Gym Junkie

by T L Swan

“Of course, sir. When for?”

  “Now.”

  The cab pulls up at my house. It’s 1:00 a.m. The street is dark and quiet now. I pay the driver and walk up to my door to let myself in. I flick the light on and look around the living room, exhaling heavily.

  Same street, same house… only she’s not here anymore.

  It’s been a long trip home—the worst. A five-hour delay on my stopover brought it up to thirty hours of travel.

  Thirty hours alone, unable to get out of my own head.

  I’m cut.

  Deep.

  I can usually fight my way out of any situation but this time it’s different.

  And I keep going over and over that last conversation in my head, wondering if there was anything I could have said to have changed the outcome.

  Tell me you’re not going back to him.

  I can’t.

  Two words have never hurt so much.

  I walk into the kitchen and turn on the light, immediately spotting the two keys I had cut for Tully sitting on the counter.

  Her keys to my house.

  The keys she doesn’t want anymore.

  A deep sadness fills me, and I run my hands through my hair as emotion overtakes me. I turn and run to take the stairs two at a time. I need to sleep. I need to get back to work. And I need to forget that I ever met Tully fucking Scott.

  “Hi,” I call out when I walk into work. Everyone looks up from their computers in surprise.

  “Hey.” Ben frowns as he follows me into my office. “What are you doing here?”

  I dump my bag on the desk. “I work here.”

  “I mean what are you doing back from London?”

  “Just decided to come home.”

  “Why?”

  “Ben, shut the fuck up and stop hassling me,” I snap.

  He raises his eyebrows. “Fine.” He turns and walks out of the office, and I close my eyes for a moment. Stop it.

  I turn on my computer and begin to read the notes on all of our cases. Then I go to the notes on the interview with Meredith.

  Verdict Was not a witness.

  What? I stand and walk out into the office. “Ben and Jes. Can I see you both for a moment, please?” I ask.

  They both stand and come into my office. “What’s up?” Jes asks.

  “What’s with the notes on Meredith?” I ask. “What happened?”

  They both fall into the seats at my desk. “She seemed calm, reckons she didn’t see a thing. Said she wasn’t home the night that Peachy Sue died,” Ben replies.

  I frown. “Are you sure? Do we have confirmation on that?”

  “No proof that she was home,” Jes says. “But, she was as cool as a cucumber.” He raises his eyebrows. “Weird as fuck, but nothing seemed astray.”

  “Hmm.” I think for a moment. “Okay, I’m going to go around and see her myself, see what I can dig up.” I flick through the files on my desk. “What about Chancellor?” I ask.

  “Nothing new on Chancellor. We’re searching through his company files at the moment. There’s a large file that has been deleted, but we’re trying to get someone to go back and find it.” Ben shrugs. “We really need to find ourselves an I.T. person. We can’t keep outsourcing this stuff.”

  I roll my lips as I think for a moment. “Actually, I might know someone,” I say. “Let me follow that up.”

  “Oh, and the job vacancy went up this week for our new person. What are we looking for again?” he asks.

  I exhale and swing on my chair for a moment. “We need a woman with past armed forces or police experience. We’re cutting our undercover work in half because we don’t have a female.” I sigh as I think. “We may have a job coming up. One where she will need to go undercover and develop a relationship with a drug lord. We need information that can only come from the inside, so she needs to be made aware of that before she starts. She needs to be mentally tough and physically strong. A detective or from special forces… something of that calibre.”

  Jes nods as he jots down the information. “Got it, boss.”

  “Do you want me to come and see Meredith with you?” Ben asks.

  “No, I’m good.” I turn back to my computer and Jes leaves the office. Ben stays behind, and I keep typing.

  “What?” I eventually snap.

  “Want to talk about it?” he asks.

  “Nope.” I keep my eyes on my computer screen.

  “You okay?”

  “Yep.”

  His eyes linger on me for a while and I shake my head. “Fuck off, man. Just leave me alone, hey?”

