Free Web NovelChapter 5: [5] "A Dangerous Game Has No Rules"
"Hugo Blanc," she said, as Luc familiarised himself with it instantly. "He’s an academy product with an eye for a good pass but has terrible self-confidence, the older guys bully him, he only gets a touch or two in practice as he’s afraid of making a mistake."
[System Notification]
[Objective: Use Hugo]
[Reward: Weaner size +1]
[Penalty: Severe case of athletes foot]
Luc’s eyes widened on ready this. "What the hell," he said to himself.
"He made the pass today," Luc pointed out. "If I get started, I want Hugo to be behind me, he can see the spaces that I’m running into."
Juliette laughed, head shaking in sheer disbelief. "You didn’t even get to play an official minute in Ligue Alpha and you’re to call the starting lineup? Hugo lacks the self-confidence? But you have a certain confidence yourself."
"Ego is confidence without results to back it," Luc said in a flat, serious tone. "I get results."
---
Then the waiter came back, and the two enormous plates of steak he placed between them were sizzling hot. The air was filled with the aroma of seared meat and garlic. Luc sliced up his ribeye. This was an unusually rare occurrence. It was just right, bloody. Just how he desired it to be.
After some moment’s silence, they took turns eating. The atmosphere on the table was taut, like a heavy string. Juliette continued to look at him through her wine glass. She was trying to figure him out.
At last, she said, "You’re not like the other imports," wiping her mouth with a cloth napkin, "You’re not like the other imports, the young Americans who come over, typically they’re wide-eyed and they want to party in Paris and post on social media and they get nervous when they see the European game. You don’t. You play like you’re hungry, or angry, or both."
Luc slowly ate his steak. "I play to win."
"No," Juliette challenged, leaning in closer. "I watch athletes for a living, Luc, I fix their bodies. I watch how they move, you play like you come here for blood, why did you decide to come here? Maybe you would have been the pick of the draft back home."
Luc looked into her piercing green eyes. He considered lying. It’d be easy to tell her the PR cliché, "I want to push myself in Europe and he needed other people’s help, though. And information."
"I came for a girl," said Luc finally.
Juliette was taken aback by the forthrightness. She looked shocked. She had a look on her face that every one of you would recognize as disappointment. "Well, a girl, how cliché! I guess she broke your heart, didn’t she?"
"She was in bed in my hotel room, with Olivier Fontaine."
The name fell as an atomic bomb. The wine glass half full in her hand froze as she turned to Luc. She slowly lowered it back to the table, her eyes widening.
"Fontaine?" she whispered.
"Yeah."
Eyeing all around the restaurant, Juliette became hyper-conscious of the people around the various tables. She leaned in so close Luc could smell the vanilla perfume on her neck.
She lowered her voice, and stopped all the playful banter, "Luc, listen to me very carefully." She was deadly serious. "Ligue Alpha isn’t just a football league, it’s an ecosystem and Olivier Fontaine is the absolute top of the food chain."
Ignoring the fact, Luc replied, "I don’t care."
Juliette frowned, "You have to be concerned," she said. "The guy is the MVP, he’s the guy who’s the face of the big TV deal that the league is doing, he brings in millions in foreign sponsorships, referees protect him, the disciplinary committee looks the other way when he tackles, if he points a finger people lose their jobs."
"It seems to be just a guy that’s gotten too comfortable."
His stubbornness frustrated Juliette, so she shook her head. "You can’t go head to head with him, Luc, because he has all his sycophants around him, and you’re not a big name in the league, you’re a nobody from America, you’re going to dethron him? If you go after him, he’ll crush you, he’ll blacklist you, or he’ll have one of his center-backs tackle you and break your legs."
"Let them try," Luc coldly said. "He took what was mine, I’m going to take everything from him, starting with his Golden Boot."
Luc said this and froze as the blue screen appeared again. He hadn’t even completed the standing assignment.
[System Notification]
[Objective: Wager a challenge to Olivier]
[Reward: Recognition as a threat]
[Punishment: Termination of contract]
"This system seems to be after my contract," Luc thought to himself.
Juliette stared at him. She was searching for a something. An indicator that he was merely bluster, just talking tough. However, Luc’s eyes were totally blinded with revenge. There’s no need to think twice. No hesitation.
She gasped, "You’re nuts."
She relaxed, "You’re really nuts."
"Maybe," Luc replied. He shoved his empty plate towards her. "But I’m also your team’s only hope of a free escape from relegation, Henri knows it, you know it. So are you going to help me or are you going to tell me to run away?"
Juliette bit her lower lip. She scanned his wide shoulders, his quietness, the hardness and focus that emanated from him. She was well aware that it was a risky proposition. SC Valois was a small fish in a big pond and Luc was about to paint a huge target on his back.
However when she gazed at him, she experienced a tingle rise in her chest.
Juliette replied slowly, "I’m SC Valois head physio and in the Physio committee of the league. I keep you on the pitch, I repair the damage, I hear things, players talk to me, staff talk to me, I know a lot about almost every team in this league." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Good," Luc said. "Since I’m going to have to hit them somewhere."
---
Juliette called for the check. She paid promptly, without ever taking her eyes off him.
She said, "Walk me home, American."
It was a cool evening out of the restaurant. Together they strolled the quiet Parisian streets. In the distance the city was buzzing with activity, nearby noise of traffic and distant sirens but their block was silent.
They didn’t talk about football anymore. The mood was one of a candle light that had been put out. No more Fontaine or SC Valois. It was dense, tremendous, and electrifying.
They came to a stop in front of a contemporary apartment block. Juliette opened up the front door and took him up to the third floor.
She opened up her door to her apartment. Very elegant and spare. The large bay windows cast light into the room, onto the hardwood floor.
She put her keys down on the counter and looked at him.
"You play a very dangerous game, Luc," she said, her voice dropping to a husky whisper.
"I don’t play games, Juliette," Luc said in a low whisper, as he stepped into her personal space. He reached out, his hand wrapping around her slender waist, pulling her close against his chest.
She let out a soft breath, her hands coming up to rest flatly against his toned chest. She looked up at him, her green eyes heavy with lust and desire.
"Show me," she invited.
Luc didn’t hesitate. He leaned down and captured her lips.
[System Notification]
[Use 5 skill points to increase stamina? Y/N]
"Huh? Y. Y. Y," Luc said, almost out of breathe. Juliette was hungrily devouring his lips.
Suddenly he felt a sudden spike. He jacked her up and threw her on the sofa.
What followed was a magical moment between a man and a sex starved woman. The sofa could barely keep up with his thrusts.
---
[System Notification]
[You have gained Juliette’s affection]
The moonlight continued to shine through the windows, casting long shadows across the tangled bedsheets.
Luc lay on his back, his breathing slow and steady. Juliette was curled into his side. With her head resting on his toned chest, her fingers tiredly tracing the muscular lines of his six pack.
"Tomorrow," she whispered sleepily against his skin, "Henri is going to announce the squad for the weekend. We play Olympique de Rive. They are heavily favored to win."
"Good," Luc said, his voice a low rumble in his chest.
"They have a brutal defense," she warned, tracing a circle over his heart.
Luc stared up at the ceiling, his mind already drifting back to the pitch. He thought about Hugo Blanc’s nervous passing and the system objective to ’use him’. He thought about Mateo’s heavy tackles. He thought about the back of the net.
He closed his eyes, visualizing the green grass. The rise to the top of Ligue Alpha started on Saturday. And he was going to make sure the entire country, including Olivier Fontaine, was watching.
