“It’s nothing. Let’s just do this and get out of here,” Tyler dodged, pushing off the wall and kicking away.
After his obligatory twenty warm-up laps, Tyler had settled into a comfortable rhythm. He knew he was racing in a few days and everything had to go perfectly. He focused on his turns, tried to monitor his kick, and control his heartbeat all while listening to the water around him. And now he was down to hours before he could do what he loved most. Race. It was the reward for the hard work. But it was more than that. It was the release. The chance to push himself faster and harder than ever before. Tyler didn’t race the other competitors, he never had. Tyler raced himself. And the dreaded clock. This time he knew Ava would be watching. Even with his face under the water that thought alone spurred him on and returned the wild, wolfish grin to his face.
“Tyler!” a voice cut through his daydream and he swallowed a mouthful of the chlorine water.
“Yeah?” he coughed.
“So, you going to bother explaining your tardiness? You didn’t even give me an excuse,” his coach asked, staring down at him, his clipboard balanced in one hand while the other dangled a stop watch.
Tyler paused for barely a moment, before answering. “I don’t have an excuse to give you.”
“Hey, Tyler?” Luke called out across the lanes. “How’d your date go last night?”
“Date?” coach asked quizzically, as if all the pieces were falling into place.
“Yeah, Tyler had a big date last night,” Sam explained, unwilling to hide the deviousness in his wide, white smirk.
“It wasn’t a date. I had dinner with a contest winner.” Tyler shrugged, adjusting his goggles, hoping no one would see the lies dancing in his eyes.
“Oh, that’s right. That charity dinner. Okay, well, enough of that. Kickboards, gentlemen. We’ve got two hours to get through this shit so we can have the afternoon off. So enough gossiping like women and let’s get to it,” he declared, tossing kickboards into the water.
As Tyler tracked up and down the pool he thought the two hours would never end. Everything ached. All he wanted to do was go home and sink into his bed and sleep for a week. When training was over he didn’t even pause for a shower. In the scheme of things that wasn’t even on the radar, so instead he headed straight for his car and home. Minutes later he walked in the room and flopped into the lounge. It took him a few moments but then he realised the mistake he’d made. The blanket that he’d covered Ava in last night sat folded on the arm rest. The pillow he’d given her piled on top. Tyler tried to resist. But he caved. Bunching the pillow under his head and draping the blanket over him, he was surrounded by the scent of the woman whose very being distracted him. It didn’t matter how loud his mind screamed at him to get up and walk away, he couldn’t. Within moments, he was sound asleep dreaming of the girl who’d snuck past the barriers and burrowed under his skin.
Hours later Tyler was woken from his lust-filled dreams by the incessant ringing of his phone.
“I told you if you hurt her I’d kick your arse!” Jake boomed.
“What? Who? Huh?” Tyler grumbled, dragging himself from his almost comatose slumber.
“Ava! You hurt her, I hurt you. Come on, Tyler I thought I made myself clear on that one. And you promised I had nothing to worry about,” Jake reminded him, the anger fading from his voice, quickly replaced with pure disappointment.
“You don’t!” Tyler reaffirmed, waking up. He ran his hand across his face, wiping roughly at his heavy eyes. His mind might be already awake but his body was still playing catch up.
“Then explain the text I got.”
“What text?”
“Ava texted me a minute ago. ‘Went fine. Next time don’t waste so much cash.’”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Tyler could picture Jake at the other end of the phone pacing about his house, his face beet red with frustration. And as much as he wanted to put him in his place, he knew that he wouldn’t. Jake was only looking out for Ava, and although right now Tyler was the one in trouble for jeopardising that trust, he knew if it were anyone else, he would be one hundred percent on Jake’s side. “Shit!” he muttered, scrunching up his face as if there were suddenly a bad taste in his mouth.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah, nothing. Ava has this weird thing about the money. She’s convinced that the only reason I spent time with her was because you paid me to,” Tyler grumbled, making his way to the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of water.
