Page 1 of After the Final

Emma

“Cheers!” I declare as I raise my glass.

“Sante!” Viv says in response, clinking her glass with Emma’s and then with Amy’s before taking a huge glug of her beer. She smacks her lips in satisfaction. “Now that tastes damn good!”

Amy laughs.

“You mean it tastes just as good as the three other beers you’ve already had?”

“Well, they just keep getting better.”

“Which means that you’re getting drunker,” I point out with a giggle, sipping on my own beer. It’s not something I normally go for, but I can tolerate it. I make a mental note to get a Guinness next time. “Maybe you should slow down, Viv.”

“Why? I’ve only had a few!”

“You were drinking during the game as well. I’m surprised you can talk without slurring your words together.”

Viv snorts and sits back in her chair. I’m amazed that she’s talking coherently, but Viv has a higher tolerance than Amy and I do. How, I’m not sure, but I’m not about to get myself drunk to find out.

“You’ll understand if you drink a lot more,” Viv says. “You have a limit and you never go beyond it, Emma.”

“Can you blame me? I want to enjoy Paris while slightly tipsy, not completely drunk that I’m going to end up falling flat on my face and throw up everywhere.”

Amy grins.

“Isn’t that how Paris is meant to be enjoyed? You either find someone to fuck or you get hideously drunk.”

“Amy!”

“What? I’m just saying.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “I will say that I’d be happy if one of those rugby lads found me and took me back to their room for some hot, hard sex.”

I groan. Not this again. I swear Amy is sex mad.

“I don’t think they’re going to be out and about with the masses celebrating, Amy. They’re probably going to celebrate on their own.”

“We can but hope.” Amy licks her lips. “I’m certainly hoping.”

I knew that Amy has a penchant for guys who play rugby, but I didn’t know it was that strong. We came over to Paris to watch the rugby world cup, and all throughout she’s been pointing out the really hot ones and who she would take home with her. It’s like being single sex is on the brain all the time.

Is this what I’ve got to look forward to?

Doubtful, seeing as I’ve lost interest in sex. I have done for a while. Mostly because I’ve got a lot to deal with at work, and that sucks any interest for anything out of me, and also because of bloody Rick. He really turned me off towards the end of our relationship, and he still thinks that he can get me back. I don’t get why he behaves like this around me even after I’ve ended things with him. But that’s a side of him that he let slip towards the end, when he thought we were comfortable. He believes that he owns me.

I’m not into the alpha male thing. Especially when he’s all alpha and does nothing to prove he cares about me beyond being a naked body he can have access to whenever he wants.

When someone treats me like a sex doll and I thought we were in a relationship, I’m not going to find sex at all enticing. Thank God it was only a couple of months.

Dating, and certainly sex, are off the table for now. But eyeing up some hot guys playing rugby is not off the agenda, and it’s been pretty fun.

“Anyway, it might be good for you to have someone to fuck,” Amy says suddenly to me, making me jump. “You can get Rick out of your head.”

“What? How’s that?”

Viv rolls her eyes.

“I think the last thing on Emma’s mind is to have sex with anyone else, Amy. Rick did a number on her.”

“Exactly why she should fuck someone else. She needs to get laid.” Amy winks at me. “And Emma knows what I mean by that.”

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