“Okay?”
“What else can I do?”
“Honestly, not much. Seth, I know you think I’m the bad guy right now and I get that, but this isn’t going to end anything. Do what you need to do to put this behind you, put your head down and get back to work. I know you’ve got talent. Your teammates now know what you can do, and they’re excited to see it and have you out there beside them. Focus on that. This won’t even be a blip on your radar.”
“Okay.”
Luca clapped me on the shoulder as he rose from his seat. Taking that as a sign I was being dismissed, I followed suit more than ready to get out of there. Bouncing down the stairs, it wasn’t until I made it to the bottom when I heard Luca calling my name.
“Hey, Seth?”
“Yeah.”
“Off the record…I would’ve done exactly the same thing.”
Somehow, that made me feel better. What was another week riding the pine compared to what could’ve happened? After all, it was just a game. At least that’s what I was telling myself.
Leaving the club, I drove around for a bit before pulling up at the beach. After grabbing a coffee from the caravan in the parking lot, I kicked off my shoes and walked down on to the sand, planting my arse. My phone had been blowing up for the last forty-five minutes but I’d silenced it, needing some space to clear my head.
When the rain started, I grabbed my rubbish and headed home. I couldn’t hide forever. But I could bring bacon and egg rolls. I had a feeling the two girls at my place were going to have sore heads when they eventually surfaced after partying maybe a little too hard last night.
I didn’t even get through the door before Claire pounced on me. “What happened? Are you okay? Is that bacon?”
At least her last question made me smile.
“Is Beth still here?”
“Yeah. She’s still asleep. Tell me. How bad is it?”
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t, but that wasn’t Claire’s fault, and the last thing I wanted was for her to feel any amount of guilt.
“Fuck off, Seth. Tell me the truth.” Wow! For someone who stunk like they’d bathed in booze and whose hair was standing on end, Claire was feisty this morning. “I know it’s all over the socials.”
“You saw?”
“Of course, I saw. Everyone saw. And everyone tagged me in the bloody thing.”
Wrapping her in my arms, I squeezed her against me. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? You’re sorry? What the fuck do you have to be sorry for? You didn’t do the wrong thing. The fucktard on the floor did.”
“I shouldn’t have hit him.”
“Seth…”
“Here, I bought you breakfast. Thought you might need something in your stomach.” I changed the subject, shoving the food in her hand. Last time she’d been in a pissy mood, food had helped so I was hoping history repeated itself.
Claire accepted it with a scowl. “You didn’t do anything wrong. And I’m going to prove it.”
Kissing her forehead, I left her to inhale her breakfast. If Beth didn’t hurry up there was a very good chance she wasn’t going to even see hers.
“Let it go, Claire. There’s nothing you can do now. It is what it is.”
“That’s what you think.”
Fucking hell. Just when I didn’t think things could get much worse, I had a really bad feeling Claire wasn’t going to let this go, and God knows what she was planning. I was afraid to find out.
