Chapter 18: Public Revenge
The Hofbräuhaus assaulted the senses in the best possible way. The cavernous hall roared with a thousand overlapping conversations, the clatter of heavy steins, and the cheerful blast of an oompah band in the corner. The air hung thick with the yeasty scent of beer and the rich, savory aroma of roasting pork. Vanja moved through the crowd with Aleksandar at her side, her green eyes scanning the packed tables until they found their target.
Joshua Kimmich sat with several teammates, a half-empty Maßkrug before him. He was laughing at something someone said, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. They were already tracking her, dark and unreadable, from the moment she’d entered.
“He’s watching,” Aleks murmured, his hand finding the small of her back, a proprietary touch that felt both staged and utterly real.
“Good,” Vanja said, her voice low. She let her gaze slide over Joshua as if he were part of the furniture, then turned fully to Aleksandar, placing a hand on his chest. “Let’s get a drink.”
They pushed through the throng to the long, scarred wooden bar. Vanja ordered two beers, leaning into Aleksandar’s space as the bartender filled their steins. She could feel Joshua’s stare like a physical weight between her shoulder blades.
“Nervous?” Aleks asked, his breath warm against her ear.
“No.” It was the truth. A cold, sharp clarity had settled over her. This was a match, and she knew how to play. She took a long swallow of the cool, bitter beer, then turned, deliberately positioning herself so Joshua had a perfect view.
She let the conversation flow, laughing at Aleks’s jokes, her hand resting on his arm. She leaned in close to hear him over the din, her hair brushing his cheek. She was a study in casual intimacy, every gesture calculated. She saw Joshua’s jaw tighten from across the room. He took a long, deliberate drink from his stein, his eyes never leaving them.
The band launched into a louder, more raucous tune. The crowd cheered, stomping their feet in time. Vanja saw her moment. She grabbed Aleksandar’s hand and pulled him into a small space between two pillars, partially shielded from direct view but with a clear sightline to Joshua’s table.
“Now,” she whispered.
She slid her hands under his simple black t-shirt, her palms flat against the warm, firm skin of his stomach. She felt his muscles contract under her touch. She rose onto her toes, her mouth finding his in a kiss that was anything but chaste. It was hungry and open, a blatant display. As she kissed him, she turned her head just enough to lock eyes with Joshua over Aleksandar’s shoulder.
The noise of the hall seemed to fade. There was only the hard, icy shock in his gaze. Vanja held it, unblinking. She mouthed four words, shaping them slowly, perfectly.
This is what you’re missing.
She saw the exact moment they landed. His face went pale, then flushed with a dark, furious color. He stood up so abruptly his chair screeched against the stone floor.
Vanja broke the kiss, a slow, triumphant smile curling her lips. She grabbed Aleksandar’s hand again. “Come on.”
She didn’t look back. She pulled him through the crowd, past the restrooms, down a dimly lit corridor marked ‘Personal.’ A heavy, unmarked door stood ajar. She shoved it open, pulling Aleks inside and slamming it shut behind them.
The storage closet was cool and dark, smelling of damp stone and metal. Faint light from the corridor seeped under the door, illuminating stacked kegs of beer that reached towards the ceiling like metallic pillars. The roar of the hall was muffled here, a distant, rhythmic thunder.
“Holy shit, Vanja,” Aleksandar breathed, his back against the door, his chest heaving. “You saw his face?”
“I saw it.” She pushed him back against the rough wood, her hands going to the button of his jeans. “Now shut up and fuck me.”
She yanked his jeans and boxers down his hips in one rough motion, his cock springing free, already hard and eager. She hiked up her dress, not bothering with her panties, and turned around, bracing her hands against a cold, curved beer keg.
“Like this,” she commanded, looking back at him over her shoulder. “And don’t be gentle.”
He didn’t need a second invitation. He was on her in an instant, his hands gripping her hips, his body covering hers. He spat into his palm, slicked himself roughly, and then the broad, blunt head of his cock was pressing against her entrance. She was already wet, her body thrumming with adrenaline and a dark, vengeful lust.
He drove into her with a single, brutal thrust that shoved her hard against the keg, the metal cold and unyielding against her belly. A sharp, guttural cry was torn from her throat. He filled her completely, stretching her, claiming the space his rival had only ever watched.
“Fuck, you’re tight,” he grunted, his hands digging into the flesh of her hips. He set a punishing rhythm, each deep, hard stroke a retaliation, a declaration. The kegs rattled faintly with their movement. The sound of their bodies slapping together, wet and frantic, echoed in the small, dark space.
“He’s probably still out there,” Vanja moaned, the words fragmented. “Probably… fucking… listening.”
“Let him listen,” Aleks growled, bending over her, his mouth hot on her neck. He bit down, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough to mark her. “Let him hear how I make you scream.”
He reached around, his fingers finding her clit, rubbing rough, frantic circles. The dual sensation was overwhelming—the deep, internal pounding and the sharp, external friction. Pleasure coiled, tight and hot, low in her belly.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he demanded, his voice raw against her ear. “Right now, in this fucking closet, tell me.”
“I’m yours,” she gasped, her nails scraping against the metal keg. “I’m yours, Aleks, fuck, just like that!”
Her orgasm crashed over her, a wave of convulsing, mindless pleasure that made her knees buckle. She cried out, a raw, shameless sound that was surely audible in the corridor. He held her up, his thrusts becoming wild, erratic.
