by Kyra Lennon
“You and everyone else.”
“Did he stay with you last night?”
“Why? Are you jealous?”
I shouldn't have gone down that road, but he sounded slightly put-out and I couldn't resist playing on it.
“Yes,” he answered, “I am. A couple more days in Phoenix and it would have been me.”
“Dream on, muscle man.”
The first hint of a grin played on his lips. “Don't even try telling me you didn’t feel anything when you kissed me. If we were still at the hotel, you would have spent the night with me, not him.”
Every time I thought his arrogance couldn’t get any worse, he stepped up to prove me wrong.
“Are you really trying to take credit for my night with Miguel?”
“I am taking credit for it. You wanted me in Phoenix, but you got scared so you came home and screwed him instead.”
There wasn’t a grain of truth in his words. Well. I did want him for that brief moment when he sucked my brain out through my lips, but I sure as hell knew better than to give in to it, and it had nothing to do with me and Miguel.
“Nothing to say?” he asked, smirking.
“Only that I can’t believe your nerve. Stay away from me, McCoy. I mean it.”
.
Chapter 8: Respect Is A Two Way Street
Over the next four weeks, there were many mornings when I woke up snuggled into Miguel. Freya was cool with him staying over, but sometimes I stayed at his apartment to give her a break. It felt wrong to show off my happiness when she was still trying to handle her feelings for Will.
She had chosen to stay quiet and wait to see what happened with Will’s new relationship. The unfortunate consequence of her decision was that she had to suffer while he babbled on about Heather. Freya covered her pain well at work, and even put a brave face on at home most of the time. It wasn’t half as easy as she pretended, but she was way too tough to let herself fall apart.
One particularly difficult afternoon, Freya left work early, bailing on her plans to meet Will and me for dinner in the Warriors’ restaurant. It wasn’t the first time we’d been alone since Freya realised how she felt about him, but her storming out of the grounds without speaking to anyone was a first.
Will and I sat in our usual spot in the restaurant, by the window in the far corner, waiting for our meals to arrive. Will twitched in his seat, obviously preparing to ask questions, yet not wanting to put me in an awkward position.
“Okay,” I said, eventually, “you need to stop fidgeting. You look like you’ve got worms.”
He abruptly stopped moving, but smiled at my bluntness. “You’re such a charmer.”
“I try.”
After another slightly uncomfortable pause, Will said, “Something happened with Freya today. I’m damned if I know what it was though.”
“Well, why don’t you walk me through it?”
“We were having a cup of coffee and she asked me about Heather. I told her we went out to dinner with my parents and she flipped out.”
Dinner with the parents. Things were getting serious.
“What did she say?”
“She muttered something about how it was soon for me to introduce Heather to my family. When I pointed out that we’ve been together for over a month, and she met my parents when we dated before, she bit my head off. She said it must be nice to have such a long history with someone, then walked out. She didn’t even finish her drink. I know we haven’t been hanging out as much since I’ve been with Heather but that’s what happens when someone starts dating.”
The man was clueless.
“So, things with you and Heather are going well?” I asked, trying to steer the focus away from Freya.
He sighed. “I really like her. She’s pretty, she’s caring, we have a lot in common. But she’s recently divorced. Her husband cheated on her and she's real clingy. She calls several times a day, even while I’m at work. I understand why, but she’s not giving me any room to breathe.”
Interesting you never said that in front of Freya.
“Well,” I said, “I suppose it makes sense if her husband screwed around. Even so, dating you when you're on the road a lot isn’t the most sensible idea if she's insecure.”
I was caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. Freya and Will were the perfect couple who never were, but if I encouraged Will to stick it out with Heather, he would never be with Freya. If I advised him to break up with her, he’d get hurt.
So to sum up, I was better off shutting the hell up.
“You know something,” Will said, his eyes fixed on mine. “Something about the way Freya’s been acting.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “Don't involve me in this, Will. Please.”
Will stared at me thoughtfully for a moment or two, then said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should talk to Freya.”
Dinner ended up being pretty tense once Will realised I had the answer to Freya’s mood, and I couldn’t wait to escape.
When I got home, Freya was in our small but trendy kitchen, frying noodles. She only cooked when she needed to distract herself from something, and although the smell was heavenly, I knew most of the food would probably end up in the bin. I filled her in on the things Will said, and she gave me a grateful hug for not revealing the truth. I stayed with her for as long as I could, but I had to shower and change before Miguel came over. I offered to cancel for her, but she refused to let me.
Miguel and I had spent a lot of evenings holed up in my bedroom, watching movies, talking, laughing. It wasn’t just because I didn’t want to flaunt my relationship in front of Freya. We liked the privacy. We didn’t always stay in, but after the drama between my two best friends, I couldn’t find the energy to do much more than laze around on my bed and make plans with Miguel for our next day off.
In the middle of a debate about whether we should spend the day on the beach or doing something more energetic, Freya softly knocked on my bedroom door to tell me my brother was on the phone.
