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“Tell me!”
“You should have snapped a pic,” he added thoughtfully. “Oh, wait—you did. What’s the story with you being in the papers with him? The old man practically rammed it in my face.”
“I have no idea, Joe.” I shook my head and exhaled heavily. “They won some cup last Friday and I got pulled into a picture with him.” I shrugged helplessly. “I had no idea it would end up in the papers.”
“It ended up in the papers because he’s Johnny Kavanagh,” my brother stated, enunciating his name like it should mean something to me. “Come on, Shan.”
When I came up empty, Joey heaved an impatient sigh.
“He’s a big fucking deal on the rugby circuit. Jesus, you only have to turn on a computer or crack open the papers to read all about him,” he continued to say. “He was recruited into the rugby academy when he was like fourteen or some insanely young age like that.”
“That’s the institute place?” I shifted, leaning over to the edge of the bed to take his measure. “Is that a big deal or something?”
“It’s a big fucking deal, Shan,” Joey confirmed. “You have to be handpicked by top Irish rugby scouts to get trials. Money and pull have no factor. Selection is based purely on talent and potential. They teach them everything they need to know about a professional career in rugby and have the best coaches, physios, nutritionists, and trainers in the country watching over them. They run these insane conditioning programs and camps for their players, and it’s the best place to meet potential scouts. It’s like this school of excellence for upcoming professional rugby players—except it’s not a school. It’s a state-of-the-art sports facility in the city. Actually, it’s more like a puppy farm where they produce thoroughbred high-caliber rugby players instead of dogs.”
“Ew.” I scrunched my nose up. “Disgusting analogy, Joe.”
“That’s what it’s like.” Joey chuckled. “Only the most promising teenagers in the country get a chance to work with the Academy, and even at that, it’s brutal. You have to be made of something fucking special to make it through the trials and get a season with them, never mind getting selected a second time. Personally, I can respect the hell out of anyone with that kind of self-discipline. He has to have some huge fucking work ethic to perform at that level in his sport.”
“So, he’s good?”
“He’s better than good, Shan,” my brother corrected. “I’ve seen a few of Kavanagh’s games with the U18 squad that were aired on the telly over the summer campaign, and I’m telling you now, he’s like a loaded gun on the pitch. Give him a sliver of opportunity and he’ll expose the defense and hit the fucking target every time. Shit, the guy’s only seventeen and this is his second season with the Irish under-eighteen youth team—and he’ll move right on up to the under-twenties once he turns eighteen. After that, it’ll be the senior team.”
So, Johnny wasn’t joking around when he said he played.
“I didn’t know any of this,” I mumbled, feeling like an idiot.
Why didn’t anyone mention this? All the girls said at school was that he was amazing at rugby and was captain of the school team. I never even heard of this Academy thingy.
“You’re blushing,” Joey stated, sounding amused.
It was a completely accurate assessment, one I furtively denied. “I am not.”
He snorted. “Yeah, you fucking are.”
“It’s too dark to see that, so how do you even know that I’m blushing?”
Joey laughed softly. “So, you admit it?”
“I do not.” I bit back a curse. “And I am not.”
He scoffed. “Don’t give me that shit.”
“What shit?”
“You let him drop you home.”
I gaped. “Yeah. So?”
“You don’t even get in the car with Podge, and he’s been my best friend since nappies,” Joey challenged. “I’ve never seen or heard about you being friends with fellas.”
“That’s because I don’t have any friends,” I growled. “Or at least I didn’t.”
“So, you’re friends with him?”
“No, I’m not friends with him,” I ground out. “I missed my bus. He overheard me talking to you on the phone and offered to give me a spin home. You know this.”
“Yeah, well, word to the wise,” he replied breezily. “Don’t get your hopes up with him.”
