Thorn

by Savina Joyce

  The ride to the smoothie was short, but she still let it slip somehow that they went to the same alma mater. She was barely able to stop herself before she divulged her college crush on him.

  “I remember you, you know.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course. I was only taking that sports management classes that you love so much to try to get a gauge on my career. But you reveled in it.”

  “I wouldn't say I reveled in it.”

  “I would and I did. You were thrilled. And you knew so much. I admired that. But I thought that you were a bit of a stiff.”

  “You thought I was a stiff because you were jealous of my big brains,” Gabriella joked.

  Before either of them knew it, they were laughing and joking around the table. The conversation was easy and familiar. Somehow, they ended up holding hands as they walked back to the car. Maybe Thorn was just the man she was looking for not only professionally, but personally too.

  Gabriella tried to remember not to get ahead of herself. They had worked out at the same gym. They worked in the same office, and they had one smoothie together. That didn’t make Thorn the one. He was an old acquaintance. A coworker. Being attracted to a man didn’t mean that she had to start a relationship with him.

  Besides what did holding hands mean in this day and age? Gabriella was sure that Thorn just got caught up in the moment like she did. They didn’t say anything on the ride home and parted ways without a word when they got to her car. Thorn got out of the car and lingered near Gabriella’s car door. For a brief moment, she was afraid that Thorn would kiss her. She knew if he tried to kiss her, she wouldn’t be able to resist.

  Instead he just nodded to her with a half smile, squeezed her forearm and walked back to his car. Gabriella smiled back. As she opened her door and slid into the driver’s seat. She let out a small sigh of relief and started her drive home. Thoughts of Thorn danced in her head. She didn’t have to look in her rearview mirror to know that she had a dopey grin on her face.

  Her phone was ringing as she walked in the house. She glanced down and saw that it was India calling. She picked up right away.

  “Hey girl.”

  “Oh, I know that voice. You sound happy. What happened?”

  “Who said anything happened, India?”

  “Like I said, I know your voice. It was Thorn wasn’t it? Sounds like the voice you have right after you see a man.”

  “I might have seen Thorn. We do work together after all.”

  “That’s not your work voice girl. Get to the story. I don’t have all day.’

  “If you didn’t have time, why did you call me?”

  “To check on you and the status of your lackluster love life. Sounds like it’s less than lacking right now so…”

  “Fine. If you’re not going to let this go, I did see Thorn, at the work gym.”

  “And?”

  “And after my workout he invited me out to get smoothies.”

  “Ok so we’re in high school. Interesting approach. It’s been so long since you had a date that it’s probably for the best. What happened next?”

  “Nothing. We parted ways and went about our business.”

  “Then why the voice.”

  “There is no voice. We just had a nice time.”

  “Well, I need you to make it nicer if you know what I mean.”

  Gabriella laughed. If anyone was on her side, it was India. While Gabriella focused on her career, India thought Gabriella deserved to have it all. Not that India dated too much, she ran an animal shelter and seemed to be more in love with dogs lately.

  Their conversation quickly turned to her latest rescue punctuated with text messages of pictures of the adorable pooches.

  Chapter Nine

  Thorn

  Thorn hadn’t been able to get their smoothie date out of his mind. At first, he told himself that it wasn’t a date. Even he didn’t believe that lie. The very next night he was at her office door asking her to go out for ice cream and she accepted. This time, when he walked her to her car, he kissed her goodbye. It was a chaste kiss, but Thorn could feel the sizzle of their attraction on his tongue.

  Their one night together seemed to open the floodgates. Thorn and Gabriella couldn't get enough of each other. One night together turned into two. Then three.

  Soon, they had settled into a routine. They would meet at the gym and do their best to one up each other during their workouts, then head out for a smoothie or a light snack. Over the course of the month they were seeing each other almost every day.

  Every minute outside of work, and some during, Thorn spent thinking about Gabriella. Thorn tried to keep his business and personal life separate by adjusting his behavior. If football taught him one thing, it was to keep his game face on. At the office, that meant keeping an icy disposition, even with Gabriella.

  Keep your friends close and all of that. When Thorn left the NFL, he lost a lot of his football playing friends too. A few tried to keep in touch, but they quickly found they didn’t have much in common. It hurt him, but there was nothing that he could do about it. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake at the stadium. Gabriella was a bit of an exception, but he didn’t expect things to get serious even if they were spending a lot of time together.

  He didn’t want anyone to get the idea that he was pursuing Gabriella to get ahead or get special treatment at work. Not that he was really pursuing her. They were dating now, but women could be fickle. For all he knew she was just seeing him as a ploy to get him to straighten up at work. She might even be dating other people..

  The thought hit him like a punch to the gut. It hadn’t been long, but he had to admit that he felt something for her. He wasn’t sure what exactly he felt. Obviously, he was attracted to her, but he didn’t know if he was falling for her. They hadn’t gotten around to discussing what either of them was looking for. For now, they were passing time.

