Page 24

Chapter Twenty-Three

“B ro, you’ve gone soft, this chick has you by the balls.” I growled as I punched into his pads harder, hoping like hell he dropped a mit and I accidentally clocked him in the jaw.

I usually loved my Sunday boxing sessions with Cooper, especially because he always ensured we had the gym to ourselves, but today he was pissing me off. His questions about Marlee were at a speed matched only by his swift punches and I was in no mood to give him details.

“Don’t call her this chick ,” I huffed once I was finally finished my set.

It had been three days and fourteen hours since I saw her, and I missed her. I never missed anyone. Which was only adding to my rising irritation as the clock ticked away, expanding the length of time since I’d seen her.

Some small part of me thought if we slept together, I would no longer feel this enigmatic pull towards her. That I could shake her from my system. But it had become worse and when she referred to herself as my girlfriend, there was zero hang time. It felt right.

She was all I could think about, and I damn near saw her everywhere in my house, chasing the remnants of her scent on my sheets each night. These were all thoughts I would not be sharing with the idiot who was grinning at me from behind his upheld hands. I was already dealing with the strange looks from my cleaner, Georgia, who could not understand why I refused to let her touch my bed when normally I wanted the sheets done every couple of days.

“I have never seen you so hung up over a bird. Should I even ask if you two have –” I knew exactly where he was going and cut him off before he dared.

“Shut the fuck up, Coop. You’re talking too much today. Switch,” I said, ripping the gloves off and shoving them into his chest. He threw his head back laughing but held his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, okay, I won’t mention your girlfriend again,” he added, throwing that final little dig at me because he never had been able to let things go. But he didn’t realise how accurate he was and because of his smug grin, I chose not to confirm it for him.

“Hurry up, fool,” I snapped, and he finally stopped talking and started pounding into the pads again.

He was all smiles and charm most of the time, but he was also a strong, ruthless motherfucker. I would never tell him, bloke’s head was big enough, but if I wasn’t fully switched on when we sparred, he could easily knock me around.

Taking the opportunity to speak while he couldn’t respond, my favourite time to talk to him, I filled him in with the details I was willing to share.

“I cooked dinner for her. She stayed the night. We had lunch at Nexus the other day. Haven’t seen her since but I’ve been busy at the club.” He stopped punching immediately, grabbing a sip of water before turning to face me, sweat pouring down his face.

“She stayed at your place again. About time. I’m happy for you, bro.” Using his sleeve, he wiped his forehead before he commenced punching again and I was happy that the topic was done. If only because I didn’t want to share anything else about her – even with someone I trusted emphatically. Having a girlfriend was unchartered waters for me and something I would be navigating as I went along. I was basically winging it and hoping she didn’t notice. The less people I had aware of that the better, although I suspected it wouldn’t be long before all the boys found out. I wasn’t completely daft and while I didn’t really like many people, I valued respect and loyalty above all else, but knowing what could and couldn’t be shared with Cooper, I was going off gut instinct alone.

“Oh, remember Clara? She moved out to the city recently. She is going to do some shifts at the bar.” While he didn’t confirm right away, I knew he would remember her from high school.

“Oh, yeah? Your mum is still hoping you two are going to get married, no doubt.” I sighed knowingly, taking the pads off my hands.

“Probably. Wasn’t interested then and not keen now. Happy to help her out and we can always do with an extra set of hands, but that’s it.”

“Hopefully she sees it the same way or it’s going to be high school all over again,” he breathed heavily. “I’m done with cardio, let’s hit the weights.”

Clara hadn’t changed. When we were kids, I’d often referred to her as a pocket rocket based on her tiny stature and unexpected confidence that seemed mismatched from someone so small.

She was still bottle blonde with long, artificial red nails only now she was wearing the Nexus uniform and standing behind my bar. I was surprised to find I was happy to see her as I headed over to greet her. She spun in my direction as I approached, and her face broke into a big smile.

“Oh my god, Seb!” She moved towards me, throwing her arms around my neck and I froze awkwardly.

I did not hug my employees under any circumstances, especially in the middle of a shift behind the main fucking bar. To avoid appearing rude, I patted her once on the back and took a step back placing a little more distance between us.

“Clara, hi,” It had been almost ten years since we last spoke, our once easy rapport strained when she confessed to having a crush on me after our graduation. I’d never viewed her as anything other than a friend and when I told her this, it became easier to cut our losses. Something I now realised was probably a little harsh, but while I generally avoided small talk, I was much worse when I was younger, finding social situations uncomfortable.

“Thank you so much for having me,” she looked back to the drink she was making, her cheeks flushing.

“You’re welcome. I trust the others are showing you the ropes.”