My heart jumped into my throat. If he wanted to talk, he usually sent me a text to arrange a time for us to have a proper chat. The fact that he’d called the apartment meant whatever he had to tell me couldn’t wait.
Untangling myself from Miguel’s arms, I took the phone from Freya. “Josh?”
“Hi Leah,” he said, the brightness in his voice instantly calming me down. “How are you?”
“You scared me half to death by calling so suddenly!”
“Sorry,” he laughed. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Well, I was hanging out with my boyfriend, but I think I can spare a few minutes to talk to my big brother.”
I hadn’t mentioned Miguel to my family yet. I wanted to make sure I had something worth telling them first. My mother already thought I should be married with kids, and I couldn’t be bothered to sit through another lecture about my terrible track record with men.
Luckily, she didn’t know the half of it.
“You’ve got a boyfriend already? You little hussy!”
“I will hang up right now.”
“No, don’t,” Josh said, still chuckling. “I want hear all about him. Is he a footballer?”
“No. He’s a coach, actually. His name’s Miguel.”
“Aw, Jamie will be so disappointed. You’d score major points with him if you dated Bryce Warren or Radleigh McCoy.”
He couldn’t have known how much of a nerve he'd hit, but I bristled at the mention of Radleigh’s name. Over the last few weeks, he’d backed off a little, but not nearly enough to keep me from wanting to strangle him whenever our paths crossed.
“He likes McCoy?” I asked, unable to keep disgust out of my voice. “Can't you persuade him to pick a better role model?”
“Who could be a better role model than a world class football player?”
“Trust me, there are a million more respectable people he could idolise.”
“I’ll tell
him, but I doubt he’ll listen. I’m just the uncool dad, remember?”
Nothing could be further from the truth, but I enjoyed winding him up, so I didn’t correct him.
“What can I buy Jamie for his birthday?” I asked. “Something soccer related?”
“That's what I wanted to talk to you about,” Josh said, and I heard a grin in his voice. “I don't want you to send anything over.”
“What? Josh, I -”
“I don’t want you to send anything,” he interrupted, “because we want to come over and see you.”
The squeal I let out made Miguel jump. At the other end of the phone, Josh said, “Bloody hell, you nearly deafened me!”
“Sorry,” I giggled. “Josh, are you serious?”
“Yep! I'm taking two weeks off and we're coming to America!”
“Really? When?”
“I’m not quite sure yet. Can you send me over your schedule so we can work something out?”
We chatted for a little longer, and I promised to email him with my work schedule as soon as I got off the phone. By the time we hung up, I was bouncing around the room like Bree after a bikini wax.
“So, your brother’s coming over?” Miguel said, laughing at my elation.
I threw myself into my spot on the bed. “Yes! I have to email to let him know where I am and when, and he’ll figure out the rest.”
I honestly couldn’t think of anything better than having them visit me. I’d been sure the next time I saw them would be in England. It didn’t occur to me that they might come to me, to see the world I lived in.
“Look at you,” Miguel laughed, his fingers gently stroking my cheek. “This is the most relaxed I’ve ever seen you.”
“Really? I’m always relaxed with you.”
He shook his head. “This is different. You look …”
“What?”
“Even more beautiful than usual,” he answered, gazing into my eyes.
He made me feel every word he spoke. I loved how everything that came out of his mouth was honest, uncensored. He just said whatever he was thinking in the moment, not because he wanted anything from me, but because he meant it.
I wriggled closer to him, kissing his soft lips, and thanking whatever guardian angels were looking over me for making my life so good.
I should have known it wouldn’t last.
The high from talking to Josh, and being so happy with Miguel carried me through the next day. It’s funny how having something to look forward to makes everything seem brighter. Not that life was particularly murky before, but it was good to have an event on the horizon other than work.
At around four-fifteen that afternoon, everything changed.
Technically, I had forty-five minutes left of my working day but somehow I’d managed to get through everything with a little time to spare. It seemed a shame not to reward myself for being so efficient, so I headed up to the restaurant for a sneaky coffee, and to watch everyone else slaving away.
On my way up the steps, Radleigh passed me, his eyes shooting out vibes of anger. He didn’t even stop to make a dig at me. If he hadn’t bashed into my arm as he sped by, I’d have thought I’d imagined seeing him.
“No, really, it’s fine,” I muttered, continuing towards the welcoming aroma of coffee and food.
Right away, something seemed off. There were usually waiters milling around, or at the very least, someone standing behind the bar just in case anyone came in early. It was not okay to keep a Westberg Warrior waiting.
I guess I should take the silence as a sign to find something else to do.
But the room wasn’t silent. I could hear someone taking deep, shuddering breaths and sniffling.
At the sound of my footsteps, a blonde head snapped upwards, looking in my direction in panic.
“Taylor?”
She wiped her eyes and tried to fake a smile, but it was too late for that.
So. McCoy had thundered past me, and Taylor was curled up on a chair sobbing her heart out. It didn’t take a genius to put it together.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I approached, not sure I wanted to know but too far in to creep away.
