Title: Defensive Play
Series: A Boys on the Brink Novella
Author: Jamie Deacon
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Release Date: November 30, 2018
Genre: Gay YA Sports Romance
Length: 21,500 words
About the Book
Blurb
One glance is all it takes to bring his defences crashing down…
Seventeen-year-old Davey has never made friends easily. Shy, geeky, crippled with social anxiety, he feels isolated from his peers, and only his position as defender for the school football team fills the void of loneliness. On the pitch, his deft footwork has earned him the respect and acceptance of his squad, though at a price. Desperate to hold onto this camaraderie, Davey conceals the truth from everyone, even his own family.
Then, during the annual Brookshire football tournament, his eyes meet those of a rival player across the field and a spark flares between them, one neither boy can deny. Adam is everything Davey longs to be—confident, popular, comfortable with his sexuality. Davey aches to explore their connection, to discover where it might lead, but how can he follow his heart and risk rejection by his teammates, the closest thing to friends he has ever known?
Excerpt
The rain has stopped. A soft mist hangs in the
air, turning the distant streetlights a hazy orange. After the stuffiness of
the clubhouse, the night is bitterly cold and I pull on my sweatshirt against
the chill. I sit on the steps overlooking the car park, heedless of the damp
that seeps through my jeans. Elbows on knees, I rest my chin in my hands and
close my eyes, attempting to clear my mind. I don’t want to think anymore. I
just want to sit with nothing but the dark and the quiet for company.
I haven’t been hunched there long when the door
opens, ejecting a stream of warmth and thumping bass. I glance behind me,
although I know who it will be. My body goes still. Adam lets the door swing
shut and, just like that, we’re alone.
He doesn’t seem surprised to find me on the
steps. Perhaps he saw me leave. Has he followed me? My insides clench. What if
Adam thinks I did it deliberately, that I meant to lure him out here. Maybe I
had. Maybe, deep down, a part of me hoped Adam might come, even while the rest
of me prayed he wouldn’t.
This time, when our gazes connect, there’s no
one to see, no football match to act as a buffer. I drink him in. Even in the
faint glow filtering through the frosted pane in the door, his eyes are a vivid
blue.
“Hey,” Adam says. Such a simple word that
expresses so much. There’s recognition there, like we’re childhood friends
meeting after years apart, but uncertainty, too. He has a nice voice, I
register through my turbulent thoughts—warm and slightly husky.
“Hey.” My reply emerges somewhere between a
croak and a squeak. Cringing, I stare down at my feet.
“It’s Davey, right?”
I fling him a startled look. Had this boy—this
confident, gorgeous boy—actually gone to the trouble of finding out my name?
One side of Adam’s mouth lifts in a crooked
smile. “Well, I had to know who the lunatic was who almost took my leg off.”
“God.” I bury my face in my hands. Of course
Adam was going to ask about me after what happened on the pitch. “I’m so
sorry.”
He laughs and nudges my thigh with the toe of
his trainer. “I’m kidding. Seriously, you did us a favour.”
I dare a peep at him, unable to rid myself of
the thought that he has pursued me out here to take the piss. That wouldn’t be
anything new, after all.
“It’s true.” Adam crouches on the step beside
me, his expression amused but without malice. “Rob warned me about you. He said
the rest of your defence was pretty solid, but probably weren’t quick enough to
catch me. You were the real threat.”
I grimace. “I’m guessing he wasn’t expecting me
to take you out quite so spectacularly, though.”
“Funnily enough, that wasn’t included in the
pep talk. Still, I should be thanking you. You made our job a whole lot
easier.”
“Don’t remind me. You should’ve heard the guys
after the match. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Adam laughs again, and I can’t hold back a
smile. Here I am, having an actual conversation with an amazing-looking boy—a
boy who’d caught me checking him out, no less—and I’m not making an ass of
myself.
The door behind us bursts open and several guys
spill out. I tense, guard raised. Will they think it odd us sitting out here
alone? I scan their faces, but none are from Farnstead. A moment later, they
barrel down the steps without giving either of us a second look and head for
one of the cars parked nearby.
As they pile in and the engine growls to life,
I exhale, shoulders slumping. I can feel Adam studying me and keep my gaze
lowered.
“You’re not out,” he says, “are you?”
“What?” My entire body goes rigid. He knows.
I’d already guessed as much, but suspecting it is one thing; being confronted
with the indisputable truth sends me spiralling back into panic mode. Why had
he really followed me out here? I’d thought…been sure I’d read something in his
eyes when they locked with mine, but what if I’m wrong? Do I truly believe
someone like Adam, someone popular and self-assured, would have sought me out?
Unless…
I see again the Brookminster players in their
huddle, sniggering, moments after Adam caught me staring. I’d reassured myself
they weren’t laughing about me, but perhaps my fears had been well founded. The
cold certainty settles like a snowball in my gut. I’d given myself away, and
now the other lads have sent Adam out here to chat me up, trick me into an
admission I won’t be able to take back. For all I know, his mates are somewhere
close by as we speak, listening in.
“Hey.” Adam extends his palms in what is
probably supposed to be a calming gesture. “It’s all right. I know and it’s all
right.”
“You don’t know anything,” I snap. The instinct
for self-preservation, to keep my protective wall intact at any cost, propels
me to my feet. “You hear me? You don’t know anything about me.”
Before he can respond, I’m down the steps and
sprinting into the darkness, phone already out to call my parents. All I want
is to go home, crawl into bed, and forget today ever happened.
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Kindle UK | Kindle US | Nook | Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords | Beaten Track PublishingAbout Jamie Deacon
Author Bio
Jamie lives in a tranquil spot close to the River Thames in Berkshire, England, and has always been just a little out of place—the only redhead in a family of brunettes; an introvert far more at ease with dogs than with people; a connoisseur of simple pleasures in a society intent on the quest for wealth and fame. Despite an outward cynicism, Jamie is a romantic at heart, and, when not immersed in a book, can mostly be found writing emotional stories where young men from all walks of life are forced to navigate the sometimes painful reality of growing up, coming out, and falling in love.
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