Page 15 of Unwritten Rules
Less than a minute later, a photo pops up in the chat, followed by a text from Noah.
NOAH: Sorry, I’ve been a bit preoccupied. But here is a photo of Jade I took this morning.
I can’t help but grin at the image of Jade with Weetbix smeared across her cheeks, arms, hands and the poor high chair that I’m sure Noah would’ve despised having to clean before work.
It’s moments like these that make me miss Barrenridge. Being close to my friends and watching Jade grow up is what I thought my life would look like.
TATE: Such a pretty girl. Give her a big kiss for me.
NATHAN: And what about me???
TATE: Noah, please give this big doofus a kiss, too.
NOAH: God, why is it always me having to kiss him?
I snort a laugh at the same time a hand clamps down on my shoulder. My gaze snaps from my phone to meet my father’s eyes. Looking past him, the team is getting ready to leave the team sheds, which is my cue to get off my phone and back to work.
“Is it kick off time already?” I ask, shoving my phone into my pocket.
Dad nods. “I’m going to head to the sky box to watch from above, but feel free to watch from the sidelines and take notes on whatever it is you need to.” He reaches into his pocket, producing a dark green lanyard withSTAFFprinted into the material. A clear tag with my name on it hangs from it. “You’ll need to wear this while you’re out there. It helps identify you to the other staff members.”
The lanyard settles over my torso, cementing me in my new position. I get to watch from the sidelines? That could be fun. If I’m going to be working closely with these guys, I need to see their performance from a better angle.
“Okay, yeah.” I stand and clasp my hands behind my back. “I’ll wait here until they’re out on the field.”
“Perfect. Have fun!” Dad cheers and spins on his heels, rushing out of the room.
I blow out a short breath and watch the team walk out of the room one by one. The roar of the crowd can be heard from all the way in the sheds, shocking me. How many fans are out there? There must be a lot if they’rethatloud.
Once I’m the last person standing in the room, I make my way out into the hallway and follow it until I reach a tunnel. At the end, I watch as the Wolves run out onto the field to screaming fans. “Enter Sandman” by Metallica blast through speakers around the stadium.
I can’t begin to imagine how overwhelming it must be to run out in front of that many people. Not only would they be under a lot of pressure to perform well for the club and the rest of the team, but they don’t want to let their fans down, too.
Taking a moment to calm my breathing, I follow the tunnel until I step out onto the field. No one in the crowd or the people standing on the sidelines take notice of me as I find a free chairin the Wolves team area and sit down. My eyes sweep across the fans littering the grandstand, waving their flags in the air. The hill standing area is packed with not a patch of grass in sight. The stadium is a good mixture of Wolves and Dolphins fans, so I can see this being a tough game.
The two teams get into position with a Wolves kick-off. As soon as the referee blows the whistle and the ball is kicked into the air, the crowd goes nuts.
I can’t help but smile as I glance around the stadium. This is crazy, truly. How the players don’t lose focus because of the screaming fans is beyond me.
The first tackle on a Dolphins player has me blowing out a sharp breath. God, that must’ve hurt like a bitch.
It doesn’t take long for me to fall into a trance of watching the teams fight for dominance on the field, and thankfully, Wolves get the first try of the game. I jump from my seat and clap with the rest of the staff members and fans. The atmosphere after a try is electric—I feel the thrum of adrenaline pumping in my veins.
I’m too enraptured by the Wolves celebrating their try to notice the man approaching from my left. It isn’t until he is a metre away from me do I turn in his direction. The second I take in his inky black hair, sharp facial features and that damn slit in his eyebrow, I realise I’m fucked. So incredibly fucked. It’s like looking a ghost from the past dead in the eyes, only this man isn’t a ghost and is very much real and breathing.
Why is Sinnett, my one-night stand, staring at me with furrowed brows and a clenched jaw?
Chapter Five
TATUM
Out of all the people I could’ve run into on my first day at work, it had to be him. The same guy I hooked up with in a car in a quiet park and vowed to forget about.
The universe is playing a cruel joke on me right now. I wish it would cut it out because there is no way this is happening. How unlucky do I have to be to run into my one-night stand out of the millions of people residing in Sydney?
“Tatum?”
Shit.
