by Ally Adams
Chapter 6
I had to bite the bullet and go and see The Russian—this wasn’t going to be pretty. Given he was in charge of Saints’ security and I had a media gathering today where Adam the ex-husband-photographer and Niklas the Saints’ star recruit might both be present, ‘Houston, we have a problem’ or could have one. The Daily only said a photographer would be there, they couldn’t say who. Of course Nik would be present in all his German glory, wearing his Saints’ suit and glaring at me like I was the fish that tugged off his line and swam away. I wasn’t sure Nik would restrain himself if he had a chance to return the favor to Adam and smack him in the head. Seriously when did my life become complicated again? I was doing so well only last week.
I rang The Daily again to see if they could confirm who they were sending but the pictorial editor was out. Damn him. I was just about to go in and see The Russian when Alice arrived. She gave me a glance which said she had seen Nik this morning.
“Morning Sash and Kay.” She dumped her gear and fell onto her chair. “Okay, Sash, let’s talk.”
I grimaced. Here it comes.
“What the hell did you do to my housemate now?” she asked.
Kay drew a sharp breath. “Oh no, you didn’t have to call the doctor again for Nik?”
I sighed. “If Nik could get it into his big, handsome, German head that I’m not interested in men at the moment and stop dropping around to ask me out, he’d be a lot safer,” I said.
But wait there’s more, it gets better, because then The Russian stomped into our office partition area—all imposing six-foot-five of him, blocking the light.
“Sasha, we need to talk,” his voice boomed. “I just saw the Kaiser; you gave him a black eye?” I saw a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Yeah, ha ha. Kay and Alice gasped and my boss Jim appeared from around the corner on hearing all the chatter.
“Sasha couldn’t even reach his eye,” Jim contributed.
I smiled gratefully. “Thank you, boss, you’re right, I didn’t give him a black eye,” I said, as all heads turned back to look at me. “It’s complicated. I’ve told Nik it’s better for his health to stay away but do you think he listens? No, he dropped in and so did my ex-husband who just became my ex—he was delivering the divorce papers and he took a swing at Nik because my ex is a dickhead, then bolted so luckily Nik didn’t open fire, but I wasn’t expecting either of them.” I stopped for breath.
“You’ve been married before?” Alice said.
Before I got a chance to cover that base, The Russian spoke up. He shook his head. “Right, I’m going to have to ban him from going near you.”
“Yes, please, that would be great,” I said.
“You can’t stand in the way of true love, Russian,” Kay contributed, picking up her tea and sipping it as though she was in the middle of watching a soap opera.
“I agree,” Alice added, “you ban Nik from being near Sasha and all you will achieve is making Sasha more desirable to him.”
“True,” Jim piped in, “you always want what you can’t have until you get it, and then it’s not such a big deal.”
“Hello,” I said, aloud, “I’m sitting here! I’m not a German Wiener that Nik’s craving.” I shook my head.
“Wiener, that’s a sausage isn’t it?” Kay asked.
I sighed. “Russian, tell him to stay away, Kay it’s not true love and yes it is a sausage, Alice, there’s plenty of groupies out there for Nik, and boss, I’m going to go over and prepare for the media conference.”
I heard Jim chuckling as I rose, grabbed my press kits, and departed to the media room where we held a media briefing before home match days. It was in the building next door and let me escape for a while so they could all talk about true love and sausages without me present. I hadn’t given The Russian the full picture and I would have to do that sooner rather than later. The media conferences ran for about forty-five minutes at the most and the coach Johan spoke along with a few of the players. It was great for me because I didn’t have to set up ten separate interview times.
I arrived at the room in the adjoining building, unlocked the room, turned on the lights, cleaned the table at the front of the room and stuck four chairs behind it. I put out some water glasses and a jug, propped the press kits near the door and looked around. That was pretty much all that needed to be done. Usually three or four players were required to the pre-match day press conferences so the media could have access to them including Captain Lucas who had to be there; they were rostered on to attend by Shayne and I knew Nik was one of them this week. I opened a few of the windows and pulled back blinds to let the natural light in. I glanced out through the window to the parking lot and saw Nik’s SUV. He was here—probably inside showing everyone his bruised eye and getting sympathy, poor baby. Next to his VW was Captain Lucas’s Ferrari and I recognized our midfielder Josh’s Audi. Good, I like the lads to be here before the media and not keep them waiting.
