Page 9 of Twisted Ruck

I stepped into the storage room and stood to the side as he closed the door behind us. "Well?" I placed my hands on my hips.

"I'm very well," he said, his smug mask not slipping. "And you're very welcome. I assume Doctor Stuart hired you?"

"Yes, he did," I said carefully.

I thought that would piss him off, but if anything, he seemed pleased. Smugly so. "Which brings me back to ‘what did you do’?"

"I think we were at me asking you what you thought you knew." He leaned against the door and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Did you have anything to do with Bruce Fergus' death?" I asked bluntly.

"Define 'anything,'" he said evasively.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Did. You. Kill. Bruce. Fergus?"

"I might have," he said. Still completely unperturbed.

"Why?" I demanded. "Last night you said you didn't want me working here. I got the impression you'd do anything to make sure that didn't happen."

He shrugged one shoulder. "I had a change of heart. I thought about it for a while and realised you were right. You being a stripper in a past life isn't a big deal. It's not a dealbreaker. I want you and I want youhere."

"So why—" I shook my head. "How would killing him have achieved that?" I tried, but none of this was making sense.

"He wasn't going to hire you," Atlas said. "I went to talk to him. To ask what his plans were. He said you didn't have enough experience. Not as a doctor."

"What does that mean?" My heart sank a little.

"It means someone told him what you used to do, and he decided it wasn't in the team's best interest to put you in aposition here. I suggested he change his mind. He declined." His eyes flashed with a brief moment of fury.

"So you did… What? I know he wasn't beaten to death." That wouldn't have gone unnoticed by the police.

"I was nice enough to bring him a beer when I dropped by," Atlas said. "We drank while we had a nice chat. When it became obvious he wasn't going to listen to reason, I added something to his."

"You poisoned him," I said. I closed my eyes, trying to get my head around that. "You poisoned him to make sure I got the job here."

"Yep," Atlas said. "And to make sure he didn't share what he knew with anyone else."

"Did he say how he knew?" I asked. My pulse raced faster. Who was out there telling people about my past? And why?

"We didn't quite get to that point," Atlas admitted. "He started feeling unwell and headed off to bed. I went back to my place and stayed there until I got the message from Coach this morning."

"You didn't go to Hazards." After the concert, two fans approached him and invited him to the bar there. After he walked away from me, I'd assumed he followed them there. The idea of him touching those women made me want to slip something intotheirdrinks.

Was this how Jay felt when Frost kissed Atlas? I assumed so.

"I thought about it," he said. "Then I realised something." He pushed himself off the door and stepped closer to me. "It's you I want. Not a quick fuck with some random chicks."

He ran the pad of his thumb down my cheek. Barely touching. Just enough to feel the calluses on his skin.

"What about Jay?" I asked softly. "I know he cares about you."

"I care about him." Atlas' hand dropped to my shoulder. "In a perfect world, I'd be with both of you."

"How does he feel about that?" Better we have this conversation now, rather than destroying his friendship with the scrum-half.

"I dunno." Atlas half-closed his eyes. "We haven't talked about it. It's not an easy thing to talk about, you know? What do I say? 'I know you barely know her, but let's all get involved?' You two might hate each other."

"You're right, it's not easy," I agreed. "It's already difficult with you and Storm always at each other's throats. Throw Jay into that and it's rucking messy."

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