The Other Side

Andy didn’t know about her secret crush on his rival and it was probably a good thing that he didn’t; he would just go off on one of his rages again.

She was sure he had an agenda. Considering their current rivalry, Mark would be trying to find something to psyche Andy out. And she was the obvious choice. Seeing Mark talking to her would anger Andy and possibly put him off his game.

And they would be having a massive argument later.

But Charli wasn’t one to be rude, even to her secret crush. She shrugged and nodded at the chair beside her.

“No problem.”

“Thank you.” Mark sat down and grinned as he held out a hand. “I’m Mark Hildenstern.”

Charli didn’t trust herself to touch him. Her hands were tingling from the closeness as it was. She kept her hands firmly around her coffee cup.

“I know who you are.” She said quietly.

“Usually when I introduce myself that means the other person does the same.”

He was right. Charli gave him a small smile, her stomach feeling like she was housing butterflies.

“Charli Fraser. I’m Andy Henson’s girlfriend.”

“I know.” Mark raised his eyebrows. “Does that mean I’m not allowed to talk to you?”

“It means I’m off-limits.”

“Still means we can talk. I won’t flirt with you, I promise.”

Charli snorted.

“Sure you won’t.”

She wasn’t that naive. Mark wouldn’t be coming over to talk to her randomly, not when they hadn’t met before. He was sitting with her for another reason and that reason was to make Andy insecure.

Not that it would take much. Andy was insecure and paranoid already. That was his reason for cheating on her so much – because he thought she cheated on him.

And Charli was getting sick of it.

“You and Andy been together long?” Mark asked.

He was sitting a little closer than before, his knee nearly touching her thigh. Charli swallowed and covered up her nerves by sipping her coffee.

“Long enough.” She squeaked. She coughed and tried again. “Since high school.”

“Lucky you.”

Charli glared at him.

“Was that meant to mean something?” She demanded.

“Not really. I’ve never had a long-term relationship beyond six months.” Mark shrugged. “Could never find someone I wanted to settle down with or someone who could keep up with my hectic schedule.”

Charli knew the feeling. Even after all this time with Andy she was still finding it hard to accept that she would come second to tennis. It was starting to wear on her commitment. But she wasn’t about to tell that to Mark; that was giving information to the enemy. She wasn’t into using underhanded tactics to put another player off their game; Andy’s agent may be willing to train Andy to do that but she wasn’t.

“Communication works.” She said coolly. “Most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Mark grunted with a grin. “That’s not comforting.”

Charli wasn’t about to air her dirty laundry to this man. She squared her shoulders.

“We’ve been together since we were fifteen. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’ve stayed together.”

They had had more downs than ups and they were on a downer right now. But Mark didn’t need to know that.

“I admire that.” Mark sounded genuine when he said that. “Loyal women are hard to come by.”

“Sounds like you don’t come across them much.”

“I do.” Mark shrugged. “I’m just too much of an asshole to actually stay.”

“Aren’t we all?” Charli grinned. “I’m a bi*ch as well. I can make people’s lives hell if they piss me off.”

“I don’t doubt that.”

They stared at each other, the air seeming to get thicker around them. Charli knew she shouldn’t be encouraging him and she should send him on his way but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. There was something about Mark that drew her to him. Andy had had that pull when they first met but it had worn off a long time ago; Charli had to admit that things had worn thin between them lately.

They were certainly heading for trouble if things carried on the way they were. And with a sh*t-stirrer like Kimberly Cole hanging around, they were going to get there a lot quicker than Charli was prepared to go.

“Charli.”

Charli snapped her head around. Andy had left the court with his coach, carrying his jacket and racket bag. He hadn’t come onto the porch but Charli could see his angry glare at Mark’s back. Mark didn’t turn around, still staring at Charli with a thoughtful expression that had Charli wanting to shift in her seat.

Shaking off her daze, Charli picked up her purse and stood, nodding stiffly at Mark.

“Nice talking to you, Mr Hildenstern.”

She didn’t wait to hear his answer, hurrying off to join Andy, who looked like a volcano about to erupt.

This wasn’t going to be a good day.

*****

“Andy?” Charli leaned forward and slid her hand across the table. “Andy.”

“One second, Charli.” Andy didn’t bother to look up as he typed furiously at his phone. “I need to send this off.”

Charli could feel the frustration building. They had been in the restaurant an hour and were halfway through their main course but Andy had barely touched his dinner, choosing to send text after text, his cell phone constantly buzzing, or talking to Kimberly, who sat a little too close beside him in the booth. The other woman kept sneaking smug glances at Charli, as if she knew she was spoiling their evening and was enjoying it.

Charli glared back at her. Kimberly had come into Andy’s life weeks before Andy graduated from university. She had done something to improve Andy’s tennis but she was also the driving force in Andy’s behavior. It was shortly after the problems started. Charli had tried to leave several times but Andy had managed to get her to stay. Even after she found provocative texts and explicit pictures from other women, which Andy said were just enamored fans.