“You’re annoying me right now actually,” Nick said. “You get all the luck. Okay, I’m going to get ready. Another girl talk and more fighting talk. I’ll meet you in the ring in five.”
I chuckled. “Great. I hope you’re scared,” I said.
He laughed. “You’re clearly talking about yourself.”
This time we spent an hour in the ring and then went outside to do a forty-minute run. I wasn’t battling as much with my headache during the training, and I seemed to be a lot better than the last time. I managed to keep up with Nick without gasping for air every few minutes. When we got to the end of the run, Nick threw a bottle of water and grinned at me.
“Much better. And this one was a longer one.”
“Yeah, I felt better this time. I was battling nearly as much as before. I’m surprised. I thought I’d battle again today.”
“You see, what did I tell you? I said you would be better at your training if you slept with Blaire. She might just be the lucky charm you were looking for.”
I liked that idea. “Yeah, maybe. I actually didn’t mind that run so much. Blaire runs too, actually.”
“You’re coming along nicely in your training, Ryan. I still can’t believe how much you have improved in such a short time. You’re one of the most determined guys I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Wow, do my ears deceive me or am I getting actual compliments from you?”
“I don’t mind giving out compliments when they are well-deserved. You know, at this rate, you might even be better than I was one day.”
I laughed. “Oh please, I’m already better than you.”
I was glad that there were no reporters lurking around when I had finished with the training. I was in a good mood that day, and I didn’t want anything to bring me down. I showered at the center, got changed, and headed home.
“Thanks for today, Nick.”
“Anytime.”
I got home feeling exhausted. Nick used to tell me that if I wasn’t exhausted after a training session, then I hadn’t pushed myself enough. So I was now used to this feeling being a good one. I went straight to the kitchen in search of something to eat, and just as I reached up to get a plate, I felt a piercing pain shoot through my head. I put the plate down and squeezed the palm of my hand onto my head.
“Holy crap, that was sore,” I said out loud.
I waited for the pain to subside but it didn’t seem to be going away. I took two Advil with a tall glass of water and went to sit in the living room. The light of the kitchen as annoying me too much and my desire to eat had left me. It felt more like a migraine this time than a headache, and the pain was worse than anything I had felt before. I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I sat in the darkened room and just willed the pills to work. When they didn’t, I took two more.
Almost an hour later, the pain finally started to lessen, but I was now feeling queasy from the pills and the lack of food. I made my way back into the kitchen, but I couldn’t seem to find the energy to make anything. Instead, I picked up the phone and called for a pizza.
When the pizza arrived, I sat in front of the TV eating slice after slice until I had polished the entire thing off. It was good to feel normal, and I hoped never to feel that sort of pain again. I couldn’t figure out what had caused it. I had been fine all day, and it had come so suddenly, without any sort of warning like it usually did.
I thought about Reed and decided that I would have to go and see him soon. Maybe he could figure out what was going on. And anyway, it would be nice to see him again.
Chapter Fourteen
Blaire
I had enjoyed having Ryan over, and the next day I’d been a bit nervous about being at home alone. But there had been no knocks on the door, and it was now a few days since the date. I was starting to think more and more that it was just the neighbor kids. I wondered if I should go and speak to the parents, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t do anything about it at all. And I wasn’t sure that I wanted to get the kids into trouble if they were only having a little bit of fun. Perhaps I should speak to some of the other houses to see if they were also getting knocks on doors.
I still had no more news from my agent, but I decided to leave it for another week or two before going to speak to him. I didn’t want to be out of work for too long between movies, so I hoped he was at least looking out for me. I was desperate for the cowboy moving to come out. I just knew that would be a positive spin for my career. But I had to have patience, something I wasn’t sure I had.
I decided to spend the day catching up on my reading. I’d always been an avid reader, but lately, I hadn’t had much time for it. I was looking through my bookshelf and trying to decide what to read when the phone rang. I ran for my mobile and frowned as I didn’t recognize the number. I just hoped it was Reggie calling from somewhere else.
“Hello. Blaire speaking,” I said into the phone.
Silence.
“Hello? Blaire speaking,” I said again.
Silence.
I frowned. I looked at the phone to see if perhaps someone had hung up on me, but there was clearly still someone on the line. I listened. I could just about make out someone breathing on the other end of the phone line.
“Who is this?”
Silence.
“Who is this?” I demanded again. “If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not very funny. Come on, who is this?”
The phone line went dead. I sat there for several seconds just staring at the phone. I tried to call back the number, but they’d obviously switched it off. Whoever it was had called from a different number to throw me off. It seemed more calculated this time. My hands were trembling as I quickly fumbled with the phone to call Katie. I’d spoken to her the day before, and she said that she’d be home that day. She was now doing a lot of work from home and not going into the office so much anymore.
“Katie, can I come over?” I asked the moment she answered the phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just feel a bit weird being home alone, and I could do with some company.”
“Blaire, of course you can come over.”
“Are you sure you’re not too busy with work?” I asked.
