Page 33 of Craving the Edge

Tomas and Declan sauntered toward the exit, their gym bags slung over their shoulders. Tomas gave me a quick nod and was out the door in a flash.

Declan paused just before he reached the roller door. He turned his head, his green eyes finding mine across the foyer. Then, the corner of his mouth tilted up. Not a smirk. Not a cocky grin. Just a small smile that was entirely for me.

My breath hitched. I was pinned to the spot, my feet cemented to the floor. He held my gaze a second longer, then turned and was gone, leaving me cold. IT was my turn, but I didn’t know how to broach the gap. I wasn’t seductive or sexually confident. I was a lump of bravado wrapped up in a blanket of fear.

The front door swung open and Billie breezed in, her blonde hair pulled back into its immaculate ponytail. She dropped her bag on the floor with a thud.

“Well, look at that. The vultures have flown the coop.” She gestured towards the street, a wide grin spreading across her face. “Looks like your boy toy scared them off for good.”

I felt the heat creep up my neck and fought to keep my face neutral, busying myself with a stack of membership forms that didn’t need organising.

“He’s not my boy toy.”

Billie laughed, a warm, easy sound that filled the empty space. “Could’ve fooled me.” She leant against the counter. “Speaking of ghosts, where’s old Hendo been hiding? I haven’t seen his ugly mug in weeks.”

I shrugged, feigning disinterest. “He’s been…busy.”

“Busy doing what? Propping up the bar at the pub?” She peered towards the office door. “You’d think he’d be lapping this up. Bragging to anyone who’d listen that Declan Walsh is training in his gym. It’s weird, even for him.”

I blinked, knowing she was right, and also knowing I’d been stupid for not noticing. I’d been so caught up in Declan, in the chaos outside, in the sheer force of his presence, that I hadn’t noticed. Gary had been completely, utterly absent. For a moment, I felt relieved that I hadn’t had to manage his uselessness, but his bullshit excuse about that so called bank error should’ve been my first clue that something was up.

I pulled my phone from my back pocket, my thumb swiping across the screen to unlock it. Billie kept talking, oblivious, something about the weirdos at her work last night, but the sound faded into the background. I opened my banking app, my finger hesitating for a second before tapping on my transaction account.

The screen refreshed. A deposit from Fighter’s Edge Pty Ltd was there. The numbers stared back at me, a clean figure deposited just after midnight. He’d paid me, late, but he’d payed me with zero issues. There was no error, just him cancelling the direct debits and doing it manually.

It meant only one thing. He had a personal cash flow problem and was using the business to cover his arse.

My mind raced, flipping through a catalogue of Gary’s usual brand of stupid. Dodgy loans from shady loan sharks. Gambling debts. One too many bank loans.

I’d spent years propping up the business while he neglected it. I built the customer base, I negotiated with the suppliers, and brought in personal trainers. I even organised the class schedules and open day events. If the business collapsed because of this, Fighter’s Edge would have to close, Declan Walsh or not. I’d lose everything.

Gary was hiding, and whatever he was running from was big enough to make him disappear from his own business at the most profitable moment of its existence.

“You okay?”

Billie’s voice cut through the noise in my head. I looked up from my phone, blinking.

“With all that bullshit out the front, I mean.”

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. “Yeah. It’s handled.”

“Handled how? Did Walsh send in the heavies?”

“Declan did, but not before his manager came by to chat.” I leaned against the desk. “He basically told me I was a liability to Declan’s ‘brand’ and that he’d run a background check on me.”

Billie’s smile vanished. “What a prick. He can’t do that! Doesn’t that violate about a million privacy laws?”

“Well, privacy laws or not, he did.” A bitter laugh escaped me. “Declan promised he’d sort it out, and I guess he did.” I shook my head. “Invasive background checks and paparazzi making up shit? What the actual fuck?”

A flicker of guilt crossed Billie’s face. She pushed herself off the desk, her expression serious. “Shit, Char. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you to pursue the guy. I was just stirring… I didn’t think one photo would blow up into all this.”

I waved a hand, dismissing it. “Don’t be an idiot. It’s not your fault…and nothing happened. We talked. That was it.” I shrugged, the lie coming out more easily than I’d expected. “The tabloids twisted an innocent out of context photo into something it wasn’t. It’s their mission objective to collect clicks. Don’t worry about it.”

She watched me for a long moment, her eyes searching my face, but she let it go. “Alright, but you call me if you need to offload, yeah? Day or night.”

“I will.”

She gave my arm a quick squeeze, then grabbed her bag and headed for the changing rooms. I watched her go, the sound of her footsteps fading as she disappeared into the gym. My gaze drifted from the empty floor, past the rows of bags, and settled on the closed door to Gary’s office.