Broken Defence - Revised -- Pt. 02

I wasn't prepared for the knock on the door and Holly hadn't heard it. "Hey Tom, I thought we were meeting for my interview?" Olivia, our striker had said, walking in and pausing.

"Er yeah, be right- "

"Oh my god. If those aren't Holly's trainers, I'm going to absolutely fucking kill you." I could see it in her eyes, she wasn't lying. Holly was adored by the team, and they'd already decided they were going to make her club captain when our current captain retired at the end of the season.

"It's me Liv, chill," Holly had awkwardly replied. I saw Olivia's smirk as she shut the door behind her. To my surprise, Holly went right back to it and left the training ground with a fresh load of cum in her stomach. I had to face the awkwardness of prepping Olivia for her interview while she had the biggest shit-eating grin I'd ever seen.

Holly and I had gone to the clinic to sort out contraception soon after her return from the International Break. We spent a couple of weeks using condoms until we felt she was safe and then went without.

Being inside Holly without a condom was like nothing I'd ever felt before. Her wetness and the arousal she achieved through being intimate with me, made being inside her the most pleasurable sexual experience imaginable. My sex drive had also gone through the roof and neither of us were slowing down. When she was on her period, it only seemed to make her hornier. We'd use a towel or make use of our newfound love for anal. We discovered after the first few times of attempting anal that once we worked out what we (mostly me) were doing, Holly could orgasm from it. This opened up a wealth of possibilities, positions and pleasure.

Holly had finally settled on a therapist that she felt was suitable at the 5th attempt. She had started by seeing her twice a week, but this had dropped to weekly as Holly had started to make real progress. The evenings following her therapy appointment were often mixed. Sometimes Holly would be distant and ask for time to herself, other times she would be extremely affectionate and grateful to be with me. Her therapist had warned her of this at the start as she was going to be discussing difficult topics, so we were well prepared. Most of the time, Holly would talk through some of it the next day and it would help me understand her a lot better.

Overall, Holly was in a much better place. We'd started to go on double dates and mix with other couples including Lucy & Ruby, Chris & his partner as well as some of the football team. It was a touch awkward going on a double date with Olivia and her boyfriend at first, but the evening was inevitable as Holly and Olivia were becoming really good friends.

Holly knew about the leaked video of two of our players from the year before but had no idea who they were. Olivia and I struggled to look each other in the eye as I met Nathan for the first time. Olivia had arrived in a tight purple dress that with her lithe figure and flowing brunette hair, should have been extremely hard to look away from. But my eyes were on Holly who was wearing a pastel blue dress with white heels.

Holly looked so good in it with her straight hair and a hint of makeup that I struggled to find words when she walked out of our bedroom earlier in the evening. I didn't last long inside her when we made it home, I'd been turned on for too much of the night. Holly loved it when I couldn't control myself around her and her growing confidence led to a proportional rise in teasing.

On the times when I went out without her, she actively sought out social opportunities or else stayed in and had some 'her time'. The closest she came to breaking up with me was when she realised that giving her lease back meant she'd lose access to a bath. "This is honestly appalling," she ranted.

I'd integrated very well with her family and her with mine. My Mum and I were no longer as close as I'd like but she seemed happy enough with the boyfriend she'd had for the last few years. One thing about being a journalist is that you gain a sixth sense of sensitive topics. There were a few that my Mum was certainly avoiding when she had Holly & me over for Sunday Lunch, notably weddings and retirement. There was enough pausing of the conversation and stuttering of words around those topics that told me everything I needed to know. I sensed an awkward one-to-one conversation about her re-marrying, not too far away in my future.

Sylvia, Holly's Mum, was far less subtle. To Holly's horror, she loved going into great detail about how much Holly missed me and how she frequently wanted to return from America and sort things out with me.

"It was so cute," she'd gush, smiling over at us whenever Amelia or Charlotte got her started on the topic. The sibling rivalry was still strong in the Dane household.

Holly glared at her sister's and myself whenever her Mum got going, as though it was somehow my fault. They merely grinned, loving her discomfort.

