“I came to apologise.” Leilah wrung her hands as she paced Tane’s office, watching his strong chest rise and fall as though unmoved by her agony.
“Well make it quick, I knock off soon.” He twirled a pen in agile fingers, making it dance like a spinning ballerina. His lips quirked up in a smirk.
“I didn’t expect you to enjoy me grovelling.”
Tane rolled his eyes. “Why are you in Te Mutunga Iho, Leilah? So far you’ve upset me and Vaughan and I gave Dante a ride back from the edge of town last night. He didn’t look too happy and I gather he’d visited you, not that he’d tell me why.” He put the pen on his desk with a thud. “There’s a delicate status quo in this town, Leilah. You can’t walk in and behave like it’s Auckland.”
“I’m not trying to!” Leilah stamped her foot. “I just need a friend, Tane.” Her eyes softened. “At the moment, you’re not trying to sleep with me or marry me so it looks like you’re the safest bet.”
“Nice. Thanks!” He looked fed up. “Least eligible friend. Can’t say I’ve been called that before. I’m guessing the vultures are circling around the rich divorcee.”
“Don’t be an idiot. You know what I mean. I got a text from Michael telling me to call the sale off or he’d hurt my daughter.” She gritted her teeth, begging him not to reveal his knowledge as she slumped into the chair opposite.
Tane took the phone from her hand and peered at the message. “That’s not cool. He can’t make threats like that.”
“Well, he did. What can I do about it?”
“You can get a court order to make him stay away from you and her. She’s an adult so she’ll need to request her own.”
Leilah closed her eyes. “The sale went through days ago. He must know that. Why make threats when he knows I can’t change anything?”
“Bluffing maybe.” Tane watched her face. “You sure know how to pick the assholes.”
“Thanks!” Leilah stood up in temper, scraping the chair back. Her shoulders drooped. “I deserved that, I guess.”
“Yeah, you did.” Tane slapped a wad of papers on the desk in front of him. “Statements. Read and sign them. They both relate to Harvey Gilroy.”
Leilah eyed the papers with misery. “I don’t think I want to go through with it, Tane.” She shook her head. “I can’t do this. Give me time to think about it.”
“Tick-tock.” Tane scooped the papers up and dumped them in his in-tray.
Leilah searched his face for friendship, seeing only irritation. “I did something stupid and now it’s come back to bite me.”
“Do tell.” Tane feigned interest, tapping on his keyboard and squinting at emails.
“I can’t say exactly what,” Leilah said, thudding her bottom into the chair opposite. “Especially because it’s you!” Her rattled stamp around Hector’s place after Dante’s departure seemed juvenile in the face of Tane’s nonchalance. Vulnerability was a bitch.
“Why’s that?” Tane asked, his interest rising. “Was it illegal? Do I need to cite you for it?”
Leilah shook her head and then changed the action to a slow nod as realisation dawned across her face like an eclipse. She ran a hand over her eyes. “Yes, it probably was.”
Tane leaned forward in his chair, his eyes wide with the scent of prey. “Should I lock you up?” A low chuckle emanated from his chest as he did a poor impression of a movie psychopath.
Leilah swallowed. “Not that serious.”
“Ah.” Tane looked bored and went back to his emails. He rocked the chair backwards on two legs and Leilah suppressed the urge to reach under the table with her boot and give him a helpful shove onto the back of his head. “We’ve all done that,” he said, the smirk falling from his lips at the horrified look Leilah gave him.
“Done what?” She swallowed and her fingers writhed harder in her lap.
“Well, you were scared to tell me even before you remembered it was illegal,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “So, I’m guessing it’s something you wouldn’t want people to know.” He searched the white ceiling as though for answers and then gave her a stern look. “I’m picking you bumped uglies in a public place. Arrestable offence under indecency law and guaranteed to get you a night in the lock up.” His indifference gave her confidence and Leilah relaxed.
“Dante told you.” Leilah released the breath causing a gridlock in her lungs and slapped her boots up on the edge of Tane’s table. The motor in her chest stopped pumping out blood as though trying to fill her chest cavity and the thud dulled to a steady thrum. Stretching out in her chair she saw the fleeting dart of pain shoot across his eyes.
“Dante?” His voice sounded flat and disbelieving and Leilah’s stomach restarted its sickening dance as she realised her error. “You slept with Dante?”
“I thought you knew. It’s why we argued last night. He was there for me and I was weak and stupid. Now he won’t let it go.” Leilah crossed her feet at the ankles, preferring the flash of annoyance in Tane’s eyes to the devastation of a few seconds ago. “One Tree Hill. We did it in the crater.” The hurt in Tane’s eyes compounded until he managed to shut it off from view but something in Leilah raised its spiteful head and she pushed without understanding why. “We did it standing up,” she said, watching his face.
Tane swallowed and pulled his gaze from her stunning blue eyes. “Stop it,” he said, his voice an agonising hush. “I don’t want your confession, Lei. I’m happily married. You do what you like; you always did.” He wrestled with something inward, a demon of his own creation and turned his body towards a filing cabinet at his right elbow. He delved in, grabbing a hefty file and slapping it on his desk in dismissal. “If there’s nothing else,” he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat like an arcade game. “I’m busy, Lei.”
She pulled her boots from the desk and stood in a fluid action, settling her tee shirt over her bum. Tane avoided her eye, his fingers fluttering across the papers spread over his desk like flotsam. “I’m sorry, babe,” she said, regret seeping into her words. On impulse she rounded the desk and clasped his face in her hands. “I didn’t mean it,” she whispered, kissing his forehead and cheeks. He appeared so incongruous in the police uniform, the sensitive boy of her youth trapped in the body of a gentle, heartbroken giant.