28. Friday Week Ten (pt1.)
Eli was driving me home from school and my mind drifted to Noah and how I had spent the week giving him the space that everyone said that he wanted. All week he had found some excuse to not be around us, football or school or work, there was always something that meant that he didn't have to see me.
Saddened by my thoughts, I sought a distraction, "what time does your fight start tonight?"
"I don't think you should come to this one, tigru."
Were we really going to do this again? "Eli, I'm coming."
His lips twitched into a smirk, "that's not how I imagined you would say that to me."
Immature little prick, I smacked his arm with the back of my hand, but I couldn't ignore the way my stomach flipped at his words. "Eli, I'm being serious."
He sighed, "Rei, it's different tonight."
"How is it different?"
Eli pulled up outside my house before turning to look at me, his eyes searched my face for a moment, he was deciding whether he wanted to tell me or not. He turned away and I thought he wasn't going to reply until, "my father is going to be there."
That was not what I was expecting him to say, "okay, so why does that mean that I can't be?"
"He isn't a nice person, Rei," his eyes flickered back over to me to gauge my reaction.
I gave him a cheeky smile, "neither are you, Eli."
His lips twitched in response and he shook his head at me, "fine, but you stay with Maxon for the whole night."
"Deal," I reached across the centre console to peck his lips. I then rushed out the car to grab a change of clothes, yelling a bye to my Nan as I left the house and hastily rejoining Eli in his car.
â â â â â
After the last ordeal at Staircase with the pervy bouncer, I decided to cover my black spaghetti strapped dress with a neon yellow puffer jacket which matched my white and neon trainers.
Eli's hand was clasped tightly in mine as he led me through to his locker room in the back, but we were stopped on our way over by a cute blonde boy with a cheeky smile. And by cute I obviously mean drop-dead gorgeous â he had deeply tanned skin, similar to Eli's, and light blue eyes which shone in contrast to his messy blonde hair.
"Have you gotten prettier, Ryker?" He asked with an excessive wink.
Eli's face showed no reaction for a second before it split into a grin, surprising me, "fucking asshole," he muttered as he gave the cute boy a bro hug.
They pulled away from each other with matching grins lit up across their faces, "you look good, man," the model guy said, clasping Eli on the shoulder.
Eli tugged on my hand, "Rei, this is my friendâ"
"um best friend," model guy interrupted
Still grinning, Eli rolled his eyes, "my best friend, Cayden. Cayd this is Rei."
Cayden stuck his hand out for me to shake, "ah, you're the girlfriend," I shook his hand, "how does it feel knowing you've taken a perfectly good bachelor out of the runnings?"
"Hm, it feels like you have a lot less competition now."
Cayden released a loud laugh, "I like her, Ryker."
Eli's eyes flickered over to me and feeling cheeky, I winked at him which just made his grin widen.
The boys then led me through to the back room where Max was waiting.
"Cayd, you little shit!" Maxon exclaimed upon seeing him, they did the bro hug thing, "how've you been?"
"Good good," he wiggled his eyebrows, "the ladies loved me out there."
Maxon released a hearty laugh, "I bet they did."
After that, it was pretty much all business with the boys prepping Eli for the fight, I didn't have much to do until after the actual fight when Eli was bruised and injured; my heart clenched at the thought.
"Do I get a good luck kiss, tigru?"
Turning off my phone, I looked up from where I sat on the sofa to find him standing over me with a cocky smirk. My head cocked to the side, "you didn't need one before your other fights."
Getting fed up with looking down at me, Eli placed his hands on the wall behind my head, bending down so that he could meet my stare head-on as he whispered, "I don't need it, tigru, I want it."
A grin graced my features as the memory of when I said that to him crossed my mind and I tilted my head upwards just as he bent his downwards so our lips met in the middle for another one of those soft kisses. His lips split into another smile against my own and he gave me a final peck before covering his face and body and sauntering off to win another fight â he was in a good mood tonight.
Not wanting to watch Eli get hurt, I had opted to stay in the room and wait for him. Eli, of course, had insisted that I have a personal bodyguard so Cayden had offered to stay behind.
"How long have you and Eli known each other?" I asked him as he came to sit on the sofa next to me.
"Me and Ryker go way back, since we were kids."
"Really?"
Cayden nodded, that cheeky grin still planted on his face, "our dads worked together so we were kinda forced to hang out. He's always been a miserable fucker."
I laughed, "he's not so bad."
"Well, of course you think that. He isn't a complete dickhead to you."
Someone knocked on the door and Cayden went to see who it was, slipping out of the room in response to whatever was said.
My mind drifted off as I thought about Cayden's words. It was easy to forget that Eli could be 'a complete dickhead' because he never really was with me. I mean, sure we argued, but he was never disrespectful, just closed off. When I first met him, he was a little rude, but I think that was just his way of keeping everyone at a distance.
My wandering mind was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing. Confusion swaddled me because the man who walked through the door was most definitely not Cayden.
Black hair sat atop the face of a middle-aged man with a pair of bright blue eyes which had become an integral part of my life. Only these eyes didn't gaze at me with concern or blaze with frustration, these eyes were cool and passive â just like Eli's were when he shut down.
"You must be Reillyn," the suited man asked, "the girlfriend."
"You must be the father. Sorry, I don't know your name, Eli doesn't waste his breath talking about you," I snarked, rising from my seat on the sofa. Sure I didn't know much about the guy but I knew enough â he had abandoned his family in a selfish search for money and power.
A shaped eyebrow which matched the colour of his (definitely dyed) hair rose, "Hm. Well, I'm certainly surprised that he wastes any of his breath talking to you."
My eyes narrowed, okay, if he wanted to bring out the bitch, I could be a bitch, "what do you want?"
"I want a lot of things, girl, but mainly I want my son's attention," he met my eyes with an icy stare which screamed danger, "all of his attention."
"Am I detecting jealousy or low self-esteem?"
"Don't get smart with me, girl. It won't do you any favours."
"And who said I needed any."
"Do you know what my name is?" He questioned
"I don't particularly care."
His eyes narrowed and then in a blink, he pulled out a gun â my breath caught in my throat. He didn't do anything with the gun, merely placed it on the table in front of him, "I am not someone you want to anger, Miss Cole."
I made no response because I had no response to make, he had clearly chosen to call me 'Miss Cole' rather than 'girl' as a way of showing that he knew who I was.
"My name is Mikael and I am a businessman."
"How does this concern me?"
"It concerns you, girl, because you are in the way. Ryker; is what I would consider an asset, and you; are what I would consider a distraction."
So I guess that must make you...an asshole.
"Distractions, Miss Cole, are bad for business and you should know that business is very," he gripped the gun in his hand again, "very important to me."
I didn't move a muscle as he came to stand in front of me, gun still in hand, "you should keep that in mind, Miss Cole."
And with that, he left me confused beyond words.
â â â â â â â â â â
pt2 next
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