I found Holly's Dad, George, to be a lot frostier with me, bordering on openly hostile. He wasn't really saying much in my presence and was generally rude, leading to quite a few awkward moments and pained expressions from Sylvia. Holly was confused by this initially but understood it better once I explained my suspicions to her.

"I think he has rewritten your last year or so," I speculated. "It's much easier for him to conflate your love for me all these years with why you left America than to think about why you actually did leave."

Holly sighed in understanding. "I need to speak to the brats; they're making this worse."

"Mmm, perhaps someone else too?" I ventured.

Another sigh. "Yes, him too."

Holly had always sought her dad's approval, having been neglected of it for so long growing up. I tried not to dwell on that period and the pressure he had put her under as no good would come of it and I didn't want Holly to be in the middle of a chasm. But frankly, he was taking the piss and my patience was waning.

Whatever she said to him definitely worked as he sat with me during our final home game of the season and asked if I wanted to go for a couple of beers together. Holly had a row of seats supporting her, including Lucy and Naomi - and it showed. She was untouchable, taking energy from us cheering her every touch. She crashed a header against the bar from one of our corners, seeking a goal but it wasn't to be. She finished the season as our fan's Player of the Year and got the same accolade from her teammates. There were cheers all around when Beth, our retiring Captain gave Holly the armband.

George and I left for beers a little while later, to Holly's evident surprise and he 'promised to have Cinderella home by midnight' which felt like a worrying omen. He steered me towards a local pub and spent a somewhat awkward afternoon trying to get to know me. I'd have found it quite endearing if he hadn't been so much of an arse up until that point. Still, for Holly, I'd bite my tongue and make peace, as George was clearly trying too as well.

I got back late on Saturday evening, slightly merry though not as much as I was before stopping off for a burger and chips. Holly greeted my return with a big grin that I came to realise was more about my glassy eyes than it was about who I spent my afternoon with. She had the good grace to help me to bed and have me drink some water before I fell asleep.

I awoke to find Holly's side of the bed empty. My mouth was dry, and my head was aching but otherwise, I was in decent shape. I still groaned when I got up as it wouldn't be a hangover without a good groan. I found Holly in the kitchen making some eggs and toast with a smirk on her face.

"I heard you groaning from the sofa, you're shit at being hungover. You snore too." She said all this while trying to keep a straight face and was failing miserably. "If you had got that drunk with anyone else, I'd have kicked you to the sofa and have made you cook the eggs this morning."

"I wasn't that bad!" I reasoned.

"Ha! You clearly don't remember much, do you?" I shook my head. "You were all 'I'd take a bullet for you Hol' and 'I love you more than I can ever describe'," Holly imitated both with exaggerated versions of me, clearly having fun.

Once she'd had enough of my confused reaction she added, "it was cute until you wouldn't shut up." Yep, she was definitely having fun with this.

"I'm sorry," I replied awkwardly, pouring a cup of coffee and sitting down with a groan as Holly dished up.

"I forgive you," Holly replied dramatically.

"So, what did you say to your dad?" I asked after rolling my eyes. "He was great, even introduced me as his Son-in-Law once the drinks started hitting him," I chuckled at the thought. No apology though, I almost added.

I missed Holly's reaction while I cut into my breakfast, but her cheeks were still quite red when I looked up, so I had to assume I'd missed some solid blushing.

"Ermm, oh gosh," Holly faltered. "Fine, I was honest with him about some things. I told him you never fought for me all those years ago, you never forced me to pick between you and America because we both knew there was a chance, I'd have picked you. I said if he keeps going like this, he'll force me to pick and there's no question about the outcome this time."

"Wow," I breathed, deeply touched. For her to stand up to her dad in that way was big. George would have known it too. "Explains the Son-in-Law jokes," I noted.

"Yeah, he knows I want marriage and kids with you," Holly said straight up, as though we had spoken about it at all before.

I choked on my toast crumbs. "I'm glad he knew first," I said through a cough.

"Relax your commitment-phobe, what happened to giving me your kidney if I ever needed it?"

"I promised you that too?" I groaned.

