Page 10 of The Wing
“Yeah, get some of those. Or I think stone gardens are a thing?”
I park the car in front of my house and find Hemi staring at me with a tiny smile on his face and a weird look in his eyes I can’t decipher. “What?”
“Nothing. I just hadn’t thought of that before. I’ll have to look into it.”
“Good. Now, let’s head inside so you can change out of shorts”—I shoot him a stern look—“and get settled.”
We grab his stuff from the car, and I unlock the front door. We enter the hallway, and Hemi slips his shoes off before following me to the lounge where I flick the heating on so he doesn’t get cold.
“Welcome to the bungalow. One story, two bedrooms and an office over there, and lounge and kitchen.” I gesture to the right.
“What’s that for?”
I turn to see what he means and cringe when I find him focused on the large wheelie whiteboard in the lounge by the windows. “Um, nothing.” I hurry to the whiteboard and flip it so he can’t see what’s written on it and drag it past him, facing it against the hallway wall to put back in my office after I’ve shown him around.
“Nothing?”
“Just some work stuff. I’m a writer,” I say, hoping he hadn’t seen anything on the board. If my agent and publisher found out someone read the plot of the book before it’s even drafted, they’d flip. Or at least they would if they found out it was someone I barely know. I’m assuming I can trust him, but I usually keep everything quiet about what I’m writing. It would suck if someone spoiled the book, or wrote my idea faster than me, or sold my idea to someone else. Not that Hemi would, but I don’t want to take any chances with my career. I earn a lot now, but it was a long road to feel financially stable.
Hemi’s eyes light up, and he tilts his head. “I didn’t know you were a writer. What do you write?”
I scratch my cheek. “Fantasy mostly.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. Under your name or something else.”
I shake my head. “A pseudonym.”
“I wonder if I’ve read anything by you. I read a lot when we travel and during the off-season.”
“Maybe. Let me show you around,” I say abruptly. It’s not that I don’t want Hemi to know what I write. It’s just weird having someone in my home and interested in my writing. I still can’t believe I write for a living, let alone one of our rugby players might have read my books. And liked them.
Hemi follows me to the guest room, and I leave him to unpack and get comfortable while I roll the whiteboard to my office and shut the door firmly.
Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to be working much this week.
CHAPTER FOUR
Hemi
I shut the door behind me quietly so I don’t disturb Liam and breathe a sigh of relief now that I’m in my space, well, my space for the week.
Daisy neglected to tell me her friend is one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. Slightly shorter than me, bright blue eyes, super pale skin that looks whiter because of the lack of freckles, and red hair with the slightest curl to hang on his forehead. I’ll never admit it to her, but I’m feeling slightly betrayed. How am I supposed to relax when I’m living in his house for the next ten days? And whatever he writes is clearly doing him well. A small house in comparison to the mansions in Wanaka, but each room is painted a different colour that is warm and cosy, and it’s in fuckingWanaka, a very expensive place to buy a house. I sit on the bed cautiously, decorated in various light blue tones with a splash of cream, and bite the inside of my cheek.
This room is painted eggshell blue—Mum should be proud I recognise the colour. Each room is decorated with qualitypieces, even I can recognise that, and an eye for detail I’ve never had, much to Mum’s despair. You can tell he put a lot of thought and love into each space. It’s oddly comforting and reminds me of the house I grew up in.
“I really hope Daisy was right and he doesn’t mind me being here,” I mutter and shift to lean against the pillows. I could always hide in my room for the week. Not sure that would help whatever is going on in my head though, and strangely, I hate the idea of Liam seeing me sulk all week. I feel woefully unprepared and slightly regret my decision, so hastily agreeing to Daisy’s plan.
I didn’t anticipate feeling inadequate in front of her friend. Not because he’s attractive—when he appeared in the airport as I started getting stressed, I wanted to kiss him in relief, and then for other reasons—but because I think I’d feel inadequate in front of anyone at the moment. Which is probably why I was given the time off, because playing rugby in front of thousands of people when you don’t feel confident doesn’t exactly equal a good game. I didn’t realise how far it went. Liam has no connection to me or the team, so I thought it would be a good place to escape to. But he watches the team and is close with Daisy, and now I feel like I’m being watched or judged or something. Which I know I’m not because Liam clearly has a lot going on with the huge whiteboard in the lounge and not everything is about me.
I need to get out of my head. For a different reason now. Liam’s blue eyes flash in my head, and I shake myself and grab my phone to open the message Charlie sent me and ignore the message from Suli telling me to get some rest.
She wants to meet for lunch tomorrow. I wince. In my haste to escape and fix everything, I forgot to tell her I’m not spending my time off in Auckland. Or deliberately didn’t tell her so she wouldn’t talk me out of it like I nearly did myself. I shoot hera text saying I’m not in Auckland and wait for the phone call I know will come as soon as she reads it. While I wait, I send a quick message to Mum but decide to tell her I’m on holiday rather than mandatory leave. She doesn’t keep up with sports news so she won’t find out I’m lying. Until Charlie tells her.
I barely manage to send the text and rub my tired eyes before my phone vibrates with an incoming call.
“Sister,” I answer.
“Brother. What the fuck do you mean you aren’t in Auckland!” she demands. “Where are you?”
