Nobody's Obligation (Swimming Upstream #2)

by Rebecca Barber

  “He’ll be looking for you,” Amanda said, full of confidence.

  “Well, he won’t find me. I blend in very well,” Ava assured her.

  “Well, then we’ll see, won’t we?”

  Ava’s heart beat double time. She didn’t know if she wanted Tyler to pick her out of the crowd or if she just wanted to remain an anonymous face in the stands. Either way, she knew the moment he stepped on pool deck her entire focus, hell her entire being, would know it.

  “So, I may or may not have a surprise for you,” Ava taunted, redirecting the topic to a safer subject.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  “Well, what the fuck is it?” Amanda asked, squealing like a sugar-filled two-year-old.

  “As soon as we arrive we’re booked in for massages and mani-pedis,” Ava revealed.

  Amanda squealed her delight. “You are awesome, did you know that? I mean, I don’t care what anyone says, you really are,” Amanda said, giggling as she turned her attention back to the phone in her hand. Ava mentally patted herself on the back. Not only had she managed to completely distract Amanda, but now she had some time to gather her thoughts about seeing Tyler again. Although she hadn’t wanted to admit it, she was excited and terrified in the same breath to see him. But consuming even more of her thoughts was whether or not Tyler would see her. Or would he even be looking? She was trying not to get her hopes up but the truth was she was failing miserably.

  For a while Ava drove in silence. Amanda was too caught up with her phone to notice what was going on and that suited Ava perfectly. She had time to think. Although it had happened days ago, the donation still weighed heavily on her mind. She didn’t have proof but she didn’t need it. Tyler had made the donation. She knew he had the cash but she also knew how much she had hurt him with her quips about him buying her. It had never been her intention to hurt him but she hadn’t understood it, either. Not until he had turned the tables on her and done the same thing. She wanted to be angry at him but she just couldn’t.

  With too many thoughts bouncing in her head and no way to get them out, she leaned over to the centre console and grabbed her phone. Ava knew the horror stories of texting while driving and she very rarely did it, but right now she couldn’t stop herself.

  Ava: I fucked up.

  She quickly reset her eyes on the road.

  Now she’d made a move she was more on edge than ever. When it had only been her own twisted mind in knots, it had been bearable, but as soon as she’d sent the message the trembling began.

  Jake: Trust me. It’s fine.

  Ava grabbed her phone and started typing again, unable to restrain herself.

  “Fuck!” Amanda screamed as the car hit the indented white line, causing the vibrations to shake the car like it was James Bond’s martini.

  “Shit!” Ava countered, dropping her phone and righting the car.

  A moment passed and the girls got their heartrates back under control. “Ava. Tell me what to type?” Amanda offered, picking up Ava’s phone.

  “I…I don’t know,” Ava admitted sheepishly. She was embarrassed. She’d almost killed them because she was so desperate to send a message that she couldn’t wait to pull over, but the reality was, she didn’t even know what she wanted to say.

  “It’s okay,” Amanda reassured her, noticing the tears that were balancing precariously in Ava’s eyes. “Just get us there and everything will work itself out. I promise.”

  “You can’t make that promise,” Ava replied sadly.

  “Yes, I can. And if I can’t, then you know Jake will!”

  Chapter 49

  Tyler

  “If you don’t stop pacing I’m going to kick your butt!” Katie threatened.

  “Do you really think you can?” Tyler dared her.

  “Seriously, Tyler. Sit down. You’re making me dizzy,” Katie begged as she hunched over her coffee cup as if it was the elixir of life.

  Reluctantly Tyler flopped down in Katie’s oversized armchair. Tyler couldn’t work out if his nerves were related to tonight’s races or if having Ava in the stands would make everything much harder. Or better.

  “Here. Eat something,” Katie instructed, dropping a plate of sandwiches on the coffee table between them.

  “I’m not hungry,” Tyler grumbled as he thumbed through one of the women’s gossip magazines he found on the floor.

  “Bullshit, Tyler!” Katie snapped. “I’ve known you your whole life and you’re never not hungry.”

  “Fine!” Tyler returned, harshly stuffing half a sandwich in his mouth. “Happy now?” he said through a mouthful.

