47. Tristan
FORTY-SEVEN
TRISTAN
Two weeks passed since I left a thousand roses in Haelyn’s office, a hundred for each day I spent without her. I tried my best not to influence her feelings as she said I had, but it was hard as hell not to do so.
I could barely keep myself from touching her, from texting her every night, and from smashing my lips onto hers. The gifts I gave her and my actions somehow erased a bit of that desperate need I had, but now that I stopped doing any of that, I was going crazy.
Was it that bad to influence her? Because then, if I wasn’t doing that, how was she going to know what decision to take? How was she going to know if I was worth it?
My mind was all over the place and that was exactly why I was staring at the white wall while Ryker talked to me on the phone.
“I guess we can go.”
Since Haelyn told me what she thought about my relationship with Ryker, it insignificantly improved. I dropped the ‘what’s wrong with you’ and asked him about how he felt instead. I wasn’t saying that he communicated that kind of stuff to me, but even if I never got a reply, he changed.
“I’ll get the tickets,” I let him know.
Haelyn was good for me. I quit drinking because of her. I stopped being so broody because of her. I was working on my relationship with Ryker because of her. All of those were things I would’ve never done if she wasn’t in my life.
So how could she say I was influencing her when she influenced my whole life for the better?
I hung up the phone and put it in my pants pocket.
“Your brother?” Haelyn asked, glasses on her nose as she scrutinized a file.
She was standing on the floor in a lotus position, a mass of documents and sketches displayed in front of her. Haelyn was watching me with big eyes as she sunk her teeth into the black pen.
I nodded. “We’re going to a football game this weekend,” I said after I joined her.
Haelyn put the pen down, circling something on a paper, but her whole attention was on me. A genuine smile formed on her lips. “I’m glad you’re not fighting anymore.”
“We’re brothers,” I pointed out. “We still fight, but now I’ve got a bit of the inside scoop. Thanks to you.”
“Happy to help.” She blushed, then turned her attention back to the papers.
We’d been here since morning and while it was already two a.m. and I knew both of us were going to be tired when we woke up, I didn’t have the courage to tell her what time it was. If I did, it would have broken the comfortable feeling between us.
So I kept my mouth shut.
She squinted her eyes. “I think we could partner with CarPer as well.”
“The car perfume company?”
“Yes. We could make a personalized limited line and offer one free to those who come to support us doing the race,” she started. “BeeBox, Mech, and PrintDay would also be a great choice if we consider making PR boxes.”
“PR boxes?” I frowned. I knew what they were, but I didn’t think PR boxes could be a thing for car races.
“Yup. I’ve never seen anyone do this and if we get the partnership with Serrari, we’re going to have a high-celebrity list to send those to. We could put some key chains, shirts, mini cars, VIP tickets for the after-party.”
I gave it thought for a moment. At least for all I knew, there wasn’t anything like it in the racing industry and even if it was risky to do something that was never experimented before, it could’ve been exactly what we needed to have a quick rise in the field.
She was right. It was a brilliant idea.
“Write it down, it’s a good idea.”
She smiled like a kid, then took her notebook, adding it on the list that was already two pages full. Haelyn put it down, then lowered herself fully on the floor, breathing harshly.
“I have a good feeling about this. Like really, really good,” she said, smiling at the ceiling. “We came up with so many ideas in two weeks, imagine us five years from now with all of them turning into reality.” She sighed, but she still smiled. “Ugh, I’m impatient.”
I had no idea what to say, so I summed up watching her. She had her legs stretched on the papers, hands under her head with her breasts peeking out through her bra. Haelyn was like a painting that lured you in from a distance and when you got closer, you only found it more alluring.
My breath caught in my throat when my eyes landed on her exposed neck. I imagined kissing it with my lips while we were watching a movie and she had her legs on mine, her head thrown back at my touch. We were both enjoying each other’s warmth and I wasn’t getting enough of her scent.
If she settled her mind on what she wanted from me, we could’ve had that. We could’ve watched movies together, prepared dinner, talked until the morning, and slept in each other’s arms. There were so many things I wanted to do and it hit me that none of it was sexual.
Sure, I wanted her that way, but it wasn’t only about that anymore. I wanted to know if she ate, I wanted to know how she felt, who she was going out with. I wanted to know everything about her so I could protect her.