I heard a noise and wheeled around. Nik was standing in the entrance way. My hand went straight to my heart. “You scared the hell out of me,” I said, breathing out.
He smiled and walked towards me. His eyes were alight with interest, his smile gorgeous and he walked with the confident air of a man who had it all—it was a heady mix. Not to mention that man could wear a suit—the Saints’ uniform was cut to perfection on him. Yep I’d like to take that inside leg measurement. Hold up, I didn’t just say that... focus.
“Hello Sah-sha, miss me? I’ve missed you,” he teased me with an engaging smile. Was that a dimple? No, not fair.
I held my hands up and ordered him to stop.
“Don’t come a step closer, Niklas,” I warned him. He stopped on the spot; it constantly surprised me how good he was at following orders.
Nik held up his hands in frustration and looked around. “What could go wrong now?”
I shook my head. “You’ve got a game this Sunday, we’re not tempting fate,” I said. “You look very... presentable by the way.”
Nik grinned, that beautiful white teeth grin from his lovely tanned face surrounded by his gorgeous cropped blond hair... I’d love to slip my tongue between his lips.
“Presentable? That’s a new one for me,” he said. “And you Sah-sha look delectable,” he said, the word rolling off his tongue with his German lilt. “I love that dress on you.”
“Thanks,” I said, looking everywhere but at him. I was wearing a lightweight crepe, long-sleeved red dress to below my knees with black leather boots. Not one of my own designs but one of my personal faves that I had whipped up from a Vogue pattern. I had a matching black velvet bowler hat in the office. He walked a step towards me and I stepped back, hitting the desk. “Not a step further,” I warned him.
The Russian walked in. “I agree, Kaiser, didn’t we just have that chat?”
Bless you Russian, you’re worth every cent today, not most days, but today, yes.
Nik turned his blue eyes to The Russian. I think they changed from passionate to blazing.
“Yes we did Russian, now fuck off,” he said.
Mm, this wasn’t going as well as I thought. The Russian smirked.
“Come on, Nik, it’s for your own safety,” The Russian said using his name instead of his nickname to indicate the seriousness of the situation, I’m guessing. He put a hand on Nik’s shoulder and Nik flinched and moved away. The Russian held his hands up in a peace gesture. What’s that about? The man looked as though he didn’t mind being touched last night when he wanted me on his lap.
“If you want to talk to Sasha, you’ll need to carry a first aid kit,” The Russian joked. “We had an agreement.” The Russian was taking this security stuff seriously.
“I told you I’d do my best not to thump the ex-husband, but I need to talk to Sah-sha,” Nik said, staring at me with a look that said he was hungry.
“I’m really sorry about your eye,” I said, again, looking at the dark bruising. “Maybe you shouldn’t be he
re; you’re going to get questions about it.”
“It’s fine,” he said and came another step towards me.
“Actually, after the ambulance statement we had to put out earlier this week, I’m thinking you’re too risky to have at this press conference now that you’ve got the black eye as well. I should have thought of that first thing this morning,” I said, my stress levels rising. I held my hand up for them both to wait and I quickly pressed a direct dial number in my contacts.
Nik shook his head and crossed his arms across his lovely suited chest.
“Sorry buddy,” The Russian was saying to him.
“Shayne, it’s Sasha, oh good,” I hung up.
“What was that?” Nik asked and I pointed to the door where Shayne had just walked into the media room. He was in the suit pants and a white shirt, carrying the tie and jacket. The media would be arriving in about fifteen minutes and he had to set a good example.
“What’s up Sash?” Shayne asked, putting his phone back in his pocket and slipping on his jacket; he was always so supportive. “Hi lads,” he said taking in The Russian and Nik. Then he saw it. “Fuck Nik, what happened to your eye?”