  “Ec-fucking-static.” Katie retorted sarcastically as she started nibbling on her own.

  For a while they sat in silence, eating and reading, until Tyler exploded. “Katie! Why the fuck would you waste your money on this bullshit?”

  “What?” Katie asked, exasperated.

  “This!” Tyler half snarled as he tossed the magazine into her lap.

  Katie flipped the magazine over and saw what had set him off. The photos of him and Ava dancing at the gala. It wasn’t the best picture, but it was hardly compromising. “Yeah, I’ve already seen it,” Katie deadpanned.

  “Why would you read this nonsense?”

  “Tyler! Sit down. Shut up and listen,” Katie demanded. She waited until Tyler dropped back into his seat. “Firstly, do you even know how many of these magazines you show up in every week? And do you know how much of it I believe?” Katie left her question hanging. Tyler didn’t answer. Instead he shrugged a shoulder childishly. “None of it. I’ve read so much stuff about you and our family that it just makes me laugh. Now this one,” Katie reminded him, holding up the photo for him to see, “this one is real. And do you want to know how I can tell?”

  “I’m sure you’ll tell me anyway,” Tyler grouched.

  “It’s not because there is a photo. God knows how easy they are to fake these days. It’s because of the way you are right now. That’s how I know that there’s more to this than they know. And that’s okay, Tyler. I can handle that. The question is…can you?”

  Neither spoke. Neither moved. Neither breathed. The sound of the clock ticking the seconds over was driving Tyler insane. He didn’t know how to answer that. Tyler felt like no matter what answer he gave it would be the wrong one. The absolute last thing that he wanted to do was admit to Katie that she might have hit the bullseye.

  “Well, come on, big boy. Can you handle it or not?”

  She wasn’t letting him get away with anything. “I can, but what if Ava can’t?” The words fell out of Tyler’s mouth before he could stop them.

  “Isn’t that her decision?”

  Tyler just mumbled something incoherently, but their conversation was cut short by the alarm on Tyler’s phone beeping at them rudely. “Time to get my shit together,” he announced, grabbing his backpack from beside the chair and making his way to the bathroom.

  “That will take a while!” Katie laughed.

  “Bitch!” Tyler threw back playfully.

  Within an hour Tyler and Katie were in the car headed to the pool. He was shaved, changed, and had his game face on. As they pulled into the car park, their car was surrounded not only by photographers but also kids desperate for a photo or autograph or both. Sucking in a huge breath, Tyler climbed from the car, stepped into his public persona, and grabbed a sharpie.

  It took him twenty minutes to make the journey from the car park to the entrance, but once he was through the doors he was in his happy place. No one could touch him there. Without speaking to anyone, he stripped off and dived in. A few laps later the world seemed calmer. Tyler swam slowly for half an hour, letting the water work its magic on him. While others were in the lanes beside him trying to get themselves all keyed up and get the adrenaline pumping, Tyler had the exact opposite approach. He wanted calm. He wanted loose. He wanted peace. And for a few minutes he had it. Then the doors opened to the public and his bub
ble burst. People shuffled in. The smell of hot chips overrode the scent of chlorine, making Tyler’s stomach churn. But it was the knowledge that any minute Ava would wander in and find her seat that set him off. He wished he knew where her seat was. At least then he’d know where to look. Or where to avoid. He hadn’t quite decided which yet.

  Shaking the idea from his head, Tyler pushed himself out of the water, wrapped a towel around his waist, and disappeared into the bowels of the arena.

  Chapter 50

  Ava

  Ava was sweating. Amanda had been forced to drive because Ava couldn’t concentrate. She’d already tripped over twice, once landing on her butt and scraping the skin from her hands. At first Amanda had laughed but she soon realised that this wasn’t really funny. Ava, the feisty, take-no-prisoners, ballsy bitch had vanished and in her place stood a woman who could barely put one foot in front of the other without falling over her own toes.

  Amanda pulled into the car park and laughed as Ava scrambled from the car. Amanda scurried around the vehicle, locked her arm through Ava’s, and marched her towards the entrance.

