Chapter 15
E mmeline
Christmas approached fast, bringing the end of my and Malachi’s mandatory time together. Though he didn’t act like anything was going to change, I’d become entirely chicken and couldn’t ask.
I’d had the formal appointment interview for Dr Manley’s consultancy and a date to start the new position in January. A replacement had been found for my substantive post, so I’d been awarded another ten days off to spend with Malachi—a fact I hadn’t told him yet. Just in case I needed the days to mope at home alone.
For the rest of the time, we’d fallen into a life-as-usual kind of deal.
A joyful time together.
I’d gone from feeling like I was on holiday to being more at home than in my own place. We went food shopping together, and I loaded the trolley with things we needed. No takeaways in sight. Malachi stocked the bathroom with all the products I used in a remarkable display of how well he noticed me. More of my clothes migrated over, and my framed pictures, too. They graced his shelf next to those of his kids, like we were a happy family.
We talked to his parents over video call—they ran a pub called the Wheatsheaf, which explained the tattoo on his arm—and both were so sweet. His girls stayed another weekend, and Petra and I discovered a shared love of singing competitions, something I rarely got to watch with any regularity but binged with her. I’d yet to crack the hard shell of her sister, but Maisie was polite enough.
I hoped in time she’d like me. I hoped for a lot of things beyond reasonable.
It was perfect, all except for one strange incident at the house.
One night, an alarm woke us in the small hours. Malachi had leapt from bed and checked the cameras, then had me lock myself in while he investigated. A security team turned up in what felt like no time at all, but between their and Malachi’s hunt, nothing was discovered. A shadow on a camera was inconclusive. The security team dismissed it as an animal, but I knew this didn’t reassure Malachi. For days after, he was ultra-cautious, especially with me.
The whole time, I felt the thirty-day time limit creeping in like a spectre.
Tonight was the Christmas party with my old team, and I’d asked Malachi to come so I could introduce him around. The stares of amazement on the faces of my colleagues were something I’d never forget. The women smirked at me for my catch, and the men ogled him and the way his suit fitted those thick muscles.
It almost made up for the fact that Annie had called off our dinner altogether, citing the fact that her husband had to work unexpectedly. I assumed that he was disgruntled on behalf of Ian who Malachi had told off. It hurt that she’d cut me. I hadn’t yet got the nerve up to tackle her about it.
At the end of the Christmas meal, Malachi took out his phone and frowned at the lit screen. “It’s Maisie,” he said over the din of a large number of loud doctors packed into a small space.
His daughter always messaged, so a call was unusual.
“Pick up,” I said.
“I won’t be able to hear in here and I don’t like leaving you.”
“I won’t budge from the table. Go talk to your girl.”
He kissed my forehead and stepped outside.
When he returned, his scowl had deepened. “She’s at my gym. I said I’d train with her there tomorrow and teach her a specific knockout move, but she’s got the day wrong. Bill is looking after her but…”
“You want to go to her. It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
“I’m not going to leave you here.”
I took his hand. “We’re only twenty minutes from the gym. You go, and I’ll get a taxi when the meal’s finished. There are still people I want to talk to.”
“I know. I’d never make you leave.”
He was visibly so torn.
I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m not going to disappear into thin air just because you’ve taken your eyes off me for a minute. We’re allowed to be apart for four hours. It’ll barely be two until I’m there.”
He took a breath, urgency adding to his visible emotions. “I want to extend our time. Past the point when you return to work. I don’t want you to leave me.”
My heart ached. Across the table, a woman from paediatrics called my name. Beyond her were another two consultants who would be my peers. I wanted time to say hi to them all.
Quickly, I kissed Malachi. “Go. We’ll talk more later.”
He swore but lifted from the table, kissed me again, then said goodbye to the people I’d introduced him to. The moment he was gone, all eyes were on me.
“The surgeon and the MMA fighter. How on earth did that come about?” the paediatrics doctor asked, wide-eyed and flush-cheeked.
Multiple heads swung around in interest at my answer.
There was no way I was giving them the real story.
A few long conversations later, I was done and waiting for my taxi. The driver Malachi sent picked me up, and we set out across the city.