  Looking back now he could see where he might've been overdoing it with the beer. He just didn't think he had a problem. He never felt like he was an alcoholic. Alcoholics went to meetings. Thorn had never been to a single one. Plus, it wasn’t like he was drinking hard liquor. It was only beer. Now that he thought about it, eight beers a night every night was excessive.

  Whatever doubts he had about Gabriella and their situation Thorn worked them out in the gym. When he was craving a drink, he just worked out harder. She wasn't much of a morning person so when he wanted alone time, Thorn headed to the gym before work. He tried not to dwell on Gabriella and her work demeanor. He just tried to to follow suit. If label free was what she wanted it to be then that's what he would do. All that mattered to him right now is the time they spent together. Gabriella didn’t pressure him to be in a relationship so he was going to ride that as long as he could.

  Spending so much time with Gabriella didn't leave much time for drinking and feeling sorry for himself. Now that he thought about it, Thorn couldn't remember the last time he had cracked a beer. He definitely hadn’t been hanging out at any of the local haunts lately. Not that that was a bad thing. He loved how she loosened up a bit when she had a glass or two of wine, they ended up slow dancing in the middle of her living room.

  Thorn had been more nervous than he had been at his prom, even with the wine to give him liquid courage. He stole a kiss that went from chaste to steaming hot in seconds. He was definitely attracted to Ms. Wright, but he didn't want to push it. They both had their own baggage and Thorn was worried that sex might complicate things.

  Gabriella hadn't said as much but Thorn had to wager he had her approval in the situation. Thinking about things getting physical and the threat of Gabriella possibly dating someone else was making him tense. Maybe a couple of beers after work would help.

  He had one beer, which led to another. Soon he was more drunk than he had been in a while. He tried to keep his mind off of her, but he found himself going through his phone rereading his text messages to Gabriella. There was nothing
there that seemed suspicious or out of order.

  Thorn suddenly realized that they had never gotten to the point of sharing social media accounts. Her personal account surprisingly wasn’t private. She didn’t post all the time, but she seemed to post on a regular basis. No matter how far back he scrolled, there was no mention of him or their dates.

  Any other woman he dated couldn’t wait to post pictures of him. Some might not have mentioned him by name but they definitely made subtweets about dating him. A few were even bold enough to tag him. Gabriella didn’t have a single mention about her love life. A woman as gorgeous as she was had to have suitors. What was she hiding?

  Chapter Ten

  Gabriella

  Gabriella was enjoying her time with Thorn. Much more than she thought she would. If her college self could see her now, she would be freaking out. She was almost embarrassed to think about the hours she had spent daydreaming about Thorn back then. It was hard to imagine that those girlish dreams were finally coming true.

  Gabriella refused to risk her career on a fling. She was afraid that Thorn had a drinking problem. He might also realize that he could have any woman he wanted, especially with his new commitment to fitness. She didn't know what he was up to, but Gabriella was sure that Thorn was doing more working out when she wasn't around. His body was just shaping up too quickly. Not that she was complaining he looked amazing. He didn't even seem to notice, but he was almost back to the shape he was in when she met him.

  As frustrating as it was for her, she tried to resist the urge to get him out of his clothes. She knew once they passed that threshold there would be no turning back. She was actually concerned that he never even wanted to discuss her distancing herself from him at work. He just seemed to go along with it. In fact, he seemed to be playing the same game, but playing it better.

  Gabriella was a modern woman, so she tried not to let it get to her when he just nodded in her direction and strolled off to his office. But she felt a twinge of jealousy whenever one of the players visited him. She couldn't help but wonder just how helpful he was being.

  With no set limitations on their relationship, he was free to entertain whoever he wanted. And she wasn't the only woman that noticed his improved physique. All the women at the stadium were whispering about it. And she didn't blame them, he looked amazing.

  When they had time alone, Gabriella made excuses to touch him whenever she got the chance because he felt amazing too. His time at the gym was really paying off. While she was glad they hadn't slept together yet, she was surprised that Thorn hadn’t tried. This was a big change from the Thorn Thompson she went to school with, and from the professional player he had been after college. Men like that usually didn't like to be tied down.

  Gabriella didn’t want to tie him down, but she did want to see him more. Part of her wanted to announce their arrangement to the whole office so that the rest the woman would know and maybe back off. But her logical side won out. Gabriella was a smart businesswoman after all. If she discussed it openly with the women she worked with it would detract from her credibility and the whispers would only increase. Some women like a challenge, so they might even be more likely to try to pursue Thorn just to see if they could steal him away from the big bad boss. She didn't need that kind of drama.

  Gabriella was surprised that she was thinking this way. She respected all of the women she worked with. Before Thorn, she would never have considered that any of her players would do anything underhanded. Now, she was sitting in her office creating scenarios where they were trying to steal Thorn from her. He wasn’t even hers to steal.

  She needed to talk to India and get another reality check.

