Page 65 of Between Commitment and Betrayal
“Were you just jogging down Oceanside Street with Declan Hardy trailing you?” A young client with blonde hair and excited hazel eyes asked me.
“I’m sorry?”
She pulled up her phone and turned it to me. “Is this you? Are you Everly Belafonte?”
The paparazzi worked fast. So fast, I saw in real time how the views climbed for the video. Someone had filmed us. And with his fame, I knew it was only a matter of time.
That hour standing at the front desk lasted way longer than normal. With me wearing the same outfit as in the video being viewed byeveryone, people recognized me over and over.
Once out from behind the desk, I kept my workouts moving. I held two beginner yoga classes and the dozens of men and women were respectful to one another as they helped each other reach perfect poses and hold them. Learning to breathe, control movement, and center yourself had benefits for everyone, especially me that day.
“Great class today,” One guy said on his way out as he dropped a few pop tabs into the bin near the door. “I’m happy to hear the charity this year is for the schools throughout Florida.”
Glancing at the sign near the pop tabs, I scanned it to see there would be a gala in a few months and sighed, knowing Declan had probably made that happen.
How could I be mad at him when he was like this? Removing gardenias, actually following me to work because he was concerned about my safety, setting up a freaking charity going for the kids in town?
I reminded myself that this was his home, his life, all of his friends that he had to answer to about me being here. After the year was up, I could move. He couldn’t really. His fame would follow him everywhere.
I grabbed a towel to brush over my arms just as I saw Wes walking toward my studio. He cracked his knuckles and nodded my way. “How’s living with the NFL’s golden boy?”
I’d been avoiding his texts and figured sooner or later he’d confront me about it. I leaned against the doorframe. “I’m not living with him. Just in his guesthouse. You know that.”
“I know.” He pulled at his hair a bit. “Just saw that video of you two.”
I glanced at my duffel where I knew my phone was probably receiving texts and calls. “Who knew a video could spread like fire in a dry forest here. Anyway, I’m trying not to let it get to me too much.”
“You’re something special, Evie. The fact that you’re irritated about going viral rather than excited makes you a gem of a woman, seriously.” Wes looked more intrigued with me than he ever had before. Like I was an exotic bird to him all of a sudden.
“I don’t enjoy attention.” I shrugged.
“I love that about you,” Wes said, then stepped close. “I miss you.” He couldn’t possibly. We’d only been out a handful of times, and since I’d moved into Declan’s we’d fizzled. Our interactions were limited to conversations at the gym, he’d extended no invitations and I’d been glad for it. “Haven’t been able to get you to come to my place or even a text back for a while. We haven’t done much for almost two months.”
“It’s been busy and…a lotwith Carl passing.” I tossed out the excuse easily. The hard part was I hadn’t even missed him. He wasn’t a bad guy, just not the guy for me. Not even casually. I didn’t get butterflies or feel sparks or any sort of emotion toward him at all.
“Can we do dinner tonight?”
“I didn’t bring a change of clothes or anything…” Was that enough of a reason?
“We’ll go somewhere low-key.”
Po’s weights clanked behind us and he barreled up right as our watches went off. “Stop hogging, Evie, Wes. I’ve got a one-on-one with her where I need to discuss all the ins and outs of this video.”
“Oh God.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and Po’s broad smile whipped across his face immediately as he pulled me in for a hug.
“Kidding, woman. You know I don’t care about that shit.” That was probably true. Everyone had an ego here and didn’t need to give attention to those who were destined to be a one-minute wonder online.
“We can do a small yoga class if that will help with stretching,” I suggested to Po.
He nodded with a smile on his face. “Sure it will help you too. Looks like you need an outlet at this point. Hot yoga?”
“You want to do it or are you doing it for me?” I asked. “I think you could actually use hot yoga to loosen the muscles after playing hockey.”
“Whatever helps that fucker’s balance.” Noah walked up and shoved him, but Po didn’t move a muscle.
He lifted a brow. “We should probably let Noah and Wes join considering Noah’s dumb ass can’t even bend over without falling. Didn’t you fall trying to hit the puck last night?”
Although he took it in stride, I saw how Noah’s neck tensed, how his stance stiffened up a little. They all cared about their sport and didn’t want to lose. “Fuck off. You know it’s because I took Johnny’s hit.”