“Ah!” Jake agreed. “Sounds like our girl.”
Tyler almost choked on his drink. Jake had called her “our” girl. No longer Jake’s to protect and care for, but in Tyler’s mind, Jake’s words alone reassured him that from here on in it was a responsibility they would share between them. Tyler’s heart caught in his throat as he spluttered, “Well then, how do we fix this?”
“We don’t.”
“What?” Tyler snapped confused.
“You fix this.”
“You’re not helping?”
“Nah. You’re a big boy, you can figure this one out. I’m getting the hell out of the middle. But I promise you this, if it goes to shit and I have to choose…”
“You won’t have to,” Tyler promised, cutting him off.
“But if I do…”
“Don’t worry, I know. I’m second.”
“Every day of the week.”
“Any suggestions then?” Tyler asked nervously.
With a smug chuckle, Jake softened. “Yeah, I got a few.”
Chapter 48
Ava
Work on Monday seemed easier than before. It could have been because Ava was still floating on a cloud from Friday night or the fact that she’d spent the remainder of her weekend immersed in her new book. Writing always made her happy. When she escaped into her own imagination neither time nor circumstance could hurt her. Nothing mattered anymore. There were no deadlines. No mistakes. No one letting her down. Ava’s happy place was all alone buried in a book.
Although Tyler was still a permanent fixture in her mind, Ava knew she had a short week, so she pushed all the memories aside and focused. As much as possible, anyway. A short week didn’t mean a shorter to-do list, though. It just meant less time to finish. But the reward at the end was too great for her to fail, so Ava blocked everything and everyone out and punched out work like a woman possessed.
Everything was going along fine until Tuesday. It was during lunch, well after the time that most people stopped for lunch. Ava hadn’t bothered having a lunch break in years; it was the best hour of the day to get things done. Fewer interruptions and less people whining. When Ava’s email pinged with a meeting request from Michael, her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a few beats. Knowing she couldn’t turn down the invite without an ironclad reason, Ava nervously accepted and started the clock ticking on the long, painful two-hour wait. It was hell. She had no idea what Michael wanted. Ava’s mind began racing through the past couple of days, wondering what she could have done wrong. Ava never thought anything good could happen to her, so it had to be bad news. But if she had done something wrong, why wasn’t it Matthew telling her? In the past he’d had no hesitation doing so.
As the minutes ticked by, Ava’s work got sloppier and sloppier. She couldn’t focus. Her attention was firmly fixed on trying to decipher the meeting’s purpose. Michael had given her nothing. A simple email invite, with a date, time, and location. Not even a subject.
“You okay, Ava?” Matthew asked, catching Ava staring absentmindedly out the window.
“What?” she asked, turning to meet his concerned gaze.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yeah. Actually, no,” Ava admitted, her mind still doing aerobatics.
“Can I help?” he asked, perching himself on the corner of Ava’s messy desk.
Nervously Ava began picking at the
skin on her fingers. She hated living in limbo, and right now that’s where she was balanced. Precariously. “Any idea why Michael wants to see me?” she spat out bluntly.
Matthew looked confused and Ava knew instantly that he had no idea. “No, Ava. Sorry, I don’t. But I wouldn’t stress too much about it. It can’t be that bad,” Matthew tried to reassure her.
“Great,” Ava muttered to herself.
“It’ll be fine,” Matthew promised before wandering back into his office.
Time ticked on and Ava eventually gave up on what she was trying to do. Her stomach was in knots and it didn’t matter how hard she tried to force herself to focus, it just wasn’t happening. With a couple of minutes to go, Ava scooped up her pen and notepad, trudged to the kitchen, and refilled her water bottle before stumbling blindly down the hallway to Michael’s office.
