Page 138 of Playing to Win

Andrew spoke slowly. “Colin, you nearly died.”

“I know, but I didn’t, and I need to get back on the pitch.”

“I’ll fetch the doctor,” Rita said. “She can explain it all.”

When the nurse left, he looked at Andrew. “Is there room for two in this bed?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Then go home and sleep. You look complete shit.”

“Firstly, I’m incapable of lookingcompleteshit. Secondly, I can’t leave your side, because you could still die, of sepsis or pneumonia or an embolism.”

Colin stared at him, waiting for thethirdlythat never came. “Perhaps a bouquet of flowers would have been more cheery.”

“Sorry.” Andrew swiped his hands through his hair, which somehow still looked decent. “I’m so scared for you.”

“Why am I here?” When Andrew looked at him with alarm, he added, “I know I was stabbed. But why Reggie?”

“Because he was paid to. He told the police he was to scare me and turn me against you and your, erm, sort of people. He threw the rock through my window, but when I didn’t report it, it scuttled their whole plan. So he marked up my Bystander photo and—”

“Wait, whose plan?”

Andrew looked miserable. “The one person in my family who always treated me like an adult. All along he was manipulating me like a puppet.”

“Who?”

“Jeremy. And when I didn’t dance when he pulled my strings, he—he tried to cut them.”

If not for the sedatives, Colin knew his skin would be crawling with horror. “Your brother-in-law? He seemed so nice.”Despite being a Tory.“Was this a hit by the Conservative Party?”

Andrew shook his head. “They weren’t planning to kill me, according to Reggie. They just wanted to get me alone, talk sense into me. Jeremy hoped I’d return to the fold, repentant. But they knew I wouldn’t come quietly or voluntarily. Hence the knife.” He sighed. “As for the Tories, there’s no evidence that anyone but Jeremy and Reggie knew about this quasi-kidnapping plot.”

“Are you sure? I’ve seenHouse of Cards, both versions.”

Andrew gave a bitter laugh. “Jeremy, of course, denies it all, says Reggie has grievances against me or some such nonsense. I suppose the police and eventually the courts will sort out who’s telling the truth.”

Fatigue suddenly overwhelmed Colin, and he turned his eyes to the ceiling, a view he sensed would become excruciatingly familiar.

Andrew kept going. “If I’d not been so strident online Friday, he wouldn’t have felt the need to—to contain me. I should’ve listened to you when you told me to keep my mouth shut. Tweeting that image of my disownment telegram was the stupidest, most drama-queeny thing I’ve ever done. Which is saying a lot.”

Colin was too tired to comment, so he let Andrew continue.

“Then I had to go and tweet those pics at George Square, which made it easy for Reggie to track me down.” Andrew’s voice choked again. “And I almost got you killed. I will never, ever forgive myself.”

Colin said nothing. He was out of breath, out of words. So he reached out his hand until Andrew took it, and kissed it, and wept fresh tears upon it.

Then Colin closed his eyes and smiled. He’d had something worth giving after all.

EPILOGUE

“GOODMORNING,LOVELIES!” Andrew smiled at his phone’s video camera and tried not to shiver in the stiff breeze blowing off the Firth of Forth. “And Happy Thanksgiving to my mates across the Atlantic. Hope you enjoyed your turkey carcasses.”

He carefully angled the camera up, panning across the ruins of MacDuff Castle, its stones gleaming red in the late afternoon sun. “You’re probably wondering why I’ve brought you to this magnificent place. I hinted at it in last week’s vlog. Oh yes oh yes oh yes, there’s someone you need to meet!”

The camera came to rest on Colin, who offered a self-conscious wave, avoiding the camera’s eye.

“Want to try that again,” Andrew said in his off-the-air voice, “and this time pretend you want to be here?”

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