SWNOVELS The Red Zone: Chapter 21
“GO AWAY.” Mae’s muffled voice sounded from the other side of the door. Deliberately ignoring her, I rattled the doorknob.
“Are you crying?” I wriggled the doorknob once again, but it wouldn’t budge. Fuck. What kind of utility closet locked from the inside, anyhow? “Open the door.”
“I’m not crying.” I heard a faint sniffle through her broken words. Man, she was a horrible liar. Wiggling the thing again, I let out a stream of expletives when it still didn’t move.
“Yes, you are. Now open the door for me.”
“No. You’ll just make fun of me.”
Her words were like a sucker punch straight to the heart.
That’s what she thought? Instead of assuming that I’d want to help her through whatever was going on, I’d barge in there and make some sort of joke to hurt her even more?
Fuck.
Until this point, there weren’t many things I’d regretted about Mae and I’s previously deranged relationship. Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I’ve been a damn saint—there were more than a handful of things I’d said over the years that I wished I could take back—but at this moment, I wanted nothing more than to reverse it all. Go back to the beginning and start over with her on a clean slate.
Do I think it would’ve completely prevented us from despising each other? Not a chance.
However, I knew that starting over clean wasn’t possible. Which meant I had to do everything in my power to show her that we were done with these insulting remarks toward each other.
We could joke. Fuck, we could even argue until we were blue in the face. But there was too much at stake to risk losing her—the possibility of us—to continue on with our hostile jabs.
“Fuck.” I cursed under my breath, taking a step back to run my hands through my hair as I sized-up the door, contemplating my chances of breaking it down without injuring myself.
I felt like a failure.
Like I’d let her down once again, and it tore at my heartstrings. Not only that, but it unleashed an overwhelming desire to prove her wrong—to show her that I could be the exact opposite of how she thought I’d act in this moment. Not because I wanted to win some intangible achievement I’d created in my head, but because I wanted her to see that I wasn’t the bad guy anymore.
I’d spend the rest of my days reversing her perception of me if that’s what it took.
“Open the damn door, Mae, or I’ll break it down myself.”
The lock on the door sounded, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what I found when I whipped it open.
The most stunning girl in the world with her face in her palms. My fucking heart couldn’t take seeing her like this.
“Come here.” Before I had time to think, the door to the small room slammed behind me, drowning out the outside noise as I dropped to the floor and gathered her into my arms, pulling her snuggly against my chest.
To my surprise, she wrapped her arms tightly around me so firmly that it almost knocked me over. A long while passed as she sobbed against my chest while I stroked her hair. I could feel the wetness from her tears soaking through my suit, but I couldn’t have cared less. I’d walk out onto that runway naked if it helped her feel better.
As she sobbed, in my arms, I felt helpless.
Like nothing I could’ve said or done would have been enough.
“Baby, tell me what’s wrong? Talk to me.”
“He’s—he’s here…” she managed through shaky breaths, tightening her grip on the back of my shirt. “And I feel like I can’t breathe.”
I tipped her head up to look at me. “I need you to breathe with me, okay?”
She gave me a weak nod, pulling in a breath at the same time I inhaled, and pushing one out of her nose when I exhaled. We did that for a few rounds, until she was noticeably relaxing. Her shoulders were no longer tense and her breath had returned to a normal pace.
“Who’s ‘he’?” Irritability dripped in my words. I couldn’t take it any longer. My blood turned to a boil as the thought of an ex of hers being here flickered through my mind.
Hell, it didn’t even have to be an ex. A crazed fan? Some fucking weirdo from her Socialgram direct messages who refused to leave her alone?
Either way, I didn’t give a fuck who ‘he’ was because ‘he’ was going to be on the receiving end of my wrath two seconds after his name spilled out of her mouth.
Anyone who was asshole enough to make a woman hide in a closet with tears streaming down her cheeks in fear would quickly become public enemy number one in my book.
“Gordon Sandoval.” Her voice broke halfway through croaking out his name. “He—he’s sitting on the front row in a paisley suit.”
“I’m going to kill him.” I broke apart from her body to stand, and pushed off the ground, headed straight toward the door.
“No, no…” She tugged firmly against the hem on the back of my pants. “Please don’t leave me.”
The blatant fear in her eyes sent a new ripple of anger toward this guy coursing through my veins. But the fresh tears that spilled down her cheeks were what kept me locked in place.