When she arrived Michael was finishing up a phone call so Ava leaned against the wall opposite his office and sipped her water in an attempt to disguise her out of control nerves. As she drank she wished for something stronger. Much, much stronger. Ava watched as Michael dropped the phone back on the hook and beckoned her in. Taking one last gulp, Ava steeled herself and stepped over the threshold. As she swallowed, however, it went down the wrong way and she choked. Moments later, deep in the middle of a coughing fit, Ava had tears streaming down her face as she struggled to breathe. It took a few moments, but Ava managed to finish her spluttering and regain control. Silently Michael handed her a box of tissues and Ava wiped away the tears that had escaped over her cheeks.
“Are you okay, Ava?” Michael asked, genuine concern stamped across his face.
“Yeah,” Ava murmured breathlessly.
“Sure?” Michael checked, not really believing her.
Ava nodded mutely and focused on her breathing. For a few moments Ava forgot her nerves and the fact she’d been summoned to Michael’s office and just tried to breathe normally.
“Well, I guess you’re curious why I asked to see you,” Michael offered.
“More than a little,” Ava admitted, shuffling back in her seat. If she was going to be here for a while she might as well be comfortable.
“Well, with Christopher away this week, he forwarded me an email that I needed to ask you about,” Michael began.
With an opening like that, Ava’s nerves went into hyper drive. She’d been asked about a million emails that they received in the past and usually they turned out to be nothing. But the smile on his face, and the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, convinced Ava that this wouldn’t be one that she could easily dismiss and shrug off.
“O-Okay.” Her voice faltered.
“Ava, don’t stress. Although this is completely unusual, it’s not at all bad,” Michael attempted to reassure her. “Anyway, Christopher received an email with a request for you. You know the other night the auction was held and Tyler Andrews was one of the prizes, which I believe Jake won.” Ava gulped. If she wasn’t on edge before, she was clinging to it for dear life now. Ava nodded. Barely. “Which I am led to believe that Jake gave to you?”
“Yeah, he did,” Ava admitted.
Michael just nodded. “Anyway, we have had a similar request. What are your plans for Friday night, Ava?”
Completely confused, Ava felt instant relief when she realised she already had unbreakable plans. She was going to be out of town. And best of all, she already had tickets. “Actually, I’m going away this weekend. I have Friday off and I leave first thing,” Ava explained as she exhaled and slumped back in her seat.
“Oh.” Michael’s face dropped.
“Oh?”
“Well, a donation has been made. And the person, who I might add has already deposited the money directly into the account, asked if you would be available for dinner on Friday,” Michael said as shock registered on Ava’s features.
“What?” Ava gasped. “You want to pimp me out for charity?” Ava spluttered, completely disgusted. She’d done a lot for this company over the years, some of which was on her own time and dollar, but this was going too far. Asking too much. Ava was more than disgusted.
“Breathe, Ava.” Michael’s voice broke the storm brewing in Ava’s mind.
“Don’t. Just don’t. Yeah, Jake bought the date with Tyler, which he then gave to me, which I went on. But I will not and do not have to be put in that position. I don’t care how much someone donated,” Ava seethed.
Michael waited a moment to give Ava time. “Let me read you the email?” Michael offered. When Ava didn’t bite his head off or start ranting again, Michael focused on the screen and began reading.
“Christopher. Please find attached a donation for you to add to the impressive amount you raised the other night. And once again thank you for your very gracious invitation. Please be assured that this donation has no strings attached. But I was also wondering if I could be so bold as to ask a favour. There is an extraordinary young woman who is employed by you, who I have had the pleasure of meeting a few times now, yet I have no contact details for her. Which is why, as embarrassing as it is, I need your help. Miss Ava Jacobs is a remarkable, talented, and beautiful young lady (although I am well aware that she does not believe it). I would very much like to take her to dinner this coming Friday. Below are my contact details. If you could please pass them on and ask her to contact me, I would be extremely grateful to you. Regards…”
After a few moments, Ava gathered her belongings, stood from her seat, and strode purposefully towards the door.
“Ava?” Michael called out as she pulled open the door and went to slip through it.
“One question, Michael. And please be honest with me,” Ava’s voice shook.
Michael remained silent, but nodded.
“How much?”
