Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
SAM
Despite agreeing to eat an obscene amount of pasta, while Naomi and I were doing our press commitments—where, on more than one occasion, I had to stress that the mistakes that cropped up in the final were down to both of us failing to communicate properly and not just her—somebody had decided that we should still celebrate being runners-up by going out.
Historically, I didn’t celebrate coming second.
Dad hated it more than he hated it when I lost in an earlier round.
Being runner-up was like the ultimate sign of being a loser.
It wasn’t something worth celebrating. My sisters had threaded an arm through each of mine to stop me from trying to bail.
Like they knew if given half the chance, I would lock myself in my room and replay the last ten minutes of the match that cost us the win.
Naomi made weak protests about how she wasn’t dressed to do anything but go home, in her too-big midnight blue jumper and, surprisingly, neon green cycling shorts, with wet hair twisted into a tight low bun.
Isaac told her not to be ridiculous, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, took one of her kit bags, and we started walking.
We were now at a members-only club—how the three Sullivan members managed to wrangle an extra plus one was a mystery to me—huddled in a corner booth with so many bowls of chips and chicken wings that there was almost no space left on the table, while Alisha and Isaac set up a darts game for us.
They were arguing about which names to put on the leaderboard. So far, they had Mimi, Leesh, Charlie, and Blondie.
Alisha turned to where Hannah and I were sat. “Either of you got a nickname? It can be dumb like Isaac’s.”
The nickname made sense for him. I could imagine the way Naomi’s voice would form around the word, a teasing lilt to her tone and a wry smile on her face.
“Nan and Sammy,” Hannah answered for both of us, forcing my train of thought to come to a halt, and I sent a smile her way for choosing a tame nickname. I’d been called a whole host of things by both my sisters over the years, so it honestly could have been worse.
“Leesh, if you commit to using the name I think you’re thinking about in a public place for me, I will literally never speak to you again,” Wyatt warned, causing Naomi to snort around the handful of chips she was shoving in her mouth.
“Aw, you don’t want people to know that your older sisters call you—”
“Naomi,” Wyatt cut in, even sterner.
“Chill, dude,” Alisha reassured him, and then the final three names appeared on the leaderboard, ending with Sully. “Mimi, you’re first.”
Naomi wiped her fingers on the hem of her shorts, shook her shoulders out as she stood, and accepted the darts from her sister’s outstretched hands.
I knew Naomi was competitive. Her birthday game night proved that she wasn’t one to take any prisoners.
But it was still surprising to watch her fall into what I knew was match mode as she stepped up to throw.
Her shoulders were pinned back, her eyes focusing on the part of the dartboard she wanted to hit.
Her grip on the dart was light but still sturdy as she made the throw, landing in the triple twenty.
She repeated that twice more for the one-eighty and turned back to our table with a wide smile on her face.
“Remind me why we thought coming here was a good idea, like Mimi isn’t just good at everything she touches,” Isaac groaned.
Naomi just winked at him and snagged one of the bowls of chips while we watched Alisha take her turn.
It was late, that hazy time after midnight, when nothing quite seemed real, and everybody had spread out and were having their own conversations.
Naomi had obviously won our mini darts tournament.
Although Charlie had given her a surprising run for her money, she’d never been known for her hand-eye coordination.
Naomi had been riding high from her win since.
She was sitting next to me, swirling a straw around her gin and tonic with her tongue.
I’d spent a lot of time with her recently, but I hadn’t seen her this relaxed.
There was a looseness to her that was almost giddy.
“Sorry we didn’t get to do the pasta taste test,” she said quietly, almost like we were talking about something secret. Her body had turned into mine, and our bare knees were touching. This close, I could smell the vanilla of her conditioner and the orange of her gin. It was an intoxicating blend.
“I’m more sorry for you. Although I guess seeing as we lost, your own bodyweight in chips is more fitting.”
The smile that broke out on her face was sloppy, the only real sign that she was tipsy.
“The chips were so good. They always are here.”
“Oh yeah, you come here often?”
Naomi’s smile turned cheeky. “You use that line a lot, Sam?”
Heat prickled up the back of my neck, and I hoped it didn’t spread over my face.
“Can’t say I do.”
Her lips sealed around the straw, and her cheeks hollowed out as she drank.