  He nods, sensing how close I am to losing my shit, so he wisely chooses to leave me alone and exits the office.

  I pick up a folder of photos and exhale heavily.

  Okay, Meredith, let’s see what you’ve got.

  I knock and wait. “Who is it?” Meredith calls from behind the safety of her locked apartment door.

  “Meredith, it’s me, Brock.”

  “Is Tully there?” she asks hopefully.

  “No, but she’s coming back soon.”

  She opens the door but leaves the keychain on to peer through the crack.

  I force a smile. “Hi.”

  “What do you want?” she asks.

  “I was hoping you could come and have a coffee with me at the café. Tully is away, and I thought you might like some company.”

  She frowns as she considers my proposal. “I don’t drink coffee.”

  “An ice-cream?” I ask.

  “I do like ice-cream,” she murmurs to herself.

  “We’ll be quick.”

  Meredith frowns harder. “Tully said I’m not allowed to go out with people’s boyfriends.”

  Tully’s not fucking here. ”That’s okay, we’re just friends. It’s different for friends,” I say.

  “Oh.” She thinks for a moment. “Okay. Is Callie coming?”

  “No, she’s at work.”

  She bites her bottom lip. “Yes, because she wants to sleep with her boss.”

  I try to hide my smile. “Yeah, I know,” I say. I didn’t know that, but I do now.

  She closes the door, and then I hear her keychain unlock before she opens the door. I smile and glance down at her. She’s wearing pink pyjamas.

  “Are you ready?” I frown.

  “Erm.” She thinks really hard and then looks down at herself. “No pyjamas outside of home,” she mutters to herself in singsong.

  “That’s right.” I smile.

  “Just a minute.” She looks to her bedroom and then back to me, pointing to a stool at her bench. “Sit there.”

  “Okay.” I take a seat where I’m told to.

  She goes into the bedroom and closes the door. I look around her apartment. It’s immaculate. Everything has a place. Small rugs lead a trail to the bedroom and bathroom. Why? Ah, so she doesn’t get the carpet dirty.

  I smirk as I look around. It’s not at all what I expected. This apartment is actually very nice.

  She reappears and smiles nervously. “I’m wearing Tully’s top.”

  I frown. “Oh.” I’m not sure what to say.

  “Tully gave me her clothes because she didn’t think mine suited me.”

  “I see.”

  My stomach rolls at the thought of Tully. What’s she doing right now?

  I stand. “Let’s go.”

  We sit at the ice-cream bar and I watch Meredith intently.

  How do I handle this?

  Meredith is licking her ice-cream like her life depends on it.

  “How was your trip?” I ask.

  Meredith shrugs. “My gran’s dead. Buried in the ground, worms in her head.”

  I frown. Gross, for fuck’s sake.

  “It’s all natural,” she assures me. “Everything dies.”

  “Oh, I see,” I murmur as I lick my own ice-cream.

  Hmm.

  “Have you seen your friends lately?” I ask.

  She frowns. “Tully is away with Simon.”
She licks her ice-cream again. “But she doesn’t want to have a threesome with you and Simon.”

  My head just about explodes. “Why the fuck would you say that?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Duh. I asked Tully.”

  I bite into my ice-cream cone, and it crunches between my furious teeth. “Whatever,” I snap angrily. “What about Wendy Woo?”

  Meredith’s face falls. “You know Wendy?” she asks, as if surprised.

  “Yes, I know Wendy. She’s my friend,” I reply casually.

  “She came to Queensland with my mother and me.”

  What?

  “Oh, yeah, I know.” I act as if I already know. “She had to get out of here before they found her,” I tell Meredith.

  Meredith nods as she licks her ice-cream. “Because they killed her friend. Now they want to kill her.”

  I watch her sharply. Fuck, don’t blow this now, Brock.

  “Because she did that thing, didn’t she?” I say as I try to act as casual as casual.

