Page 77 of Dangerous Play

Sky nodded. “There is nothing for you to feel guilty about. You fucked up first time in your life, people will get over it. Coach Henderson will get over it, I’m sure he is aware his daughter is way too much. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you move on.”

“It’s just tough. I’m worried about making another mistake. It feels like all year I’ve been making the wrong decisions.”

“Our decisions lead us to a certain path. One or two wrong decisions don’t mean your destination will change or that your path is wrong. You might just simply be choosing a harder path to take. There’s no one to say what’s right or wrong. Not as long as you follow your heart... or brain. Get out now.”

I stood and nodded. “Thanks for the advice.”

“But I thought you didn’t get any advice out of my rumbling,” Coach mocked me with a grin and I smiled back.

I needed to take the risk and follow my heart. It might have been the most dangerous of plays to pick, but I had nothing else to lose.

And there was something empowering about not having the pressure to be perfect and do the right thing.

“I just wanted to apologize,” I said to my team as I stood in the middle of their circle. There had been some off-handed comments, and with Dex out, only Maddox and Liam were in my corner. People like Nico were out for blood, saying I destroyed the team and wanted me replaced.

“We already heard it,” Alfie muttered with a shrug. “We’re all over it. Let’s just focus on winning.”

“He should still be punished,” Nico jumped in as I expected.

“I can punch you. Would that be good enough punishment for the stupidity leaving your month?” Maddox groaned.

“I understand you guys are still pissed off about the whole fake dating, but what’s done is done, and I really want us to focus on winning the finals. We are a team, and we need to work together now more than ever. I cost us a player with the fakedating, but there’s nothing I can do to bring Dex back. What we can do is win the cup for him and show him that we don’t give up.”

As far as motivational speeches go, I was almost as bad as Coach Parker. Maybe because I didn’t believe my own words either.

“Why put us in this position?” Maverick asked.

I took a deep breath, locking my hands behind my neck. I had to open up and be honest with my team. They deserved to know. This game was built on trust and I broke their trust. So, all I could do was be honest.

“I’m in love with Ivy Ridge and it wasn’t fake to me. At least not all of it. Not toward the end.”

Gosh, it felt like a huge weight had been offloaded from my shoulders. It was good to say it out loud to my friends.

Liam cleared his throat. “No offense, Cap, but we knew that. It was pretty obvious. We never thought it was fake. Not from your side. We know you.”

“We just don’t get how you fell for her act,” Hudson, our defender, chimed in.

I groaned. “It wasn’t an act. She was played too. Because let’s face it. Everyone knew I was gonna fall because I’m a softie.” The team nodded in agreement. “Great, but she was coming off a huge breakup. She was broken.”

“I’m missing the point,” Marco, another one of our forwards, muttered. “Why fake date?”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on falling in love,” I confessed in case it wasn’t clear to them. “It was supposed to keep Thalia at bay, land me a spot at the National Team and piss off Ander.”

“At least you achieved one thing from that list.” Liam chuckled, ruffling his blonde hair. “You pissed off Ander really bad.”

“Technically... he was the one who told Edwins to convince Kaia to convince Ivy to fake date me. For me to lose focus.”

“That backfired on him.” Maddox grinned. “You didn’t lose focus by being in love. You actually held on pretty well despite all the shit he threw. You didn’t let it affect your game and the team.”

“Until Dex ran his mouth,” Aaron added. “That’s what got him a target on his back.”

“And fucking that chick who was dating Edwins,” Alfie added.

I nodded, agreeing with the thought process. “Yes, but Dex only said what he did to protect Ivy because he knew what she meant for me, so it all comes back to me.”

“This is a whole bunch of what-ifs and he said she said,” Liam said, rolling his eyes. “You didn’t cost us a player, it was Ander and the Lions who took that player from us. You kept it together the best you could.”

I could have kept it together without that yellow card and losing my shit, but I nodded. I appreciated his way of thinking and it seemed like most of the team did too. They were all nodding along, and besides people like Nico, the majority was happy with the reasoning. Thankfully, the shitshow that broke out after people found out it was all a play in order for me to land a spot on the National Team was only a big deal to the National Team and me. That had no implications on my team whatsoever and I was grateful for that. Especially when they still wanted me to lead them in the next game. They still believed in me and wanted me as captain and that warmed my heart.

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