Page 78 of The Player in New Zealand
“Okay, babe. Devon’s probably not going to make a scene with the bar being crowded and loud, right?”
“Right.” There were a lot of people here. It would be hard for him to interact with me, never mind get me alone.
“Okay, hang up the phone, do your job, and try not to worry about him. I’m going to make some calls.”
“Who are you going to call?”
“I’ve got friends in Auckland. Let me see what I can do.”
I guessed that “friends” meant rugby players. The image of having my own behemoth rugby player to escort me back to my hostel made me feel a whole lot better.
I tried not to think about what would happen if Devon followed us.
“Okay,” I whispered into the phone. “I can do this.”
“You can do this, babe. I won’t let him hurt you, I promise.”
We agreed for Tane to message me updates, and I’d sneak away to check in with him every hour.
When I got back to the bar, it was a mess.
“Hey, what the fuck is this?” Niko, another bartender, gestured at the ribbon of orders coming out of the ticket machine. “You can’t just disappear.”
“I know, I know, I’ll catch up.”
He huffed and walked away. I worked as quickly as possible, but nobody was helping me. My hands were shaking, and I dropped a lemon slice, then a glass, which shattered. The servers impatiently popped in and out, distracting me.
And all the while I could feel Devon down the bar. I didn’t look—I didn’t want to, but I knew.
After I fumbled another drink, Erin, the manager that night, told me to go home. There were still tickets well past due, and I was useless.
Instead of leaving, I grabbed my things and went back to the storage room. I’d checked in with Tane forty-five minutes ago, so I dropped him another text.
My manager’s sending me home. I fucked up too many drinks. I’m sitting in the goddamn storage room again.
My anger overflowed. Ihatedthat I was here in this stupid storage room, hiding. Ihatedthat Devon was here. Ihatedthat I’d left Wellington when I hadn’t really wanted to.
I kicked the wall and let out a primal scream. Why did it have to be like this?
My phone buzzed in my hand and I checked the screen.I’ll be at McGraves’ in thirty minutes. Don’t go anywhere.
Holy shit. Was this what love felt like? This intense relief, this gratitude that washed over me, that came straight from my heart. The fact that I hadsomeonewho was willing to ride to my rescue, even though I was an absolute mess, prickled my eyes.
I sat down on an empty keg and burst into tears. I had a really good cry, the kind I needed to get out before Tane got here: sniffling and honking, and thank God I had tissues in my purse.
As I tried to calm down, my tears subsided, and the fight-or-flight response dulled, my brain got to working. How did Devon know I was here? It niggled in my mind a little bit. I hadn’t posted anything on social media, and I hadn’t been in touch with anyone back home except... Iris.
I pulled up Iris’s name on my phone and hit call, pretty sure she was asleep.
“Hey, Claire, everything okay?” She sounded groggy.
“Devon’s here.”
Iris’s sharp inhale cut through me, and my Spidey-Sense flared.
“You were the only person who knew where I was.” I tried to keep my voice low and even. She wouldn’t do this. She wouldn’t. “How did Devon find out?”
There was a rustle on the line like she was moving around, and then her breath blew right into the phone a few times until I heard the click of a door.
