Page 69 of After the Siren
‘It’s just nice to know I left an impression.’
Stavs swallowed, the smile fading. ‘I guess I was kinda embarrassed, too.’
Well, they were really whole-assing the talking. ‘Why?’
‘Because I didn’t ... you know.’
Jake blinked. ‘Bro, it’s all good, I told you.’ It had, in fact, beengreat.
‘I kinda bailed halfway.’
Jake was starting to feel like he’d screwed up thelocationof this talk. They probably shouldn’t be discussing the quality of the sex they’d had in the player lounge.
‘You really didn’t, though.’ Jake said. Stavs looked down, and Jake really needed him to stop lookingsad. ‘Look, I get that it can be ... kinda complicated, or whatever,’ he continued. ‘But I had a great time, and if you had a good time too, then it’s all good. There’s not, like ... if it feels good, it’s good, right? And hey ...’ He reached across to touch Stavs’ hand with his own. ‘It felt good.’
Stavs looked at Jake’s fingers resting on the back of his hand. ‘Yeah.’ He took a slow breath. ‘Yeah, it did.’
His eyes met Jake’s, then dropped to Jake’s lips. That was a problem, because now Jake knew they wereboththinking about it. He was remembering the way Stavs had felt under his hands,the way he’d kissed, how good it had been when he’d lost it a little, his hands on Jake’s ass, on Jake’s thighs, a little clumsy.
Stavs coughed. ‘We, uh ... that doesn’t mean I think we should ...’
Jake moved his hand. ‘I get it. Really.’ And he did. He didn’tagree, but he did get it. Stavs was pushing the last few mushrooms around his plate. They looked good. ‘You gonna eat those?’
Stavs blinked at him. ‘Um, no?’
He sounded unsure. ‘You snooze, you lose,’ Jake told him and speared a mushroom.
‘Hey, Jaze. Oh, hey, Stavs.’
Jake looked up. He’d missed Paddy and Xen coming through the door. Jake expected a comment about the fact he and Stavs were sitting together, but instead Paddy just held out his phone. ‘Have you two seen this?’ He didn’t sound like his usual self.
Stavs leaned across the table and Jake tried not to be conscious of the spot where their arms were touching. Why did Stavs have to smell so good? It wasn’t fair.
But it only took about five seconds of the video for Jake to forget all about how good Stavs smelled.
It was aFull Forwardclip. Jake felt Stavs go tense next to him. One of the hosts eyeballed the camera, smiling unpleasantly. ‘And we all know the most exciting thing that’s happening this week,’ he said. ‘Let’s give you a reminder.’ He gestured and a video spun up onto the screen and started playing.
Someone had obviously gone to a lot of effort to put together thirty seconds of the worst AFLW bloopers; most of them were from at least a couple of seasons ago. It was mean, and unnecessary, and a shitty way to ring in the first week of AFLW pre-season games (the Falcons were playing tomorrow), but he wasn’t sure why Paddy was looking like he wanted to kill someone.
Then the video vanished, and he got it. The hosts ofFull Forwardwere on the screen again, dressed up in what Jake wasn’t going to call ‘drag’, because drag was awesome. One of the hosts was obviously meant to be Gabby, and another was wearing Dex’s number.
For a second Jake thought – hoped, maybe – that the skit was going to be a spoof of all the horrible takes on the AFLW on social media.
Yeah, nah.
He wanted to reach down and turn it off. He didn’t. He was going to watch it, and then he was going to do something about it. Paddy looked like he was going to storm theFull Forwardstudio with an axe.
‘What thefuck,’ Stavs said when the video ended.
Jake should say something. He wanted to say something. But all he could think about was his mum, and Keeley, and all the AFLW players who worked their asses off only to get laughed at by losers.
‘We have to do something,’ Paddy said. ‘We’ve got to get around them.’
‘Yeah,’ Jake agreed. He looked around. Yelks was making himself breakfast in the kitchen, his headphones on and his hair up in a messy bun. It was unusual to see him in the club so early; he usually had breakfast at home with his wife. Jake pushed to his feet and Stavs followed suit. ‘Let’s go.’
Yelks wasn’t a guy who got angry very often. He also didn’t get loud when he got angry. But as he watched the video, Jake recognised the way his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.
Yelks handed the phone back to Paddy. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘We’ve got work to do. And not long to do it. Let’s get moving.’