“They are. It’s nice to see you, Seb. Hopefully we can have a drink later. Reminisce on old times,” she smiled and returned to dicing the lemon as I headed to my office.

Wayne caught me on the way up, letting me know about the VIP bookings for the night and that we had a full staff which meant I could get ahead on the books. I was looking forward to a few days off, so a quiet evening sounded perfect. I also hadn’t heard from Marlee since lunchtime which was frustrating me to no end and probably meant I wasn’t going to be the best host tonight. Surely there was a fucking rule book for having a girlfriend because this three days without seeing each other was making me needy.

We did spend a lot of time messaging though and it was during these times that I was learning more and more about her. While most of the conversation was superficial, I now knew she was grumpier before she had a coffee in the morning, her favourite mid-morning snack was cucumber bites and if she had work, which was becoming more frequent, she always came off her shift in a great mood. It was clear that her passion for helping those children brought her joy and it was one of the things that I loved the most. They were lucky to have her, and I really liked that there were places like the Centre for kids who needed more adults on their side. No doubt it was a place Coop and I would have spent more time as kids if we had known.

I re-read her last text where she said that she and Arna were going out to do some shopping, but that was hours ago. Contemplating if messaging her again was desperate, given she had read the message and not replied, I poured myself a drink and did my best to focus on work.

Who knew having a girlfriend would turn me into such a clingy son of a bitch.

A knock on the door startled me and glancing at the cameras, I realised the place had filled up quite a bit since I last checked. I should have known it was later than I thought as I’d cleared a fair amount of work off my ever-growing list of tasks.

I still hadn’t heard from Marlee though. I was either going to have to relax and stop being so exigent or call her, because I was not going to be able to sleep otherwise.

“Come in,” I answered tersely, thinking it was probably Wayne but unable to hide the frustration I was feeling. When the door opened, I was surprised to see Clara, a look I couldn’t quite decipher flashing across her face, before she slipped on a smile.

“Hey, I hope it's okay that I came up, I’m on break,” her cheeks were a little flushed and she seemed uneasy as she closed the door behind her. Other than Wayne, staff weren't permitted in my office as I always maintained a clear level of professionalism. However, I felt rude asking her to leave, given we had been friends for a long time and conceded I’d see what she wanted before explaining that to her. We would need firm boundaries though, especially at work.

“Your mum told me you were doing well in the city, but this place is something else, Seb. You should be so proud. You really did it,” she moved around my office easily, the confidence she always had obvious despite the new environment.

“Yeah, it was always a dream. Took a little longer than expected, but here we are,” I shrugged, as I stood and moved to sit on the edge of the desk. She looked through the glass and down onto the bar.

“I really am grateful for the job. When your mum mentioned the opportunity and you owning the place, I didn’t want things to be awkward, especially as she also mentioned you were single,” she briefly glanced back at me, a sheepish grin on her face.

“Mum is wrong,” I said, “about my being single.”

She spun around, her eyes widening before she quickly composed herself. I may have not seen her in a long time, but her mannerisms hadn’t changed. She thought I was lying and given my non-existent dating history, I couldn’t blame her. But I didn’t give a fuck whether she believed me or not only wanting her to hurry up and say whatever it was she came to say. Glancing at her watch, she moved towards where I sat, her fingers grazing my arm as she spoke.

“My break is over, but I would really like to have a drink together if you’re free later.” The implication was there, and I knew I needed to make it clear to her that I wasn’t interested and not just because I was now her boss, given she disregarded everything I just said. Thoughts of Marlee flashed through my mind, and I knew then that as soon as Clara left my office, I was going to be calling her.

“I don’t date employees and as I said, I’m seeing someone but it’s nice to see you again,” I didn’t want to hurt her, but I also needed to ensure she knew where I stood. Regardless of my personal life, I had never been interested in anything with Clara and nothing about that had changed. Hurt flashed across her face briefly before she fixed her smile in place and gave a small laugh.

“I wasn’t suggesting we date, , rather just see where the night took us,” her nails again grazed my arm as she moved in closer and with that I was done.

“You should leave,” I said, removing her hand from my arm. This was why I didn’t allow people in my office. It was the only space in this club where I could be free from all the rubbish and with her here, I felt suffocated. I was torn between telling her to piss off and not wanting to make this situation any more awkward than it was. She rolled her eyes, impatience written across her face. It seemed she wasn’t used to having her advances rebuked, not that I cared in the slightest.

“You’re right. My break is over, so I’ll head back to the bar,” with a flirtatious smile she left, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I wouldn’t let that shit happen again. I needed to speak with her after her shift, a conversation I was already dreading. I was clearly going to need to be explicit and the only way I knew how was by being straight up rude.