Page 60 of Fever Dream
“I thought you wanted me to make you dinner.”
“In a bit,” I say, smiling as he pulls me in closer, right where I want to be.
Right where I belong. Right where I think I might have always belonged.
CHAPTER 22
harrison
Ithink I’m getting a brief insight to Casey’s addictive personality. That would help to explain why I can’t stop thinking about him, why I barely have a waking—or sleeping—moment without him occupying significant real estate in my mind.
I’m feeling like a teenage boy with my first crush. It’s ridiculous, honestly it is. But his eagerness to touch and taste is not helping me any, nor is the fact that he is not even close to playing it cool. I love that about him though, the way he wears his feelings on his sleeve. The way he’s not afraid to dive right in.
Not like me. I’m bloody terrified.
The other, fairly significant, thing buzzing like an annoying gnat in the back of my mind is the very real fact I am here in Sydney on a one year working visa. Meaning Casey and I have a time limit. I know this means I may be walking blindly into a situation that has the potential to mess with my career, not to mention rip my heart to shreds.
Will it stop me?Hell. No.
Because the heart wants what the heart wants and mine has wanted Casey Calloway since the moment I laid eyes on him.
The Fever host the Westport Falcons today at the Fever Pitch. I know better than to flirt with Casey on game day and I give him space in the locker room before the match, both of us focused on getting the team ready for the game. I have Casey on the treatment bed, but we’re utter professionals as I get him ready and I can’t deny the massive bolt of relief that we seem to be able to separateusfrom work. I didn’t realise how much that had been playing on my mind until today.
I send him off smelling like Deep Heat and Casey and with hopes we can get through the game with minimal pain. I watch on from the medic’s bench as James Langton leads the team out to the field, Casey at his side as the pyrotechnics shoot white sparks into the atmosphere and the crowd sing the Fever’s song. It’s another sold out game today, the Fever’s third in a row since Casey was listed.
The team peels off into their lines, Sonny keeping pace at Casey’s side with the other starting midfielders. Casey’s looking great out there, no hints of his adductor flaring in his easy movements. It’s hard to look at him from a purely medical perspective. It always has been but it’s only getting harder these days.
James Langton brings the players into their pre-match huddle as he pumps the boys up before they break for their starting positions,Feverreverberating around the stadium.
I feel the nerves tighten in my gut as the siren wails to start the first quarter. That’s when it dawns on me that I now have skin in the game. This is my team too. Iwantthe boys to win. I want it for the team and the town, not just because I want it for Casey anymore. This team has sunk its claws into me, and I am finding myself invested in the outcome.
Casey is in the mix from the get-go. His work rate has always been his strength but it’s the way he runs so hard and always manages to find the ball or be in the right spot for the nextkick. It’s not just that either, it’s his game smarts, his spur of the moment decision-making and ability to bring his teammates along with him. He finds Izak Devereux on the end of a kick with a precision that I can only now appreciate and Izak rewards his effort by converting the goal.
That’s what sets Casey apart from the rest of the league and that’s the reason why the Fever end the game with their biggest win of the season.
The crowd is jubilant as the final siren tolls, the boys pumped from the win as they gather around Casey and tussle his hair the way athletes do to show their appreciation. He is amazing though, really the difference between a win and a loss for this team. Mick Brabham was not exaggerating Casey’s potential influence on this club, and it seems to be infectious.
Seems like everybody’s catching the fever.
I am no exception.
***
Casey drags me out with him after the game. The team want to celebrate their win which I learn after the match was the biggest in the Fever’s four-season history. I know that Casey Calloway is the main reason for that, so I go along to celebrate with him and the team because I am just as happy for the club.
We’re at that pub we went to with Sonny and Izak, and the girls are circling. They all want the attention of the star player, and I can hardly blame them because he is fucking sex on a stick as he smiles down at them while keeping his distance. And I don’t feel a lick of jealousy because I know that I’m the one he’s thinking of. I’m the one he’s shooting heated glances at as I sit beside Izak and watch from afar.
Casey catches me on my way to the bathrooms, fisting my shirt as he pulls me close enough to whisper in my ear. “You’re coming home with me tonight,” he says, no room for arguments.
And, hell, how can I say no to the man of the moment? The player of the match? I can’t, that’s what and I don’t want to either. I’ve caught the fever in a big way.
I catch Casey’s eye on my way back into the room. He nods at me, and we make our way to the exit, keeping our distance until we’re standing on the footpath, climbing into the back seat of a waiting cab.
I’m impatient as we make our way back to Casey’s place. I know we’re having sex tonight and the tension between us is like a taut bowstring, a tangible, living thing just waiting to fly.
I’m so impatient to get my hands on him which is why I’m surprised when he holds me back once we’re safely enclosed between the four walls of his townhouse.
“Not yet,” he says, clasping onto my shirt and pulling me with him. I follow because that is all I am capable of doing when Casey’s leading. He walks us all the way through the front lounge, to the kitchen at the back of his house. He doesn’t stop until he’s unlocking the sliding door that leads out the back to his pool. I cock my head in a question.
