Fair Game

by Amy Andrews

  They’d argued and she’d left the apartment without talking to him but she knew he’d be there in the stands somewhere.

  Because his heart beat for her.

  Her own heart crumpled a little at the thought as Genevieve’s words came back to her. You just gotta be open to it...

  She jumped up and down, shaking thoughts of Levi off as she shook out her arms, tested her thigh, stretched her hamstrings. It was important to keep moving, keep her muscles warm from the light work-out Tony had put them through just prior to running on the field. Then the ref was performing the centre bounce and it was go time.

  And Darcy went.

  But no matter how fast she ran, or far she kicked, or high she jumped it just didn’t seem to be good enough on the field. She felt out of sync with the rest of her team, her brain and body disconnected. Her body having to rely on muscle memory while her brain played I love you, I love you, I love you on constant repeat.

  Damn it. She’d told Levi if she screwed up she’d never forgive him and she got madder and madder as the play unfolded. At Levi. At herself.

  You just gotta take a chance. Why does it have to be one or the other?

  Yeah. She was pissed at Genevieve, too.

  Darcy leapt in the air, her hands outstretched out to take a mark, her knee in the middle of a Siren’s back. She couldn’t be in love with Levi after three weeks. She couldn’t. She caught the ball and came tumbling to the ground, landing hard on her thigh.

  It twinged painfully for a moment and the crowd got to its feet with a collective gasp. But Darcy sprang right back up again. She was fine. Her thigh was fine.

  It was doing a lot better than her gut and her head.

  And her heart.

  Her heart knew, as Levi had pointed out, there’d been something between them for much longer than three weeks. She’d had a thing for him for a while. And things had definitely intensified since the draft. But two years?

  He’d been in love with her for two years?

  Somehow it was freaking her out less and less the more she thought it. It made her feel tight in the chest and shivery all over, but in a good way. She found herself searching the crowd for his face until Wendy called out, ‘Yours, Dancer!’ and she turned in time to intercept the ball.

  It nearly took her head off though.

  At half-time, the game was close. The Banshees were ahead by four and playing well, despite Darcy not being in top form. But the Sirens were the better team and Tony knew it.

  ‘What’s wrong with you out there?’ Tony demanded stopping her on the sideline as the rest of the Banshees ran back into the locker room at half-time. ‘Why isn’t your head in the game?’

  They were rhetorical questions, he didn’t stick around for the answer, but Darcy knew the answer with sudden clarity. Her head was in the game.

  But her heart was up in the stands somewhere with Levi.

  Levi who loved her. Who’d shown her that in a thousand different ways these past couple of years. By being there for her through and thick and thin. Her port in a storm, her confidant, her cheerleader, her friend.

  And now her lover. Loving her in a way no man ever had—on her own terms.

  Hell, the man had done everything but paint I love you on the walls of the apartment. How freaking blind had she been?

  And it was time to stop pretending she didn’t feel the same way. That somewhere in these past couple of years her feelings hadn’t deepened for him too. That admiration had turned to lust. That like had turned to love.

  Bloody hell. She did love him. She loved Levi Phillips.

  And not the way she’d loved Tony all those years ago when she’d been young and infatuated by the hot guy. This love had come from the depths of something solid and real.

  And she had to tell him. Now. And not for the sake of the game but because she’d made him wait long enough.

  She turned around, headed back onto the field, her heart thundering louder than the crowd who’d spotted her and had started cheering again. The half-time entertainment was taking place out in the middle but Darcy ignored it, desperately scanning the crowd.

  ‘Levi!’ It was insane to be calling his name—no one could hear her. But she didn’t know what else to do. Surely he’d see her? ‘Levi!’

  Christ, this was her plan? Stand in the middle of the field for twenty minutes calling his name, looking like a complete idiot?

  Well... yeah. If she had to. Because he was here somewhere. Even if she hadn’t known it for a fact, she felt him. Her heart was up there beating somewhere with him.

  ‘Darcy?’

  She heard her name being called over to the left, it was distant but it was male. How she singled it out she had no idea because the crowd was also chanting her name as if they knew something big was about to happen.

  She looked around wildly to find Levi—in jeans and his Banshee jersey—running down the cement stairs of a stand.

  ‘Levi!’

  She ran towards him to the mad clapping of the crowd. Levi vaulted over the railing at the last row, not bothering with the last dozen stairs, landing on his feet like a panther.

  The crowd clapped more. Two security guys ran after Levi but Darcy waved them away as she reached him.

  ‘Levi!’ she said, grasping for his arms, out of breath from her half-field run.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ He frowned at her. ‘Why are you crying?’

  Darcy sniffed. She was crying?