“I think he should leave,” I added quickly, “especially since we had to release a statement from the doctor about his health on Monday night.”
Nik looked as though he’d be ganged up on. “I’m rostered to be here, it’s not like I requested it… I had to come off the beach, shave and get changed.”
“I know and I really appreciate you coming, I do, but…” I said, and looked to Shayne for his thoughts.
“For real?” Nik said, looking from me to Shayne to The Russian. “Every one of us is sporting different injuries every week, we’re professional athletes.”
“Yeah, but a black eye begs a few questions,” I said.
“Sash is right,” Shayne said, “it’s risky.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you’ve got to be kidding,” Nik said, turning his attention back to me as though the decision was all mine. Then Doc arrived early. He was on hand to answer any player fitness queries if Johan the coach asked him too. The Doc came up to us and addressed Nik.
“How are you feeling since Monday?” and then he saw Nik’s black eye. “What the… that wasn’t there Monday was it?” He looked at me.
Nik threw up his hands.
“Stay still,” Doc ordered him as he studied Nik’s face. Nik brushed him off and glared at me with a look that had nothing to do with undressing this time. I shrugged apologetically.
A camera crew strode in behind us and Shayne winced seeing them. “Too late now, you’ll have to stay Nik.” He nudged our group together. “Okay, so it’s just an injury from last weekend’s game right? Unless your ex is likely to say something?”
I saw the Doc’s eyes widen as he took in the reason for the black eye. Crap, all this shit was not good for my career at the Saints.
I shook my head. “I don’t know for sure that The Daily is sending him, but he won’t do anything stupid while he’s working,” I said, and silently prayed to the god of idiot men that he wouldn’t make me a liar.
“Nik, keep a low profile,” Shayne ordered. “Russian, keep him out of trouble…”
Nik went to protest and Shayne held up his hand and kept talking, “Sash, you stay on the opposite side of the room from Nik, just to be safe.”
“Right,” I said. “Oh crap.” I looked to the door where my ex, Adam entered with his camera gear and a journalist from The Daily. Nik arced up, I literally saw him expand by about three or four inches and not where you think.
“That him?” The Russian asked and I nodded, placing my hand on Nik’s arm.
“Who?” Doc said, trying to catch up. He and Shayne turned to look.
“Sasha’s ex-husband who took a quick shot at Nik last night and gave him the black eye, then bolted before he copped it,” The Russian finished.
“Well done, big mouth,” I said, and frowned at The Russian whose lips turned up slightly in a smile. He was one of the girls, our Russian, loved to be amongst the gossip.
Shayne ran his hand through his hair. “Just gets better. Nik.. hey, Nik!” he snapped, trying to get his attention.
“Shayne?” Nik frowned and turned to look at him.
“Not one foot in that guy’s direction, do you understand me?” Shayne ordered. “He’s not worth getting a charge over, or missing out on the weekend game. Understood?”
Nik nodded, returning his gaze to Adam, his eyes narrowing. The two locked looks and I saw Adam smile. Fucking fantastic, just what I need.
Nik stepped towards him and the wall that was The Russian blocked him.
“Get him out of here and hurry,” Shayne ordered and The Russian got a hand around the back of Nik’s neck, keeping it friendly looking, and directed him to a different exit to where the media was entering. Both men were tall but The Russian had a lot more weight behind him and the element of surprise with the speedy block.
The Russian got Nik clear of the room in time and I watched the two argue as The Russian walked Nik to his car. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around to see Shayne watching over my shoulder. Doc had wandered towards the media to distract them from the circus we were staging behind them.
“We’ve paid a lot of money for that guy, Sash, don’t corrupt him,” Shayne said, sort of joking but not really.
I sighed. “Shayne, honestly I’ve got a lot on my plate and I haven’t been encouraging Nik at all, he’s not even on my radar.”
“I know, I believe that, but that’s probably made you more interesting to him,” Shayne said. Again with the can’t-have theory. We watched from the window as Nik shrugged The Russian’s arm off him, and he unlocked his car and got in.
