“It’s not too bad. I mean, sometimes I have to shove a pillow over Elise’s head, so she doesn’t deafen you when she cries out in ecstasy, but other than that…”
With a shake of my head, I confirmed, “I did not need to know that.”
“Seriously though, are you doing okay? You seem, I don’t know, distracted or something.”
“Yeah. I’m good. It’s nothing.”
“As long as you’re sure?” Luca didn’t look convinced and was giving me the opportunity to speak up, but I wasn’t ready yet. I needed to work through it in my own head first.
“I’m sure,” I confirmed with as much confidence in my voice as I could project. As we walked side by side through the car park towards our cars, I told him about the apartments I was looking at and giving him the heads up that I’d be moving out. Once he was satisfied, I understood there was no rush on his end, he clapped me on the shoulder, instructed me – pretty directly, to get some rest and left me standing there.
For a few minutes I sat in my car contemplating my next move. I couldn’t afford to have things fucking with my head right now. It was showtime. The season started in less than ninety-six hours and it required all my focus. This was what I’d worked my whole life for. I wasn’t about to fuck it up now by being a pussy.
I tried to call Claire again, but again, it didn’t even go through. My gut was telling me something was up. This wasn’t her. This wasn’t right. Almost as if the car was on autopilot, I headed for her place.
Pulling into the driveway, I didn’t see her car, but that didn’t mean shit. At least in my head it didn’t. Jumping out, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and bounded up the steps taking them two at a time. I was hoping she’d dropped her phone in the bath or she’d let it run dead overnight. Surely there was a simple explanation.
Knocking on the door, I stepped back and waited.
Off to my left, I saw the curtains move, then I heard the locks click. This was weird. Last time I’d been here the door hadn’t even been shut properly let alone have the deadbolt locked. With a creak, the door opened, and a guy stepped out.
“What do you want?” he growled, trying to look aggressive.
“Hey, man. I’m Seth. I’m here to see Claire. Is she home?”
I don’t know what bug had crawled up his arse, but it was irritating the hell out of him. His features were pinched and his fists hung by his side clenched.
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
Okay. Not the answer I was expecting.
“Is she here?” I tried again.
“None of your damn business.” He took a step towards me, puffing out his chest.
As much as I wanted to see Claire, I wasn’t about to get in a fistfight just to talk to her. “Look, she was supposed to meet me this morning. She never showed. I’ve been trying to reach her all day but she’s not returning my texts or answering my calls. I just wanna know if she’s okay.”
“Ah, shit.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a good ‘ah, shit’ or a bad ‘ah, shit’. Either way, he started to deflate a little bit.
“Look, man, Claire’s here. But she doesn’t want to see you.”
“Can you please just tell her Seth’s here?” I begged shamelessly.
He looked reluctant. Like the sooner I got out of here the sooner he could go back to whatever the hell he was doing, not showering that’s for sure, but after rolling his eyes so hard I’d bet money he saw his brain, he told me to wait where I was. Like I was going anywhere.
Five minutes later he appeared again, no sign of Claire.
“I told her you were here.”
“And?”
“Like I said, she doesn’t want to see you.”
“That can’t be right?” Fuck my ego was taking a hit right now, but this was all bullshit. I don’t know what the fuck had changed, but you could bet your arse I would find out.
“I don’t know what to tell you. She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Fuck that!” I growled as I tried to push past him and get inside. If Claire wanted to tell me to fuck off, then she could at least have the balls to tell me to my face.
I didn’t even make it over the threshold. For someone who didn’t look all that strong, catching me off guard, he shoved me backwards so hard, I hit the post on the veranda before falling halfway down the stairs.
Lying there, looking completely pathetic I stared up at him. He was staring me down from the top step.
“Sorry, mate. But you need to go. She doesn’t want to see you.”