  “You know, when we bought our tickets I was looking forward to this,” Ava mumbled under her breath.

  “Yeah, I know. But you know what, I think you’re still looking forward to it, it’s just different now,” Amanda assured her.

  Ava spotted the cameras up ahead and stopped unexpectedly, causing Amanda to almost topple over. “What?” Amanda asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

  Ava didn’t say a word. Instead she just raised her hand and pointed at the congregation at the doors. There was a television news reporter doing their spiel with kids jumping up and down in the background. A couple of swimmers were being interviewed, cameras flashing wildly. But it was the third collection that had Ava paralysed. They were scoping the crowd. Looking for someone, waiting for their next victim, and Ava had no intention of being that someone.

  “Okay, here’s the deal. I have the tickets. We’ll put our heads down and walk straight past them. They won’t even notice us.” Amanda pulled the tickets from her pocket.

  “O-Okay,” Ava stuttered.

  Ava squished down on Amanda’s arm as she dropped her head. Amanda did what she promised. Put her head down and marched deliberately straight through the crowd and not one person noticed. They were just two more women ready for a night of fun.

  Ava didn’t breathe until she’d cleared security and passed through the ticket barricade. Then with a loud sigh, Ava relaxed. Her shoulders softened, she stopped grinding her teeth, and she dropped Amanda’s arm.

  “Thanks,” Ava murmured.

  “So, now we’re in should we find our seats?”

  “Absolutely. Let’s stop and grab a drink on our way, though. I hate people who find their seats, then barely two minutes later, they have to step over everyone to go get supplies,” Ava explained as they navigated their way through the masses.

  “And there’s my girl!” Amanda laughed.

  “What?”

  “Nothing, Ava. Nothing at all.”

  Moments later Amanda led Ava through a maze of seats before indicating which ones were theirs. “Amanda…wh-what…did…you…do?” Ava stuttered through a clenched jaw.

  “Who me?” Amanda giggled as she fluttered her eyelids and pretended to be young and innocent.

  Ava’s eyes scoured her surroundings. This was hell. Their seats were right behind the glass panel blocking their access from the swimmers. Front row seats. There was only a glass panel barely a metre high separating Ava’s knees from the swimmer’s heads. These were definitely not the tickets they’d bought months ago.

  “Show me the tickets!” Ava growled under her breath.

  Ava had never been one to make a scene, she was more than happy to let that title be Amanda’s, but right now Ava felt like she was about to explode like a firework on the fourth of July. If looks could kill, Amanda would have toppled over minutes ago.

  Without a word Amanda handed over their tickets. “Amanda, these tickets have complimentary written on them,” Ava pointed out. “Where are the ones we paid for?”

  “Well…um…” Amanda stalled. Seeing Ava’s wild eyes slightly intimidated her. She’d seen every emotion cross Ava’s face before but pure terror wasn’t one of them. “Funny story about that actually…”

  “Amanda…” Ava’s growled.

  “I may have swapped them. I mean these seats are so much better than the others. And he just wanted us to take them so badly. How could I say no?” Amanda added quickly.

  Ava gulped hard and dropped into the plastic seat, her handbag clattering to the ground at her feet. “Who, Amanda? Who swapped your tickets?” Suddenly Ava’s exhaustion was all-consuming. All she’d done since Saturday was avoid thinking about Tyler. And it hadn’t been easy. He was everywhere. As much as she didn’t want to admit it out loud, she didn’t really want to get rid of the image that had been tattooed into her mind.

  “Jake. I thought…”

  “Jake?”

  “Yeah, Jake gave them to me a couple of days ago. I thought he told you. He said he was going to. You weren’t around when he came in so he just left them with me and told me to have a good time.”

  “I’ll kill him!” Ava seethed, folding her arms across her chest with a huff.

  Behind her, Ava heard snickering and spun in her seat, only to be greeted with the perfect woman. She had perfect hair, perfect makeup, perfect smile, and a lanyard around her neck reminding everyone that she was someone important. But what really made Ava’s stomach clench was the book in her hand. Although it was rolled and dog-eared Ava recognised it instantly. How couldn’t she? It was hers. The one she’d written. The one that she’d loosely based on Tyler. And sitting less than three feet away was Little Miss Perfect reading it. Ava wanted to hurl. Or scream. Or both, she wasn’t sure. Her only saving grace was that she’d been smart enough to leave her photo off the cover so she wouldn’t be recognised. At least the Little Miss Perfect didn’t know the woman in front of her with smoke billowing from her ears was the author.