I’d had a couple of glasses of champagne after dinner, but I rarely drank for good reason. It made me emotional.
The further we got from my old life with my hospital team, the more wobbly I felt. That was the life I knew. One of hard work and dedication with little outside of it. Over the course of almost a month, I’d changed beyond recognition, at least to myself. I needed a balancing view.
I pulled my phone from my clutch and dialled Annie.
My best friend, my closest friend for years, who’d been at my side through the loss of my aunt and through all the struggles of university, picked up. “Oh, hello, Emmeline.”
“I wanted to talk to you. First, to apologise for changing our dinner plans, but also to tell you what’s going on with me. About Malachi.”
“The fighter. Right.”
She’d read my messages then. Just hadn’t responded outside of cancelling the dinner altogether.
I launched into an explanation of the game, briefly, and expansively on how incredible a time I was having with Malachi. I ended it with, “I want you to meet him. He’s important to me.”
A long pause followed. When Annie spoke, her tone was loaded with disbelief. “You met this man in a violent game where he got to beat down other men in order to claim you. Do you get how messed up that sounds? I’m so sad that you chose to go there.”
“The game was rough, but look at what we’ve found.”
She snorted. “I know you’ve been together for almost a month, but look at how it started. It was entirely random that he picked you. He could’ve caught any of the girls in there. I hate to break it to you, but you aren’t special to him. He got a kick out of besting his competitors. That’s all.”
“How can you say that? You don’t even know him. We connected?—”
“You’re in denial. These few weeks, no doubt filled with sex and a break from your ridiculously hard job, are a honeymoon period. It isn’t real. Wake up, Emmeline. This can’t end well. It won’t. What do you even really know about this man? Nothing that he hasn’t told you himself, which is a very shallow view. I offered you a sensible, hardworking man who would’ve made good husband material.”
My hand tensed into a fist around the phone.
“Stop,” I breathed.
She didn’t. “No. You need to hear this. You chose wrong, and it’s going to come back and hurt you. People are gossiping. They wonder how the hell you hooked up with this guy.”
“Who is gossiping, exactly?”
She blithely ignored the question. “What happens when they find out? You can kiss goodbye to your consultancy dreams. The care board won’t accept ‘but I love him’ as a reason for you to be cosying up to a violent thug. Quit it now while you can.”
“It? My relationship? Can you even hear yourself? That’s enough. You’ve had your say. I’m going to hang up now for the sake of our friendship.”
My heart pounded, but I stabbed the screen to end the call. Then I stared into the night outside the cab, the driver’s gentle Christmas music almost a mockery of that awful call.
Far worse than Annie’s words was the horrible fact that, with some of her accusations, I’d thought them, too.
Malachi implied he wanted to keep me, or at least extend our terms. Could he really love me? Annie was right—he could’ve caught anyone. I wasn’t special in that respect. What if it was only the effects of the game in play?
No, he cared about me, I was certain.
My heart couldn’t take it. It hurt to consider not being with the huge fighter, and there was only one reason for that. I’d fallen for him for real.
Every day, we said ‘I love you’, and now I truly did. It scared me to my very core. It was real for me, but if it faded for him, I’d be right back to being alone. Friendless, too, with my closest friend so angry at my choices.
We’d reached the gym. The taxi driver dropped me at the side of the road, and I crossed the dark forecourt, fewer cars here than usual.
Shadows stretched to hidden corners.
It was late. Malachi had left the restaurant at seven, and it was past nine now, and no other businesses appeared open on the icy trading estate. I wished I’d had the chance to message him, but the call had taken over my thoughts, and I didn’t want to get my phone out now.
The cab drove away, and I put my head down and trod toward the light above the gym’s door. Something clicked behind me.
Awareness prickled down my spine.
I turned around. “Hello?”
A man lurched from around a wall as if he’d been hiding there. I gasped and put my hand to my chest. From his huge build, he had to be a fighter, though I couldn’t see him well enough to identify him from Malachi’s or the women’s introductions.
Then he lifted his head, revealing something that drove terror through my veins—a black bandanna hiding his face. Almost the same as the contestants had worn during the game.
I scrabbled backwards.
He laughed. “No, Emmeline, you aren’t going anywhere.”