Page 92 of Floored

I eyed him.

Declan smiled, completely un-self-conscious. "How do you think I manage you lot without punching people in the face all the time?"

"Never given it much thought, really."

Declan elbowed me. "Glad to know it's that, if I'm being honest."

"Why?"

"Here I just thought you were in a shit mood because you haven't been playing well enough to start anymore."

I gave him a dry look.

"Well, you haven't. If you were doing the job correctly, you'd be out there, not sitting off to the side." He slapped my back as he stood. "Nobody ever wants to bench the best person for the job, McAllister, and if that's you, then bloody prove it."

I rubbed a hand down my face, wishing I could ignore the truth of his words. "And if it's not?"

He shrugged a shirt on, his expression thoughtful. "Then move aside for whoever is and teach them what you know."

Those words, those bloody words from that bloody great grump of a captain stuck with me for weeks.

Every time I got a few minutes to play, I heard them in my head. I scored in stoppage time against Wolverhampton and earned myself more playing time in the next match. And in that game, I played them on a loop when all I managed was a yellow card and an epic yelling match with the linesman.

I heard them in my head all the time, it seemed, like a puzzle piece I couldn't quite fit into place.

When I practiced.

When I tried to sleep but thought of her instead.

When I worked out, and my thoughts waffled between football and Lia and the baby (now a bloody cauliflower at twenty-seven weeks).

When she and I talked on the phone, about her appointments and class and apartment search and family.

When I'd get a picture or text between phone calls and had to think on exactly how to respond so she wouldn't realize just how horribly I missed her in my life.

Sometimes I did better than others, matching her tone easily when we'd text about meaningless things. Foods we liked, and things we'd done that day. And others, I didn't do as well.

Lia: Are you still awake?

Of course, I'm still awake. It's still early enough that I'm in the lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, contemplating how I'd gotten my life so bloody off course portion of my evening, I almost answered.

Jude: Yeah. What's up?

I almost fell off the bed when she started a FaceTime. Fumbling with the bedside lamp, I answered the call once I had it switched on.

Her face filled the screen, and I almost fucking wept at the sight of her broad smile. "Hi!"

I cleared my throat. "Hello."

Her eyes tracked down to my bare chest, and her cheeks pinked immediately. "Sorry, I know it's late, and I didn't give you any warning."

"You never to apologize for calling, lov-Lia." I caught myself just in time, and she didn't seem to notice my almost slip. "What's up?"

Her eyes glowed. "You have to see this."

Lia pulled the phone away from her body, so I could see her bump from the side. She was lying in her bed too.

My ribs felt tight seeing it. "It looks so different than in the pictures you send."

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