“Gonna come,” he choked out, his body rigid against her back. “Gonna fill this perfect cunt. Let him wonder if it’s his.”
With a final, deep plunge, he shuddered and emptied himself inside her, a hot, pulsing flood that seemed to go on and on. He collapsed against her, his weight pressing her into the cold metal, his breath coming in ragged gasps against her shoulder.
For a long moment, there was only the sound of their breathing and the distant thrum of the beer hall. Then, a different sound. A soft, almost imperceptible scuff from the other side of the door.
Vanja went still. Aleksandar heard it too. He slowly pulled out of her, the sound wet and final in the sudden silence. He quickly pulled up his jeans while Vanja let her dress fall, the fabric sticking to the dampness between her thighs.
She stepped to the door and put her hand on the cool wood. She waited, listening. There was nothing. But the air felt different. Charged.
She looked at Aleksandar, her eyes wide in the gloom. A slow, cold smile touched her lips. It was done.
She reached for the handle, turned it, and pulled the door open.
The corridor was empty.
But lying on the stone floor, just outside the door, was a single, half-full beer stein. It hadn’t been there when they entered.
The heavy stein lay on its side, a dark puddle of beer seeping into the grout lines between the stones. Vanja stared at it, her own breath catching in her throat. He had been here, listening to every gasp, every filthy word, every wet sound of their joining.
She stepped over the puddle, her shoes making a soft click on the stone floor. The corridor bent sharply just ahead, leading to a dead-end alcove stacked with empty crates. A shadow moved there, a huddled form slumped against the wall.
Joshua.
He wasn't the composed, dismissive star she knew. His shoulders were hunched, his face buried in his hands. The sounds he made were quiet, ragged things, torn from deep within his chest. They were the sounds of a man whose carefully constructed world had just been obliterated.
Vanja approached slowly, her earlier triumph evaporating into something colder, more complex. She knelt before him, the rough stone biting into her knees through her dress. She didn't speak. She simply reached out and pried one of his hands away from his face.
His skin was wet with tears, his eyes red-rimmed and shattered. He tried to look away, but she held his gaze, her own dark green eyes searching his.
"All those things you said online," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "As jaka95. I knew it was you. I sought you out... and then I was such a cunt to you in person. I was... scared."
The confession hung in the damp air between them. Vanja’s heart hammered against her ribs. The anonymous rival, the source of her most stimulating intellectual fights, was the same man who had looked at her with such cold disdain.
"Shhh," she murmured, her thumb stroking his wet cheek. She leaned in and kissed him. It wasn't like the performative kiss with Aleksandar. This was slow, deep, and searching, a silent acceptance of his broken pieces.
He groaned into her mouth, his hands coming up to fist in her hair, desperate and clutching. The taste of his tears was salty on her lips. She could feel the frantic beat of his heart where her palm pressed against his chest.
"Vanja," he breathed, his voice cracking.
"Right here," she said, her own voice low and steady. She guided his hand under her dress, past the damp evidence of Aleksandar, and pressed his fingers against her. "Right here. I'm still wet from him. Now make it yours."
A raw, possessive sound escaped him. He fumbled with his belt, his hands shaking. He pushed his jeans down just enough, his cock springing free, thick and hard. He wasn't gentle. He lifted her, turning her to brace against the cold stone wall, and drove into her from behind in one relentless thrust.
She cried out, her head falling back against his shoulder. He filled a different space, touched a different nerve. This was not revenge; this was reclamation. His thrusts were frantic, almost angry, each one a punctuation to his choked words.
"All mine," he growled into her ear, his breath hot. "This perfect, brilliant cunt is mine." His hands gripped her hips, holding her still for his deep, punishing rhythm. The coarse fabric of his jeans rubbed against the backs of her thighs.
She came again, a sharp, surprising climax that clenched around him, milking his length. He swore, a guttural, filthy word, and poured himself into her, his own release a hot, pulsing flood that seemed to go on forever. He slumped against her, his body trembling, his face buried in her hair.
For a long moment, they stayed like that, joined and breathing heavily in the dim silence. Then Vanja slowly turned in his arms. She looked past him, to where Aleksandar stood watching from the doorway of the storage closet, his expression unreadable.
"Come here," she said to Aleks, her voice soft but firm.
He approached, his eyes flickering between her and the spent man clinging to her. Vanja put a hand on Joshua's chest, gently pushing him back a step. She then took Aleksandar's hand and placed it on Joshua's shoulder.
"Now kiss him," Vanja said, her gaze fixed on Joshua.
Joshua’s eyes widened, a flicker of shock and confusion breaking through his emotional exhaustion. Aleksandar looked equally stunned, but a slow, curious smile touched his lips.
"Do it," Vanja insisted, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I want to see it."
There was a tense, silent moment where the only sound was their ragged breathing. Then, Joshua, his eyes still locked with Vanja’s, gave a barely perceptible nod. Aleksandar leaned in.
It was hesitant at first, a mere brush of lips. Then Joshua’s hand came up, tangling in Aleksandar's hair, pulling him closer. The kiss deepened, becoming something raw and exploratory, a surrender to a new, uncharted territory.
Vanja watched, her hand slipping between her own legs. Her fingers found her swollen clit, slick with both of them. She circled it slowly, her breath catching.
"Fuck," she moaned, her eyes devouring the sight of the two footballers, their bodies tense, their mouths moving together. "I think... I think I can come just from watching you two kiss."