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“Why do you need me? Surely Xavier can go with you.” Man, this woman never wants to give an inch and let her guard down.
“I don’t need you to hold my hand for a scan, Nat. Pretty sure I can do that myself. I’m asking you to come to New York with me and spend a few weeks rehabbing me in private and help me fix the shoulder I hurt carrying you.” I know I didn’t need to add the last part, but I want to get her to New York any way I can.
“You can’t be serious, Jordan! I have a business to run and a life that I can’t just put on hold for you.” Kicking her foot in the dirt, she is panicking. Her guilt at my injury is pulling at her and the absolute fear of spending that much time with me is pushing from the other direction. That leaves her in no-man’s land and she’s not sure how to tackle this problem.
“That’s why I’ve already spoken to Xavier. I asked him first because I knew you would rather eat olives than come with me, and that’s saying a lot.”
“Great, so once again you and my brother are deciding my life for me. It’s like I’m back in high school.” Like every time we get into a heated discussion, Nat starts pacing back and forth in front of me.
“It wasn’t like that. I asked him, but he can’t leave Alesha at the moment with all the wedding plans. He suggested you, not because I injured it carrying you, he doesn’t know that part. But because you can leave for a few weeks easier than he can. He will cover your clients and keep everything running smoothly for you.” She is so angry that she wasn’t part of the initial discussion, but my guess is that she isn’t saying anything for fear of losing her temper.
“Say something, Nat.” I know I’m poking the bear, but I have no choice.
“What do you want me to say? Sure, Jordan, I’ll just do as you and my brother have decided. Put my life on hold to stay in a hotel in New York for a few weeks, all because you’re trying to make me feel guilty. Well, good work, because I’ve felt the guilt from the moment I saw you grab that shoulder last weekend.”
I ignore her comment about making her take on guilt and feeling like an asshole for doing it, but I couldn’t think of any other way.
“You won’t be staying in a random hotel, Nat. I would have hoped you thought more of me than that. You will be staying with me in my guest room. I won’t be there a lot of the time, as I have training and games to play. There are also appearances I have booked in. So, you will get the run of the house.”
I feel like a fucking real estate agent trying to sell her my home.
“I won’t have the house to myself. Have you forgotten you are married, idiot? Your wife will be there. Oh, what fun that will be, I’m sure she will love to have the woman you admitted you will leave her for, staying in her house.” And there it is. The biggest fear she has coming to New York. Having to face Sasha.
“Get off your soap box and keep your voice down, Natalie.”
“Oh, it’s Natalie now, is it. I must be pushing the boundaries.”
Stay calm. Don’t react. That’s what she wants.
“No, Nat, you are just driving me crazy, but that is nothing new. Stop worrying about Sasha, she’ll be away on assignment most of the time. She knows about my shoulder and will just be grateful you’re helping me.”
“Great, so I’ll be like the hired help.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Nat. Is that what you want? You want me to hire you and pay you to come to my aid? Maybe this was a mistake. I thought our friendship—and whatever else this shit is that circles us—would be enough for you to be there for me when I’m desperate. Guess I was wrong. Just forget it. Obviously, I don’t mean as much to you as I thought I do.” And I push the final emotional arrow I have left.
I’ve never been one to manipulate, but this is my last shot at trying to get Nat to open up to me. It’ll never happen here, so I need to get her out of her comfort zone and take her to New York.
I hate hurting her even in the slightest, and by the way her body slumps, I know I have hit her hard.
“That’s not fair, Jordan. You know I would jump through hoops for you if needed.”
I hold my arms in a circle to the side of me. “Then this is my hoop. I need you, Nat. I wouldn’t be putting you in this situation if it wasn’t important. Can we just put everything else aside and it be a friend helping a friend? Is that even possible? That we can act like the adults we are. As soon as I have this figured out, you can leave. And I will pay you so it’ll help the business to cover you while you’re gone.”
“You are not paying me,” she mumbles.
That one simple sentence tells me I’ve finally got her.
My heart rate starts to slow and the tension in my body eases. I won’t believe it until she is standing in my penthouse
“We’ll see about that. Now let’s get back to the others. We will have to leave early to give you time to pack. Our jet leaves at six-thirty and we need to get the scan before then too.” I hold out my hand, directing her to start walking. Instead, I’m looking at her standing with her mouth open and eyebrows raised from her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
“Close your mouth, Nat, before I find something to fill it.” Turning and walking away, I can hear her rambling behind me. She can’t see the smile on my face from the initial victory from where she’s still standing, which is probably a good thing.
“Wait, what the hell! Today? I can’t be ready in a few hours! That’s ridiculous. And you can’t say shit like that to me. Friends don’t say that to one another!” I can hear her freaking out behind me with the footsteps getting quicker to catch up to me. I’m tempted to reply, “Who wants to be friends?”
“We do have stores in New York, you know. You can buy anything you forget. Now stop hyperventilating and just enjoy your friends for the next few hours, considering you won’t see them for a few weeks. And remember, you can’t tell them why you are coming with me. Xavier suggested we say that you’re going to do some training with the team physiotherapist to improve your skills. They won’t know any different. Let’s go.” Not giving her any chance to reply, I’m up the stairs in a few strides and give a nod to Xavier to let him know it’s all settled. He smirks at his sister who is still flapping behind me and trying to calm herself enough to have a conversation with Zara.
Not wanting to draw any attention to us, I spend the next few hours circulating with all the Stevenson family. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. They don’t take life too seriously—well, except Grant who is the oldest. He really needs to chill a bit more.
