Banging comes from further in the building and I follow them into the room that will become our back office. Bear is topless, wearing just a pair of jeans and a facemask as he swings a mallet. He’s a few years older than me and our backgrounds are completely different, but he’s always been like a big brother to me, so when he suggested we go into business together it was a no-brainer.
Spotting me, he lowers the mallet and removes the face mask, nodding in greeting as he grabs a bottle of water. I take in the changes he’s made to the room while I’ve been attending to other business, letting him catch his breath. Arms crossed over my chest, I lean against the doorframe.
“I met our neighbour today.”
This makes him look up, a brow raising. I might have kept my voice completely even, but Bear has aways been able to read me. What has he picked up on today?
“Yeah?” he asks cautiously. “What are they like?”
“She,” I correct, Holly’s perfect figure appearing in my mind unbidden. “She’s…” I cut myself off with a laugh. How do I describe the firecracker I spoke with this morning? “She’s a character, that’s for sure.”
Bear snorts and shakes his head, pushing back several long strands of his hair that’s fallen into his face. “Are you causing problems with the neighbours already?”
He knows me too well, and although he says it jokingly, I can hear the note of warning in his voice. This is a fresh start, for all of us, and none of us want anything to fuck it up, and that includes me. My past is a checkered history of poor choices and bad situations. New images fill my mind, quickly wiping awayany desire that’s still floating in my system. My chest tightens and my muscles tense, ready to fight or flee, the memories of my past following me well into my adulthood.
Brushing off the uncomfortable feeling that those memories bring with them, I force a chuckle and hold up my hands to protest my innocence. “I promise I did nothing. I just introduced myself. Things were going great until I told her that we were moving in next door.”
“Ah. She didn’t want a gym next to her bakery.”
Why does he sound so calm about this? Our neighbour actively hates us and we haven’t even opened yet, and he doesn’t sound bothered by it in the least. “Don’t tell me you agree with her?” I scoff in disbelief.
“No, we have every right to be here and we have a solid business plan, but I can see how us moving in might upset her. This is a small town, change is scary for them and she’s got to fear how having a health-food bar and gym right next to her might affect her business.” Bear has always been the reasonable one in our little group, able to see a problem from all angles and produce a solution that works for all involved. He makes a good point about the small-town mentality and how reluctant they can be to change.
I make a noise of dissatisfaction in the back of my throat, glancing into the main part of the building and into the outside world. “So, what do we do?”
He chuckles and moves past me into the large open space that will soon be our gym. “We try to be good neighbours and assure her that we’re not trying to take her customers.”
It’s true, we aren’t trying to take anyone’s business. When we produced our business model and looked at the changing demographic of the town, we knew it would be the perfect place to build. There are no other gyms in a large radius, and many of the shops here are boutique, so the health-food bar attached toour gym should draw in that crowd. With so many new houses being built and people from the city moving in, it’s the perfect time to set up something new.
Pursing my lips, I turn my attention to the bakery, the large windows giving me the perfect view. “How are we going to do that?”
Bear seems thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll go and talk to her. Other than that, we try not to cause trouble and help her out when possible.” Before I can question him more on what he means by that last little statement, he changes the subject. “Have you seen Clay?”
I chuckle again, but this time there’s no humour to it. “No, he’s still holed up in the club trying to find his mystery girl.”
Clayton is another person I consider family, and the three of us work together and support each other in whatever way needed. When the opportunity came up to buy this place, Bear convinced myself and Clay to invest alongside him, yet out of all of us, Clay is the only one who has yet to come and see the site. He’s had a difficult past, and his life is dedicated to his nightclub. Now he’s obsessed with a girl he met one night. Honestly, I’m concerned. He’s locked himself away and the last time he got like this, things did not end well.
Bear sighs and nods, accepting my statement reluctantly, clearly thinking along the same line as I am. “I’ll call him.”
Good, if anyone can reach Clay, it’s Bear. We need to get Clay out of that office and get his mind off that girl. After all, he’ll probably never see her again.
NINE
CLAYTON
“Where are you?” I whisper under my breath as grainy clips of CCTV from the other night flicker across the screen. I’ve watched it so many times now that I’ve started seeing it in my dreams, but I keep searching, looking for any clues of where Holly might have gone. I don’t know how many times I’ve looked at it now, searching for clues. After the fight broke out in the club that night and I was required to help break it up, Holly returned to the bar and was gone by the time I came to look for her.
The grainy black-and-white image shows Holly coming into view, finding her friend, and quickly leaving the club. After that, there’s no more footage of her. I’ve scoured the CCTV each night since, hoping that she’s come back and I just didn’t see her. That doesn’t seem to be the case.
All I know about her is her first name. There are a surprising number of Hollys in the local area. I know, because I’ve been searching. She might not have even been from around here. I know it’s a pointless exercise, but I can’t make myself stop. I’m obsessed.
There was a connection between us, a spark that was impossible to ignore, something I’ve never felt with another person.
She was in this very office, and if I close my eyes I can almost convince myself that I can still smell her sweet scent. If we hadn’t been interrupted, then I have no idea what would’ve happened between us. Gritting my teeth together tightly, I growl under my breath. Those fucking idiots. There is a group of guys who occasionally come in and cause trouble in my club. One of the newer bouncers must have let them in. They are barred as they turn violent as soon as they get a drink in them, making it unsafe for my patrons. Now things have gone a step further and they caused me to lose track of Holly.
My hands ball into fists on the desk, the tattoos over my knuckles stretching tightly. Those fucking troublemakers are lucky I haven’t come across them since, as I don’t think I’d be able to stop myself from working out my frustrations on them.
I know I’m spiralling. I can feel myself sinking into the dark recesses of my mind, but she is the only thing that can bring me out of it right now. Ihaveto find her. She’s become like an addiction. I had a small taste of her, and now I keep coming back for more. Only I can’t fucking find her.