Shayne cleared his throat. “I don’t know Nik that well yet, but he doesn’t have a lot of people in his life and he doesn’t let too many in from what the guys have said. If he clicks with you, I’m guessing he thinks that’s worth pursuing.”
“I don’t get why; we’ve met a few times in the office and I took him to a media interview once, that’s it. There’s no shortage of chicks after these guys. You know all about it.” I stated the obvious to Shayne an ex-player. “Where is his family? He’s cagey about that.”
“He has none, well none that he’s declared. His next of kin on his contract is his financial manager,” Shayne said, “but keep that to yourself.”
“Wow,” I said. We watched him drive out of the grounds.
“Can you dial-him-a date or something?” I asked Shayne, tongue in cheek.
Shayne chuckled. “Leave it with me. I’ll call Babes-R-Us.”
We both grinned and got back to the business of the media conference as everyone began to arrive.
Chapter 7
Before I left work I texted Nik to apologize about the press conference earlier and he texted back to say no big deal and asked again about Friday night, sigh. I let that one slide. I was meeting my brother Ethan, my best friend Max and his partner Ren for a post-work drink. We made a bit of a habit of doing it every Wednesday night. I was closer to Ethan than my other brothers, not just in looks but we just got on; maybe because our personalities were nothing alike—being a counselor, Ethan was calm and considerate, rational and thoughtful. I was none of those things. Max and Ren didn’t always come but Ethan and I never missed beer and burger night at the local hotel. They were all there when I arrived.
“What the fuck?” I said. “Is my watch slow? People keep arriving everywhere before me, it’s as though I’m in the Twilight Zone.”
“Hi Sassy,” Ethan said, grinning. He rose, kissed me on the cheek and I leaned over to kiss Max and Ren while we were doing the kiss thing.
“But seriously, what time do you have Maxie?” I asked.
“Two minutes past six,” he answered. Ren looked at his watch. “I’ve got five past.” Ethan followed suit. “Five to the hour here.”
I shook my head. “Synchronized then, good.” The lads la
ughed.
“I love that outfit on you Sass, red is you and cute little bowler hat,” Ren said.
“Thanks Ren, it’s just something I whipped up.” I smiled at him. “How are you?” I asked, studying him. Both he and Max were thin; Ren was the geeky type who looked as though a gust of wind would knock him over while Max was solid and tall but pretty, preened to within an inch of his life like you’d expect from any self-respecting hairdresser. Before Ren could answer Max stepped in answering for his boyfriend.
“He’s in a green smoothie stage,” Max said, with a roll of his eyes. “Awful. Every time I turn around there’s a celery stick and a broccoli bunch heading towards the blender.”
“That sounds wonderfully healthy,” my brother encouraged Ren.
“I try, God knows I try,” Ren said. “Every time I start a new health phase they change the rules about what’s healthy. Meat was in then out, potatoes were fine but then too starchy, garlic is good for warding off colds, but it wards off friends too… it’s not easy.”
“I really liked it when you were going through the chocolate fondue stage,” Max said.
I laughed. I loved these boys. I kind of had Alice lined up for my brother Ethan before she fell for Tomás, but there was no way she’d even notice my darling brother now, even if he was cute and charming—a bit like Ryan Gosling, only younger and prettier—okay, nothing like him at all. I grabbed the waiter’s attention. We all ordered the same thing we ordered every week and then I turned to Ethan.
“How goes work?” I asked.
“Tough week.” Ethan exhaled. We really did look more like twins than Saffron and me. He ran his hand through his short blond hair and gave me a tired smile.
“I couldn’t do what you do.” Ren shook his head. “I take my hat off to you bro.”
“Thanks, yeah, it can be tough. This week, was just the usual court-appointed clients, but I tell you, I had this guy today who had beaten his wife to the point that she had to hospitalized and he couldn’t understand what he’d done wrong,” Ethan said, and shook his head. “He said it was her fault for not having dinner ready when he got home.”
