Fair Game

by Amy Andrews

  Levi took Tony’s hand in an automatic gesture, a smile plastered to his face as his gaze sought Darcy’s. Are you okay?

  Their eyes met and she inclined her head slightly. I’m fine.

  ‘Tony called around to say hi.’

  Levi’s eyes narrowed a little. Her face and voice weren’t weird in that way she had when she needed to be rescued from some guy who was trying to pick her up. In fact, she was smiling; she seemed relaxed, lounging around in her uniform, apparently unconcerned about her grimy state.

  That was a good thing, right? That she wasn’t primping and preening for Tony? She used to shed her uniform before Tony got home from work because he’d always complained she looked like a chippie in it.

  Fucking idiot.

  Tony laughed. ‘I was in town, right? Hey, you want a beer, man?’

  Levi gritted his teeth as Tony headed for the kitchen like he’d never moved out and it was his place to do whatever the fuck he wanted. ‘No, I just ducked home to grab the studio keys. I forgot them when I left this morning.’

  He glanced at Darcy again. Her eyes were sparkling the way they always did when she was a little on the merry side, which explained the four empty beer bottles on the coffee table in front of her. He presumed she hadn’t drunk them all or she’d have been under the table by now.

  Darcy was an alcoholic lightweight.

  ‘So.’ Tony rocked on his feet, looking first at Levi, then at Darcy, then back to Levi again. ‘You guys still live together. I didn’t know that.’

  Levi suppressed a snort. He sincerely doubted it. They may not have crossed each other’s paths in a couple of years but he and Tony still moved in the same circles. It would be easy to find out the details of Darcy’s living situation and Tony had a big enough ego to think it was perfectly okay to keep tabs on his ex.

  The way he was looking at Darcy it was obvious he was still interested in her. Bile rose in Levi’s gut and he swallowed hard against it.

  It was on the tip of Levi’s tongue to say someone had to stay. But he was pretty sure Darcy didn’t want to revisit the past with her ex right there.

  ‘Why wouldn’t we be?’

  It was Levi’s apartment after all. He’d received an inheritance from his grandmother that he’d used as a deposit. Tony, his then best friend from high school, had rented the spare room soon after Levi had moved in to help him cover the mortgage. And then Tony and Darcy had gotten together and she’d joined them. It was a two-bed one-bathroom place from the seventies, plenty big enough for the three of them

  Absolutely perfect for two.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Tony gave a shrug as he blasted Darcy with a smile full of sex and familiarity. Every cell in Levi’s body went on high alert. ‘I thought Darcy might have moved in with one of her girlfriends or something.’

  Oh yeah, Levi just bet Tony had thought that. In Tony’s egocentric brain he’d probably thought he was the only guy she’d ever live with.

  ‘No way.’ Darcy glanced between the two men. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip and a little V drew her brows together as she read the lines of tension in Levi’s body. ‘Where else would I get an apartment so close to the city and the footy grounds for such a great price?’

  Tony laughed; so did Levi as he forced his shoulders to relax. Darcy’s V smoothed out. But every cell in Levi’s body stayed on high alert.

  ‘Hey, we should go out for a beer one night,’ Tony said, addressing Levi, as the laughter petered out. ‘Get some of the old crew together. Damo and Harvey.’

  Levi would rather stick himself in the eye with a hot poker. But he smiled and feigned interest. Darcy had been worried enough about how she and Tony were going to work together without him going all Neanderthal on her. He’d been the one who’d assured her she could put their shit behind her and do this. If she could suck it up. He could too.

  But that didn’t mean he had to drink with the fucker.

  ‘Sure. That sounds great. We’ll set something up. But I gotta run... I’m going to be late.’

  ‘No worries. I’ll be in touch.’

  Levi barely managed a nod at Tony and couldn’t even look at Darcy as he turned away, striding for his room. Resentment simmered through his veins and by the time he’d reached his bedroom, the urge to slam the door rode him like the devil.

  He didn’t. But it was a close call. ‘Dickwad!’ he muttered under his breath.