Holly laughed at my discomfort. "This is so much fun!" She took the empty plate away from me and refilled my coffee. I looked at her with reverence as she brought the coffee back over. "This is for all the massages, consider us equal now," she quipped.

I went back to my coffee, picturing Holly in a white dress. Maybe it would be a beach wedding. Her brother's children could be the flower girl and the ring bearer. We would go off somewhere hot for our honeymoon and I'd get to see what Holly looked like with a tan. She'd have finished her career by then and we'd be living off peanuts, but we'd be happy.

"Earth to Tom, have I freaked you out that much?" Holly said with a hint of concern, combing some hair behind her ears in a nervous way.

"Not at all," I assured her. "There were some very pleasant thoughts."

I filled her in and watched her face redden. "That sounds nice," she whispered, voice catching slightly.

***

The week after the end of the season saw the squad announcements for the summer European Champions tournament. Our team had done very well with a total of 12 of our players across different Nationalities participating.

Holly got the call about an hour before the public news conference with the England Manager, Sarah. She'd spent the hours before wearing the carpet thin, pacing up and down, analysing every performance and mistake. When Holly's anxiety took hold, it really took hold to the point where I'd taken the morning off to be with her. I just had to try my best to reassure her - a job which became increasingly difficult as it got closer to the time. Finally, the call came directly from Sarah herself.

"Holly? It's Sarah, how are you?"

"Oh, I'm not too bad, just getting on with a few bits this morning," came Holly's cheery reply. I said nothing.

"Well good. I won't keep you waiting: you're in." I jumped up in delight, but Holly waved me down.

"Why do I sense a 'but' Sarah?" Holly had a good ear for tone, always had.

"Well, I've decided not to give you the Captaincy, I'm sorry Holly."

We both froze, wide-eyed. Holly recovered before I did. "The Captaincy? I didn't know I was being considered to be Captain?! I'm just glad to be in the squad!"

They dialled off shortly after as Sarah had other calls to make. Holly looked at me in shock and my face mirrored hers.

"Next time," I offered in consolation.

"Are you kidding? If she was considering me for Captain, I must be a starter. Come here!"

Before I could move, Holly flung herself at me, kissing me passionately. We fell onto the sofa and kissed hard until we were breathless. Holly was grinding on me as our tongues wrestled and I was hard in no time, ready to be inside her. Our pace dictated rough, needy sex and I was ready for that. I pushed Holly off me and onto the sofa, pulling my shorts off. Both of us were in the same mood as Holly flung her shorts off too, leaving us naked just on the bottom half.

Holly made to suck my cock, but I pulled her away and pushed her onto her back. She looked up at me with excitement and lust. "Come and take it," she breathed, spreading her legs and rubbing her pussy.

I looked her over for a brief moment, pure lust in my thoughts and then I moved in between her legs and lined myself up to her hot sex. She was tight and not as wet as she could have been, so I had to enter her slower than I wanted to. The tension and the friction aided the mood, our sighs and grunts piercing the air, arousing us both further. My hand found Holly's neck and held it firmly, causing her eyes to roll back and a new wave of wetness to flow around my cock, as she took hold of a nipple and start pulling at it under her top.

I got most of the way inside her before I started to properly thrust and stretch her hole. Holly gasped, moaned and pleaded for it deeper. I gave it to her, stretching her out with firm, hard thrusts that had her desperate for air. My hand found itself under her top, feeling for her small breast. Holly thrust her chest up towards me, even as my hand around her throat kept her pinned down. My hand encircled her pert breast and cupped it firmly.

We locked eyes and held each other's stare as I pounded Holly relentlessly, sweat starting to wet my t-shirt. Holly took it and kept wanting more. Challenging me, making me ruin her hole. I gave her everything I had and then some, stamina and staying power honed from the months of being with her and satisfying her immense sex drive.

When she could take it no more, Holly wrapped her legs around me and forced me to fuck deep inside her while she screamed out an orgasm. I released my hand from her neck and instead pinned her down by the body, using my grip as leverage to fuck her through her orgasm. Her eyes were wide, her hands desperately looking for something to grip until they found my arms. When she climaxed, her nails scratched their way down my arms, drawing blood. I growled as I felt my orgasm boiling. Her pussy continued to contract around my cock, speeding me along.

