Football Femme Fatale

It was less than an hour later that Matt was sat once again on Ebony's sofa in line with the rest of the GSE and waiting to be patched up. She finished cleaning the wound to Dave's cheek, ignoring his protests of how she was ‘killing him in pain’ or ‘no fair it hurts!’ She slapped Dave’s cheek gently before standing up and shoving the piece of gauze in her hand into a yellow ‘biohazard’ bag, then knelt down in front of Matt to get a better look at his face. "Let's have a look at the damage, then," she said with a smile, tilting his head with her gloved fingertips on his cheeks and examining the cut below his eye with a trained gaze. "Just a cleanup and some steri-strips I think. You'll live I suppose," she teased, reaching backwards into a large crate which was full of medical supplies she had ‘borrowed’ from the store cupboard at the hospital.


"I think I should see your medical license," he smirked, wincing a little as she dabbed at the cut with a disinfectant wipe. She shook her head at him in a little disbelief and laughed.


"Well I'll need to see your fucking insurance, now shut up and let me concentrate," she snapped after a moment’s pause, affixing the strips she had stuck to her gloved hand and then patting the cuts gently with alcohol wipes."There, you'll do, don't get the strips wet or they'll come off," she told him a little harshly, standing up and picking up the crate. "One day I'll lose my job for robbing all this shit to keep you guys in one piece," she muttered at no one in particular, wandering into the kitchen and dumping the crate in a cupboard she had left open so she didn’t have to wrestle with the door and the crate. She shook her head and paused for a second, rubbing her face and then frowning at the blood on her sleeve. "I'm sure I quit this shit," she whispered, walking back into the living room and pulling her hoody over her head to chuck it on the washing pile. The blue polo shirt she had on underneath had blood on it too, and forgetting where she was, she ripped it off and chucked it on the pile with the hoody. A chorus of wolf-whistles met her as she turned around and blushed violently.


“We weren’t sure you had boobs under there!” Swill laughed, and she resisted the urge to jump on him and beat him to a pulp. Secretly, Ebony was glad she’d remembered to put a sports bra on and not a standard one.


“Maybe we should strip you off and find out if you’ve really got any balls?” she replied curtly, enjoying the laugh she got and the high-five from Matt, but mostly the blush spreading on Swill’s face.


"We're off to the Abbey, you coming or what?" Bovver asked her as he stood up to leave. There was nothing, it seemed, that would entertain him until Matt left. Ebony watched him over her shoulder as she found a clean t-shirt and pulled it on. She knew how protective Bovver was of Pete, how jealous he could get, but really the man was taking it too far with this insane envy.

"Nah, lads, you go, I'll stay here," she said carefully, choosing her words and tone of voice to try and placate his temper. It was in vain, though, because Matt soon piped up and received an evil look from Bovver.


"You could come with Pete and me, to go get my stuff from Shannon’s," Matt suggested, looking up at her from his perch on the sofa.


Ebony shrugged; she could go with them and risk an all-out slanging match with Shannon. “I don’t know-“


“She’s right, it’s probably not a good idea,” Pete leaped in and saved her coming up with a bad excuse not to go with them – he knew how bad Ebony’s excuses could be. Matt looked down-beaten; he’d been looking forward to spending more time with Ebony, if for no other reason than her sarcastic comments.


“Please?” he asked quietly, unsure whether his pleading tone would inspire her to go with him or slap his face. She sighed and scratched her face absently.


"Alright, you got me, you little fuck," she smiled eventually, shaking her head.


"You three lovers fucking finished? C'mon, we're off," Bovver snapped, leading the others out the door and not bothering to say goodbye, unlike the rest of the boys who waved a goodbye and thanked Ebony for patching them up - again. Ebony and Pete fixed Bovver with evil glares aimed at his back as he disappeared out of view.


"Fucking prick," Ebony said with a frown of displeasure on her face. “Shall we go, then?” she asked, standing up and finding her bag on the floor by the front door


)()()()()(


As they rounded the corner and Steve and Shannon's home came into view, it seemed to Matt that Ebony shrank into herself and tried to hide behind Pete's towering frame – very unsuccessfully. The door was locked so they rang the buzzer, and Ebony took a step back down towards the pavement as though she was preparing to run away. Steve answered, and his eyes instantly zoomed in on Matt's black eye and the steri-strips so expertly applied. Seeing Steve at the door, Ebony let out a small squeak and ducked behind Pete, her cheeks burning red.


"What the fuck happened to him?" he asked incredulous, dragging Matt in by his face to look closer at the injuries under the brighter lights.


"Look, bruv-" Pete started to say, but was abruptly cut off by Steve rapidly losing his temper.


"I told you no trouble! Is that so fucking difficult?" Steve snapped, pushing Matt away from himself to turn and glare at Pete. Ebony stayed just out of sight; she knew Steve’s temper all too well.


"Bruv, he was lucky we was there! He's walking 'ome, and he get's jumped by-" Pete started again, staring his brother in the face as defiantly as he dared.


"I don't want to fucking hear it!" Steve shouted back, ignorant to the fact that Shannon was standing on the first stair, watching in horror as her husband’s temper flared into action. Steve grabbed Pete by the front of his coat and made to hit him, his fist pulled back and aimed at Pete’s unflinching face. Ebony moved instantly to Steve’s side, ignoring the abuse that was being shouted at her by Shannon, and she wrapped her fingers around his elbow, applying soft pressure to the skin.


"Leave it, Steve," she said calmly in a tone she easily slipped into again. He stared at her for a moment, not really seeing her but aware that she was there. "It ain't worth it, c'mon," she whispered softly, her eyes somewhere south of his. It would be a long time before she could look at his baby blue’s again.


