Page 57 of Game on, Love
I didn’t need to look at the board. I knew it landed exactly where I wanted to.
Bullseye.
“If only you were this nit-picky about your drives, Davenport.” I tsk’d, before grinning at him. Rihaan snickered as Noah walked to the board, pulling off the darts. “Maybe, focus on that when you go up to Loughborough.”
“Actually, not a bad call. I can give you pointers from what I picked up this season,” Sameer rubbed over his jaw as if mentally going over all the things he could list wrong withNoah’s drives, but his grin gave away that he was onlyhalfserious.
Sameer Ali was our resident spinner and the most laid-back guy you’d meet. He had this uncanny ability to hold his calm on and off pitch, and he was theyoungestone of us.
“Especially the last match. What were you thinking?”
“Oh, piss off.”
I grinned, knowing I’d done my job. It was simple: if you couldn’t beat them with skill, mess with their heads long enough to let them ruin it for themselves.
And if there was one thing I knew about cricketers was that we might be patient, but we were a stubborn lot.
Case in point, Noah and Sameer bickered through the rest of the game, going over the way Noah had gone out and got bowled out on the first ball and he handed us the easy win.
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to wind me up or what. That shot was barely legal.”
“Please, yourNancould’ve been holding the bat, and she would’ve made at least a run.”
“Don’t bring my Nan into this,” Noah grumbled, making the three of us chuckle, knowing how close he was with her. “And you’ve got no room to laugh, Rihaan. Didn’t you also miss a similar shot at Durham?”
Holding up my drink, I took a gulp in the hope it covered my expressions. Noah was pissed—drunk or mad—could be either at this point to bring up Durham.
The air was tense for a second before Rihaan winked. “Yeah, but the difference is whenIdo it? It’s art.”
“Yeah, I’m surePicassowould be proud.”
“I’m more of a Banksy fan, myself, but sure.”
I chuckled, relief washing over me as they carried on with their back and forth, but something in me tugged, and my head was pulled involuntarily in a direction.
I scanned the crowd, the place was now busier than before; there was barely any standing room left, but finding her was easier than breathing. Raina’s long black hair was falling in waves over her shoulder, her face scrunched up in an adorable way as she tried to squeeze past people. She was wearing a thin white turtle neck, along with a black skirt that ended just above her mid-thigh over some sheer tights that made my throat dry.
I straightened up slightly, taking another sip of my beer as I watched her without making it obvious.
“Who are you looking at?”
“No one.”
I looked at Rihaan quickly, who was now scanning the crowd, trying to figure out who got my attention. Thankfully, when I glanced in Raina’s direction for a second, she and Leah were facing the bar.
“You had that look in your eye.”
“What look?” Noah asked because I didn’t need to. I knew the one he was talking about.
“The same one he had when he saw someone at the night of the championship party.”
The two remaining heads snapped in the direction, and I held back a sigh, realising he had blabbed.
Before I could argue or come up with an excuse, Rihaan’s phone buzzed, and a strange expression took over his face.
“Right, I need to…” Rihaan trailed off, his fingers busy as he typed away on his screen. He frowned for a second before shaking his head and standing up. “I gotta run. But Oliver, do yourself a favour and go after her this time. My family already pissed on your chance once. Don’t hold back on our account. You two, leave him be.”
I didn’t reply because, well—what could I have said?