I gasped as I felt my orgasm reach the point of no return and bit down on Holly's exposed shoulder, marking it and leaving a sizeable lovebite. Holly groaned and ran her hands along my thighs, pushing my cock further inside her. I stayed inside her while I went soft, my cum starting to leak from her. We kissed gently, coming down from the passionate high and too tired to do much else.

***

Olivia and Dawn also joined Holly in the England squad. With so many of our players off to play in the tournament, our training ground continued to be a hub of activity over the weeks before players left for their international camps. Our club trainers, coaches and physios continued to work with Holly and the rest so they could stay in optimum condition. A healthy rivalry broke out between our players who were representing different nationalities, which had the benefit of keeping everyone fit and competitive.

The media previews for the tournament kicked off with intensity. Holly was out for an entire day at a tv studio where she was filmed as part of the opening credits to the live TV coverage across the tournament. Georgia and I were flat-out writing articles and sorting international press visits. Poor Alf thought he'd be in the money with the increase in publicity, but the reporters would come with their own crew, to Alf's dismay.

Our operations manager had managed to sort accommodation and ticket access to most of the games for Caroline, a couple of coaches and myself. Sadly, neither the budget nor ticket allocation stretched to Georgia and while I offered to go half on a hotel for her, she declined as we couldn't get her match tickets to sit with us.

Holly was in a zone of focus I'd never seen in her before. It was both impressive and terrifying. She would wake up, watch tapes, go to training and then work herself to exhaustion. By the time I was home, she'd analysed her own performance and either made dinner or else would be all over me the second my foot was through the door for some stress relief.

I was almost glad to say goodbye to her when she left for camp just so the intensity in my world could go back to normal levels. Almost glad. England were expected to go quite far in the tournament and were meeting early for a few days before heading to France. It meant Holly & I weren't going to properly see each other much for at least 6 weeks if things went well. We'd probably see each other more than other players would see their partners because of my job but time would be limited and short.

We were up for much of the night before she left. What started as a pep talk to Holly, morphed into neither of us wanting to go to sleep which morphed into far too many hours having sex. By the end of it, we were both sore, exhausted and sleepy. A bad way to part.

Still, I had plenty of images to sustain me over the two weeks or so before I flew out to France and would see her again. We did things that night that neither of us would admit to another soul - things from the deepest recesses of our fantasies. We couldn't speak much while Holly was at camp but whenever sex was raised, Holly promised me a repeat of much of it during the holiday to Greece we had booked for after the tournament.

Our delegation flew to France without any hiccups, and I was in the stadium for England's first game. Holly was a starter and put in a fantastic performance, helping the team to a clean sheet and 3 points. Yes, I was biased but everyone else thought so too. It was the first time I'd seen her in weeks and from my vantage point, she looked like this larger-than-life figure and not my girlfriend. She was idolised in the crowds, many of whom had 'Dane' on the back of their shirts. It was the first time I had really felt like I was dating a celebrity and it was an unnerving feeling.

After the game, she walked through the press corridor and did her commitments to the different outlets - short interviews and 'quick quotes'. When she got to me in my 'Clapham FC Media' badge, she had a tough time keeping herself together, as did I. But we managed it because we didn't want to accidentally go public at the start of the tournament, Holly had enough to be getting on with. Georgia and I had spent many fun mornings reading our daily press roundup to see who Holly was romantically linked to on any given day. After a few quick snippets for our website, Holly was off through the other side.

We spoke every evening for a few minutes on the phone and exchanged messages intermittently throughout the day but otherwise, Holly and I barely spoke to each other. It was frustrating but I understood. It didn't stop my brain from unearthing those long-buried memories of the painful period of my life where Holly was just out of reach and then hitting great heights from afar.

Caroline took me and her two coaches for a late lunch prior to the second game. It was on the other side of the country and therefore we didn't get tickets as it would have been too logistically challenging. Instead, the four of us would be watching it in a nearby bar.