His grip loosened on Pete’s collar enough for the younger brother to wriggle free, though his eyes were fixed on Ebony, who was rapidly changing colour from light tan to beetroot pink. "Matt, get your stuff," she told him, a commanding tone to her voice she usually reserved for nurses at work. He walked past them and into the living room, feeling nervous and edgy as he began shoving his belongings in his rucksack. Steve stared at Ebony and she shuffled away, pinning herself up against the nearest wall and looking firmly away and at the floor. "For fucks sake, stop staring at me,” she said very quietly, scratching her arm just as something to do.


"I think he is shocked by the fact that you have the audacity to walk into our home," Shannon said with a cutting undertone in her voice. Ebony looked up to see the young American woman stalking towards her, her hands on her hips.


"I wouldn't have bothered, but Matt asked me to come," Ebony replied, keeping her voice flat as she made eye contact with the shorter woman and tried to appear as non-threatening as she could.


"Get out of my house," Shannon hissed, a venomous look on her face as she pointed towards the door. Ebony shrugged then nodded, glanced at and smiled at Steve as she moved towards the door. He didn’t respond, but she hadn’t been expecting him to even acknowledge her as she left him home.


"I'll see you outside," she said to Pete, who had been unusually quiet, as she walked past and leaned against the wall, sparking up a cigarette.


"I'm done," Matt said, reappearing in the hallway. He paused as he sensed the tension in the room, and then saw that Ebony was missing. “Where’s Ebbs?”


“She headed off, got a call from the hospital,” Steve lied quickly, looking at Pete with a warning glare.


“Well we’d better get gone too, right?” Matt asked Pete, trying to change the mood in the room which seemed made of ice.


"But, Matt, you only just got here! I haven't seen you in years, you missed my wedding and you haven't even held your nephew and now you're leaving already?" Shannon asked him, tears brimming her brown eyes.


"I'm sorry, I'll catch up with you later," he said, hugging his sister then, grabbing his dufflebag, he followed Pete and Ebony outside.


)()()()()(


Ebony was almost totally silent as she sat on her bed that night, her face resting on her hands and her eyes stinging uncomfortably. She'd called in sick from work; if nothing else, her bosses at the Accident and Emergency department at the East London Hospital didn't approve of her turning up with two grazes and a large bruise on her face. She had also offered for Matt to stay with her rather than at Pete's, mainly because she had a spare double room and it would save him sleeping on the sofa.


"Hey, thanks for letting me stay. Just sitting on that bed is more comfortable than Pete's fucking sofa!" Matt said as he walked into her bedroom without knocking. Ebony wiped her teary eyes and forced a smile at him before answering.


"Right, yeah, well he bought that sofa when fucking Adam was a small boy," she smiled, still a little sadly, patting the bed next to her. He smiled back and sat down, feeling like he was in some sort of trouble.


"What's up, Ebbs?" he asked her; you didn’t even need to be able to see to tell she was upset.


"Nothing, I guess I just feel kinda bad about what happened earlier. Ah, fuck," she sighed, flopping backwards on the bed and covering her eyes with her hands dispairingly. Matt laid back, propped on one elbow, and looked down at her.


"Shannon will get over it, don't worry yourself," he said, looking at her properly for the first time. She had blue eyes and shoulder-length red hair, tousled from where she had had a shower and not dried it adequately. As Ebony looked at him, she was suddenly overcome with a strange urge which she had to fulfil. Leaning up she kissed him forcefully, and pushed herself up and over the top over him, straddling his waist as she moved over him, her hands on his shoulders as his caressed her waist.


They broke apart for a moment and she stared into his eyes. "You're going to speak and ruin this whole fucking thing, don't bother," she whispered as her hands fumbled on the buttons of his shirt. He smiled by way of a response.


"Right, no talking," he said, enjoying how bossing and dominant she was. She finished unbuttoning his shirt and started on the button flies on his jeans, slipping her hand inside as she began to kiss him again. He flipped them over so he was on top of her and worked her own jeans open. As soon as there was space, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her, a thrill of excitement going through her as he shuddered. "You work fast."


"That's my job," she whispered back. She kissed him again, and then her mobile phone rang. "Fuck," she muttered, extending a hand and fishing the offending electrical out of her bag. "What?"


"Touchy touchy," Pete answered over the phone. "Just calling to see how our little mate is settling in."


"Right, checking up on me now you mistrusting bastard? He's fine, we're just... Getting to know each other."


"Yeah, Ebbs, I get it. See ya." The phone went dead, and she threw it to the floor.


"Where were we?" she purred, leaning back for a kiss.


***


Ebony's phone woke her up again. "I am going to shove that up the next callers arse sideways," she muttered angrily, opening her eyes blearily to find the phone. She grabbed it and answered, retreating back under the covers to cuddle up to Matt's back and answer the call. "Pete, congratulations, you just won a mobile-phone enema right up the jacksie."


"Fuck off mate, tell Matt I'll be there in half an hour to pick him up, He said he'd come teach my kids to play soccer," he said, a teasing note.


"Right, whatever, I'll tell him. Next time you call me at 7:45 am, I will stick a long, hard speculum up your arse." She snapped the phone closed and tossed it away in disgust. "Morning," she said to Matt, rolling over to face him.


"Hey, I guess that was Pete then?"


"Yeah, he wants you to go teach the kids he teaches to play fucking soccer, piss taker that he is, of course."


"Right, yeah, better get fucking dressed, right?" Ebony nodded and pecked him on the cheek as he made to leave the bed. He smiled and hurried out of the room, and she listened to him turn the water on in the shower. She sighed and snuggled back down into the duvet, listening to him busily getting ready. He was going to get his arse whooped.