Reluctantly James nodded. “Come on, I’ll help you pack.” He placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

Chapter 8

For the first time since their engagement was announced things settled down and life felt like it was back to normal. Anna was back at school studying for exams while James lapped up and down the pool between meeting media and sponsorship commitments. They still saw each other every day, despite their different addresses. The hype surrounding their engagement faded and now they could just go out and have a good time without being hassled. Their lives were finally simple again, and Anna and James wanted nothing more than to exploit every moment.

James had what could only be described as the perfect preparation going into the Manchester World Championships. It was his first ever drama-free lead-in period to the competition, which Anna guessed made him even more nervous than ever. In the past he had faced drug slurs, broken bones, injuries, and even the odd crazed stalker, but this was so simple it was scary. James’s qualifying times were more than half a second better than anyone else in the two hundred metres freestyle, while his domination over four hundred metres was two and a half seconds clear of his nearest rival. For the first time in a long time everything felt like it had fallen into place.

Anna was much the same. She was enjoying her studies and everything was going well. With the added bonus of James acting as her tutor in some subjects, it was an excuse for them to spend even more time together. All talk of the wedding had been put on hold until after the World Championships, giving James time to focus on what he needed to do. Win. Anna topped three out of her nine subjects and was pleasantly surprised. James was so proud of her and their lives seemed to be travelling along so well that, Anna being the cynic that she was, found herself waiting patiently for the bubble to burst.

***

James

Early one Wednesday morning James was rudely woken by his mobile phone blasting through the silence. Forcing his tired eyes open, he shot a look at the alarm clock on the other side of the room. It wasn’t even four-thirty yet and already his phone was buzzing. “Hello,” he mumbled sleepily.

“Stay away from her,” the voice boomed down the phone.

“Who is this?” James asked as he sat up, waking instantly.

“Stay the fuck away,” the voice commanded before the line went dead.

For the next few minutes James just sat there staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring again. But it didn’t. James was left staring at the silent phone, his knuckles white from the ferocity of his grip. As the thoughts kept turning over in his head about who it could be, or what they were on about, the alarm sounded and it was time to go to training.

That morning he trained harder than he ever had before. It was almost as if he was trying to prove something. Joel watched on with bewilderment. He knew that something was bothering James but he didn’t know what or who was responsible. As James pushed himself harder and harder, the concern on Joel’s face deepened.

When James ambled from the pool, completely exhausted, Joel called him over. “Hey James, come here.”

James stalked over quickly. He was anxious to get home and make sure that everything was still in its proper place. He knew it could have been a crank call but something somewhere deep inside him wouldn’t let him dismiss it. Wherever he looked he was right there. Every sound he heard was a voice warning him over and over and over again to leave her alone. And as much as he wanted to, James couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that it hadn’t been fake. It had been a genuine warning to stay away from her.

“James, you wanna tell me what’s up?” Joel asked.

“What are you talking about? I trained pretty bloody hard today,” James snapped.

“You worked harder than I’ve seen you work in a long time, but I want to know exactly what’s going on,” Joel said, sitting down on a bench.

“Nothing,” James lied.

“James, I am your coach, and more than that, I’m your friend. And you’re not a good liar, so don’t bullshit me, boy. Tell me the truth,” Joel coaxed.

“It’s just that I got a really strange phone call this morning. I don’t know who it was, but they just kept warning me to ‘stay away from her,’” James admitted, making air quotes. “I don’t know where or how they got my number, but I do know that I sure as hell don’t like it.” James ran his fingers through his wet hair.

“Have you spoken to Tim about it?”

“Why does Tim need to know about some stupid phone call? He’s my manager, not my body guard. He doesn’t need to monitor my phone calls,” James reasoned.

“Tell him. And Anna too,” Joel instructed.

“Okay, I give. I’ll tell Tim, but I’m not going to worry Anna with this. She only just got her life back. I refuse to be responsible for destroying that. She can have her happiness,” James said, leaving no room for argument.

“It’s your call, James. But remember Anna’s a smart cookie. She’ll notice that something’s bothering you. And she’ll ask questions. But the question you have to ask yourself is, are you willing to lie to her?”

“What if I lie to her to protect her?”

“James, you know Anna. She’s not some naïve, delicate flower. And you know that it doesn’t matter what your intentions are. If you lie to her, you’ve lied to her. There’s no other way to look at it. I know you would do anything in your power to protect her but you have to remember she’s not some helpless child. She’s going to be your wife. And marriage is sharing the good and the bad.” Joel sighed as James shook his head in defeat. “You better get a wriggle on; I know you’re meeting with Tim in half an hour. Scram.” Joel smiled, walking away.

“Thanks, Joel. See you this afternoon,” James called out but he had already vanished.

James stumbled towards the car with a heavy heart. His head was telling him he should tell Anna but his heart wouldn’t let him ruin things for her. He wasn’t ready to do that unless it was the absolute last resort. As he drove through the traffic he tried to ignore the voice at the other end of the phone, the one that had invaded his head but he couldn’t shake it. He reached Tim’s office and took the stairs two at a time. James was already running late but he knew that Tim wouldn’t mind. He never did.

“Come on in, James.” Tim waved distractedly as he continued to chat on the phone. After a finishing up his conversation, Tim dropped the phone into its cradle and turned his attention to James. “How was training?”

“Long. Hard. Wet. How was your morning?” James inquired casually, lifting his feet onto Tim’s coffee table.

“In a word, interesting,” Tim taunted, smacking James’s legs with a rolled up magazine. James dropped his feet back to the floor. “The organising committee of the World Championships wants you to go over a week early and help with promotion. It seems their own team doesn’t arouse any attention, but for some strange reason, you do,” Tim admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

“But didn’t you say that months ago? I’m sure I remember you saying their promotional campaigns wouldn’t work. You guessed they would try and get someone to come in and save the day. What are my options?” James asked, dragging his hands across his face roughly. It was obvious by his flat tone that he was less than impressed with the prospect of going early.

“Your options are easy. You can go early and be the hero. Have your photograph taken, make appearances, and sign autographs. Or you can stay home and head over with the rest of the team,” Tim explained. “James, I thought you would have already considered all of this. I mean, it was always on the cards. Why are you stalling on making a decision? What’s wrong? Is it Anna?”