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Ainsley:
We must
Theo:
Just us though, please? I don’t want to make it into a big deal
He’d let me into his inner circle, and now I was going to spend his birthday with him. I had fucking butterflies. And this was bad. We were supposed to go back to being teammates and friends, now we were home. I shouldn’t be getting this excited about spending time with him again.
Grabbing a glass, I headed over to the fridge to pour myself some orange juice. Thank fuck for Rory, who had made sure my kitchen was stocked with the essentials ready for my return home.
When I picked up my phone again, my stomach flipped, and I clapped my hand over my mouth.
Theo:
I want to be serious for a moment. I need to tell you all something. I’ve been having therapy for an addiction to sleeping pills
Grant:
Shit, man. Anything we can do?
Reuben:
Yeah we’re here for you
Ainsley:
What they said
Lars:
We’ll support you
Theo. I wanted to be with him so fucking badly. To hug him and tell him I was there for him. But the last conversation we’d had before we left the island, we’d agreed that we’d keep the lines firmly drawn, and that meant that I couldn’t go running to him.
“This is it, then.” I leaned back against the villa door, where we were waiting to be picked up by golf cart to be taken to the plane.
“Yeah.” Theo’s voice was quiet. “Time to go back to our normal lives.”
“What are we going to do when we get back?” I met his gaze, and he sighed.
“We’ll do what we agreed. Everything that happened between us stays here. We don’t take it back with us. We don’t want a relationship anyway, do we? If things ever got out, it would be disastrous for our careers.”
I blinked rapidly. For fuck’s sake. Why did it feel like we were breaking up? We’d had some good times with each other, but neither of us was looking for anything more, and both of us knew the consequences if anyone found out what we’d done together. There were no active players in the Premier League who were out, let alone two teammates. Even if that hadn’t been a huge issue, we’d been in the headlines so much, and the last thing Glevum needed was even more drama from us both. We knew the line we had to draw. It was time to go home and concentrate on what was important. Football.
“You’re right.” It took everything in me to keep my voice from cracking. “Friends?” I held out my hand, and Theo clasped it. His hand was so warm in mine.
“It might…it might be better if we take some time apart when we get back to re-establish our boundaries.” He rubbed his thumb over my skin in what was probably meant to be a reassuring gesture, but it hurt.
“O—okay. Yeah. That makes sense.” Fuck, I was so close to falling apart. But I had to stay strong. We’d get through this, just as we’d managed to get through everything else. We were doing the right thing. “I’ll miss you,” I whispered, and he exhaled shakily and then dropped my hand and pulled me into his arms.
“I’ll miss you, too.”
Going against every single one of my instincts, which ranged from demanding his address and going to him to calling him so I could at least hear his voice, I added a message to the group chat.
Me:
We’re all here for you. You’re not alone
