AllFreeNovel
Share Us
By the time he went out, every movement felt like a pretence of normal since he knew they hadn’t closed the door and would see him as he got into his car. He wasn’t sure why he was the one feeling so self-conscious; but ever since Finnegan Flynn stepped down that tunnel, Joq felt himself turning into an uncertain version of himself.
He clicked the immobiliser and couldn’t stop himself from glancing up at the garage. Finn and George were turning to him and all three of them froze as if caught. Nobody was doing anything unusual—Joq had his hand on the car door; George had his hand on Finn’s elbow; and Finn was staring wide-eyed with his arm in George’s grip.
“Heading out?” George asked.
“Work,” Joq croaked.
“Have fun,” Finn said, his smile too wide. He was stepping back as he said it and George was letting him go.
“Yep,” Joq said and got into the car.
He felt shaky as he got the car started, clicked the gate open, and looked over his shoulder. He was almost too scared to look back. To see George’s face plastered in a fake smile, Finn looking twitchy beside him, both of them moving to wave goodbye. He was beginning to think he’d played this all wrong—he should’ve told George to go on and fuck the kid, get it out of his system until they realised there was nothing more there than physical attraction.
Joq looked back up the driveway as he spun the wheel to reverse out onto the road. No one was looking his way. George had his back to the driveway, his big body shielding Finn from view.
13
George was particularly accommodating when Joq got home that night. Joq wanted to think it was because George was going away later in the week—away game in the West to play Fremantle, who, unlike the other team out there, could be contenders this year—and George always got handsy before he went on the road. Joq used to think it was because he picked up whenever George went away and George liked hearing about it, in explicit detail, as soon as he got back. It got him all worked up and they’d fuck about it. It was fun.
But because of what’d happened that morning with Finn, and what had been running through Joq’s head all day at work about what might be happening at home, he couldn’t get into it.
“What’s with you?” George asked the third time Joq moved away after George came up behind him and caged him in against the bench.
“Nothin,” Joq spun around, a few inches between them. “Just, not feeling it, I guess.”
George raised both eyebrows. “You?”
Joq cracked a smile and looked at his feet.
“You already get some today or something?”
It was a joke, but there was an accusation in there too. It made Joq look up and defend himself.
“Of course not. What? You think I’m double teaming Cameron and Simo at work?”
George screwed his face up, and Joq couldn’t help himself—he laughed and George chuckled with him.
“Sorry,” Joq said as he settled down. “I’m just,” he waved his hand around. What was he just? All mixed up in his fucking head about this shit.
George nodded like he got it. “All good, just, road trip,” he shrugged and moved away.
“Later?” Joq straightened.
“Sure, babe,” George said over his shoulder as he grabbed his phone and went into the living room.
Joq went out to the pool and told himself to get his shit together.
Practice was brutal that week, as Joq saw firsthand and heard about in great detail from George at home.
“Fit. They need to outrun those guys. That team,” he shook his head as he paced while Joq sat on the couch and listened while also trying to see his show on the TV. “They’re in the sweet spot, you know? Perfect fitness, all averaging around twenty-four…”
The next day, Joq watched the team on the monitors coming back down the tunnel, looking destroyed, and he knew it was because George was making them run “laps, laps, laps.”
Finn was near the back. He looked exhausted, but he was smiling, taking the hip and shoulder from one of the veterans with a laugh. George came down the tunnel behind them, glancing from his clipboard to his team. Joq rubbed his jaw as he watched them. They’d fly out after everyone had showered and changed into their suits.
“Not much doin’, boss,” Simo said.
“Nope, head out if you want,” Joq said.
