Page 7 of Crash
Grinning, I asked, “What does it pay?” What I didn’t ask was when I would get to see Violet. She obviously wasn’t here, and I wondered where she was hiding out.
“Cheeky bugger.”
“Don’t worry too much about it,” I said, waving him off. “I’m not hard up for cash.”
“Nah, we’ll put you on the books, but it’s not pro wages or nothing.” He grinned wickedly at me. “But there’s one condition.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You have to come to the opening party. Having an AUFC champ’ll make me look good,” he declared with a grin.
“Party?”
He clapped me on the shoulder, and luckily, it was the uninjured one. “Friday night at seven.”
Shrugging, I gave him nod. “Yeah, I could do with a bit of a party after my fuck up of a week.”
Ash began to back away and pointed a finger at me. “Wear something nice too.”
“You got it,boss.”
Friday at seven.Maybe I’d be lucky and get a minute with the illusive Violet Fuller. Maybe I would hit the jackpot and get more than one.
A man could dream.
Three
Violet
I’d been thinking about the party non-stop since Ash dropped it on me. Fuck him and his conditions, what a loser.
It had scared me more than the actual job and that was saying something. I’d take a full-time job in an office over a few hours in a gym full of people any day. It was official. I was actually going insane.
I’d hardly slept a wink thinking about what I was going to wear, what I would say, and how I should act. It was a vicious circle because I didn’t have any answers, and everything kept going around and around in my head like a tumble dryer.
When I finally gave up and went downstairs, it was six thirty in the morning, and I was in serious need of coffee.Strongcoffee. Actually, make that mind-melting coffee.
“Hey,” Ren said as I shuffled into the kitchen.
I went straight for the coffee machine and pulled the top open. Grabbing the strongest pod there was, I stuffed it into the top.
“Hey,” I replied, pressing the button and watching the dark brown liquid fill my cup.
Ren raised her eyebrows but didn’t press. She’d hung out here often enough to get that I’d had a bad night. Ash had filled her in pretty early in their relationship, and usually, I’d be shitty with him about it, but Ren had proved herself to be a woman of her word. She gave a toss and that mattered.
Curling my hands around the cup of steaming coffee, I inhaled the scent like it was some kind of drug that’d calm me down. I was stressing about the job and about having to leave the house for an extended period of time, but I was mostly anxious about the opening party. There’d be lots of people, friends, fighters and media… They’d recognize me and ask questions I couldn’t answer. Having a breakdown in front of Australia’s sports media didn’t really float my boat.
Ren opened the fridge and began rustling around inside.
“I didn’t hear you come in last night,” I said.
She glanced back at me. “Good.”
“Rabbits,” I retorted and she laughed as Ash walked into the kitchen looking bleary-eyed. Ugh, the thought of hearing my brother having sex…I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
“Big news,” Ash chortled, clapping his hands together. How dare he be so cheery in themorning.
Ren glanced around the door of the fridge, her lips quirking. “What news? This better not be another one of your pranks.”
