Game On (Game On 1)

I wanted to tell him how sorry I was, that I loved him, but the words wouldn't come.

If you loved him, you wouldn't have looked twice at McCoy.

I’d never been more ashamed of myself. Miguel was right. There wasn't a thing I could say to change the situation and if he sat there any longer, me watching as his heart broke in front of me, I would break down completely.

“Goodbye, Leah.”

With one last lingering look, he stood and walked away from me. My tears began to fall faster as I watched him cross the street to his car. He didn’t drive away immediately. He rested his head on the steering wheel, and my heart ached. Ached for the pain I’d caused him, and for the huge mess I’d made. He didn’t deserve to hurt because of me.

And I still had one more thing to do before I went home.

Heavy with nausea, I headed back to the training ground to find Richard. Thankfully, he was still in his office. If he hadn’t been there, I felt sure I’d have wimped out of confessing.

“Leah,” he said, then noticing my tear-stained cheeks added, “are you okay?””

“There are some things I need to tell you.”

I took a seat and told him the story of my weekend, minus the inclusion of the sex, not that that made it any easier. He remained poker-faced, yet somehow, I still felt rising tension in the room with every word I spoke.

“Let me get this straight,” Richard said with the kind of dangerous calmness that comes before explosive yelling. “You not only went out partying with a suspended team member, you also let him spend the night in your apartment?”

I couldn't do anything more than nod.

“Would you care to explain why?”

“I told you. He lost his wallet and-”

“Leah, come on!” he snapped. “You knew how much trouble this would cause if anyone found out!”

“I didn't know what was going to happen,” I said, weakly. “I didn't know Taylor would make up some story about him.”

“That's hardly the point! You should’ve sent him away!”

“I tried,” I said, my voice rising a little. “But he wouldn't go.”

“Then you should have called me!”

The anger and disappointment on Richard's face made me avert my eyes. He'd never looked at me that way before and it was hard to take when I’d only ever had encouragement and praise from him. Letting him down was almost as gut-wrenching as what I’d done to Miguel.

“That look of guilt speaks volumes,” he said and as I glanced up at him, I knew he saw the truth.

“Richard -”

“Don't say a word,” he interrupted, fiercely. “I don't want to have to fire you.”

A brief rush of relief ran through me, even though I was about to be severely reprimanded. At least my job was safe.

“You know, I wondered if there was something going on between you and McCoy. When I found the two of you fighting in the locker room, I thought maybe -”

“Nothing was going on. Nothing is going on.”

“And yet he was worth jeopardising your career?”

“Believe me, if I could take it back, I would. I wish more than anything that this weekend had been a bad dream but unfortunately, that's not the case. And instead of keeping the whole th

ing to myself, I came to you to tell you the truth. Frankly, I couldn't give a toss whether McCoy loses his job. He is a sleaze and just because he didn't do what Taylor accused him of, he’s done plenty of other things he should’ve been fired for.”

“So why are you telling me?”