She got up to her feet, cleaning her hands on her pants. “I think I should go,” Haelyn said, biting the inside of her cheek.
Don ’ t go , was what I wanted to say. “I’ll walk you out,” was what I said.
I knew I was supposed to call her an Uber and I was going to, but deep down I knew I postponed the moment she left. It felt like we were growing colder by day and that wasn’t something I wanted.
She took the professional relationship like a pro. It was like we never had anything and while her acting skills surprised me, they also hurt like a motherfucker.
Haelyn nodded, grabbed her stuff from the floor, and then threw a jacket on her shoulders. We walked out of my office in silence, and then stepped into the elevator.
The doors closed in front of us and we were at proximity again for the first time in weeks. I could feel her erratic and shaky breaths and notice the tremble in her hands.
Did she not want to leave? Was she expecting me to stop her?
As soon as we landed on the first floor, Haelyn marched out of the elevator first. I followed her, my eyes pointed at her shoes.
I didn’t know what to do. Was now the time to break the limits she settled? Why did it feel like if I didn’t do something tonight, I was going to lose her forever?
A squeak of excitement got me out of my thoughts and my head snapped up. The beats of my heart doubled in speed since I couldn’t distinguish the fear and the excitement at first.
But when I saw Haelyn running outside through the doors, I released a relieved breath. “It’s pouring outside!”
I went after her, my feet landing on top of a thin layer of water. Furious raindrops were still cascading from the sky, but my attention was solely focused on Haelyn. She rotated over and over, her face pointed at the dark gray blanket above us, smiling from ear to ear with her eyes closed.
I smiled. She was so full of life despite what happened to her and I wanted that too. I wanted her to teach me how to live.
My hands formed a bowl before I sunk them into a puddle, then splashed the water directly on Haelyn’s arm. She came back to Earth, her mouth opened in shock. She looked down at herself before her eyes landed on me.
“Did you just do that?!” She faked anger.
I frowned, acting clueless. “Do what?”
She laughed sarcastically. “Okay, Mr. Graves. You don’t know who you’re fighting with.”
I raised a brow, expecting her to soak my clothes to get back at me, but when she started splashing water towards me with her feet, I ran as if zombies were behind me.
“Pussy!” she screamed at me, but laughed until her belly hurt. “Stop, I have to get my payback. Stop running, it’s not fair,” she pleaded.
However, I kept running and I assumed she was tired since she didn’t say anything else. But I didn’t back down. I kept going with the corners of my mouth reaching my ears.
“Ouch,” she grunted. “Shit.”
I immediately stopped in my tracks, turning around only to face Haelyn on the ground. I strode to her, a pit forming in my stomach.
“I think I hit my leg,” she told me when I got closer.
I kneeled down, inspecting the right leg. “Where does it hurt?” I asked, looking up at her red cheeks.
“Everywhere,” Haelyn said.
Fuck.
My fingers squeezed above the knee, under it, and at the ankle. She flinched every single time. Maybe she had something broken. I couldn’t know because I wasn’t a fucking doctor.
“We’re going to the hospital,” I told her, then leaned down, secured a hand behind her waist and my head found its way into her neck. I was too preoccupied to make sure she was all all right to acknowledge how close we were.
One of her hands dropped on the ground and just when I was about to scoop her up, she pushed my hand under her arm and between her torso, drenching my face with water.
“I told you to stop.” She laughed.
She just… tricked me.
If her laugh wasn’t so contagious I would’ve tried to get out of her hold, but instead, I laughed with her and swallowed so much of the dirty water it was enough to live without any liquid for the rest of my life.
At one point she let me go, then dropped on her back, her shoulders trembling with laughter. I spat some of the rain from my mouth, my cheeks hurting.
“You are a revengeful one, I see,” I joked, then joined her.
She giggled. “Only with those who deserved it.”
Even if she was laughing, I knew it had a double meaning. I betrayed her trust when we never really got to know each other really well and now she was suggesting she was getting her revenge at me.
Yet she didn’t seem like the type.
I turned my head to her to ask if she was ever going to forgive me, but I spotted a white spot on her lips and without thinking, I brushed it away. She looked at me, her nose brushing mine.
“You had…” I started, but lost my words when her eyes lowered on my lips.
I wasn’t supposed to influence her, but I couldn’t help myself. I snuck my hand behind her ear and when she didn’t protest, I smashed my lips onto hers.