Page 111 of Oar Than Friends

I nodded. As much as I liked Will, Mary Heston was one of those type-A, overly ambitious pains in the arse who needed to control every minute of every day. It was exhausting just being around her, which unfortunately due to Will being part of the British Rowing squad, I’d had to endure too much for my liking over the summer.

‘Yeah, Will Norris’ girlfriend. Why?’

‘She came to see me today, she had pictures of us together from Christmas and accused me of telling you all our training secrets. She kind of threatened me with my scholarship, and this was before she found out I’d beenmoved to Blue Boat. I’m scared she’ll tell someone, then I’ll get kicked out of Cambridge.’

If Kate hadn’t been sitting on my lap I’d have jumped up in outrage; as it was my blood hit a steady simmer, and it took me a second to control the anger in my voice and the grind in my jaw.

‘You’re not going to get kicked out of Cambridge because I’m your boyfriend.’ My hands were slowly running up and down her leg, initially to calm her, but it was working to calm me too. ‘For one thing, the Boat Race and your degree are totally separate. For another, she doesn’t have the power. It’s also completely allowed, people from Oxbridge date all the time.’

‘Mary doesn’t like me, she’s made it clear she wants me off the crew because of us, and what if she tells someone, and they agree that I’ve been discussing our tactics? Then what if you win? Then it’ll really look like I have. It’s different when you’re on the rowing crews.’

‘We are capable of winning without your help, you know,’ I teased, running my nose along her jawline. She smelt like the rose garden at home after a heavy rainstorm, and I wanted to wrap myself around her and never let go. I also wanted to remove the panic that had her heart racing like she’d sprinted five miles.

‘It’s not funny. I’m on a rowing scholarship. If they kick me off the squad for this then I can’t stay at Cambridge. I’ll lose my visa. I’ll have to go home,’ she sniffed.

With that sobering thought I made a mental note to move Mary Heston to the top of my list of things I needed to deal with. Whatever box she’d jumped out from, I would ensure she got back in.

‘Babe, I promise us dating is not going to cause issues for your visa, or uni work. Please stop stressing.’ I hugged her tighter. ‘We have two months until the race is over, and then we can stop sneaking around. I can’t fucking wait, either.’

Kate looked up at me. The tears had turned her green eyes a deep shade of emerald, set off by how bloodshot they were. ‘Oz, I don’t think we can stop sneaking around straight after. Everyone’s going to be talking, and they’ll think one of us will have cheated.’

‘Let them talk.’

‘I don’t want to let them talk.’ She shook her head so hard a tear flew out and hit my shirt. ‘I can’t let anything jeopardize my scholarship. I have six years here. And you’ll still be at Oxford.’

I did not want to start this argument again, nor did I want to have us sneaking around for a second longer than necessary. The entire situation was giving me a headache as it was.

‘Babe, I love you. It’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll speak to Will.’

But she shook her head. ‘No, please don’t. It’ll make it worse. I don’t need my boyfriend fighting my battles.’

‘Kate …’

‘No,’ she snapped. ‘No. I don’t want to think about it any more. We can talk about it later, please just stay and kiss me.’

‘Okay. That I can do.’ I brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes, wishing I could also brush away the worry and sadness from them too, and surrounded her mouth with mine until she softened against me.

I might not have been able to reassure her that this wasn’t as big a problem as she thought, but as I pulled her sweater over her head I was about to have a damn good try at making her forget about it instead.

22. Kate

(From bad to worse)

‘On my command. Hands on the boat.’

All eight boys followed my directions; they were so in sync with each other you’d think we’d been working together for years, instead of less than two weeks.

‘Up to the waist. Ready … Up.’

I watched another seamless transition, and the boat was lifted high above their shoulders. Wrapping up my coxbox and headset, I followed them away from the water, shouting further instructions until the Blue Boat was rested safely in the trailer and ready to head back to Cambridge.

‘Nice one, Asters,’ Will Norris called over to me from the bench where he was lacing up a dry pair of sneakers. ‘What was our final time?’

‘I’ll reveal all once we’re on the bus,’ I replied. ‘How did it feel?’

‘Quick. The second time around I think was the quickest.’ He grinned, ‘Was it? It was, wasn’t it?’

I held my mouth in a straight line, not wanting to give anything away, and walked past him and a couple of the other guys pulling on dry clothes, and made my way to the changing room to do the same. It was so tempting to get underneath a steaming-hot shower, but we’d been given a five-minute turnaround to get our things together and beon the bus, and I wanted more than five minutes in a shower. I needed more than five minutes.

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