CHAPTER 22
His fist crashed down on the boardroom table. “Enough!” he said. “I'm sick of being undermined!”
I raised one eyebrow as I glanced at him.
His eyes were firmly fixed on Drew to his right.
Drew was smirking.
I looked past them both to Eddie, stood behind a camera at the other end of the table filming the entire meeting under the ruse it was for the club's YouTube channel.
“Is this really appropriate on camera?” Drew asked.
Blair turned the captain's armband over in his hands.
“Absolutely,” I answered, hoping Eddie might pick something up from Kyle and Drew I'd otherwise miss were it not recorded.
Kyle sighed.
“Kyle,” I began again, “you say you're sick of being undermined, yet I have to say I feel totally left out of the loop when it comes to the running of this club-”
“Ms Liu,” Drew started calmly, “with all due respect, we're the managers.”
“Kyle's the manager, Drew.”
“Yes, Ms Liu.”
“And you're his assistant.”
Kyle nodded his agreement.
“Yet, gentlemen, I can't help shake the feeling there's more going on here than I'm led to believe.”
“Such as?” Drew asked.
“You tell me,” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Kyle?” I asked.
“Aside from a little tension between Drew and myself, no, ma'am, everything's tickety-boo.”
“Tickety-boo? You two had to be pulled apart at the weekend.”
Kyle cringed.
Drew's face was stolid.
“Ms Liu, if I may?” Blair asked.
I nodded.
“It's a long time since we lost a game. The boys are giving it everything they've got to finish this season as best we can.
I'm captain, I know my team-mates well. I can speak for every one of them when I say we're onboard with Kyle and Drew.
Emotions ran high, we gave away a penalty and things happened which shouldn't have.
Anyone else couldn't say that to these two, but I can.”
I reluctantly pulled my eyes from Blair back to Kyle and Drew. “Anything to add to that, gentlemen?”
“I thought we were here to discuss the sale of the club, no?” Drew asked.
I sensed Eddie zoom in on him. “The potential sale, Drew.”
“Are we being sold or what?” he demanded.
“Well, the consortium behind the bid wish to open negotiations as soon as possible.” I drummed my fingernails on the table. “The offer's still being considered... What are your thoughts, Drew?”
“His thoughts?” Kyle snapped. “What do his thoughts matter?”
I watched Drew's elbow drive gently into Kyle's arm.
Kyle quietened.
“They matter, Kyle,” I said carefully, “because I've just asked him for his input.” I gestured to Drew. “You have the floor, Mr Heseltine.”
His pulled at his collar. “This shouldn't be filmed.”
I clicked my tongue.
“It should be confidential.”
“I agree,” Blair said.
“Me too,” Kyle added.
The three of them looked at Eddie.
He reluctantly stood from behind the camera, then looked to me. “Ms Liu?”
I silenced my sighs. “Switch the camera off, Eddie.”
He turned it off.
“But stay where you are,” I insisted. “Gentlemen, I want to hear from all three of you.”
“It feels like a decision above my pay grade, Ms Liu,” Blair said.
“You wouldn't be here if I didn't value your opinion, Blair. Drew, you seem like you've something to say, so shoot.”
Kyle looked exasperated.
“Ms Liu,” Drew began, “I'm new here on a professional level, but I've supported the club since I was a child. Meaning no disrespect, the community hasn't accepted you in the same fashion we have. If anything, the atmosphere has grown more toxic in recent weeks...”
Since his arrival, I surmised.
“... And, if you value my honest opinion, I feel for those reasons the time has come for you to sell the club.”
I pursed my lips. “Kyle, do you agree?”
“Reluctantly... I do, ma'am.”
“Blair?”
He cleared his throat. “I don't think the timing's perfect. We're on a run-in.”
“The offer may be time sensitive,” Drew said.
“Is it?” Blair asked.
I didn't answer.
“Well, if it is, then I'd prefer it to be sorted sooner rather than later. For the sake of the team on the pitch. I'd be lying if I said all this speculation isn't affecting the players... Myself included.”
Kyle nodded.
“How do the rest of the staff feel?” I asked.
No one answered.
“Come on, I'm sure someone must've said something.”
Kyle shook his head.
Drew shrugged.
“Not even Willie McGlinchey?” I asked. “Surely he's said something?”
My club's management duo each shook their heads, Kyle vehemently.
“Come on, gentlemen, the takeover is Broxburgh's worst kept secret, do you both honestly expect me to believe no one's voiced an opinion on it?”
“Honestly,” Drew said, holding eye contact without blinking.
“Kyle?” I asked.
“No one, ma'am.”
“Blair?”
“The lads in the dressing room have talked about it, but we're usually the last to find out what's going on. We just want it sorted, one way or another.”
I leaned back on my chair, full of frustration. “Okay, gentlemen, then I guess that concludes our meeting.”