“I worked all morning, and I’m definitely not working at the moment. Come right now.”
“Thank you,” I said with relief.
I grabbed my coat and my bag, checked that all the windows were closed, and made sure I locked the door behind me. Then I climbed into my car and headed straight to Katie. I was so grateful that she lived so close to me. Thankfully, by the time I arrived I was already feeling much better about everything. It was just a stupid prank. That’s all.
When I arrived at Katie’s house, Chris opened the door before I even had a chance to knock. I always liked seeing Chris. I think the reason that Katie and I were such good friends was that we had such different taste in men. I always knew that she didn’t fancy the guys that I liked, and she always knew that I had no interest whatsoever in her husband. He was a great guy, and very attractive in his own sort of way. But he wasn’t my type at all. He was a lot more feminine in his ways, and always so well put together. I liked a guy that with grit and character. I liked a guy who looked rough but who wasn’t really rough at all. I loved that sort of contrast in people. I’d always found it so fascinating. Chris was just too well groomed for my liking. And I could imagine that Ryan was too much of a mess for Katie.
“Hey, Blaire, good to see you again,” Chris said and enveloped me in a big hug.
“Nice to see you too, Chris. Where are you going?”
“I’m running away. Katie said you two needed girl time.”
I laughed. “You don’t have to go. You know I don’t mind you being around.”
“I know. I’m just kidding. I was on my way out, anyway. I have the day off so I’m going for a round of golf with the guys. So you’ve got a good few hours with Katie before I get back.”
I chuckled. “Jus
t enough time for us to talk about you.”
“Oh dear. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Oh hey, when is your big movie coming out? Katie missed you while you were away.”
I smiled. “I missed her too. And who knows? I’m hoping they don’t take too long, but I’m assuming it’s still going to be a few months. I can’t wait.”
“Same here. Well, keep us posted.”
“I will. Have fun today,” I said and waved him off.
When I walked inside, I saw Katie coming down the stairs.
“Oh, hey. I didn’t hear your coming.”
“I was just talking to Chris. I hear we have the house to ourselves today.”
“We certainly do. Listen, is everything okay? You seemed a bit panicked on the phone.”
“Someone called and immediately hung up on me. But they were on the phone for a while. I could hear them breathing. I kept asking who it was and nobody replied.”
“What? Blaire, that’s so creepy. Did you try calling back?”
“Yeah, almost straight away. They’d obviously switched the phone off because I couldn’t get through. What the hell, Katie? What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know. Do you think it has anything to do with the person that knocked on your door the other day?”
“I think so. Oh, I didn’t tell you! Someone knocked again!”
“What?”
“Yeah, it was after my date with Ryan.”
“Which you still have to tell me about, by the way.”
“I will! Well, put it this way: he was in my bedroom when someone knocked.”
Her eyes lit up. “Ooh! Blaire! Why am I only hearing about this now? Anyway, tell me about the knock. What happened?”
“We had just finished . . . well . . . you know,” I said and laughed. “And there was a knock on the door. He went downstairs to answer it for me and then came up to tell me that nobody was there. I was a bit freaked out, to be honest.”
“What did Ryan say about it?”
“He wasn’t too happy about it. He ended up sleeping over just to make sure that I was okay.”
“He slept over!”
I giggled. “Yeah. The phone call part wasn’t nice, but having him sleep over was nice.”
“And the sex?” Katie asked outright.
“Amazing!” I said and flopped onto the sofa in exaggeration.
She chuckled and sat down next to me. “That’s good to hear. And the date went well?”
“Very well. There’s a lot more to this guy than just fighting. But I knew that, anyway. There’s just something about him. And he’s so easy to talk to.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Blaire. You deserve this. But now, what are you going to do about this weird person knocking and calling you? Have you thought about calling the police?”
I shook my head. “I wasn’t going to. But maybe I should. Although I don’t see what they are going to do. I mean, I have no proof that anything is happening and I’m sure that they’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“Well, I think you should call them, anyway. Or at least pay Ryan to be your bodyguard. You can pay him in kind; I’m sure he won’t mind.”
I laughed and then jumped up in fright when my phone buzzed in my pocket.
“Oh no, I hope it’s not the stalker,” I said as I reached for it. But it wasn’t; it was Ryan. I showed his name to Katie before answering.
“Hey, Ryan,” I said.
“Hey, Blaire. Everything going okay? No more knocking?”
I sighed. “No more knocking. But I did get a weird phone call.”
“Oh no. Seriously? What the hell is going on? Does this person not have a life or something. Same person?”
“Who knows?” I responded.
I looked at Katie, and she was making all sorts of kissing faces in the background as I spoke. I had to turn my face away from her so that I didn’t start laughing. In many respects, Katie was like a mother figure to me. She always had her head on straight and always did the right thing. But there were times, like now, when she reverted back to being a teenager. That was what I loved the most about her. She was only serious when she had to be, but for the most part, she was always making me laugh.
“You’re so dumb,” I whispered to her and chuckled.