  Christ. Not only was Tony back but he wanted Darcy back too. Levi knew it the way men always knew that kind of shit about other men. And it made him want to break things.

  Preferably Tony’s face.

  He’d have given anything in this moment not to have to leave. God alone knew how much that bastard could insinuate himself in a booze-fuelled evening. But he had to get to the studio. He couldn’t just blow off a class with hardly any notice because he was jealous.

  Yes. Jealous. Red-hot, green-eyed-monster, jealous.

  Levi collapsed against the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose as the realisation sunk in. He took some deep, steadying breaths, practising what he’d learned at an ashram in India a decade ago and preached three nights a week.

  Suck it in. Hold. Blow it out. Suck up the tension and breathe it out. Relax, dude. Just because he’s making a play for her doesn’t mean she’s stupid enough to fall for it.

  Give her some credit.

  The breathing and the pep talk worked and he sat, centring himself for a moment before pulling off his uniform of navy cargoes and blue polo shirt embroidered with a City Sports Clinic logo and pulling on his yoga gear—loose trackpants and T-shirt. By the time he’d pushed his feet into his slides, he was centred as fuck.

  Be cool, man, be cool.

  The pep talk wasn’t needed, however. When he reappeared with his gym bag and the studio keys in hand, Tony was gone and Darcy was in the kitchen tossing the beer bottles into the recycling.

  Levi leaned his shoulder into the doorframe. ‘Hey.’

  She glanced at him, pushing her hair, with its blonde-brown streaks, behind her ear. ‘Hey.’

  ‘You okay?’

  She frowned as if she was considering the question deeply, turning to face him. ‘I... think so.’

  ‘How did it feel? Seeing him again?’

  ‘Weird. Surreal. I thought it’d be different seeing him again for the first time.’ Levi’s spidey senses prickled. ‘Different how?’

  ‘I don’t know. Embarrassing, maybe. Like we might both be back in that night he’d stormed out of here. I thought it’d be... harder. But it wasn’t.’

  Levi figured that had to be good. Right? ‘That’s because you’re over him.’

  ‘Yes.’ She gave a half laugh.

  Maybe it was her laughter but the conviction in her voice was subpar. ‘It’s always strange meeting up with exes again,’ he said, needing to assure her that whatever she was feeling was normal, not some kind of sign.

  A sardonic lift of her left eyebrow caused him to grin. ‘Of which you have vast experience?’

  He grinned bigger. ‘I have enough. It’s like looking at all the things that could have been. And either regretting that they didn’t come to fruition or being grateful that they didn’t.’

  ‘Yeah.’ She nodded. ‘That’s kinda it. Sorta... nostalgic, I guess.’

  Nostalgia. That could be a dangerous thing. Sucking people down memory lane, ringing shiny haloes around the good times, fading the bad times to black. The trapezius muscles either side of Levi’s neck tightened. Thank Christ he was heading to a class now or he’d be tied in bloody knots for the rest of the night.

  ‘Be careful. With Tony. Yeah?’

  They didn’t talk about their private lives with each other—mostly because they didn’t have them—but it had been tacit agreement, from the moment Darcy had declared herself over Tony, that that kind of stuff was off limits. And he didn’t want to cross a line but he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself either.

  ‘What do you mean?’


  ‘I think he might be angling to... get back with you.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Oh that? Yeah. I figured.’

  Levi blinked. He hadn’t been expecting such insight, which was stupid because Darcy had never been clueless. ‘You did?’

  ‘I lived with the man for five years. You think I don’t know when he’s flirting?’

  ‘I always kinda thought it was his natural state of being.’

  She laughed and relief rushed through Levi’s veins, cool and light as Evian. ‘He does have trouble switching it off.’

  ‘Didn’t that bug you when you were together?’ He’d never asked. Had been too afraid to open up a portal from the past but it had sure as hell had bugged the crap out of him.

  ‘No.’ Darcy shook her head. ‘There’s flirting that is the harmless kind we all indulge in to a certain degree and there’s flirting with intent. I know the difference.’

  ‘I think he might be going straight to the flirting with intent.’