  “Yeah, she hid it now but...”

  “That’s right,” I reply. “How many were there?” Fuck, I have no idea what I’m asking about here but hopefully she’s falling for this act I’m putting on.

  “Memory sticks are easy to hide.”

  I stare at her as my mind races. Memory stick. Memory stick. What the fuck is on a memory stick? Hmm. I’m just going to throw something random out there.

  “Her friend who knows computers did that for her, didn’t he?”

  She nods. “But he’s dead now. In the ground, worms in his head.”

  Fuck, did Chancellor make the memory stick? Was he trying to help Wendy Woo?

  “What happened to Peachy Sue, Meredith?” I ask.

  Her eyes snap to mine. “I didn’t see anything,” she blurts out in a rush.

  “I know you didn’t,” I reply calmly.

  She begins to shake her head. “Act calm and nothing happens to you,” she says.

  I frown as I watch her. “Who told you to act calm?”

  She stands suddenly. “We need to go home now.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m tired, very tired. I need to go to bed.” She begins to get agitated.

  “It’s okay,” I tell her as I stand, too. “We can go home now.”

  She puts her head down and rushes to my car. She’s fidgeting with her hands in front of her, clearly rattled as soon as I mentioned Peachy Sue. Fuck, I need to get more information from her. She knows what happened to Sue, I’ll bet my life on it.

  We drive back to her apartment as I try to think of a plan. I can’t ask her outright or she freaks out. The only way I am going to get more information from her is if I spend more time with her.

  Fuck’s sake.

  We pull up outside her apartment. “Do you want to have ice-cream tomorrow?” I ask.

  She thinks for a moment. “Can’t we go dancing instead?”

  I wince. “Sure.” I fake a smile. “I might get the guys to come, too. Is that all right?”

  She smiles broadly. “Can Callie come, too?”

  Fuck, it gets worse. I don’t want to hang out with Tully’s friends like a fucking loser.

  “No, Callie can’t come.”

  Her face falls. “Oh, okay then.”

  “I’ll call you?”

  “Do you have my phone number?” She frowns.

  “Actually, no. What is it?” I already have all of her details, but I can’t tell her that.

  Tully

  I lie on the small sofa in Simon’s hospital room. It’s been three weeks since I lost my love. Twenty-one days since Brock left, and I haven’t heard from his since. I know I won’t. He’s too proud to ever contact me or take me back.

  Every night I cry myself to sleep. Every day I just about make it through without falling apart. Why did this happen? Why did it have to be Simon? Why do bad things happen to good people? Simon didn’t deserve this sickness.

  Brock didn’t deserve this.

  I’m a bad person. No matter what I was going to do, someone was going to be hurt. It couldn’t be the man who is already sick.

  I just want to know if Brock’s okay. I can’t bear the thought that I’ve hurt him. I called Callie and Meredith, as they’ve both seen him when he interviewed them over Peachy Sue’s death. They said he’s normal, that he seems fine.

  I, however, am not.

  I feel like I’m being punished for leaving Simon. It’s as if God wants me to know how much a broken heart hurts.

  A punishment for my crime.

  I’m carrying on as normal on the outside, but inside I’m dying a little every day without Brock in my life. I’m suffocating in grief. I don’t feel like a whole person anymore. It’s like the shell of me is here with Simon… but my heart left with Brock. Now it’s smashed into pieces and buried in the depths of Hell.

  I swipe the tear away quickly before it leaves my eye. I’m trying so hard to put a brave face on for Simon but it’s getting harder, not easier.

  I’ve sacrificed my own happiness for someone else’s, someone who is fighting just to stay alive.

  I did what I had to do.

  Simon is a good man. The best. I’m the one who’s fucked in the head.

  “It looks like we can transfer you back to Sydney early next week.” The doctor smiles as he closes his folder.

  I sit up quickly. “That’s great.”

  “I’ll make the arrangements and we can get the ball rolling.”

