All We Have

by Len Webster

  “Let me go, Robbie. We can’t be friends. Right now, I’m hurt and upset with you. And I’m proud of you, too, for taking care of her. It’s confusing. You’re confusing. But I love you enough to know that this isn’t right for us. I won’t press charges against Jewel because I know it’ll hurt you if I did. But I didn’t need to see who you chose to protect. You made it clear. I hinder you. I won’t anymore.”

  “Alli—”

  “No,” she said softly as she shook her head. “Goodbye, Robbie.” Then Ally began to leave his apartment.

  As she closed the door behind her, she heard him shout, “No. Fuck!”

  Ally made long strides to distance herself from him, heading towards the elevator. Once she pressed the button on the panel, she waited a few seconds until the elevator opened to Rob’s floor. Stepping inside, she pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her black jeans. She pressed the ground floor button and watched the metal doors close. When the elevator began to descend, she logged into her Internet banking and checked her balance.

  Millions sat in her account. It made her sick knowing what she was about to do. She chose the real estate agent’s account and entered the amount she had to pay for the New York apartment she had found yesterday. Her accountant and her father would know the moment she pressed ‘send money’ that she had broken her deal. But that was the point. There was no coming back. Ally filled out the payment transfer as her heart twisted in her chest and her tears ran down her face.

  $3,493,151.00

  The real estate agent she had spoken to in New York had given her the total figures for the apartment on East 91st Street. From the pictures, the apartment was beautiful. She didn’t need an advisor to know that it was a lovely area to live in. She needed to spend the money. She needed to appear reckless. She needed to break the deal. Once she pressed ‘pay,’ she watched the screen process the large payment. Then, with one last approval, the payment was made. She had spent almost three and a half million dollars in an elevator ride.

  Once the doors opened, she stepped into the lobby and began to make her way towards the exit. Almost at the glass doors, her phone rang. She didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know that it was her father.

  Ally swiped at the screen and brought the phone to her ear. She wouldn’t give him the chance to tell her ‘I told you so.’

  “Dad.” She took a deep breath. “I’m ready to come home.”

  It was almost nine thirty when Ally entered Essendon Airport’s main terminal building. Her phone had rung several times during the twenty-minute drive out of the city. But she refused to answer any of his calls. Ally looked around the terminal to find Serge speaking to one of the pilots who regularly flew for her family. It hadn’t taken long for her to approach them.

  “Miss O’Connor,” the pilot said and tipped his head at her. “I’ll be your captain this evening. We just have someone looking at some of the instruments now and we’ll be on our way back to Sydney. Clear skies up there.”

  Ally attempted a careful smile. “Thank you.”

  “Excuse me, I have to get ready for the pre-flight check,” the captain said, and before Ally could ask for his name, he had left.

  “Piccola,” Serge breathed. “What happened to you? Did he—”

  “No,” she said firmly, ensuring that her bodyguard didn’t jump to conclusions. “There was this drunk woman at the pub and it all happened so fast. She knocked the tray out of my hands. Started calling me all these names and then punched me in the mouth first. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground being hit until my boss came and rescued me.”

  She hadn’t realised she was crying until Serge brushed away her tears. Then he brought her into a tight embrace. “I should have been there to protect you, Allison.”

  With her face buried in his business shirt, she sniffed. “Call me Ally.”

  Serge kissed the top of her head. “Okay, Ally. Come, let’s get you home.”

  “I failed, Serge,” she whispered.

  One of his large hands cupped the back of her head while the other rubbed her back. “You didn’t. I promise it gets better.”

  Nodding into his chest, she breathed in deeply, smelling the fresh, clean scent of his shirt. “I can only hope.”

  “Miss O’Connor,” Serge gently said.

  She felt her body being shaken. Ally groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Pressing her palms against the wooden surface, she lifted her head off the table she had used as a pillow. She rubbed at her eyes, careful not to touch the cuts on her face. Maybe if Jewel hadn’t worn rings, she’d have bruises rather than cuts. But it wasn’t as if Ally could stop her mid-attack and ask her to kindly put them away.

