“I just needed to speak to someone. I've just met the girl, and she...” Tears well up in my eyes. “Mum, I'm not sure I can do this.”
“Look Amelia, you've caught me at a really awkward time. I'll call you back later, and we can have a chat. Okay?” My heart breaks as the phone goes dead. Why was I stupid enough to believe that this afternoon was a breakthrough?
Looks like I'm going to have to put my big girl pants on and handle this myself.
This afternoon has dragged. It didn't take long for me to make sure the house was in order and thanks to my hangover and knowing what hell is waiting for me tomorrow with my team, I opted not to train today, so for the past hour I've just been taking advantage of some alone time.
The calm before the storm, I guess.
As I lose myself in the silence a little longer, the sound of an engine shutting off followed by female voices pulls me from my thoughts. I glance toward the window and getting out of the passenger side of a little silver Audi, I see her. Dressed in pale skinny jeans with rips at the knees, an oversized cream jumper and a pair of light brown riding boots with her long, flowing blonde hair flipped over to one side so I can barely see her face, she looks like a different person. A world away from the timid little girl that I interviewed last Thursday. She's relaxed, laughing and joking with her sister — who I recognise her from Instagram — and I can't take my eyes off her.
Trying not to be rude, I walk towards the door to greet them. As I open the door, Mia turns and walks in my direction, introducing me casually to her sister and as soon as I speak, Lexi's eyes are on me.
I'm excited to see what she thinks of her room so without hesitation, I beckon them to follow me. Standing in the corridor outside her door, my heart is pounding.
What if she hates it?
What if she thinks I'm some creepy stalker?
Why the fuck do I care?
I decide to downplay my involvement in the setting up of her room and instead I give credit to the interior decorators that I didn't hire. As I open the door a wide smile beams across her face as she takes it all in. I know she's impressed and I'm actually quite proud of myself.
I contemplate offering to help with the boxes, but it doesn't look like she has much to unpack so instead I excuse myself and go back to my study. I could do with going over some old fight tapes before my early morning meeting with Jamison tomorrow anyway.
It's been a few minutes since I left the girls alone and got side-tracked by a couple of emails, then out of the corner of my eye, a petite figure appears in the doorway. Lexi invites herself in and for a moment I wonder if there is a problem.
“Hey Lexi, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. It's a nice place you've got here.” She chirps, taking a good look around as she slinks across the room towards me and sits of the desk, her skirt hitching up slightly to reveal even more of her long, slender legs. “So. You're a professional fighter, right?”
“For the past fifteen years.”
“And you're a single dad?”
“Last time I checked.” What the hell is this, the Spanish inquisition?
“Cool. Cool.” She smiles at me and I'm not sure if she's about to seduce me, or punch me, then her tone suddenly changes. “Here’s the thing. My family is the biggest shit show going but Mia is my everything. She's the sweetest, kindest person I know but it makes it easy for guys like you to take advantage of her but rest assured, if you ever hurt her. You won’t live to regret it. Understood?”
She reminds me a bit of Mia. They both look a lot alike. Her hair is a much brighter shade of blonde and falls in waves over her shoulders but the way they dress and the way they carry themselves is poles apart. She scares the crap out of me even though I can't help but admire the way she looks out for her sister.
“Yep.” I agree and within seconds, I'm left alone with my thoughts once again.
A short while after she leaves my study, her engine roars and she screeches up the driveway. I've just finished watching Lucas Stone's previous fight, making notes about the weaknesses I've spotted, like the specific combo he throws whenever he's planning to take his opponent to the ground and how he switches stance just before he throws a kick. Now I'm hungry.
I know Sarah is dropping Maddie off at seven, so I've got chance to order pizza and eat before they get here. I need to go over Mia's schedule for tomorrow too so might as well kill two birds with one stone.
Gently knocking on her door and popping my head round when she's tells me to come in, she agrees to join me and I'm so happy that when I suggested pepperoni pizza, she didn't say that she was vegan or something.
For the next hour we just sit, eat, and talk. She seems happy with the schedule and although she still seems a little nervous, the conversation is flowing well. Until Sarah arrives.
My girl runs in and gives me the biggest hug as I pull her close and kiss her head of dark brown curls. She obviously missed me as much as I missed her, but she's a little off with Mia and quickly retreats to her room. I guess she could be picking up on the tension and the daggers that Sarah has been throwing her since she arrived and saw us eating together.
“Sarah, go wait in my study. I