  She shrugged as if it was nothing too much to worry about even as the thought of it made him sick to his gut. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make it clear that’s not on the cards.’

  ‘I know but—’

  ‘Levi.’ Her quiet interruption was as efficient as an exasperated reprimand. ‘I’m a big girl. I can look after myself.’

  Yes. But... ‘He can be persuasive.’ Tony had always been persuasive. Even in high school he was that one cool guy who could talk a chick out of her clothes in record time when every other guy had been trying to get to second base.

  ‘Yes he can.’

  Levi ground his shoulder into the doorframe, knowing he should drop it and not really sure why he couldn’t. ‘I remember what you were like, Darcy. After he left.’

  ‘I remember, too, Levi. Don’t worry.’

  ‘Okay.’ Levi held up his hands in a surrender motion. What else could he say? She was right, she could look after herself. It didn’t stop the taut pull of his neck muscles, though, or the low ominous beat inside his brain. ‘Sorry.’

  She shook her head on a smile, which widened her mouth even further and transformed her features from interesting to breathtaking. ‘It’s okay. But... hadn’t you better be going?’

  Levi glanced at his watch. ‘Christ, yes.’ He pushed off the doorframe. ‘What are your plans tonight?’

  ‘Bath, long hot bath.’ She sighed at thought, her eyes going all dreamy. ‘I’m covered in a film of soil and potting mix. I don’t think I’ve ever felt dirtier.’

  Which really wasn’t the image Levi needed in his head as he left. Darcy reclined in the bath—hot, wet, naked and slippery—covered with those jasmine bubbles she liked so much.

  Jesus. There wasn’t enough namaste in the world for that.

  Chapter 3

  In the blink of an eye, it was mid-November and the Banshees’s first training session was upon them. Darcy had left work early and arrived at training an hour before schedule because she wanted to talk to Tony. He’d texted a couple of times since he’d called at the apartment unexpectedly, asking her if she wanted to join him for a drink.

  Both times she’d politely refused but she knew she needed to go further than that, to tell him they were never ever ever getting back together. She could have texted him. She could have rung and spoken with him. But this was a message she felt she had to deliver personally. She needed him to look her in the eye and know she was serious.

  Sure, parts of her had stirred at the memory of him as he’d sat across the coffee table from her. He was a good-looking guy who knew how to turn it on. It was only natural that his presence sparked memories of a time when she’d been deeply, deeply in love with him. Only natural that she should spend some of that time thinking what if?

  But nostalgia wasn’t love and she was over him. About one thousand per cent. She’d spent a good part of the last two years grappling with their break-up, with his rejection of her, and frankly resenting the crap out of him. But he’d apologised and she’d accepted it so she couldn’t continue to resent him. Not if she was going to play footy for him. This inaugural season was far too important to be caught up in petty old relationship issues. She was a member of the Banshees and he was their coach. To be successful—to win—they needed to be a close-knit family. So she and Tony needed to forge a new relationship—that friendship he’d suggested.

  Even as his eyes had suggested something else.

  She could run with friendship. But not the something else. Apart from the fact she didn’t think of him like that anymore, it would be the height of stupidity to become romantically involved with her coach.

  Also, probably, ethically questionable.

  ‘Hey, you.’

  Darcy pulled herself out of her reverie to find Tony coming out of the locker room as she was entering. His face lit up in pleasure and he leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. Darcy stiffened and pulled back slightly.

  Yep, she was glad she’d sought him out for this conversation.

  He frowned. ‘Darcy?’

  ‘Don’t, Tony.’

  ‘Christ, Darce, it’s a peck on the cheek.’

  ‘And are you going to greet all the Banshees the same way?’ she enquired, folding her arms.

  He looked affronted and opened his mouth to speak before shutting it again, obviously realising whatever he was about to say was not going to help his case.

  ‘Exactly.’

  He shrugged. ‘We’re old friends. That’s how old friends greet each other.’

  ‘No. We’re old lovers. But I do want to be new friends with you.’

  He took a step forward. ‘I do too.’

  ‘No.’ Darcy stood her ground. ‘You want to be friends with benefits.’