  “How long have I been asleep?” she asked, groggy.

  “Not long. We’ve just landed. The car is waiting for us,” he said as he unbuckled her belt for her and then picked up her handbag. He frowned at the little luggage she’d brought back. “We can have Adam’s assistant pack up your things. Is there anything you want them to do besides take your brother’s car back to the apartment?”

  Ally got up from her seat and mulled it over. Before they had boarded, Adam’s assistant, Cathy, had collected her brother’s and Stevie’s apartment keys off her. “There’s a box in my room at Stevie’s. Could you get that dry cleaned and returned to her? Also, could you have them tell her I’m sorry? I’ll call her tomorrow. Besides that, I don’t care about anything I brought with me to Melbourne.”

  “I’ll call Cathy and let her know. Welcome home, Ally.”

  “It’s good to be home,” she said and made her way off the company plane.

  Truth be told, it was bittersweet. She had missed her family. But she had left a big piece of herself back in Melbourne. She should have said goodbye to Stevie and Julian and thanked them for their friendship and hospitality. However, she knew they would try to stop her. She would explain in the morning.

  At the exit, the pilots had wished her well before she went down the small steps and off the plane. She breathed in the cold, Sydney air and hoped it numbed her that little bit more. When she glanced up at the car that waited for them by the hanger, she froze.

  Her father stared at her. He took in her beaten face and rushed towards her. His arms wrapped around her, and she felt him sob. “Oh, Allison. My sweet, little girl.”

  “You’re here,” she pointed out once she pulled out of their embrace. Her father had never once greeted her at the hanger on her returns to Sydney.

  His hands settled on her shoulders. “You’re my only daughter. I can’t lose you. I’m so proud of you.”

  Ally recoiled. He never spoke to her that way before. “I failed. How can you be proud of that? I broke the deal. I’m at your mercy for the rest of my life.”

  “We’ll talk about all of that tomorrow. I’ll take you to the hospital,” he said as he dropped his hands from her.

  “You?”

  Nodding, her father cupped the right side of her face. The Jewel-attacked free side. “You’re my daughter, Allison. Your health and safety are important to me. I’ve done a lot of self-searching since you left home. I’ll be a better man. I promise I’ll be a better man.”

  Standing on the balcony, Rob watched the rain fall on the street below. It had been raining since he woke up almost an hour ago. He hadn’t gotten much sleep. One, Allison O’Connor had left him. And two, the couch he slept on was terrible. He didn’t want to sleep in his bed without Allison. She was right. He had chosen without even thinking. He had made sure Jewel was safe before the supposed woman he loved.

  Rob couldn’t help it. The realisation that an Australian Olympic Committee director was at the pub had him rushing through all his decisions without thinking them over. Allison had been bleeding, hurt, and crying, and he had ignored all of that. Somewhere in it all, he thought of himself in Jewel’s shoes. If no one had stopped her, her Olympic career would be over. A drunken athlete being arrested for assault and intoxication wasn’t what the AOC wanted so close
to the Olympics.

  No scandals.

  It had been the advice his coach, Ralph, had given him two years ago. Tapping his fingers on the railing, he decided to call her. Figure out how he could fix this. He was supposed to tell her he loved her last night. Rob let out a sigh as he turned around and went back into his apartment. He closed the balcony sliding door and retrieved his phone from the coffee table.

  Clenching his left hand into a fist, he attempted to level out his nervous breathing as he unlocked his phone and dialled her number. Then he lowered himself onto the couch. He brought his phone to his ear and waited as he heard the rings.

  “Hey, this is Ally. Sorry, I’m away at the moment. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you. Bye!”

  Beep.

  Rob didn’t say anything for a few seconds as her voicemail recorded his silence. Then he hung up and tried once more.

  “Hey, this is Ally. Sorry, I’m away at the moment. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you. Bye!”

  The sound of his guest bedroom door opening had Rob quickly hanging up the phone and getting off the couch. Jewel exited the room completely dressed, her fingers pressed against her temples. The moment she glanced up to see him, the guilt was clear in her eyes.

