The Bad Boy's Redemption. Joss Wood

did not believe in shouting instructions from the sideline. He put his body on the line practice after practice. And, judging by the satisfaction she could see in his eyes, he loved it. Despite their deal to keep it friendly, he made her heart go flippity-flop every time he sent her that engaging grin, and with the way his eyes heated when they settled on her face. Lu closed her laptop lid as he took the seat opposite her and offered her a taste of his just-opened soda.

      Lu took a sip and handed it back. ‘You look like you took a couple of hits on the field.’

      Will rubbed his shoulder. ‘I did. Jabu is the human equivalent of a Sherman tank.’

      ‘Thanks for what you did this morning. Again.’

      ‘No problem. Again,’ Will answered as the others sat down around them.

      Lu greeted them and asked what their plans were for the evening.

      Jabu yawned. ‘Nothing more exciting than an early night. Training was brutal this afternoon; Wednesdays are the worst day.’

      Will grinned. ‘Whiner.’

      Jabu lifted a lazy middle finger and yawned again. Looking over Lu’s head to the television mounted on the wall, he sat up and reached for the remote control on the table in front of him. ‘Hey, Will—your ex is on.’

      Unlike the others, who immediately looked at the screen, Lu looked at Will. His face tightened instinctively, his lips thinned and his eyes darkened. Jabu adjusted the volume control and Lu reluctantly looked over her shoulder.

      Beautiful. Lean and long, finely muscled. Long blonde hair, big blue eyes, legs that went on for ever. High cheekbones and a quirky mouth completed the package. How and why had Will let her go?

      ‘Do you mind if we watch it, Will?’ Matt demanded. ‘Your ex is a fox!’

      ‘Knock yourself out,’ Will replied, looking for all the world as if he didn’t give a damn. Which he so did. She could see it in his flattened mouth, in his tapping finger on the side of his thigh.

      They listened to Jo talking about her training schedule, her fitness regime. Lu cast the occasional look at Will and sighed every time. His face was a mask of control, his body seemingly relaxed but his eyes radiating tension and frustration.

      The interviewer was asking another question. ‘So, Jo, you’re now ranked at number two in the world, but there was a time when your off-court antics garnered a lot of news.’

      Lu saw the flash of panic in Will’s eyes but still he didn’t react.

      ‘Yeah, it’s not a time in my life I’m proud of...’

      ‘Shortly after your divorce you turned your life around. You embraced religion, cleaned up your act. Why do you think it took Will Scott so much longer to do the same thing?’

      Everyone else in the room inhaled and Will forced out a laugh. ‘Because I was having too much damn fun, jackass.’

      His friends laughed, relieved when they heard his jokey tone. Only Kelby, Lu thought, might suspect that he was acting his socks off.

      ‘It was only two years—and I wouldn’t presume to talk on Will’s behalf,’ Jo replied.

      ‘Your marriage was characterised by fighting and making up. When you were happy you were ecstatic—when you were fighting it was obvious. Despite that, the world thought your marriage would survive. So what precipitated your divorce?’

      ‘God, why do people still care?’ Will demanded. ‘Aren’t there any twenty-year-olds behaving badly these days?’

      ‘Not as many as we’d like.’ Matt shook his head sadly. ‘And few of them are as good entertainment as you and Jo were. You two rocked!’

      ‘Until I nearly lost my career because I couldn’t come to work sober or at the very least not hungover,’ Will said, speaking over Jo’s reply. ‘And talking of that...while I’ve got the CEO, the Captain and the Vice-Captain here all at the same time, with no other ears listening, you guys need to do something about Campher. He’s on something. Drugs, booze, pills, steroids—I don’t know what, but it’s something.’

      Jabu swore. ‘It hasn’t popped up in the drug tests.’

      ‘I’m telling you he’s on something,’ Will said. ‘I’m only here for another eight weeks. You still have the rest of the season with him. I’ll order a comprehensive drug screening, but I wanted to run it past you first.’

      Three heads nodded their agreement and then turned back to the television screen.

      ‘Are you proud of what he’s done? Achieved?’

      The interviewer was still talking about Will.

      ‘Sure. I always knew that Will was destined for great things. We both just took a detour, lost our way for a bit. Why are people still wanting to hear about it?’

      ‘You were good entertainment value. So, let’s talk about your sponsorship deals, Jo.’

      Matt jabbed his finger upwards. ‘You see—he agrees with me! Now you’re just old and boring, Scott.’

      Will stood up and swatted Matt across the head. ‘Funny—you didn’t say that when I face-planted you this afternoon. I need to do some paperwork before I leave, so I’m going to head off.’

      He hadn’t even made eye contact with her, Lu thought as she watched his departing back. Yep, he was good at concealing his emotions—but so was she, and she knew what to look for.

      * * *

      Will had instinctively headed for the far corner of the gym, avoided the fancy equipment and yanked a pair of gloves from the shelf on the far wall. Jamming them between his knees, he pulled off his T-shirt, divested himself of his trainers and socks and left the pile of clothes on the floor next to an exercise mat. Pulling the gloves on, he proceeded to punch and kick the stuffing out of the dangling bag.

      Kelby had made him do this years ago. Every time he’d felt out of control and frustrated he’d found a bag and pummelled it. At one time he’d been spending so much time with the punch bag that he signed up for Thai kick-boxing and learnt to do it properly.

      He only ever did this now when he was feeling particularly stressed or when...punch, kick, punch...he felt out of control.

      What was it about watching Jo this evening that had pushed every button he had? She was a prominent personality but he’d learnt how to hear about her, see her on the screen, read about her, with a detachment that came from a decade apart. Why now?

      It had nothing to do with Jo, he realised, and everything to do with the life he’d led when he was with her—the person he’d been. Fun, crazy, spontaneous...out of control.

      Being with Lu, spending time with her, reminded him of that person he’d once been. Oh, there was no alcohol or drugs involved this time, no dancing on bars and wrecking cars, but like during the best times he’d had back then they did have fun. They laughed. They talked.

      They didn’t screw like bunnies.

      And they were rapidly becoming friends—proper friends. Instead of just finding her to be a fun person to hang with he was finding that he wanted to tell her things, open up. And that scared him to death. Sex would have been so much easier. This? Not so much.

      Being with Lu made him feel like the best version of who he’d been as a young man. Fun. Spontaneous. Curious.

      Alive.

      He’d been all of that and more. He’d been touted as the most promising young player in a generation—a team man, an amazing talent. Then he’d met Jo and had—oh, so willingly—fallen into the wild life she’d embraced. They’d married on a whim in Bali, and their life together had been fuelled by booze and dope and causing as much chaos as they could. They’d been untouchable, arrogant and superior. He’d started to work less and believe his own press more, had become enamoured of the adulation