Would she think I’d regretted it?
That I couldn’t face the morning after the night before?
I fired off a quick text to the lads to let them know I was on my way, then I sent one to Harper, hoping I’d say the right thing.
Brandon: I didn’t want to leave you this morning. I’m sorry that I did. Thought it best to avoid your parents. I’m sorry.
She didn’t reply for a while, and I’ve got to admit, it messed with my head. But when my phone eventually lit up with an incoming message, every muscle in my body tensed in anticipation.
Harper: I get it. I understand. You’ve got nothing to apologise for. I know you prefer using the garden fence instead of the front door anyway.
She added a cheeky winking emoji to let me know there were no hard feelings and it helped me to relax somewhat.
Brandon: What can I say? I’m very flexible.
I sent my response then slapped my own face at how lame I sounded. I needed better banter.
Harper: I know exactly how flexible you are. I like it too.
I chuckled. She’d added another winking emoji and I knew that would keep me going through the day. My banter I could work on. At least she didn’t hate me.
She liked me.
She said she loved me, but I knew not to get my hopes up on that front. People said things in the heat of the moment. I wanted to believe that a girl like her could love a guy like me, but judging from my past history, I knew I needed to prepare myself for a fall.
When I knocked on Zak’s door a little while later, Ryan answered and walked away without uttering a word when he saw it was me, leaving me to close the door myself.
“Nice to see you too, fucker.” I slammed it shut and Finn jumped out of his skin.
What was his deal?
“Thought you’d gone AWOL again, mate.” Ryan smirked as he sat his ass down in the seat I always claimed as mine whenever I was here. Fucker knew it’d piss me off, but he didn’t care.
I sauntered across the room to stand over him. “I think you’re in my chair.” He just folded his arms and stared back up at me, grinning like a motherfucker.
“You can have it back when I leave. I can’t stay long, anyway. Em is in court today. She’s got to give evidence at her dad’s trial.”
I would’ve argued my case, but I figured he’d probably have enough stress without me adding to it. Sitting in a courtroom watching Emily’s dad worm his way out of a long stretch in prison for fraud and manslaughter was enough to push anyone over the edge.
“How’s that all going?” Zak asked as he tapped away in the corner on his laptop and kept his eyes glued to the screen. Ignorant fucker. I sat down next to Finn and took the can of Coke out of his hands to take a swig. He didn’t complain. He never did.
“It’s not going great for him, I’m not gonna lie. Her mum’s due a wake-up call too when he eventually goes down for it. She’s convinced he’ll get off. Doesn’t matter what we tell her. The woman is a nutcase.”
Ryan knew as well as the rest of us that this trial was a fucking joke, a circus for the media. The odds were stacked against Emily’s dad. We’d made sure of that. The sooner they locked him up, the better.
“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” I laughed, handing Finn back his empty can of Coke. “So, why are we here? Did you miss my handsome mug? Is that it?”
“Make the most of it, mate. Once Murphy has you fighting for him, you’ll look more like Gollum than ever before.” Ryan thought he was fucking funny, but he needed to leave the comedy to the experts. I was about to tell him as much when Finn cut me off.
“You’re fighting for Pat Murphy? I thought you said you wouldn’t do that?”
Why did the disappointment on Finn’s face hurt more than anything else? You’d think I’d kicked his puppy by the way he was eyeballing me.
“I didn’t tell him,” Ryan added, looking anywhere but where I was sitting. “Figured it was your news to tell. Sorry.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. I knew Finn was a sensitive little fucker, but I didn’t think he’d be bothered about something like this.
“It won’t affect anything with us,” I said, turning to face him on the sofa. “Pat’s gonna schedule fights around our business. Don’t worry, mate. You’re still my number one.” I grabbed his knee and gave it a shake like he was a kid, and I was putting his mind at rest.
“And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything,” Zak piped up, and I threw him a filthy look. “Pat will do what Pat wants to do. Good luck to you, though. You’re gonna need it.”
I huffed out on a grin and shook my head. Was he for fucking real?
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I won’t need luck, though. I have skill.”
“I don’t mean luck with the fight. I’m talking about the business side of it.”
I could see Ryan out of the corner of my eye watching Zak and probably second guessing that I was moments away from calling him out on his bullshit advice. So he cut in, doing what he always does best; distracting me from making a dickhead of myself.
“Have you told Harper yet?”
Zak stopped typing to look up and I felt Finn’s eyes burning holes into me. Ryan really was good at keeping things on the downlow. Looked like they didn’t know a thing about me and her.
“Nope.” I kept my poker face in check and waited for one of them to scoff at the ridiculousness of her being with someone like me.
“So, its official?” Zak asked. “You and her? You’re a thing?”
“Yes. Do you have a problem with that?”
He held his hands up in defence and then smirked. I looked across at Finn and he was holding back a fucking grin too.
“I’m not pussy whipped, if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s the last thing we’d accuse you of.” Zak laughed.
“Like I said, have you told her?” Ryan sighed and pinned the other two with a keep-your-mouth-shut glare before turning to me.
“It’s not that I’m hiding it,” I admitted, because it was true. “Last night wasn’t the right time. But she knows what she’s getting into. She knows who I am, and she said as much herself. So, thanks for your concern, but we’re good.”
“I hope for both your sakes you’re right.” Ryan flicked through his mobile phone, pretending to look like he didn’t give a shit.
“Whatever. I’m not here to talk about how awesome it’s gonna be when I’m the world champion. Wouldn’t want any of you to feel inferior.” Both Ryan and Zak scoffed at me, but not Finn.
“Success comes at a price,” Finn said in a low, mournful voice.
“And I’ve got the goods to pay,” I snapped back. “Look, what is this? An intervention or something?”
Zak slammed his laptop shut, and I knew then that he meant business.
“We think Lockwood might be behind the text messages we’ve been getting.”
I shrugged back at him.
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“We got another one yesterday,” Ryan added. “Told us we should think twice before putting on another event. Unless we wanted to see the whole of Sandland ‘go off’, that is. In other words, they were threatening some kind of explosion or something. Zak tracked the message back to a mobile registered to Don Lockwood.”