  ‘I suppose Levi told you that?’

  Darcy blinked at the edge in Tony’s voice. What the hell did he mean by that? ‘No. I have eyes. And a brain.’ She stabbed him with a steely glare. ‘I figured it out all by myself.’

  He looked sheepish then, the edge gone as he looked her over, an action that would once upon a time have filled her with pleasure, but now barely tolerated. She was in a crop top and a pair of skins that hugged her legs and finished just below her knee, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. It was standard training gear but his gaze lingered on her chest.

  ‘We were good together, Darce. And I’m just a man.’

  ‘No, Tony. You’re my coach. There’s no sexes in this equation. You’re not a man and I’m not a woman. There’s only coach and player. We’re asexual. We’re Switzerland.’

  He shrugged again in that hey baby way of his. ‘On field, sure.’

  ‘No.’ Her rebuff was polite and low but it rang with sincerity around the room, echoing off the empty metallic lockers. ‘On-field, off-field and for all the days of my life. What we had is over and I have absolutely no interest in rekindling it.’

  Their gazes locked and she watched as the emotions in his eyes ran the gamut. Puzzlement, affront, hurt, disbelief, then finally acceptance. ‘Okay. I got it. I blew it and whatever it was we had is dead and gone. Just friends.’

  He held out his hand and Darcy regarded it suspiciously for a moment. But he nodded as she glanced at him again and she took it. His hand was firm and warm and he gave a brief impersonal shake before breaking their connection. Problem solved.

  Darcy hoped it was really that easy.

  ‘I’ll be down in half an hour with the bigwigs to get this thing started.’

  Her stomach flipped over just thinking about the roller-coaster she was about to step on to. She knew most of the men’s team were going to be in the stands watching today, as well as AFL officials. She’d already passed some media setting up and eager members of the public who were being admitted free of charge to the stadium to witness the first ever Banshees training session.

  This was happening. It was actually happening. It was far more important than any relationship and Darcy was pleased to have said what needed to be said, to have given Tony a clear m
essage. To be on a businesslike footing with him.

  Coach. Player. Asexual.

  Switzerland.

  ***

  ‘Hubba freaking hubba.’ Shayla, a stocky redhead standing to Darcy’s left had been goggle-eyed since Tony had introduced himself as the coach. Darcy knew about half of the team already, but the women who were flanking her she didn’t really know outside of that one night they’d all been out together in Melbourne after the draft.

  ‘He’s way cuter in person,’ Shayla continued, whispering while looking attentive to the locker-room speech one of the head honchos was giving about how excited everyone was for the women’s game.

  Wendy, a statuesque indigenous woman to Shayla’s left, stifled a smile, as did Genevieve, a peppy blonde to Darcy’s right. Darcy could empathise. She’d felt the same way when she’d first met Tony. Funny how his looks failed to do a damn thing for her now, despite recognising in an abstract kind of way that he still had it.

  ‘Okay, girls.’ The head honcho wound up. ‘Go get ’em. Make us proud.’

  Tony nodded and slapped the older guy’s back. ‘You heard the man. Let’s hit the field.’

  The locker room erupted into claps and cheers and the sound of twenty-five women stomping their studs on the hard floor in absolute joy and exultation before high-fiving each other and running out the door.

  Butterflies stampeded in Darcy’s stomach as they ran out into the afternoon heat, the light of the day only just beginning to wane. Shouts and applause from the crowd, which must have been a couple of thousand, bolstered the team and they were all grinning as Tony put them through a warm-up routine.

  ‘There must be about two thousand people out there,’ Wendy said as she dropped into a lunge.

  ‘Yep.’ Darcy grinned. ‘Not bad for six o’clock Wednesday evening.’

  Tony stood on the sidelines with some of the officials and the male team while they warmed up, occasionally shouting for them to switch to another exercise. When he shouted, ‘C’mon Darce, I know you can do better than that,’ at her skipping prowess, she wanted to smack him.

  ‘Darce?’ Shayla, who was skipping beside her, turned her head and cocked an eyebrow. ‘You know him?’