Page 25 of Don't Brake My Heart
‘Neither, actually,’ I grated out. ‘Not that you’ll believe me.’
‘You’ve got enough cheek for a second arse! Given the way you’re behaving, there’s good reason why I won’t believe you.’
The heat in my face was betraying me. ‘I’m not sleeping with her and I never have.’ And given everything that had happened in September, I was fairly certain I never would.
Dad took a long look at me, even putting his spoon down for a moment. Then he released a deep sigh. ‘You’d better keep it that way. PowerFuel is shaping up to be one of our major sponsors next year and you getting involved withanyoneon their payroll is… Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I don’t want to think about it.’
As he rubbed a hand over his weathered face, I wondered when he’d started to actually look a little older. ‘The Irish Bullet’ Tony Gallagher was ageless. He’d been a grizzled, wrinkled 30-year-old when he’d married Mum and 28 years later he was only slightly more grizzled – except when the haggard expression crossed his features as it was doing now. It was the expression that meant he was thinking about the money hustle again.
‘You don’t have anything to worry about, Dad.’ She was way too classy – intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful,soft.
‘Good, ’cos you should only have one thing on your mind: winning. And that’s a nice girl – not the kind you toy with.’
Gee, thanks, Dad. He was waiting for me to reply, expecting me to assure him my head was in the game and I was like him: no life outside the sport. Instead, I met his gaze and drawled, ‘She’s safe. I like big tits, you know.’
Dad cleared his throat. ‘Ah, hmm.’ He was looking over my shoulder and, with a zap of misgiving, I turned to see what had grabbed his attention.
Well, shit.
Leesa stood behind me, a tablet tucked against her chest – obscuring those tiny breasts that were unfortunately – for me – every bit as beautiful as a big set. Her hair was in a loose ponytail today, twirls everywhere. I couldn’t tell what she thought of what she must have overheard. Her chin was up and all I could think of was that maybe shewasn’tsafe with me when her throat looked so smooth.
‘May I join you?’ she asked Dad, not looking at me.
‘O’ course, child.’ Forty years Dad had been out of Ireland and usually he sounded more Australian than Crocodile Dundee, but he was still Irish enough to call a grown woman ‘child’ – and get away with it.
‘I can show you our ideas now, if you have time?’
Taking the seat side-on to both of us, she tapped a few times on the tablet and a branded visual appeared. I was distracted with the hint of something sweet from her shampoo – raspberries? There was a herbal note I couldn’t identify and the combination suited her: sweet and complex.
‘Our research indicated the most successful social-media content from last year’s Tour was humorous. You know, funny statements about daily life with pictures of cyclists or unrelated film footage cut together with an amusing moment with fans – stuff like that.’
‘Finally, something Colin might be perfect for!’
I gave Dad a doubtful glance. He was a little too enthusiastic.
‘My thoughts exactly,’ Leesa beamed. ‘And given the placement of the branding and Colin’s, uh, assets, the specific focus of our campaign will be…’
She swiped to the next slide and I inhaled a piece of waffle on my gasp. Even when I proceeded to hack up bits of fluffy batter with my hand over my mouth, she pointedly ignored me, turning the tablet in Dad’s direction so I had to stretch to see it – to see the action shot of me on the bike wearingonlymy shorts.
‘Bike bro memes,’ she announced, her voice smooth. Zooming casually with two fingers, right over my butt, she enlarged the photo of me on the screen. I was out of the saddle and peering over my shoulder, which placed my arse up and fully visible, from cheek to crack, glutes covered in shiny blue Lycra, the padding of my shorts with its awkward genital seams clearly visible and no pantyline because we freeball under those fuckers.
But it was the words at the top that had made me choke. In playful white lettering it said,All guys like the same thing: b_ _ _s.
‘Are you…?’
‘Very serious. Why, is there a problem?’ she answered me with a smile, swiping to the next picture, where the word was filled in as ‘bikes’.
She zoomed in again, a smile playing on her lips. ‘Here, where the PowerFuel logo is,’ she began, brushing her fingertip just above my arse – in the picture! Although I swore I could almost feel it. ‘This grabs attention and then the joke reels them in. I’ve mocked up a few more.’
When she said ‘grabs’, I was sure she knew it made firecrackers go off in my head.
‘What’s this, then?’
I hadn’t noticed Derek approaching. He leaned over Leesa’s shoulder – far too close, in my opinion – and peered at the screen, swiping back and forth.
‘I can think of a few more options – especially for Colin!’
‘Oh, I did more,’ Leesa said, gifting Derek a bright smile.
