Final Score. Michelle Betham

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      ‘So you’re moving to London?’

      She felt her heart skip a ridiculous beat as the familiar American accent once more filled her head, but she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. She didn’t think she was strong enough.

      ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

      ‘It wasn’t really the right time, was it? When you were fucking me up against your office door.’

      ‘I would have thought it was the perfect time.’

      Still she said nothing. She just dug her hands into her pockets and stared down at the ground.

      ‘You thought it was the perfect time to tell Ryan, though. Didn’t you?’

      She slowly looked up, raising her head so her eyes met his. ‘I wasn’t thinking straight, Jim. I haven’t been thinking straight for a while now. Ever since you walked back into my life my head’s been a fucking mess.’

      It was Jim’s turn to look away. ‘I don’t want you to go.’

      ‘You have no say in the matter. And I don’t want to hear you say that, okay? I don’t want you to say something like that when you don’t really mean it.’

      ‘I mean it.’ His eyes were back on hers, staring at her with an intensity that was quite frightening. ‘I don’t want you to go. I don’t want you to be so far away I can’t see you or talk to you or…’

      ‘Hang on…’ That confusion that seemed to be omnipresent at the minute washed over Amber once again, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. It was like some weird and invisible force was keeping them locked on his. ‘You have absolutely no right to stand there and say those things. None. You… you divorced me, Jim. You left me.’

      ‘Because you were sleeping with one of my players.’

      Amber laughed, a small, cynical laugh. ‘This is crap. All of it, it’s crap.’ She pushed a hand through her hair and turned away, knowing that she needed to leave here. She needed to walk away and leave this crazy situation that she couldn’t understand. Before it killed her.

      ‘Amber, please…’ Jim reached out, his fingers gently circling her wrist, stopping her from going anywhere. ‘I’m sorry, okay?’

      She looked at him again, her head telling her one thing, and her heart screaming something altogether different. ‘For what, Jim? For sleeping with me when I was just a teenager? For making me love you my entire life? For messing with my head every single, fucking day? What exactly are you sorry for?’

      ‘Letting you go. I’m sorry for letting you go, and there are reasons, believe me, Amber, there are reasons why I… why…’

      She frowned slightly as she noticed emotion clouding his usually impassive and stoic expression. This was a side of him she’d very rarely seen, and it confused her even more. ‘Jim?’

      He shook his head. ‘Not here.’

      ‘No. No, don’t ask me to go somewhere more private or make me listen to any more excuses or…’

      ‘I have to go.’

      ‘What the…? Jim!’

      She watched as he just turned and walked away, pushing through the crowded Players’ Lounge until she couldn’t see him any more.

      ‘You alright?’

      She turned to look at Brandon, who’d suddenly materialised beside her. Handsome, hot and talented – a frighteningly younger version of his father. A constant reminder of a man she would always love. A man who was destined to spend the rest of his life fucking up hers.

      ‘What the hell is wrong with him, Brandon?’

      Brandon looked down at the bottle of lager he was holding, scuffing his heel against the wall behind him. ‘He’s got a lot on his mind.’

      ‘Haven’t we all?’ Amber sighed, her mood brightening slightly as she saw Ryan walk in carrying their baby boy. Her father had been looking after Rico but he’d obviously brought him to Tynebridge to see his mum and dad, and for that Amber could only be grateful. She badly needed the distraction.

      ‘Do you want me to talk to him?’ Brandon asked.

      ‘Do whatever you like.’ Amber’s attention was elsewhere now. ‘I’m past caring.’ Not entirely true. She turned to look at Brandon, suddenly realising that his father’s odd behaviour was nothing to do with him. ‘You were great out there this afternoon. Without you on their side, Red Star would have annihilated Spartans.’ She smiled, standing up on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. ‘See you later, okay?’

      Brandon smiled back, but Amber was done there now. She didn’t want to talk about Jim or even have to think about him, not when she had way more important things to be concentrating on.

      ‘And what are you doing here, gorgeous?’ She had the biggest grin on her face as she reached out to take Rico from Ryan’s arms.

      ‘I’ve brought our son to see his mum.’ Ryan grinned back, and Amber couldn’t help but smile.

      ‘I was talking to Rico.’

      ‘I know. Your dad brought him in, thought you might want to see him seeing as you’ve been away from him all day.’

      ‘Well, Dad was right.’ Rico was her steadying influence, the one thing that could stop her from making any more crazy decisions that were nothing but a way of deflecting her real feelings. With him in her life, she had to make sure every decision she made was the right one. For both their sakes. ‘Hello, baby! Has Granddad got you all dressed up in your daddy’s team’s colours?’

      Rico was dressed in the cutest of baby football strips, with the number nine on the back and the name Fisher above it. A tiny replica of his daddy’s strip.

      ‘Oh, you are too cute!’ Debbie cooed as she tottered over on her four-inch heels. ‘Amber, he gets more beautiful every day.’

      ‘Just like his mum,’ Ryan said, his eyes instantly meeting Amber’s.

      ‘Jesus, do you ever give that flannel a rest?’ Gary rolled his eyes, and Debbie nudged him hard in the ribs. ‘Ouch! What the fuck was that for?’

      ‘We need to get home to check on Jodi.’

      ‘Do we?’

      It was Debbie’s turn to roll her eyes. ‘Just get your arse out of here, come on,’ she said, ushering him quickly away from Amber and Ryan.

      ‘That was subtle,’ Ryan sighed, leaning back against the wall, his hands in the pockets of his doubtless very expensive jeans.

      ‘You can talk.’

      He looked at her. ‘I meant it. You do get more beautiful every day.’

      ‘I bet you say that to all the girls.’

      He shrugged, СКАЧАТЬ