Page 33 of Keep Your Guard Up
“I’m here, Chance.” He put his hand on my shoulder again. “You’re not alone.”
“I—” I scrubbed my face with my hands, not having a single fucking clue of where to start. That box in the back of my mind had stopped rattling about, but I could still feel how fucking full it was. That was the thing about ghosts—when you went to point one out, say ‘Look! The grim fucking reaper is chasing me!’—they vanished into thin air. But a cold presence always lingered, an icy hand on the shoulder with a promise to return later.
JJ turned and sat back on the couch next to Sunny’s desk, splaying himself out in the most casual manner, but I caught the message from it.
Nothing is ever too big that you can’t tell me.
“Take your time. I’ve got plenty.” He smiled, dipping his chin in a gesture for me to sit.
I paced in front of him before finally joining him on the couch.
We sat in silence for a long minute while I sorted through the bowl of fucking spaghetti in my brain. Tangled and knotted, no beginning or end. JJ, to his credit, didn’t make any jokes or try to urge me on. He waited, patient and calm, as if he didn’t have anywhere else in the world he’d rather be.
“Shit got pretty bad before I left Darlington Harbour, man,” I started … and finished.
All the words cluttered up in my throat.
“Everything had kind of reached its tipping point the day you called me,” I croaked.
His eyes flared, and I let out a self-pitying laugh.
“I mean, for fuck sake, I was sitting up at Fuller’s Point when you called, about ten seconds away from ending it—”
“Morning team,” Mari’s voice sounded from outside.
A cluster of responses followed before the office door opened.
That woman—thatfuckingbeautifulwoman—stopped dead in her tracks. A light shimmer of sweat coated her skin, slightly tugging parts of her white singlet closer to her hips; she must have walked here. Torn up denim shorts sat at the tops of those legs that ran a mile long. Alluring lines wrapped themselves around the slender curves of her thighs, showcasing just how beautifully capable she was.
And she was staring at me.
“Mornin’, Sunny.” I lifted a smirk onto my face, catching the flare in her honey brown eyes when they met mine.
“Riordan.” She nodded at me, eyes flickering over my newly buzzed head, before moving over to her desk. “Aren’t you supposed to be working today, JJ?”
A sudden wave of coolness swept over me when her gaze left mine. No fucking clue why, but I didn’t like it.
“Nah, they’re just getting ready for the big dance tonight. Apparently my services aren’t required later on.”
“Shit,” she cursed. “I forgot about that.”
She padded over to the couch JJ was on and signalled for him to shuffle aside.
“I have to make an appearance, don’t I?” She folded her hands over her face and sighed, her elbows pressing together her alarmingly noticeable cleavage.
Fuck sake.
“To one of the gym’s biggest sponsors? Yeah, Lynnie, you should probably make an appearance,” JJ replied. “You can join Cassie and I.”
“Cassie?” I asked.
“My date for the evening,” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or maybe it’s Casey. I should probably figure that out.”
“Sorry, JJ, there’s about a million other people I would rather go with than you and your hook up for the night. One of which includes a wasp nest.”
“Rude.” He gaped, placing a hand over his chest.
“I’ve done it before,” she groaned. “Never again.”