  “I did something bad, didn’t I?”

  Rob nodded. “She’s not pressing charges. She promised me that last night.”

  “She?” Jewel dropped her hands from her temples, noticing the blood he hadn’t quite gotten off her knuckles. “I hurt her.”

  “You split her lip open.”

  She gasped. “Is she okay?”

  “I don’t know. She told me to let her go. Wants me to go to the Olympics.”

  “We didn’t do anything, did we?” she asked.

  Rob approached her and then shook his head. “No, Jewel. We didn’t. I brought you here because you lost your bag.”

  “And Allison saw?”

  “She did.”

  Jewel shook her head unbelievably at him. “Why would you do that? You love her. I see it. Why would you rescue me if I hurt the woman you love?”

  “Because one of us has to make it to the Olympics. And it’s you. I couldn’t let you ruin your chance,” he explained.

  “But you ruined yours with Allison. If I were her right now, I’d be devastated. Does she even know how you feel about her?”

  He averted her probing stare. “No. She’s not picking up my calls.”

  Jewel glanced down at her dress. “Her blood is all over me. I can’t believe I hit her. I don’t know what got over me. I just knew that she was the reason why you weren’t interested in me and wanted to end your dreams.” Tears began to fall and Rob pulled her in for an embrace.

  “My dreams only consist of her,” he admitted in a whisper.

  “I should go,” she said as she pushed off him. “I’ll message my brother and have him pick me up. Rob, thank you for everything, but the next time I fuck up, don’t protect me. Of course, the Olympics is my dream, but if I screw it up, that’s all me. Not you. Understand?”

  He nodded. “I do.”

  “I can’t believe I did this. Next time I see her, I’ll apologise,” she promised. Jewel then grasped his shirt in her hands. “You better make sure you grovel for her forgiveness. I may hate her because you love her. I flirt like crazy with guys I know have girlfriends, I can’t help it. But what I did last night was unforgivable and shouldn’t have happened. Got it?”

  “I know, Jewel. I won’t stop grovelling. For however long it takes for her to even talk to me again.”

  “Who died?” Julian asked with no hint of humour in his voice or facial expression.

  Rob’s brows knitted. “What? No one.”

  His brother let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, good. You’re just here really early with a face that has me worried you’re going to commit a violent crime or something.”

  “Can I please come in?” he asked, trying not to appear impatient with his younger brother.

  Julian set his palm on his chest and grinned. “You said please. Oh, all right, come in. The fiancée is about to make breakfast.”

  “I’m not your fiancée!” Stevie shouted.

  Julian rolled his eyes and gestured Rob into the apartment. “That’s not what you said at the movies when that nice ticketing lady batted her lashes at me.”

  Rob followed Julian down the hall and into the kitchen to find Stevie in a pair of cartoon grapes pjs. She glanced up at Rob and smiled at him.

  “Morning,” she greeted. “You look like hell.”

  “Is Allison awake?” he asked, straight to the point.

  Stevie squinted at him as she set the carton of milk she had held down. “I don’t know. You could check. I’d assume so. Julian and I got home pretty late and the apartment was dark. So she was already in bed.”

  He breathed out. “Good. She got home safe.”

  Julian sat on a barstool next to him. “Why are you acting so weird?”

  “What did you do, Rob?” Stevie asked. It almost sounded like an accusation.

  “I’ll explain later. Things happened—”

  “She didn’t take you telling her you loved her well?” Julian probed.

  Rob let out a bothered exhale. “I’ll explain later,” he repeated. “I have to talk to her.” He didn’t let either of them say another word as he rushed over to Allison’s bedroom door. Rob knocked once and waited.

  Silence.

  He knocked again and, this time, said, “Allison?”

  There was a knock on the front door that had him glancing over at his brother. Julian jumped off the barstool. “I’ll get it,” he announced and made his way down the hall.

