Squinting against the sun, Luca looked up to where I was standing.
Beside me, I could hear Sienna screaming his name. Phoebe was bouncing on the chair. Behind me, Gabriella and Angelo were cheering, while Ari was sobbing.
Izzy waved and screeched. “Luca, we love you!”
Girl had no shame. But she achieved what she’d set out to do.
Luca spotted us.
He spotted me. At least I chose to believe it was me he was staring at.
When his seriousness was overridden by a beaming smile I could see from where I stood, I let out the breath I’d been holding. I wished I could’ve snapped a photo of him in that moment. It’d be one to remember for the rest of our lives, but I couldn’t bring myself to break eye contact.
Chapter Thirty-Three – Luca
Fifteen minutes ago, I’d wanted to throw up.
Ten minutes ago, Coach had sat me down and told me no matter what happened in the next ninety minutes, I was going out a winner.
Five minutes ago, I was sweating bullets.
Now, standing out here in the Saturday afternoon sun almost choking on the smoke from the fireworks, I stood staring up at the overflowing stands, taking in the moment.
Last night, Dad and I had sat on my deck, just the two of us, enjoying the quiet and a cold beer. When he’d called and said he was coming over, I’ll admit I was shocked. Usually when he came over, Mum was the one initiating it.
“You sure you’re okay with this, Luca?” he’d asked honestly.
Dad wasn’t one who was big with words, so when he said something, it was generally worth listening to. “Yeah. I really think I am.”
“I like Elise.”
“Me too,” I’d admitted, not one bit ashamed.
We sat there for a couple of hours before watching the moonlight dance on the still pool surface. When Dad had headed home, I’d walked him to his car. Before he slid in, he’d turned and hugged me tightly.
I couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. It wasn’t that he didn’t love me, I knew he did. Without question. But Dad wasn’t big on showing physical affection. With the girls, yes. With me, a handshake was all we needed.
So, when he’d hugged me and said, “I’m so proud of the man you’ve become, Luca,” I’d choked on my feelings.
Now the moment was here.
My moment.
I didn’t want to miss a second.
Chapter Thirty-Four – Elise
The national anthem started, and as one, we rose from our seats and sang along. Behind me, Angelo’s voice boomed. On the field, the players stood in line in their matching uniforms, eyes closed, hands clasped in front of them.
It would’ve been beautiful. Standing out in the sun, a clear blue sky stretched out above us. It would’ve been perfect except for the ear-piercing screeching of the barely dressed teenage girl who was absolutely murdering the anthem.
Thankfully she finished and a roar erupted roar from the crowd.
It was time.
While they cleared the field of all the excess people and equipment, Luca strode confidently over to the middle of the pitch and looked around. For someone who’d been pretending it wasn’t a big deal, he was looking awfully emotional out there.
“You ready?” Sienna asked, leaning over Phoebe and patting my leg.
“It’s not on me,” I replied, a little confused.
“You’re as nervous as he is, Elise. Just breathe. He’s got this. As soon as the whistle blows, he’ll be fine,” Angelo offered.
“It’s like riding a bike. He knows what to do,” Gabriella added.
In my head I knew everything they were saying was true. In my heart though, I was so nervous for him.
The whistle sounded.
A cheer echoed.
It was game time.
I was trying to watch the game, I really was, but my eyes kept drifting to one player in particular whether he had the ball or not. Even when he didn’t, his arms were waving wildly. Even though I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I was positive he was out there directing his troops.
When the ball was lobbed in his direction, I held my breath as it floated through the air before dropping to a complete halt against his foot. Swinging his leg back, he booted it with everything he had. Sliding to the front of my seat, I held my breath and bit the inside of my cheek. The ball needed to go in. It had to. It just had to. It needed to hit the back of the net. Luca deserved a goal in his final game.
Everything was happening in slow motion.
When the ball hit the net, the crowd went crazy. Like fully insane. And Luca’s family were no better. The kids were stamping their feet. His mum was clapping and crying. And Ari was clutching at her stomach.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the man standing in the centre of the field, staring straight up at the sky mouthing something before he was pounced on by his entire team. By the time they all arrived, including the goalkeeper who’d had to run three quarters of the length of the field to pile on, I couldn’t even see Luca.
He’d scored.
He’d done it.
In his final game, he’d put the ball in the back of the net.
Whatever happened from here, win, lose or draw, he’d be able to walk away knowing he’d scored in his final game.
“Ah fuck!” Behind me someone was complaining.
I didn’t even turn around. I didn’t want to know.
“This is not happening,” Sienna scoffed.
“What?”
“Ari just pissed herself.”
“Pissed herself?” I asked. Surely that couldn’t be right.
“Her waters just broke,” Sienna explained.
“Oh, shit.”
Spinning around, I saw Ari clutching her big pregnant belly with a pained look on her face. This couldn’t be happening. Not today. Not now. Ari wasn’t due for another two weeks, but it seemed like this baby didn’t want to miss the excitement.
“Oh my god!” I didn’t know what else to say.
“Mum. Can you take the boys?” Ari asked as Josh wrapped his arm around her back.