“To answer your question, yes. We do come here often; it’s our go-to place when we need to not be wherever we’re staying.
The vibes are good, the food is great. I get to remind everyone that my greatness extends to more than just tennis. ”
A slightly tipsy Naomi was a much more confident one.
Or at least one who didn’t shy away from bigging herself up.
I couldn’t imagine a situation in which she would even allude to the fact that she was great at tennis if she were sober.
She shied away from it when anyone else dared to make such a suggestion.
“It doesn’t surprise me that you’re good at darts. Your hand-eye coordination is unmatched; it’s a transferable skill.”
A low hum rumbled through Naomi. “I’d say you’ve got pretty good hand-eye coordination, so what happened with you?”
“I was surprised by Charlie’s performance, and it threw me off my game,” I shot back easily.
“Sure, yeah. I’ll buy that.” She drained the rest of her drink, the straw making a terrible sucking sound for a moment, before she placed the empty glass in the middle of the table.
Somehow, her cool fingertips pressed against the back of my hand as she drew back.
It was only then that I noticed it was no longer just our knees touching but the whole length of our thighs. Her body heat was searing against mine.
I cleared my throat. “Well, how would you feel if Alisha suddenly started ripping darts exactly where she was supposed to?”
“I’d be very confused. So yeah, I guess you might be onto something. I guess we’ll need a rematch.”
“With all that spare time we’re gonna have during a Grand Slam?”
Naomi rolled her eyes. “Sam, life cannot always be about tennis. That’s too sad.
You’re supposed to have fun as well. We get to travel the world, play the sport we love, and get paid for it.
It’s not that serious. Sometimes you have to take a break and play darts.
Or watch the sunset on a rooftop. Or just eat the best chicken wings in the city. ”
The press of her hip against mine brought us even closer.
“I’m trying to remember that. But it’s…” I trailed off when I noticed her eyes flick down to my mouth and then back up to lock gazes with me. “Hard,” I finally said.
Naomi was so close to me now that I could see flecks of gold in her brown eyes.
Her pupils were blown wide. The tip of her tongue peeked out to wet her lips before she rolled them together.
Then she was leaning in towards me, her eyes flicking down, until there was barely a millimetre of space between our mouths.
It would’ve been so easy to lean in and close the gap.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of broad shoulders and blond hair and remembered the reality of our situation.
I pulled back, and Naomi did the same, her eyes wide in surprise before they clouded with something that looked like embarrassment.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I just thought—my mistake. Fuck, I’m just gonna—” Naomi rushed out of her seat, the heat from her body evaporating instantly and leaving me feeling like I’d just been plunged into an ice bath.
I watched her weave through some tables until she reached her sister. She threaded their fingers together and basically dragged Alisha out of sight.
As she disappeared, I heard the quiet sigh of leather suppressing under a weight as Charlie sat down next to me.
“What was that about?” she asked quietly.
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Nothing.”
“Really? It looked like—”
I cut in with a loud sigh. “Charlotte, can you just leave it? It was nothing.”
My sister looked like she wanted to do the exact opposite of leave it alone, but could clearly tell I wasn’t in the mood to talk.
It was too late, I was too tired, and I had no desire to open that particular can of worms because I couldn’t do it without talking about our dad, and this was not the time or place to broach that topic.
“Okay, fine. Do you need anything?”
I smiled softly at her. “No, I’m fine. Thanks, though.”
Another body arrived at our table. Wyatt.
“Hey, Mimi and Leesh are heading back, and I was gonna go with them. You wanna come or are you staying?”
The speed with which Naomi left the table suggested that maybe a little bit of space was needed, just for the night, so we could both forget those weird five minutes where we almost crossed a line we couldn’t uncross.
“I’ll stay with my sisters tonight,” I answered, knowing they wouldn’t care
“Cool. We’ll take tomorrow off so you don’t have to rush anywhere, and get back to it Friday.”
The idea of getting a day off in the lead-up to a Grand Slam sounded so alien to me. I almost pushed back before remembering that Wyatt wasn’t going to be swayed, which was probably for the best.
“Okay, yeah. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He smiled. “Congrats on today. And yeah, see you tomorrow.”
Then he disappeared around the same corner as his sisters.