“What?” Ryan said.
“Oh sorry, I was talking to Katie,” I said and punched her lightly.
“Oh, I’m glad you’re there.”
“Yeah, I came here straight after the call.”
“Good thinking. Anyway, the reason I called was to tell you that I’m going to Seattle to see my brother. The neurosurgeon that I was telling you about. It’s all very last minute. I asked Nick to come with me, but he is too busy with all his training. Now that he’s not competing himself, he spends a lot of his time teaching others, and he doesn’t like to let them down. So, anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me instead. I don’t really feel like doing the trip alone, and I figured it could be a lot of fun to have you with me.”
I was completely taken aback by his suggestion. The last thing that I expected was for Ryan to want to spend so much time with me. I almost said no, but then I thought about being at home alone, and I shuddered. Also, I had no work commitments going on, so this was probably the best time to get away. “You know what? Yeah, that sounds great. With everything that’s going on at the moment, I don’t really want to be alone. So yeah, why not? That sounds fun.”
“Great. Like I said, it’s super last minute. We leave tomorrow.”
“Oh wow, that is short notice.”
“Is that okay? Can you still make it?”
“Yeah, the sooner, the better for me to be honest.”
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up tomorrow. I’ll message you later to let you know the time. And the flight is on me, okay?”
“I’ll pay my way,” I said.
“Nah, it’s on me.”
“Wow, that’s quite a step up from paying for dinner,” I said.
He laughed. “Well, I wasn’t sure how I was going to top the underground restaurant date.”
“Looks like you just figured out how,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I put the phone down and looked at Katie.
“You are insufferable; you know that?”
She chuckled. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. So, what’s happening tomorrow?”
“Oh, not much,” I said casually. “Ryan is just taking me to Seattle!” I said and then burst out laughing at the shocked look on her face.
Chapter Fifteen
Ryan
“So, you haven’t changed your mind? You’re really coming to visit?” Reed asked.
I felt instantly bad at how sad he seemed at the thought of me not coming anymore. I really needed to make more of an effort to see him. Was I really such an awful brother?
“Of course I haven’t changed my mind. I’m actually calling to tell you that I’m leaving soon for the airport. I wanted to make sure that you hadn’t forgotten about me coming!”
“No way, I’m looking forward to it, Ryan. I’m still surprised that you’re coming,” he said.
“Well, I figured it was time to visit my brother. And anyway, Nick keeps going on at me about taking a break from training. According to him, a break is good for my body and will make me fight better. I hate to admit it, but he’s probably right. So I’m finally taking his advice. If I hang around here, I’ll just end up giving in and going to train.”
He laughed. “Yeah, it’s probably good that you’re getting away.”
“And you sure you don’t mind me staying over?”
“Of course not. Actually, you can get the back house. It’s empty, and there’s tons of space. You are welcome to stay there as long as you want.”
“Thanks, man. It will probably only be for a few days, but I really appreciate it.”
“Cool. Well, see you soon. Can you send me your flight deta
ils, so I know when to pick you up?”
“Of course. I’ll do that now.”
“See you soon, Knucklehead.”
I laughed. “Looking forward to it, Money Faker.” I’d forgotten that we’d changed our nicknames when we wanted to rile each other up. It made me look forward to seeing him again. I always thought of him as the most boring of the brothers, but I forgot how nice it was to hang around him sometimes. I’d always been closest to Brady, but that sometimes meant that I didn’t make the time for my other brothers. It was different with Brady, though. I knew things about Brady that the other brothers didn’t know, and because of that I always felt a little protective of him even though I was the younger one. I always felt that Reed could look after himself. But maybe I was wrong.
I put the phone down and realized that I hadn’t told him that I was bringing Blaire with me. But maybe that was a good thing. I didn’t want him to feel weird about another woman being there. I knew that he was still not over his wife leaving him after all this time. He’d probably stress about it for no reason. I knew he’d get along with Blaire when he met her. And at least then it would be too late for him to say no.
When I picked up Blaire for the airport, I resisted the urge to rip off her clothes. She was wearing simple blue jeans, a plain white tank top, and sneakers. There was something so irresistibly cute about her, especially since I knew what was underneath.
“Hey, Ryan,” she said. Then she frowned. “Uh, why are you looking at me like that?”
I quickly snapped out of it and laughed. “Sorry, you’re just very cute. I couldn’t help but stare.”
She blushed. “Stop it.”
“Don’t you like compliments?” I asked as she closed the door behind her.
“Ah, who am I kidding? Keep them coming!”
I laughed, and helped her with her bag. I was very surprised at the size of her bag, especially since mine was bigger.
“Is this all you’re taking?” I asked as I put it into the car.
“Yeah. You said a few days, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, but . . . well, I’m surprised, that’s all.”
“Really? Let me guess: you thought I’d have one full bag for shoes, and one full bag for makeup. Goodness, clearly you’ve been hanging out with the wrong girls. I like to travel light.”
Dirty Boss (An Office Romance) (The Maxwell Family) Page 77