The three of them started to stand.
“I don't want to see a repeat of you two putting your hands on each other. Not on Saturday, not ever, okay?”
“Yes, ma'am,” Kyle said.
“Ms Liu,” Drew added.
“Or I won't hesitate to punish you both... Ranging from anything from a fine to a termination.”
Neither spoke as they silently walked around the table towards the door.
“This is still my club, for the time being, and I'll strive to ensure it's run properly, no matter the consequences.”
Blair followed them out of the room, shutting the door.
I watched Eddie begin to pack up his camera. “Get anything useful?”
“I don't think so, Ms Liu.”
“You didn't happen to pick up a vibe yourself?”
“It's maybe nothing.”
“Go on.”
“Well, it's something...”
“Tell me.”
“I have my concerns, Ms Liu, I'm just hesitant to express them.”
“I want to hear them, no matter what,” I said.
“I can't, ma'am,” he insisted.
I stared at him.
He stared back.
I looked away, then stood. “If you change your mind, please come find me, Eddie.”
“Yes, Ms Liu.”
I walked to the door, then glanced back at him.
He was still watching me.
I told myself I was just being paranoid, but I couldn't help feel his brother had told him what'd happened between us.
“I cannae break someone's confidence,” he said.
I nodded, then closed the door quickly behind me.
“What the fuck are you doing to yourself?” DeShaun demanded, stood in the doorway to the bathroom and staring wide-eyed at my naked body.
“Nothing,” I lied, still grasping my erection tight in my tiny palm.
“I hope you were thinking of me.”
“Of course!”
He fondled the outline of his crotch through his jeans.
I tried to look anywhere but my mobile, set beside the bath with the screen still open on a video call I'd almost connected to seconds earlier.
“Come to bed, babygirl, you don't need to masturbate on your own when you've got me.”
I released my sex, then let him take me by my hand and lead me to the bedroom.
He swatted my buttocks. “I love how naughty you are.”
I felt myself blush, knowing how close I'd just come to being caught.
DeShaun pummelled my rear as he pumped my sex, seeking to find that elusive mutual climax.
“Are you close?” I demanded.
Sweat spilled from his forehead to my face. “Yes! Are you?”
I wasn't.
“Sasha?”
My lower lip quivered.
He ejaculated suddenly into the condom inside me, then collapsed on top of my body, pulling his palm free from my clitty.
Unable to reach under him to touch myself, I caressed his bare sides.
“We'll get there,” he insisted, kissing my cheek.
I no longer believed we would.
“I promise, babygirl.”
Nor believed he could.
“You're the one, Sasha.”
My mind drifted again to Joe, and how we'd never had this problem.
“Maybe next time you could dress up? That might help.”
For all our faults, we'd always had that chemistry.
“I love you,” DeShaun said.
“I love you too, DeShaun,” I replied, my tiny, little sex tingling as he carefully pulled his cock out from inside me.
ME – I can't help it, I miss you.
I deleted it before I sent it.
I knew he was best left in the past.
I checked the bottom of the League One table again.
I was still tempted to text him.
“Come in,” I said, looking up from my desk.
The door opened and Eddie Mayne entered.
“Eddie? I wasn't expecting you. Have you had a change of heart about what you were or weren't going to tell me?”
He shook his head.
“What is it then?”
“It's my brother, David, Ms Liu.”
I swallowed. “Yes?”
“He'd like to come work here, with me, on the YouTube channel and I could really use his help.”
“I see.”
“It'd only be part-time, ma'am, and not even necessarily every week, certainly not through the close season.”
I folded my hands. “Eddie, can we park this until next season? With the takeover, I'm not sure right now it'd be prudent to take on any new employees.” And certainly not one I'd given a handjob to.
“He's really keen, ma'am.”
My mobile vibrated on the table.
Eddie sighed.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Just... Don't sell the club, ma'am, please.”
I leaned forward, reading the first few words of Dex's text, then looked up to Eddie. “Why, what is it you know?”
“Just...” He retreated back through my office door. “Don't.”
I had dinner with DeShaun in the hotel restaurant.
I was anxious to get away for my meeting, but I didn't want to make him suspicious by cancelling at the last minute.
So we ate in awkward silence until he questioned why I didn't want to come up to his room for dessert, as normal, and stared at me when I said I was tired and wanted to go home for an early night.
“Are you lying to me, babygirl?” he asked.
I reached for his hand, shushing him, not wanting anyone in the restaurant to overhear. “Of course not,” I lied. “What makes you say that?”
He pulled his hand away. “Just a feeling.”
“Don't be silly.”
“Sash, I know the signs.”
“What signs?”
“The signs... From when you carried on with me behind Joe's back.”
I shuddered. This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to tell him the truth. “You're throwing that up to me? Now, with everything that's going on, DeShaun?”