  Rob decided not to wait any longer, twisted the doorknob, and opened her bedroom door. The room was still dark from the shades covering the window, but he could see that her bed was made. His eyes scanned her room and found that she wasn’t there.

  “Blondie! Did you order something?” Julian shouted from the front door.

  “No! Hang on, I’m coming.”

  Rob stepped out of her room, confused as to where Allison could be at almost nine in the morning.

  “It takes her a while to wake up,” Stevie commented as she walked past him.

  “She’s not in there,” Rob revealed.

  Stevie stopped in her tracks and quickly spun around. Then she pushed him aside and peered into her roommate’s bedroom. “What? Julian, have you seen Ally?”

  The panic in her voice had Rob tensing.

  What if she didn’t make it home last night?

  Where are you, Allison?

  Please be safe.

  Both he and Stevie rushed to the front door to find Julian holding a box and a woman in a white long-sleeve shirt tucked into a tight, knee-length black skirt. Rob stared at his brother and at the visitor.

  She had a practised and professional smile on her face. Not too showy but enough to believe that she was nice. “Are you Stevie Appleton?”

  Stevie sideways glanced at her fiancé and then nodded. “Yeah, who’s asking?”

  The woman looked relieved as her dark green eyes sparkled. “Wonderful. I’m Cathy. And I’m here to deliver that box to you.”

  Stevie’s brows furrowed, and her sceptical eyes met Rob’s. Then she turned and took the lid off the box Julian held. “This is Ally’s dress. I gave it to her. Where did you get this?” she demanded.

  Cathy held up a set of keys between her thumb and index finger. “It’s been dry cleaned. I’m also here to deliver these keys and to tell you that Miss O’Connor is sorry.”

  Rob snatched the keys off the woman. “How did you get these? And how do you know Allison?”

  “Cathy, Mr Duncan would like everything on the company plane by twelve,” a man in the hallway said. Rob couldn’t see him as the woman with the emotionless voice was in the way.

  “Ah, yes. We’re on a schedule. May we please come in?”

  “What? No!” Julian raised his voice. “Where’
s Ally?”

  Cathy’s expression turned sympathetic. “I’m sorry, but I can’t disclose Miss O’Connor’s personal affairs. It’s best if you speak to her directly while we pack her things and have them sent to her.”

  “WHAT?” Stevie, Julian, and Rob blurted out in unison.

  “Please,” Cathy begged. Stevie stepped aside, giving her permission into the apartment. “Thank you. I promise we’ll be out of your way. We’ll be as quick as possible so you can all continue on with your day.”

  Then she entered the apartment as three men followed her. Two were pretty built men and held flattened boxes and packing material in their hands. Another man wheeled a handcart into the hall.

  Rob watched as Julian closed the door and Stevie pulled her phone out of the pocket of her pj pants.

  “What the hell is going on?” Julian asked.

  “I’m going to find out,” Stevie said and swiped at her phone. Then she went to her contacts and called Allison. As the phone rang, Stevie pressed on the speakerphone to activate it.

  The phone rang continuously as it had when Rob had attempted to get in touch with her. But unlike Rob, Stevie had gotten through. Allison had picked up her call.

  “Hello, Miss O’Connor’s phone,” a man with a European accent answered.

  Rob’s heart picked up. She hadn’t answered. A man he didn’t know had. He felt the panic rise in him over her safety.

  “Serge?” Stevie asked in disbelief.

  “Serge?” Rob asked Julian. His brother simply shook his head.

  “Miss Appleton, how can I help you?”

  Stevie took a deep breath. “I need to speak to Ally.”

  There was a pause. “I’m sorry, but Miss O’Connor is currently unavailable at the moment. I can tell her you called.”

  “No, Serge. You’ll tell me where she is!”

  “Miss Appleton, I don’t respond well to demands. But because you are very dear to Miss O’Connor, I will tell you that she is safe. She was in the ER for a few hours and got some stitches.”

  “The ER?” The horror in Stevie’s voice had Rob feeling sick inside. The knot in his stomach tightened. Allison had gone to the hospital.