“Of course. Did you want me to come with you?”
“No, no. You stay and watch. Josh will take me to the hospital. We’ll call you once we know more.”
I couldn’t believe it. Ari was about to have a baby. I didn’t know anyone who’d had a baby. All my friends were stubbornly single and a million years away from reproducing, which knowing my friends, was a damn good thing. If they were anything like Jax and Dana, they could barely take care of themselves let alone a baby. Hell, I knew I wasn’t ready. I just hoped Ari didn’t expect me to babysit any time soon.
Grabbing her bag, Josh helped her waddle down the stairs towards the exit. In all the excitement, we’d missed another goal being scored. Thankfully it was for our team. I just hoped it wasn’t Luca. He’d understand if we all missed it, but I’d still feel like shit.
The whistle blew again and it was already half time.
I don’t even know how that happened. Between Luca’s goal and Ari’s water breaking, it’d been an eventful first half.
“Anyone want a drink?” Jax offered, bouncing to his feet.
“I’ll come,” I told him, grabbing my stuff.
While I stood clutching my ticket waiting for my hot donuts, I shovelled handfuls of potato chips into my mouth.
“Nervous?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
They called me over, and I picked up the paper bag full of hot, sugary goodness. Trying not to inhale all twenty-four donuts, we headed back to our seats. Reluctantly, I shared them, trying not to smack Phoebe’s fingers when she reached for her third.
“Here they come again,” Angelo said.
Gabriella’s head was buried in her phone. No doubt she was keeping tabs on what was happening with Ari.
“If you wanted to go, I can bring the boys home,” I offered stupidly.
The last thing I wanted to be respo
nsible for today was a handful of rowdy kids, but I felt like I had to offer. It was the right thing to do. When Gabriella turned me down, relief flooded me.
“Uncle Luca!” Phoebe gurgled around a mouthful of donut.
Looking up, I saw him standing there staring at the stands, his hands on his hips. Damn I hoped he got to keep the uniform. It mightn’t be a cop uniform or even a fireman’s, but damn he knew how to make it look good. And I wasn’t the only one that thought so. Jax’s silence said it all. Well, his silence, and the fact that when he lifted his drink to his lips, he missed his mouth.
“I called dibs,” I teased, bumping my shoulder with his.
“Party pooper.”
“Sorry, sweetie. But if Luca ever switches teams, I’ll make sure to send him your way,” I placated.
Another goal and the crowd was pumping. Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ was blasting through the speakers, and everyone was on their feet and singing along. Even the opposing teams’ fans had joined the party.
The teams reset and the game got underway again. I don’t know if it was the score line or the fact it was the last game in the season, but instead of everything moving in slow motion, it’d been supercharged. The kicks were faster, the tackles more aggressive. It was like both teams had had a rocket put up their butt at half time, but it was making a much more exciting spectacle. Thank God.
I was looking at my phone when a groan reverberated around the stadium. Looking up, I could see a Wolves player lying on the ground. Gulping down the lump in my throat, I desperately scoured the field for Luca. It couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t. That would be so unfair.
“It’s him,” Izzy whispered behind me.
Although I’m pretty sure she was talking to herself, I found myself leaning so far forward on my plastic chair, I almost flipped myself right off.
“What’s wrong with Uncle Luca?” Rowan, one of Ari’s kids, asked.
Rising from my seat, I didn’t say a word as I walked down the steps, my eyes set on the middle of the ground where an overweight man had just crouched down beside him with ‘Doctor’ emblazoned on his fluoro yellow vest. This wasn’t good. Not fucking good at all.
Around him players from both teams gathered, blocking my view completely. If I could just see his face, I’d know he was okay.
I reached the fence and leaned as far over as I could, ignoring the dirty looks from the security guard sitting only a few metres away. If I didn’t get some information soon, I’d be jumping this fence and running on to the field. I wouldn’t give a shit about being fined or even arrested if it meant someone told me what the fuck was going on. Overhead, the announcement confirmed what we already knew.
Luca Conti was down.
“Luca!” I screamed out, hoping he’d hear me and look my way.
Time was dragging.
Minutes passed and then Luca was upright, leaning heavily on one of the trainers. Relief flooded my body. Even though he was half carried from the ground, at least he was up and moving. I could deal with anything else.
The look on his face told me everything I needed to know. His eyes squinted. His cheeks were red and his jaw locked. Pain was obviously making Luca her bitch right now. As he got closer to the sideline, the players moved back into position, ready to restart the game. I didn’t give a shit though. My whole focus was on the man being helped from the field.
Walking along the fence, I tried to get closer to the bench to see what I could overhear or if I could snag Luca’s attention, but the security guard wasn’t buying it. I tried to tell her I was Luca’s girlfriend, but she didn’t believe me.
Looking past her, I realised it didn’t matter. I could be sitting on the bench and I still wouldn’t know because they didn’t even stop there. Instead, they headed straight down the race out of sight, leaving me completely clueless as to how bad it really was.
Chapter Thirty-Five – Luca
My knee hurt like a motherfucker.
