Page 29 of The Fly-Half

“Nothing?”

“Nothing,” West said with a dark smile that almost looked wrong on his gentle face.

I decided it wasn’t worth asking any more questions.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jonny

“We need to talk,”Mason said as soon as we stepped into the kitchen. I’d barely put my bag down and I was already being cornered. I’d had a suspicion something was coming given his and West’s secrecy after the match and the fact West had fucking followed us home. If they were trying to be subtle, they were failing miserably.

“No, we don’t,” I said as I slid off my trainers. Whatever they had to say about my behaviour today, I didn’t want to hear it.

“John Andrew Gregory, get your ass in one of those chairs. Now,” West said sharply, pointing at our dining room table where we played D&D. His usual calm, warm demeanour was gone as he glared at me, his physical presence suddenly filling the kitchen and reminding me how big he was. We weren’t far off each other height-wise, but West had at least twenty kilograms on me and I wouldn’t put it past him to physically drag me to a chair if he was pissed.

“Fine, I’m going.” I stomped over to one of the chairs, pulling it out and sitting down with all the dramatics of a sulky teenager.West and Mason grabbed two of the other chairs and dragged them around to sit in front of me, effectively pinning me in place against the table. In the background over Mason’s shoulder, I could see Ryan putting something in the oven and doing a piss-poor job of pretending he wasn’t listening. “What the hell is this about? Is this about my yellow card? Because this feels like a fucking overreaction.”

“It’s not,” West said, folding his broad arms across his chest.

“Well, it kind of is,” Mason said as he leant forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees as he gazed at me with a cold, hard stare. “It’s about your behaviour recently. Because you can deny it all you want but you’ve been a proper dickhead lately and I’m fucking sick of it.”

“This is bollocks,” I said, anger rising in my chest. “I’m not twelve. I don’t have to listen to this.” I stood up and went to move through them but West was out of his seat before I could blink, his large hand landing on the middle of my chest and pushing me back into my chair.

“Sit down,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “You might think this is bollocks but this is exactly what we mean. Your attitude is starting to affect all of us, especially Devon.”

“Devon?” West’s use of his name caught me off guard and I dropped back into my seat like a stone. “What about him?”

“Oh, come off it,” Mason said. “You’ve been fighting with him for weeks.”

“We’re not fighting.”

“Okay then, let me rephrase it. You’re being a twat and making him fucking miserable because you can’t get over yourself about him going out with Peaches.”

His words were an icy sting and it felt like I’d been slapped. The idea that I was hurting Devon… deep down I’d known my behaviour was affecting him, I’d seen it in his face and the wayhe’d started to tense up around me, but for Mason to say it like that was a knife to my heart.

“I just don’t want him dating assholes,” I said sullenly, folding my arms and looking between them. “Is that so wrong?”

“We all know it’s not about that,” Mason said, frustration lacing his voice and writing itself across his face.

“You’re jealous,” West added. “You hate the idea of him spending time with anyone who isn’t you and you’re lashing out.”

I tried to think of some sort of quick retort, but nothing would come out of my mouth. It was like my tongue was frozen in place. How the hell had they managed to pinpoint my emotions like that? I guessed it wasn’t hard. They were smart men who knew me well and I hadn’t exactly been subtle.

Even so, I hadn’t figured out that I might be jealous until last night. Was I really so unaware of my own feelings that everyone else knew how I felt before me?

I wasn’t going to even think about answering that. Especially because I’d seen it happen with other people. We’d all known Mason was in love with Ryan for weeks before he’d said anything. And as much as I wanted to believe that was different, it was the only example I could think of.

Maybe I just needed to stop thinking at all.

“I’m not… it’s not…” I sighed. “Maybe I am.”

“I don’t think there’s much maybe about it,” Mason said gently. “If you weren’t jealous, you wouldn’t be acting like this.”

“Yeah but, why would I be jealous?” I asked desperately, looking between the two of them and then Ryan, who was standing in the kitchen pretending to peel potatoes. Ryan saw me looking and smiled at me softly, a sympathetic look on their face.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Ryan asked, walking over to us and leaning on Mason’s shoulder. “Because I think, deep down, you already know.”

“Have you been talking to Peaches?” The two of them were good friends, so it wasn’t a stretch to imagine they’d been swapping information. I didn’t like the idea of Peaches spilling Devon’s secrets to Ryan, but I was trying to think better of him since apparently I’d been a right cunt lately.

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