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“My hopes?”
“Yeah,” Joey yawned lazily. “It won’t end well.”
“What are you—w-why would I get my hopes up?” I shot back, flustered. “And hopes for what?”
“Whatever shit teenage girls get their hopes up on,” Joey countered, yawning again. “At the risk of sounding like an overprotective brother, he’s too old and way too fucking experienced for you.”
“I’m not getting my hopes up on anyone,” I denied heatedly before quickly adding, “Why are you even telling me all of this?”
“I’m not thick, Shan,” Joey replied. “I’m well aware of the way young ones get all hung up and go all fangirly on fellas in his position.” He shifted around on his makeshift bed, stretching out. “All I’m saying is, don’t read into him taking a picture with you or giving you a lift home tonight. He more than likely does that with a lot of girls.”
“I wasn’t!” I snapped. “I didn’t even know about his position until you just told me.” I followed up with, “And I’m well aware that him offering me a lift was an attempt to make amends for the concussion.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course.”
“Are you sure you know that’s all?”
I balked with indignance. “Yes, Joey.”
“Well, good.” He sighed. “Because from what I’ve read in the papers, he’ll be out of here after the leaving cert, so pining after him would be a bad idea. Clubs are already crying out for him—even in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s only a matter of time before he’s contracted out to the highest bidder.”
“So?” My tone was defensive. “Why would I care? I don’t even like rugby!”
“Calm your tits, Shannon,” Joey huffed. “I was only trying to give you some brotherly advice.”
“Well, it’s not necessary,” I grumbled, face burning. “And for your information, he’s actually not that great,” I decided to throw out there in a disdainful tone.
My earlier altercation with Johnny was still fresh in my mind, and I had an insane urge to take him down a peg or two—even if it was just to my brother.
“He’s really moody and he drives like maniac—and his car is a disgrace, it’s so filthy.”
“What does he drive?”
“An Audi A3.” I grimaced before reluctantly admitting, “It’s so sweet.”
“Of course, he does. They practically toss out top-of-the-range cars to their players.” Joey blew out a breath and sounded a little fangirly when he said, “Lucky bastard.”
Silence fell around us then, as I quietly staggered through my thoughts.
Reeling, I tried to digest the information Joey had given me. I tried to connect it to the Johnny I had met, but I couldn’t. He didn’t seem like a superstar rugby player to me.
Okay, sure, physically he looked every inch the description of one, but he wasn’t… He didn’t…
I shook my head, thoughts awry with confusion.
Now that I knew exactly how invested he was in rugby, I could understand his irrational reaction tonight. He didn’t want anyone to know about his injuries because he was scared.
He hadn’t admitted it, but now that I knew what was at stake for him, it made complete sense. If my future career I’d invested so much time and energy into was up in the air over an injury, I would do whatever it took to get back on track.
But lying about his recovery? That seemed like a risky move to me.
A dangerous move.
He’d said it himself; he wasn’t healing right.
So why risk his body like that?
