Tigers & Devils (51 page)

“Hey, my water!” I protested.

“I have something else to tell you.”

“Good something or bad something?” I groaned. I didn’t want anything to jeopardise how perfect this day was becoming.

“Definitely a
good
something.”

We fell back on the couch.

“Then spill.”

“I’ve told the Devils I’m not renewing my contract this year. As of December, I’m a free agent.”

Wow, that was
huge
. But good? “And?”

“I’m moving back here. Permanently. Preliminary talks have already started for me to sign with a Victorian club.”

TIGERS AND DEVILS | 359

“But it would have been on the news!”

“Ed’s pissed, and he wants it hush-hush at the minute. And you know Ed.”

I did, having had firsthand experience with Ed’s machinations.

“So no more semi long-distance relationship,” Declan said happily. “One more troubling factor in our problems solved.”

“You were doing all this while we were….” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words for fear it would happen again.

“I had hope,” he said simply.

“I wish you had talked to me so I could have had some.”

“Yeah, well, things are going to change on that front now, aren’t they?”

I kissed him. “Fuck, yes. I’m not going through this again.” My eyes widened as a thought occurred to me. “Who have you signed up with?”

Declan grinned.

“Please say it’s Richmond!”

“Like Richmond could afford me,” he scoffed.

My face fell. “Oh fuck, anyone but Collingwood!”

He silenced me by kissing me again. “You look ready to drop.” He stood and reached down to help hoist me up, leading me towards the bedroom. I think he only intended for me to get some sleep. But now that we were back together, our bodies moved of their own will. Declan stripped off his T-shirt; his chest took on a creamy complexion in the sunlight. Winter had stripped away his training tan. Some hesitation showed in his eyes as he looked over my sling, but I hooked the fingers off my free hand into his jeans and pulled him in closer. He fiddled with the buttons of my shirt and pulled it off one of my shoulders, gently unhooking the strap of the sling to pull the rest of the shirt out from beneath it and letting it drop to the floor. When he had my sling reattached to support my arm again, he finished undressing me, slowly, leaving a trail of kisses.

Skin to skin, there could be no pretences. All the strain and worries of the past few weeks were finally put to rest; the only important thing was us, here, now, and as far as we could see into the future.

“I missed you,” Declan breathed.

I realised that those nights when I lay alone in my own bed tormenting myself with his absence, he had been doing the same. This made me pull him in closer with my good arm and then reach up to tilt his face to look into mine. “I’m not going anywhere ever again.”

“Promise me,” he said hoarsely.

There was no space at all between us now.

“I promise,” I assured him.

360 | SEAN KENNEDY

We were seeking comfort in each other, but we were also making a reclamation, willing our time of separation to slide away into the realm of bad memory and nothing more.

His breath was like fire on my cheek as we rode it out together; his kiss sent fire through every vein and fibre of my being. After the time I’d spent
longing
for his touch, it was intense, and yet his caresses were infinitely gentle. He arched against me; his need was as urgent as mine, and I heard him call out my name as I called his at the height of our passion. We lay entwined in each other at last, not wanting to separate; we had spent too much time apart.

It was my turn to say it now. Something had passed between us now, something tinged with regret that we had wasted precious time, time that we wouldn’t ever get back. So I couldn’t keep things inside and risk falling back into the same old traps again.

“I missed you.”

“Never again,” he replied firmly, wiping my hair back from my forehead. The words were a contract. “How’s your arm?”

“Fine. I don’t know whether from the drugs or the endorphins.”

He laughed.

“Dec?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s not be this stupid again?”

His lips were against my forehead as he spoke. “We probably will be stupid again, but I promise you, not
that
stupid.”

I closed my eyes; I finally felt at peace again. Drowsy with Declan’s warmth wrapped around me, it was easy to feel that he had never been away. I heard Declan whisper, “I’m in this for the whole season, not the first round.”

I groaned sleepily at the bad metaphor. “Cheesy, Dec, cheesy.”

But I told him I was in it for the whole season as well.

FEBRUARY. A new year, a new season of footy.

I sit in the stands with Fran, Roger, and Lisa. Below us, Declan and Abe run out onto the field in their new team colours. The anticipation for them this year is high; they refused to be parted in their negotiations when leaving the Devils, and although it took some time their contracts saw them remain teammates.

Alice Provotna is a row behind us in the WAGs box, filming it all. This is her last day of shooting, and then she will do her final edit on the documentary. Declan and I decided to tell the truth about everything, even our temporary split, so that the film can realistically depict the pressure that weighed upon us in our year in the spotlight. What’s going to be odd is that it will premiere at this year’s Triple F festival, and we will all have to attend even though Nyssa and I no longer work for them. The interest in us hasn’t exactly died down, but it doesn’t seem so controversial now. People seem to be getting used to it, although you still get the occasional dickhead. Declan and I still bicker, but wonder of wonders, actually talking to each other gets us through it.

The siren goes for the start of the game, and Lisa and I leap to our feet. I may be supporting Dec and his team today, but I will be wearing my Richmond scarf tomorrow when Dec, Roger, and I will be going to watch them play against Hawthorn. Fran, of course, is not coming. This game today will probably be enough for her for one year. As I watch Declan soar to take a mark, I think about how much my life has changed over the past two years. In life, like football, you need a good team to support you. I have that. And if you have that, no matter what happens, you’ll always be okay.

364 | SEAN KENNEDY

TIGERS AND DEVILS | 365

SEAN KENNEDY lives in the second-most isolated city in the world, so it’s just as well he has his imagination for company when real-life friends are otherwise occupied. He has far too many ideas and wishes he had the power to feed them directly from his brain into the laptop so they won’t get lost in the ether.

Visits Sean’s Blog at http://kennsea.livejournal.com/

366 | SEAN KENNEDY