  ‘Are you hurt?’ He threw himself to his knees and started to prod her thigh. ‘You went down pretty hard at one point.’

  Darcy didn’t know whether to laugh or cry harder at the sight—the crowd going off, security guards hovering, a sideline camera trained on them and Levi at her feet. ‘I’m fine,’ she dismissed, shaking him off her leg and pulling on his shoulders to get him to stand.

  He stroked her face, his handsome features screwed up into a knot of concern. God, she loved his face. ‘You’re not fine. What’s wrong?’

  ‘I’d told Tony that I didn’t need a man or love and it’s true. I don’t need a man to love me to be fulfilled.’

  He nodded, his gaze darting around obviously wondering where the hell this was going in the middle of the field, at half-time, in front of everyone including national television cameras. But everything outside of Levi had faded to black for Darcy.

  ‘I know.’

  He had that voice he used with patients who were sure their careers were over. The voice he’d used with her when she’d thought her career was over.

  Calm. Soothing.

  ‘I told him I didn’t want it. But that was wrong. Because I felt like it would hold me back.’ A sob broke free from her chest but she ploughed on. ‘I didn’t realise that you could be stronger together. And I’m a chick. I can multi-task.’

  She was actually sobbing now. She was sure she was going to watch this back on the TV and kick her own arse for looking so damn weak but she didn’t seem to be able to stop herself.

  ‘Okay...’

  ‘I can have y... y... you and footy. I c...c... can mul... multi-task.’

  Suddenly a smile cracked over his face and his frown melted away. ‘You multi-task better than anyone I know, DC.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I freaked out.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He chuckled quietly as he pulled her into his arms. ‘Just a little.’

  The crowd went nuts. They didn’t know for sure what was going on in the middle but when Levi slid his hands onto her face and kissed her, they knew whatever it was, it was red-hot.

  ‘I love you,’ Darcy said when they came up for air, the crowd still applauding them, the half-time entertainment paling by comparison to the real-life drama playing out in the centre. ‘I’m sorry I panicked and went into meltdown mode.’

  He smiled. ‘It’s okay. I didn’t mean to drop it on you like that.’

  ‘I’m glad you did. I needed the jolt. To make me see how I really feel about you. It was easier to keep thinkin
g of you as my roomie the last couple of years then face the fact that you might not feel the same way about me. I got so used to being in that lane, I was too terrified to switch.’

  He kissed her on the nose and Darcy swore she heard the entire crowd swoon as one. ‘Me too.’

  ‘I like this lane better.’

  Levi chuckled. ‘Me too.’

  The he kissed her again, hard and brief, before setting her away from him. ‘You should go. I’m pretty sure they’re missing you in the locker room.’

  Darcy nodded, knowing he was right. Knowing Tony would probably stalk out here at any moment if she didn’t get her arse inside pronto. ‘Yeah. But I think we need to bow to the crowd before we leave.’

  He laughed and took her hand and they bowed together to wild applause. Best. Game. Ever.

  Epilogue

  In the end, it wasn’t the best game. The Banshees lost the game by four. Darcy played a brilliant second half, all the team did. But the Sirens played better.

  They were just the better team on the day.

  It was a devastating loss. The Banshee’s season was over. And with it all their hopes and dreams of premiership glory in the inaugural year of the women’s game. They wouldn’t be going to the finals. They wouldn’t be holding a cup aloft while glitter cannons shot silvery rain down over them.

  But their disappointment was laced with an incredible sense of accomplishment and the feeling that they’d been part of something big. Bigger than them.

  A movement.

  And there was always next year.

  Darcy met Levi outside about an hour after the game finished. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, then proceeded to kiss it all better. Darcy sighed, sinking into him and the kiss and the knowledge that she could do this whenever the hell she wanted.

  ‘Take me home,’ she said when finally they pulled apart.

  ‘You’re not all going out?’

  ‘Not tonight.’ None of them had been in the mood. ‘We’re going to get together next week.’

  He smiled and nodded and Darcy wondered if she’d ever get used to her heart doing that crazy little jitterbug in her chest when he smiled.

  ‘So... Vegemite and cheese toasties and Netflix?’

  Darcy laughed. ‘Sure. We can start there.’

  They didn’t.

  Thanks for reading Fair Game. I hope you enjoyed it.

  If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage amyandrews.com.au, follow me on Twitter @AmyAndrewsbooks, or like my Facebook page AmyAndrewsAuthor.

  You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here escapepublishing.com.au.

  Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.

  You’ve just read a book in the Women of W.A.R. series. The other books in this series are Game On and Long Game.

  If you liked this book, here are my other books, Risky Business and Limbo.

  This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.

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