Blinking back tears, I slid onto the treatment table and draped my arm over my eyes. I didn’t want to look at anyone, let alone the harsh light almost blinding me. When someone attempted to bend my knee, I howled in pain. I’d had injuries before, you didn’t get to my age without your fair share of battle wounds, but this one wasn’t just a scratch. I knew it, the doctor knew it. Coach knew it. The only difference was, no matter what the diagnosis, come tomorrow my football career was over.
“Okay, Luca, you’re going to need scans tomorrow, but for now we’ll just put some ice on it...”
“No,” I replied firmly.
“No?” the doctor questioned.
Dropping my arm, I rolled to my side and looked him straight in the eye. “I need to get back out there.”
“Luca, you can’t run on that leg.”
“Doc. Come on, man. It’s my last game. I need to go back out there. I need to walk off the field. I need the last memory I have of playing to be walking off the field and looking up into the stands. I don’t wanna be that guy who hobbled off halfway through.” I begged shamelessly, hoping to appeal to the traditionalist in him.
“You’re a liability if you go back out there,” he stated firmly.
Doc was a good guy. He’d taped me up and wiped away the blood more times than he should’ve. He knew me. He knew how stubborn and hard headed I could be when I set my mind to it. And there was no way I was backing down. Not today anyway.
“Can he play?” a voice asked from behind me.
Recognising Ray, one of the trainers, striding in, his arms folded across his chest, hope bloomed in my chest. Maybe I could convince him.
“He can’t run on that leg,” Doc reinforced.
“Is him being out on the field going to make it worse?”
Deciding it was best to let them argue it out between them and remain silent, I sat up and started poking at my knee, trying to figure out where exactly I’d hurt it. Right now, it wasn’t too bad, I knew though the moment I tried to put weight on it, it’d be another story all together.
“Depends.”
“On?”
“What you want him to be able to do.”
“Can he walk out on the field and stand there for five minutes?” Ray asked directly.
“No running?”
“No running.”
“No kicking?”
“No kicking.”
“You just want him to be able to walk onto the field and stand there?” Doc clarified.
When Ray nodded, I knew I’d won. He was just as keen to have me on there for the final minutes of the game as I was to be out there. This was going to happen. It wasn’t going to be the fairy-tale ending I’d dreamt about, but it was better than the alternative.
“What if we lose because of me?” I asked timidly. As much as I wanted to be out there, I wasn’t about to cost my team a win because of it.
“We’re up four to zero. We’ve got this. And we’ve got your back,” Ray confirmed, clapping his hand on my shoulder before heading back out of the room and leaving me sitting there, my eyes darting between my knee and Doc.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Luca? It’s your knee,” he reminded me.
“Let’s do it. Even if I only get out there for two minutes, I’ll be happy with that,” I confirmed as he reached for the wide roll of tape.
After a quick pain-killing injection into my knee, he strapped it so tight there was nothing going to move in there. I could barely bend the damn thing. Doc’s offsider appeared and offered me crutches. Obviously, he wasn’t in on the plan. The last thing I needed to do was to be caught wobbling around on crutches before making my way back out onto the field.
Slowly, I inched my way off the table, my good leg taking all the weight. That was fine. That was easy. But as I took my first step, I ground my teeth so hard I would be shocked if I had any left.
“Take it easy,” Doc reminded me as he fell in step beside me.
The three of us walked slowly back down the race, the noise get
ting louder as we approached the field. When I’d hobbled off, I’d refused to look up. It didn’t take a genius to know everyone was staring down at me, no matter which team they were barracking for. I didn’t want to see the pity and the defeat on their faces. And I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing it on my family’s. So, I’d kept my head down and hurried by. Well, as much as you can hurry by when you’re on one leg.
We made it to the bench, and I heard my name being called. I would’ve put money on the fact they thought the next time they saw me I’d be wrapped in ice, wearing my jacket and done for the day. And on any other day they would’ve been right. It’s not something I’d usually risk. But today was different. Today I had to leave everything I had out on the field, because for me, there was no tomorrow.
When my butt hit the pine, Doc looked down at me and, using his best fatherly voice, he said, “You have five minutes left in that leg. Eight at best. You go out there. You don’t run. You don’t kick. You don’t tackle. You can stand there and watch. But that’s it.”
“Geez, you make me sound about as useful as a witch’s hat.” I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
“Luca, I’m serious.”
“I know. I got this,” I offered with a wink.
I don’t know if he believed me or not, but he left me sitting there while he headed in Coach’s direction, no doubt to give him the same lecture.
Minutes ticked by and I watched the clock as much as I watched my teammates running around out there, kicking the ball back and forth. I didn’t even realise I’d been muttering until Troy, Coach’s right-hand man, dropped into the seat next to me.
“You’ve got a good football brain,” he stated.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” I admitted.
“It is. Trust me.”
“You sure about going back out there?” he asked.
“Yeah. I need to do this.” I hoped he understood.
Staring up at the scoreboard, I watched the minutes pass. Each time another minute was wiped off the clock, the end grew closer. I’d never admit it, but my emotions were overriding the pain.
Overtime (Playing The Field Book 1) Page 21