Wiltshire. Tom Wiltshire.

Chapter 15 - You Win Some, You Lose Some

Tom's POV

I drawn the bottle of beer to my mouth and drank half the contents of it.

Tonight should be a night of victory.

A party.

A whole celebration.

A proud moment to be in.

We all looked forward to this annually. We prepared ourselves, shed sweat and blood. And it was all worth it in the end.

The game kept me busy since we got back from Bournemouth. Practicing in the field day and night, and battered myself in the gym everyday. All my effort and our hard work paid off when out of 12 clubs in England, we won the premiership league for three consecutive years. Everything seemed to be in order according to plan.

But why do I feel like shit? I should be happy, now that Christine is also back. This is what I hoped for, to win the championship and have her back, right?

Right?

But how and why on earth I feel as though there's something not right about this?

I felt like there was a massive weight on my chest for the last few months. Like rowing a boat that wouldn't go anywhere. Like I was rowing in the same exact place, in circles, over and over again.

I stole a glance at Riley, who was sitting in between Biddy and Marc at the end of the table.

Is she avoiding me?

I could feel a slight tension headache building up in my head.

The bar was packed and noisy, but all I could hear was her laughter. She was laughing with whatever Marc was saying. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, I don't like how it made me feel.

I hate it.

I'm just drained that is all, I defended myself.

It had been a few months since we left Bournemouth after that steamy night in the hotel

Steamy is an understatement.

I woke up before noon that day and wasn't surprised to see her beautiful face in my arms. Her hair was a bit of a hot mess from all our sexcapades, yet he looked peaceful and ever so beautiful. I stayed there lying in bed just taking in the moment with her for quite awhile.

Then I remembered what I told her.

"Riley, I can't promise you anything.. I don't wanna hurt you."

It was like an echo to my head.

I stole another look at Riley. She never looked at me again after I was about to approach her before Christine turned up.

Why do I have a feeling that I'm hurting her?

Goddammit.

Marc whispered something to her ear which made her laugh.

My jaw tensed.

The ache in my head was growing every second seeing her laugh with him.

Marc liked her. It was bloody obvious.

I remembered that day when we came back from the farm. I didn't realise they were somehow close. That was one of the reasons why I decided to leave her be with my mate.

A small part of me wanted to just leave her alone.

However, I couldn't understand why I acted like a complete jerk when I saw her with another guy, whom I recognised who worked at the tiki bar. I didn't quite understand why Marc was pretty cool with it too.