  I walk over and sit on the bed next to Si, taking his hand in mine. “See, it’s all working out.” I smile. “Australia, here we come.”

  The nurse takes Simon’s vitals and writes in her chart. “Everything looks great.” She smiles.

  The last three weeks have been a blur.

  Hope for Simon has been followed by sadness for Brock.

  I honestly don’t know whether I’m coming or going anymore.

  Simon was transported back to Sydney last night. The flight was long and filled with worry. But we made it and, hopefully, some sense of normality will return to our lives soon.

  I go back to work on Monday. I drove past the gym last night on my way home from the hospital, and when I saw Brock’s car parked there I burst into tears and cried for two hours.

  I’m so sad, working on autopilot.

  When Brock left me in London, he took a piece of me with him.

  Simon and I had the talk last week. He asked me if we could get back together and I had to be honest and tell him the truth.

  It’s not like that for us anymore, even though I love him so much. It’s just a different love now. A family kind of love, not a romantic kind of love. He was down for a few days, but I think it would have been much worse if I had lied to him about my feelings.

  I care about him way too much to ever lie to him. Simon’s parents have gone home for some much-needed respite. I’m going to stay another hour or so, and then I will head home, too. I haven’t seen my friends or anything yet. Last night I was too tired and emotional to be good company.

  There’s a knock at the door, and I look over to see an attractive blonde girl.

  “Hi.” She smiles nervously from the doorway.

  “Hi.” I smile back.

  Simons face falls. “Penny?” he gasps.

  Her face lights up. “Hi, Simon.” She looks nervously between us. “I… I.’ She pauses for a moment. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

  “Not at all, please come in,” I say.

  Her eyes meet Simon’s, and they both smile softly. I glance between them. The chemistry is palpable.

  Oh my God, is this…?

  “Tully, this is Penny,” Simon says with reverence.

  Simon told me that the girl he was seeing while we were apart was called Penny.

  “Penny,” I gasp. Unable to help it, I grab her in an embrace. “Simon told me all about you.”

  Her face falls and her eyes flicker to Simon. “He did?”

  I smile and take
her hand in mine, and she swallows nervously.

  “I was wondering if I could talk to the both of you?” she asks.

  “Of course.” I smile.

  Simon frowns and looks uncomfortable with Penny and I being here together.

  “I know you two are back together and everything—” she whispers.

  “We’re not back together,” I interrupt.

  She looks at Simon, pausing, as if nervous. “I’m pregnant.”

  Simon and I stare at her.

  “The baby’s yours, Simon.”

  Chapter 22

  My eyes are wide as I stare at her in total shock.

  Simon’s face falls. “What?” He glances at me nervously “But we didn’t…” His voice trails off.

  “I know, but I haven’t had sex with anyone else in two years. The condom must have broken or something,” she says quietly. “I didn’t come here to stress you out or bother you. I came because I feel you should know.”

  Simon stares at her, unable to speak. He is so shocked.

  A smile crosses my face. “Of course.” I look between the two of them. “I’ll leave you both alone.”

  Simon becomes panicked. “T-Tully, where… where are you going?” he stammers.

  I smile. “Home, Si. I’ll be back tomorrow.” I take Penny’s hand in mine. “You stay here.” Unable to help it I wrap my arms around her. “Congratulations, this is wonderful news,” I whisper into her hair. I turn to Simon and kiss his forehead. “A baby, Simon,” I whisper with glee. “This is so amazing. Congratulations.” I take both of their hands in mine. “You are going to be a wonderful father, Si.” I smile through tears, and I turn, leaving them alone to talk about their future together. I walk out into the corridor and I swipe my tears away as carefully as I can.

  I don’t know why I’m crying.

  I’m happy. I… I… I just don’t know how I feel about this.

  I’m so shocked.

  This is the absolute last thing I ever expected to hear. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, though, does it?

  God, wait until Simon’s parents find out. A baby out of wedlock. I wish I could be there when he tells them.