I’d never get over it if I lost her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
BAIRD
While I’d been lucky so far in life to not have lost someone I loved, I knew from my injury how the course of your existence could change in an instant.
The dark place I’d fallen into after my career-disrupting accident was nothing compared to the black fucking hole that yawned before me at the thought of losing Maia forever.
I think I was still in shock because it had happened so quickly. She hadn’t given me a chance to tell her that there was nothing in this world that would ever make me walk away from her.
Maia had shut me out completely, and according to Callan, she wasn’t answering Beth’s calls either. It had been a full day since I’d seen her, and a quick call into Pennington’s told me she hadn’t turned up for work.
“She called in sick,” Eli informed me. “She didn’t tell you?”
“No.” I’d forced the word out. “I’ll gocheck on her.”
Eli’s voice lowered. “Tell her we’re here too. I know what it’s like to have a crap parent.”
“Thanks.” I’d hung up and tried Maia again, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
That morning, I missed training because I was afraid I’d spew my rage all over the gaffer and he didn’t deserve it. Ultimately, Fred was the money, the owner, and he made the final decision, even if the gaffer didn’t agree with him. That left me at home, pacing and stewing. When the notifications sounded on my phone and I picked it up to see people on socials were sharing a new article, I lost my shit.
The journalist had followed up the story with an article on Maia’s dad and the fact that he’d spent time in prison for assaulting his sister’s ex-boyfriend.
The thought of Maia seeing that, of the hurt and guilt she’d feel for bringing her dad and aunt into this, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My mind wiped blank of everything but rage. There was nothing but a need to mete out justice for this bullshit. I googled the address I wanted and then I thundered out of my flat. I’d just reached my car when the sound of car doors slamming and my name being shouted registered.
Callan and John were hurrying toward me from Callan’s Defender, their expressions tight with worry. “Where are you going?” Callan pressed a hand to my driver’s side door to stop me from getting in.
I knocked it away, throwing it open. “To fucking kill that wee prick!”
He winced as John paled. “What prick?”
“Did you see? Did you see he wrote another fucking story about Maia—except this time it’s about her dad?”
“We saw.” John gripped my shoulder. “You can’t goafter a journo, Baird. Your career, and possibly your life, will be over.”
“My career is already fucking over,” I spat. “Fred says I need to break it off with My or I’m out.”
Callan’s eyes flared with anger. “No fucking way.”
“Aye. Way.” I jumped into my car and my best pal held the door open. “Keen, let go o’ the fuckin’ door. Now!”
At my bark, he let go and I slammed it shut.
The lads were already hurrying back to the Defender, but I didn’t care. I was out of there. The hour and a half drive it took to get from Edinburgh to Glasgow was cut down by at least twenty minutes with the speed of my wrath.
I parked illegally and tore out of my car and into the office building that housed the tabloid newspaper. I thought I heard someone shout my name as I got on the lift, but I stabbed the button for the newspaper’s floor and the doors closed on the yells. Blood rushed in my ears and my fists clenched at my sides, ready to mash the journo’s face into a wall.
Stepping onto the floor, I eyed the security guard who stood outside the glass double doors that had the newspaper’s name etched on it in gold. I forced myself to be a bit smart about this. As smart as I could be in the moment. I approached the receptionist. “Aye, could you point me in the direction of Craig Bennet? I have an appointment with him.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed as she searched my face, and I knew she recognized me but couldn’t quite place me. “Let me just call his desk.”
Shit.
Fuck.
I threw a shifty glance at the security guard who wasscrolling on his phone. Christ, I could probably walk right by that idiot.