How was I supposed to say no to her?
“I’m right here, baby,” I whispered, pulling her firmly to my chest once again.
“I can’t go out there until he’s gone.”
“I’ll handle it.”
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and quickly thumbed out a group text to Abel and Scarlett.
OCTOBER
Gordon Sandoval. Front row. Paisley Suit. Abel, can you take care of him for me?
SCARLETT
Holy shit. Holy shit!
Where’s Mae?
I’ve got her.
A couple minutes passed without a sound, until I heard the muffled sound of gas on the opposite side of the door. Immediately followed by a thunderous thwack of a fist connecting with a jaw. In the years I’d been playing competitive sports, I’d grown to know that sound well.
A few seconds later my phone buzzed.
ABEL
Consider it fucking resolved.
A pent-up breath expelled from my lungs as I rubbed the back of Mae’s hair. “He’s gone.”
The sigh that expelled from her lungs was so substantial it took her a handful of deep breaths to regulate her breathing again.
Abel might not have been my favorite dude in the world, but him helping me out right there— more importantly, running to Mae‘s aid without hesitation—made me rethink my preconceived notions about him.
“Why are you being so nice? I thought you didn’t like me.”
“You’ve said that before, and I’m going to give you the same answer I gave you a few weeks ago… that’s the least of my concerns right now.” Her face softened as she gave me a weak smile before placing her head on my chest and melting into me with a sigh. “Now, are you going to tell me who Gordon Sandoval is, or am I going to have to go get answers out of him myself?”
“He used to be my boss,” she started, her voice barely above a whisper. Before she continued, she sucked in a measured breath and pushed it out, almost like she needed to gather strength in order to finish. “Until I found out he and some of the photographers were stealing money from some of the underaged girls he represented and using the money to fund some kind of child exploitation scheme.”
“Were you ever…”
“Did he steal from me? Yes. But I was an adult by the time I realized it. Thankfully, I never got caught up in any of the other dirty antics he involved himself in. I was careful. Made sure he had nothing on me from when I was underage, before I spoke out. I don’t know… I just couldn’t sit around and stay silent.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” I smarted-off. “Putting that spirited attitude to good use.”
That line won me a faint laugh, and a small smile that sounded like music to my damn ears.
“Yeah, I thought so too. But when I went to the press about it, he found a way to exile me from the industry, and suddenly all of the brands and companies that I had been working with for years had found loopholes to nullify our contracts.”
“So, you came up with your own company in retaliation…” The pieces were all starting to fall together.
“Something like that.” She nodded sheepishly. “Except for the part where Gordon has been trying to blackmail me and continues to drag my name through the mud, hoping I’ll dissolve the company.”
“Damn it, Mae…” I released a breath, poking my tongue into the side of my cheek. This guy was beyond lucky Abel knocked him out with one clean hit, because I wouldn’t have been as pleasant. “Why didn’t you let me have my way with him?”
“You don’t have to do that you know… stick up for me, or whatever.”
“You should know me well enough by now to know that I don’t do anything unless I want to do it.”
She gave me a weak smile before resting her head against my pecs again. “You’d really do that for me?”
“There’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do for you,” I muttered in a low voice.
We stayed like that for a few minutes, her head on my chest while I stroked her hair.
With a big sigh from her, she hopped up to her feet, and I followed suit. We stood face to face as I wiped the black smudge marks out from under her eyes with my thumbs, before her face in my hands. As much as I wouldn’t mind staying locked in this closet with her all night, she had a show to put on and money to raise.
Mae drew back her shoulders and puffed out her chest. “I can do this,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I’ll be around if you need me.”
This time, she was the one who reached for my hips, drawing me in closer as she leaned in. Her lips crashed against mine sending passion and desire inching through my veins.
The handle of the door rattled behind me and Scarlett’s voice piped up as the door whipped open. “Mae, are you in there? They need you—’
I broke apart from Mae’s lips and the two of us turned our faces to see a wide-eyed Scarlett staring back at us. Ever so slowly, her smile broadened in approval.
She grabbed Mae’s wrist and tugged her out of the closet, whispering loudly as the door began to close behind them. “We’re so going to talk about that later.”
Just before the door slammed shut, and I was left alone in the closet by myself, Mae turned over her shoulder mouthing a “thank you” with a hint of a smile.
Standing in the tiny room alone, I realized I knew two things:
Life changes fast.
I was a goner.