  “Ava, breathe…” Amanda tried to placate her.

  “But look at where we’re sitting. How am I supposed to hide here?” Ava sighed heavily, dropping her head in her hands.

  Another giggle leaked out from the lady behind them and Ava shot her a dirty look. No one was safe tonight. Not even strangers.

  It took a few moments but Ava’s bubbling fury simmered to a tolerable level. She knew there was nothing she could do now. All she could hope for was that she could sit there and pray that Tyler was too big of a celebrity to sit in the stands and instead would remain hidden. But this was Ava’s life and nothing ever went the way she hoped. She felt him before her eyes found him. It was like the temperature rose ten degrees and suddenly she was sweating. Wiping the bead from her brow, Ava’s blue eyes landed on his perfectly sculpted chest and suddenly she was gasping for breath.

  “Wow…that Tyler Andrews certainly knows how to make an entrance,” Little Miss Perfect behind them gushed. Ava forced down the desire to turn around and punch her in the face. Barely.

  Ava watched him stalk along the far side of the pool wearing nothing but a cocky, confident smile and the skimpiest pair of black Speedos she’d ever seen. She wanted to drag her eyes away from his perfect body, but she couldn’t find the strength. There was not an inch of flab on him. His wide shoulders seemed wider, his legs longer, his chest harder. A shiver raced through Ava’s body and heated her to the core at the memory of falling asleep on his chest.

  “He’s hot and he knows it,” Miss Perfect announced. “Oh my god. He’s coming this way,” she gushed dramatically as she straightened in her seat, her perfectly straight white teeth displayed dramatically.

  “Fuck!” Ava muttered, hiding her face behind her veil of hair. Looking up from under nervous eyelashes, Ava saw him rounding the end of the pool and walking directly towards her. Not knowing what to do or where to hide, Ava s
hot to her feet.

  “You okay?” Amanda asked.

  “Yeah. I’ve just…I’m going…bathroom,” Ava spluttered with one last look over her shoulder before darting up the stairs in the opposite direction of Tyler’s perfectness.

  Ten minutes later Ava returned, flushed from head to toe. “Better?” Amanda asked, still giggling.

  Ava didn’t answer. Instead her eyes scanned the deck of both pools before she sat down and exhaled. “Yeah,” she answered, not even bothering to try and come up with a lame excuse.

  Amanda went to reply but was cut off by the overhead speaker coming to life asking the competitors to clear the pool. Racing would begin in ten minutes. The words calmed Ava instantly.

  “I wonder if the author had Tyler in mind when she wrote this James character. Sure sounds like him. Brown eyes, broad shoulders, passion for fast cars. What I wouldn’t give to ask him,” Little Miss Perfect said to herself. Ava stole a glance over her shoulder and saw her flip the page. But Ava hadn’t been subtle enough. She was caught watching her. “Hi,” she chirped, sickeningly sweetly.

  “Hi,” Ava mumbled, embarrassed that she’d been caught.

  “Have you read this one?” she asked, waving the book in Ava’s face. Ava didn’t trust her words. Instead she nodded pathetically. This was quickly becoming the worst day of Ava’s life. “It’s pretty good. I mean the Tyler character, sorry, I mean James. It’s just so easy to mix up the names, you know what I mean? Anyway, he just seems way too dreamy to be real. Is it really possible for a guy to have a drool worthy body and be a nice guy? If it is, I’ve certainly never met one.”

  Ava gulped. She was getting a book review, complete with Tyler Andrews comparisons, knowing he could appear at any moment. Hell had been redefined and Ava was standing centre stage. “I don’t know if the author was thinking of Tyler specifically when she wrote it. Sure, it’s easy to draw comparisons based upon body shape and appearance, but looking around here that could be any number of the guys. I mean, take a look around, it’s like man candy central,” Ava countered.