She shook her head, tears still streaming from her eyes. I’d never seen her face so pale, and her whole body was trembling. I pulled up a chair beside her, my distaste quickly replaced with concern.
“What happened?”`
“I … I don’t … I can’t say. I can’t.”
“You’ve been seeing McCoy, haven’t you?”
Surprise flashed across her face. “No,” she said. “No … I know everyone thought there was something going on that night in the club but I’d never cheat on Jesse. Never.”
Well, that was a relief. I couldn’t deal with being dragged into the middle of another relationship drama. Freya and Will were bad enough, without stumbling into a Radleigh/Taylor/Jesse love triangle.
“So why are you crying?”
“McCoy … he told me to meet him here. He said he wanted to talk to me.”
The Warriors restaurant seemed like a weird place to request a meeting to get into her pants, but he certainly had enough authority to make the wait staff disappear if he needed them to.
Taylor tried to steady her breathing, then said, “He’s been bothering me for a while. At first I didn’t mind him flirting. It was flattering, you know? He said some stuff about … about wanting to sleep with me.” Her cheeks flushed bright red. “I mean, not so blatantly. He dropped hints. I told him to stop and he did for a while, but-”
“But what?”
“I agreed to meet him today to make sure he got the message. I thought I’d be safe here.”
She dissolved into sobs again, and I held her close to me, stroking her hair until she was ready to speak again.
“He told me he isn’t going to give up,” she said. “Then he … he …”
An array of disturbing images hurtled into my mind. How long had they been alone?
“What did he do, Taylor?”
“He put his hands on me … on my shoulders, then my waist, and he pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me. He only let go when I slapped him.”
It all sounded familiar, but this wasn’t the same as what he did to me. He hadn’t scared me. Taylor was terrified. She clung to me, her tears dampening my shoulder, but I didn’t let her go. She swanned around in designer clothes, oozing confidence, but seeing her so fragile reminded me that she was little more than a child.
The look of fury on McCoy’s face as he’d stomped past me had embedded itself in my brain. I’d never seen him look that way before, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. He always went for what he wanted, even if it was off limits.
Especially if it was off limits.
“This is all my fault,” Taylor said, her voice trembling. “I guess I made him think I -”
“Taylor,” I interrupted, “even if you’d walked past him naked, it wouldn’t have given him the right to touch you. You told him to leave you alone, and he didn’t.”
“But I - “
“No. This is not your fault, and this needs to be stopped right now.”
“How?”
The only suggestion I had was to give him a swift kick in the balls, but that would only cause him pain in the short term. I had visions of cutting them off.
“I don't want to make trouble,” Taylor said. “I just want him to leave me alone.”
“Oh, he’ll leave you alone. I’ll make sure of it.”
“You're not gonna say anything to him, are you?”
In my mind, there were two options. Talk to him, or talk to Richard. After all, McCoy had sexually harassed her at his place of work. If I went to Richard, there was no way it would remain a secret. Not that he deserved to have it kept under wraps. But for Taylor’s sake?
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“I don't know,” she said, putting her head in her hands. “Do you think talking to him will make a difference?”<
br />
“Maybe. Maybe if he knows you've told someone he's bothering you, he'll back off.”
She took a minute to mull over my offer, then said, “It's worth a shot.”
“I’ll try,” I promised. “But if he does anything like this again, it’ll need to be taken to Richard. Perhaps the threat of destroying his career will make him stop.”
The way her shoulders slumped forwards told me she was too broken to disagree. I sat with her for the next thirty minutes, until the staff began to filter back into the restaurant. She had to meet Jesse and she was adamant that she didn’t want him to find out about McCoy so I went with her to the restroom so she could freshen up and reapply her make-up. Although she’d washed the tear stains from her cheeks, the worry hadn’t left her eyes but she plastered a smile on her face, and I gave her a hug before sending her out to Jesse.
It had taken almighty restraint to hold in my anger while I was with Taylor, but by the time I left her, I was ready to unleash.
How could he do that?
Why the hell couldn't he take a hint? It just wasn't normal to believe that 'Leave me alone' translated to, 'I want to shag your brains out.’
I sent Freya a quick text to tell her I’d be late meeting her, then went up to the gym, where I knew McCoy would go as soon as training ended. He always went to the gym after training.
I reminded myself to approach him with some degree of tact and calmness. Thanks to his completely unfounded complaint against me, I was already on dodgy ground. Knowing my explosive temper, particularly where McCoy was concerned, it would be difficult to keep the conversation professional.
'Well that would be because your interest isn't strictly professional,' a rogue voice said from inside my head. It had cropped up so fast, I hadn't had chance to block it out. 'Not true,' I argued with myself, ‘Admitting he’s good looking is not the same as being interested in him. This is about Taylor.’
As I pushed through the doors to the gym, prepared to wait, I found him already there, running on one of the treadmills. One step ahead of me again. I forced my gaze away from his powerful legs, took a deep breath and said, “I need to talk to you.”