  Chapter Eleven

  Thorn

  Thorn was getting a bit of a vibe from Gabriella lately. She seemed to be on edge. She was still as affectionate as always when they were alone, but at work things seemed off. She still hadn’t made any posts about him. At work, things were all professional all the time.

  As the season went on some of the women were injured and he had to provide physical therapy services to them. It was nice to actually do the job that they paid him for. Others seemed to be hanging around for attention. While he was flattered, he did try to steer them away at first.

  When Gabriella was being especially unbearable at the office, he made sure to show whichever player he was treating a little extra special attention. He would smile a little harder at the other women doing administrative work. And generally be more flirty. If Gabriella was going to be cold with him, he could be warm with someone else. It probably wasn’t the best idea, but it made him feel better.

  She didn’t seem to care for it. He started having beers when she came over to his place and making sure to mention the women that came to see him. Thorn even brought up which ones had changed their hair and other minutiae women seemed to care about.

  In hindsight he probably shouldn’t have pushed her. Her behavior was escalating.

  One dar, he said something offhand. He couldn’t even remember what it was. Something about a young goalie that had come to him for treatment. When she was walking out of his office she said over her shoulder, “I guess you have to get involved with a woman whose age matches your IQ.”

  She walked out without another word.

  That was pushing it too far. Thorn might have made a big show of flirting with other women, but he only did it because it got under Gabriella’s skin. If she wanted to keep secrets he could act out too. Now she thought he was stupid?

  He stormed into her office and slammed the door. “What the hell is your problem?”

  “You will not speak to me in that manner in my office,” Gabriella replied gravely. “This is the place of business. Get a hold of yourself.”

  “Get a hold of myself? Myself? Do you hear the things you say? Can you possibly be that oblivious to the way you’ve been acting.”

  “I haven’t been acting any kind of way. You’ve been getting so much attention I guess it’s hard for you to keep your women straight.”

  “Keep my women straight? You’re the only woman that I want and you seem to be ashamed of me. I don’t know what it is you’re trying to do. I’m not some pet you can disregard whatever you like. Was I just some kind of project to you? You always did like a challenge.”

  “You’re not a project. And I’m not some bimbo you can just brush aside.”

  “You might not be a bimbo, but brushing you aside is exactly what I’m going to do. I am here to do a job not put up with your high school antics.”

  Thorn stormed out of the office in a huff. He left the door wide open. She said not to slam it, after all.

  He couldn’t believe that Gabriella was acting this way. She had the nerve to be jealous when she was the one spurning him at every turn. She started this. Not him. But she couldn’t take even the slightest dose of her own medicine. What a hypocrite.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gabriella

  Gabriella had never been so mad in her life. She couldn't believe that Thorn had the nerve to come in here acting like that. It was one thing to flirt with every woman he saw, no one knew they were together so I just made him look bad. But to come into her office and shout and storm out like that made it clear to everybody that something more was at hand here. While she wasn't ashamed to admit that she was seeing Thorn, having a big blowout in the middle of the office was not okay. And how could he be mad at her when he was the one acting like a fool.

  She tried to go along with his cold shoulder deal because it seemed like the professional thing to do. But clearly he wasn't the right man for her. And as mad as she was at Thorn, she was also worried.

  Gabriella knew she was within her rights to be mad at him, to never speak to him again, but she didn't really have grounds to fire him and she was more worried about him right now. She knew how idiotic that sounded. She was worried about a man who just started a fight and disrespected her. What a joke. But Thorn had been drinking for a while. People with d
ependency issues tended to fall back on their crutches when they had any kind of emotional disturbance. Even though she was mad at him, Gabriella still didn't want Thorn to go back to his old ways. He had come a long way last few weeks. She hated to think that a fight between two that would ruin their progress. She shook her head to try knock some sense back into herself. Thorn was a big boy. He needed to take care of himself. Right now this ludicrous display had put her integrity on the line. And maybe even reflected poorly on her. She needed to focus on that and the damage control that needed to be done. Gabriella hated that he put her in this position, but if she was being honest, she had helped put herself in this position. She should never have gotten involved with a staff member to begin with. When she hired him, she thought that aside from being a good doctor he would draw people to the stadium. Even non-soccer fans would come out to see what happened to the NFL's Golden boy. She never expected things to go this far, but now there was no way she could go back.

  There's no point sticking around the office any longer. She couldn't possibly concentrate enough to get any work done, the only saving grace is that there weren't many people in the office area of the stadium tonight. With the game tomorrow everyone needed the rest. She might as well pack up too.

  Gabriella was able to hold it together for most the drive home. She had choked up a little, but she was able to swallow her feelings. No one wanted to get pulled over for sobbing hysterically while driving down the road. But that's really what she felt like doing. She put up a good front, but she was hurt and embarrassed. As soon as she made it to her house the tears began to fall. She kept it together just long enough to pour herself a glass of wine but before the glass even hit her lips, the crying started all over again.