Ava’s question hung in the air between them. Meeting Ava’s desperate stare, Michael offered her a crooked smile. “Thirty thousand and one dollars.”
And that was enough. Ava nodded curtly and walked away.
Although the day still had half an hour to go, Ava couldn’t sit through it. She walked deliberately back to her desk, and without a word shut down her computer, scooped up the papers that were strewn from end to end, dropped them in a pile, and grabbed her bag.
Ava strode confidently past Matthew’s office and offered a half wave before she stepped from the building, got in her car, and headed home. As she walked through the door, Ava checked her email on her phone, noticed the one from Matthew, and quickly opened it. She didn’t know if he would be pissed that she left early or if he would understand. Surely Michael would have told him by now what was going on.
All good, Ava. Michael explained.
But it was all that needed to be said. Matthew knew her well enough to know that out of everything that had happened in the last hour, Ava would be worried about leaving like that. She’d never done it before. Sighing heavily, Ava turned her phone off and flopped back down in her computer chair. She needed to write and she needed to write now, so that’s exactly what she did. Into the early hours of the morning, Ava wrote.
The next day Ava arrived at work early, determined to catch up on yesterday. She knew yesterday was basically a waste and it wasn’t like her. She felt like she’d let everyone down and that was a feeling that she despised more than anything. Refusing to be defeated, Ava grabbed her iPod from her bag and put her head down and worked furiously. No one mentioned yesterday. No one mentioned the donation, and no one bothered her. They just left her be. They recognised a woman on a mission and Ava’s looked life-threatening.
Amanda snuck in snacks, trying to make sure Ava looked after herself. She was notoriously bad at it and someone had to try. Every hour or two Amanda would walk in silently, take Ava’s water bottle, refill, and return it. All done without a word. Mid-morning a piece of fruit would appear next to Ava’s keyboard and in the afternoon a cold can of Coke. Ava was fighting every impulse to think about the boy with the chocolate eyes and the voice that would melt her to a puddle w
ith only a word, so instead Ava pushed herself harder than she did the rest of her team combined.
She worked like a maniac all week and by the time Friday arrived she was barely standing. When Friday dawned, Ava came to a screeching halt. Stopped everything. She put her book down, left the notepads and pens where they fell, and climbed in her car. As nervous as she was, this is what she’d worked so hard for all week. Minutes later she’d picked Amanda up and they were headed out of town. For weeks they’d been planning a girls’ weekend away. Friday morning they’d head off, then check into the luxury hotel before spending the afternoon shopping. The plan was an early dinner somewhere on the water before heading to the aquatic centre to watch the racing. They’d had their tickets for months…long before Tyler Andrews. Before he’d come storming through the door demanding answers, which had resulted in him being given Ava’s heart. But tonight wasn’t about Tyler. Sure they would see him there, probably perve on him a little, or a lot, but they were there to enjoy the atmosphere and the racing. With the music cranked, Ava didn’t want to think about Tyler. She just wanted to look forward to the massage she’d booked. It was exactly what she needed. Some time where she wasn’t being asked to do something and someone else was taking care of her. The hot rock massage she’d arranged would prove the perfect antidote to her aching muscles.
An hour into the trip and Amanda thought she was going to burst. She couldn’t keep her questions to herself a minute longer. “Are you nervous?”
“About?” Ava replied, caught off guard.
“About? Seriously! Ava, you are about to see Tyler again after you spent the night with him, kissed him, and then fled the scene like a criminal,” Amanda reminded her.
“I didn’t spend the night with him,” Ava denied.
“Well, fell asleep on him then. But stop dodging the question. Are you looking forward to seeing him?”
“Amanda, you’re forgetting where we’re going. Yes, I might see him but he won’t see me. We are sitting amongst a sell-out crowd and he’s there to race, not to look at who’s watching,” Ava confirmed, perhaps too adamantly. As the words fell from her mouth, Ava couldn’t remember who she was convincing, Amanda or herself.
Nobody's Obligation (Swimming Upstream #2) Page 26
