the pitch and the dashing partner racing to his one true love. I bet we can squeeze out a few tears. Or we could rub onions under our eyes. That’s guaranteed to make us cry.”
“Onions. Fucking hell. Don’t make me regret my decision to stay,” he warned, rubbing his hand over his jaw, but I could tell he was amused, trying to hide his smile behind his palm.
“Okay. No onions. But we’ll get a statement written up. The PR team will know the best way to word it. And we’ll explain what happened to Harvey. I know he’ll understand.”
“He will, and so will your teammates. But the fans might not.”
I shrugged. “Some will, some won’t. I’m prepared to deal with whatever shit gets thrown at us, if you’re all in.”
His eyes met mine. “I’m all in. Whatever happens. I don’t want to hide anymore.”
34
Cody
Brayden’s voice came through the laptop speakers as I entered the living area, ducking out of sight of the screen. “How’s the ankle doing?”
Jude glanced down at where his foot was propped up on a pile of cushions, rotating his ankle experimentally.
“Good. I should be back in training the day after tomorrow.” He paused, leaning closer to the screen. “Hey, where are you? That doesn’t look like Calgary.”
“Discovering my cowboy side,” he said, and my brows rose.
“Discovering your cowboy side or discovering cowboys?” Jude glanced over at me, and I knew exactly what was going through his mind.
No cowboy role play, I mouthed, smirking as he shot me a mock-glare.
“Both. Kinda. It’s complicated,” Brayden responded with a sigh, and I could see Jude nod.
“I know that feeling. You know where I am if you need to talk.”
“Thanks. I might take you up on that another time. Enough about me, though. Why do I have a feeling you called to discuss something more than your injury update and house news?”
“Uh. Yeah.” Jude drummed his fingers on his thighs, biting down on his lip. “It’s about Cody.”
“Cody, as in Cody Clements? My teammate Cody Clements?”
“Yeah. Uh…surprise! He’s here.”
Even though I couldn’t see Brayden’s face, I could feel the shock and confusion radiating from the screen. “What do you mean, here? In England?”
“Yeah. Or if you wanna be exact, he’s here in the room with me.” He glanced up at me, and I shook my head. I wasn’t sure my former teammate was ready to process the sight of me in his little brother’s flat.
“What the hell?”
