Page 104 of Ruck Me

For a few tense, brief seconds he stood still, his head cocked to the side as he studied me. When he stepped forward, I heard a few whispers from the back of the crowd. “I can see you’re upset, so I’m going to let this slide, but if you ever say another word about the mother of your child, I’ll make it so you never speak again.”

“Fuck you!” I spat. Literally.

At precisely the same moment Declan wiped his face, his words hit me, a searing pain deep in my chest as if someone had ripped open my ribs and poured scalding hot acid in the cavity where my heart used to be. “What did you say?” I wheezed.

“There it is,” he sneered as my legs gaveout.

I slid to the floor in wide-eyed shock, staring up at my captain, begging for a lifeline. Because I was pretty sure I was a drowning man right now and he was seriously considering letting medie.

“But she said …” my words trailed off, my voice faltering.

“Actually, she didn’t,” he answered, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared down at me in disgust. “She told you she went to London and you took it from there. You never let her finish.”

That entire day came rushing back, the panic I’d felt when Tanya told me where Aoife had gone and why, the overwhelming rage when she'd confirmed the real reason for her trip, and then the vile words I’d said before stomping out of her house. All the times I’d ignored her pleas to meet, the moment I’d blocked her number. My head fell forward, shame coursing throughme.

When the locker room had fallen so silent you could hear a pin drop, Coach cleared his throat. “Okay lads, let’s give Eoin some space.” I watched his feet working their way through the crowd until he stood in front of me. “You okay, son?”

I glanced up, surprised to find my field of vision completely blurry. I blinked to focus, and that’s when I felt wet tears spill forth. “Fuck,” I muttered, scrubbing at them with both of my hands. When I could see again, Coach extended his hand and hoisted me up. I looked around, surprised to see he, Declan, and I had been left alone.

His eyes jumping between the two of us, Coach hardened his jaw. “That’s a one game suspension, O’Shaughnessy. We don’t fight in this lockerroom.”

I expected Declan to argue, to point out that I’d had it coming, but he didn’t. Instead, he nodded his acceptance. “It was worthit.”

Coach studied him for a few seconds and then notched his chin toward the door. “Give me a few minutes with Eoin, okay?”

Declan fixed me with a penetrating glare, his ice blue eyes—the color so much like his sister’s—hard and angry. “We’re not done,” he promised before turning to leave.

Before he stepped through the wide double doors to the outer room, I stopped him. “Is ittrue?”

Waiting a beat before answering, he said, “Yeah, it’s true.” He paused and shook his head in disgust. “And if you ever speak another bad word about Aoife, I don’t care who steps between us. You’re a dead man. We clear?”

I notched my chin in defiance, but I didn’t have it in me to fight him. “Yeah, we’re clear.”

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