Chapter 39 - Chapter 39: Every Light On

Coming through the qualifiers and the group without dropping a point helped clear my head a bit, but the thought of Alex not extending my contract has been sitting on me since that night in East London. I'd been careless with my private relationship, leaning on the fact we hadn't been caught yet and hoping the consequences wouldn't be as bad as we'd imagined if we were.

But the reality is starting to land, knowing there's going to be a breaking point somewhere in the near future. Either I'm not going to be in this shirt next season, or Vuyi isn't going to be working the charter.

There's no way round it, and right now, I'm not ready to face either of those decisions. The only reason I've enjoyed the away trips this year is because she was on them.

So we've stayed quiet, avoiding each other on the plane and only interacting inside the safety of my flat. Vuyi still comes to my home matches. She still sits high in the upper tier, nowhere near the family section or the broadcast cameras, but now she doesn't wait around after the whistle either — she just meets me at home.

But the thing that's had me most concerned is how quiet Given has been. I haven't heard from him since the night he broke the news that the club hadn't come to him about a new contract yet. Given is never silent. He's always scheming, always working on something that's going to make us both a fortune, but lately, it's been not a word from him.

After a season of my friends telling me Alex would re-sign me regardless of all the extra rubbish I bring to the table, I started to believe it. And that was a mistake.