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‘Good. Tender, but better.’
‘We’ll work it gently. Ice bath after.’
I groan. The two things I hate hearing before coffee areget upandice bath.
‘So Aleksis is out,’ I say as I take a sip of my latte.
‘Abdominal tear, hernia,’ Papa confirms. ‘Needs surgery, so you’ve been granted a free pass.’
‘Feels strange not earning it.’ I should send Aleksis a message of support.
‘I know, but a win is a win,’ Papa confirms. ‘Especially in your condition.’ He finishes his coffee and gets up, making those noises all old men do. ‘I’ll make you breakfast.’
Papa’s breakfasts are prescriptive and boring: yoghurt, granola, supplements, powders and vitamins. I choke them all down and remind myself there’s less than three days before this tournament ends and I can eat whatever I want – for a short while, anyway.
After breakfast, I hit the bike to warm up my knee. Papa looks pleased enough, so we take to the court and play loosely for about an hour before I’m back on the bike, warming down the knee while Papa calls for ice.
While he’s distracted, I pull out my phone and text Noah.
Hungrygabriel73:Want to come over this afternoon? We could watch a movie.
NoAgenda:Sounds good. How is the knee?
Hungrygabriel73:Doctors have recommended amputation.
NoAgenda:Oh no??it was my favourite knee
Hungrygabriel73:Joking it still needs rest, but it’s better.
NoAgenda:I’ll be there at 1. Want a coffee on my way in?
Hungrygabriel:Yes pls.
NoAgenda:Want me to sneak a doughnut past your dad if Igo to our favourite shop??
Hungrygabriel73:Iwill not say no.
As predicted, a bellboy waits outside our apartment door with four buckets of ice on a trolley. He almost looks sympathetic as he’s directed to dump it all in the bath. Once the tub’s full of icy water, I strip down and climb in. Hate does not even describe how I feel about this side of the job.
I’m two minutes into my fifteen-minute session when there’s a knock on our apartment door. My body has acclimatised to the water, but I can’t stop my teeth from chattering.
‘That better not be more ice,’ I call out. ‘And I’m naked.’ Hopefully, that’ll deter them.
‘It’s me,’ Noah says as he opens the door. ‘Back in the ice bath, hey?’ He takes one look at me and pointedly says, ‘Poor little guy, I bet this is rough on him too.’
‘Please don’t refer to him as little.’ Noah hands me the coffee and I take it, my fingers pale from the cold. ‘Stupid ice actually works but god, it’s torture.’
‘Especially in the nipple area, hey?’
‘Very much in the nipple area,’ I say through gritted teeth.
Noah closes the door and reaches underneath his billowy shirt, pulling out a bag of loaded doughnuts. ‘I bought the goods. Tiramisu and Lavender Fields.’ He pulls apart the lavender doughnut, cream spilling onto his fingers. ‘Mind the fingers.’
I lean forward and use my mouth to take the doughnut from him, my tongue darting out to lick the filling from his fingertips.
Noah moans softly as I suck on the tips of his fingers. A part of me revels in his blown-out eyes and flushed cheeks. I sit back in the bathtub and enjoy the doughnut, the flavours of lavender, citrus and musk not something I’d pick for myself, but it’s nice. Doughnuts are like pizza and sex—always pretty good.
‘How much longer do you have in the water?’ Noah asks when he finishes his doughnut. I glance down at my phone. I’d jumped in just after one. ‘Ten more minutes.’
