Binding 13

Obviously, Bella didn’t have the same level of respect for me.

I glanced over her shoulder towards the door and then at my watch before asking, "Did you need anything else? I have to talk to coach about a game."

"Oh yeah," she sighed. "You have the playoff match coming up, don’t you?"

I nodded stiffly.

Unfortunately, because we had lost a couple of matches earlier in the season, and Royce College from Dublin had won their game last week, it brought them level in points with us and put us in joint second place in the league, behind Levitt.

It was an unexpected turn of events and a pain in the arse because Royce should have lost their last game, which would have made life easier for us considering the final had already been organized between Levitt and Tommen.

Their win had thrown a spa

Already, they had pulled out of two other proposed dates for the play off – one in Cork and one in Dublin.

It was a mind-fucking stunt they were pulling in the hopes of tripping us up and clashing with match schedules.

They were contesting everything from the time of kick off, to the day of the week the match should be held, to the color of the away jerseys.

Switching days, pulling matches forward, and changing venues was all within Royce's right, but it was a scummy thing to do and few schools ever behaved that way.

The coach at Royce was being difficult, arguing on where the match should be held, and cribbing and grousing over the fairness of Tommen's team having an international player on the squad.

The eejit was clutching at straws because I was fair game.

Tommen was my school and Coach was well within his rights to play me.

I would have been Royce's international player had my folks stayed in Dublin, and that was the real issue here.

It was because of this that Coach wanted to talk to me pronto.

He wanted to go through my upcoming schedule because he needed to agree to a date.

We were breaking up from school next Friday for Easter holidays so this needed to happen sooner rather than later.

I had the summer campaign to focus on and scouts to impress, so April and May wouldn’t work for me.

Royce's coach knew this, too, which was why we were at a standstill.

I might find the school league boring and unchallenging, but I fucking hated sore losers.

It was with that in mind, that I had plans on burying Royce College at the earliest convenience.

"When are you guys playing them?" Bella asked.

"As soon as possible."

"You're going to be playing against your old teammates and friends, aren’t you?" she asked. "You were supposed to go to Royce, weren't you?"

"I'm here now, aren’t I," I drawled.

"Are you worried about playing your old friends?"

Yes.

"No."

"So you're ready for it?"

I stared blankly at her. "I'm always ready."

"I know you are," she purred, tone flirtatious.

Ugh.

Shaking my head, I turned to leave but she spoke again.

"I also wanted to talk to you about something else," she added, taking a step closer.

"Oh?" I stepped back. "What's that?"

"Us, Joh

"There is no us, Bella," I replied, frowning. "There never was."

"Then what the fuck were we doing for the past year, Joh

That was cool.

I knew what was underneath anyway.

She didn’t need to put on a performance in front of me.

I was well aware of her true colors.

"I don’t know, Bella," I replied in a flat tone. "But whatever it was, it's in the past."

"Are you fucking with me?" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "I'm trying to sort things out here."

Was she fucking with me?

"You ended it," I deadpa

"It's not serious,"

"I don’t care."

"I thought we were taking a break."

"We are," I confirmed. "A permanent one."

"I don’t have to be with him," she offered, batting her long eyelashes at me. "We could sort us out?"

"No thanks," I replied in a flat tone.

"Come on, Joh

"Yeah, we did," I agreed. "Half of which you spent ru

Her mouth fell open. "What are you talking about?"

"Cormac."

"I'm with him now," she huffed. "Not then."

"Don’t bother lying," I told her. "I already know you were riding him when you were with me."

"That's a lie," she countered. "Who told you that?"

"Everyone knows, Bella," I replied, then released a weary sigh. "I've known for a while."

I just chose to block it out…

"And you were hardly discreet," I decided to throw out there because quite frankly, I wanted to.

"Well, I wasn’t your girlfriend, Joh

"Because I was recovering from surgery!" I bit out.

"For months?" she demanded, tone accusing. "Yeah right, Joh

"I was," I barked.

I still am.

"And before that?" she demanded. "What about the other six long weeks before your surgery when you refused to meet up with me? When you ignored me. What's your excuse for that?"

"I wasn’t ignoring you."

"Yes, you were!"

"No, I fucking wasn’t. I just couldn’t get –" snapping my mouth shut, I shook my head and forced myself to hold my tongue.

Do not fight with girls, I reminded myself.

You'll never win.

They'll twist your words.

"You weren't giving me what I wanted," she continued to torment me by saying. "You weren't giving me enough attention! All those award ceremonies and balls in Dublin last year and never once did you invite me to go," she hissed. "You never wanted me there."

"Because you were never my girlfriend," I countered, throwing her earlier words back at her.

"Because you never asked me to be your girlfriend, Joh

"No, Bella, because you never wanted me," I shot back. "You only wanted the shiny part of my life. The fame. You were never interested in the real part. The real me."

"That's not true!" she argued.

"Why don’t you just tell it straight, Bella," I hissed, losing control of my temper. "You fucked off with Ryan because you thought I wasn’t going to be match fit. You saw I was out on injury, you thought I wouldn’t make it back in time for the summer campaign, so you went after the next best thing just to be safe."

She blushed.

I knew it!

"Ask me now," she urged, closing the space between us. "Ask me to do all those things and I will."

"I don’t want to ask you," I bit out, unhooking her arms from around my neck.

"Joh