“It happens all the time, son. There are some things that go away if you just throw money at them. It’s not perfect, but it works.”
“I don’t care. I didn’t do anything, and I won’t act like I did. That’s like an admission of guilt. I’ll worry about it after the match.”
“That’s the thing. You can’t. After the cop called me, I got a call from the promoter. They won’t let you fight until you clear your name. It makes sense. They did it to Diaz as well. It’s standard practice but especially when it comes to allegations of sexual assault.”
“What about innocent until proven guilty?”
“They don’t want to be seen giving a blind eye to a creep, rewarding someone like that. Zero tolerance.”
“So what the fuck am I supposed to do?”
“You have to give a statement to this cop. He’ll tell us where to go from there. Stay away from that gym where she works too.
“Does it have to be now?”
“He’s waiting for us.”
“Fuck me dead,” Owen replied.
“Owen, come here for a sec,” Tegan said, indicating just to the right of her seat. Grabbing his hand when he reached her side, she spoke slowly and clearly, “I need you to look me in the eye and tell me nothing happened.”
Owen held her hand a little tighter. “I swear I didn’t do anything.”
“Then stop worrying about me, and go fix this. I’ll be alright.”
Owen gave her a light kiss and left with Robert. Tegan waited for a few seconds before turning to find Fiona who was flicking through her phone. “Have you got plenty of fuel?”
“Fucking Who Daily has already posted the story about this bitch. Jeez, it doesn’t take them long, slimy fucks... what? Yeah, but don’t worry I’ve got loads of parking time left. It’s probably best I’m not on the road anyway. I want to find this bitch and jam my foot up her snatch.”
“You know where she works?”
“I know where Owen shot the commercial, yeah.”
“Can you call it for me and give me the phone, please?”
Fiona wanted to know what this was for, clearly, but didn’t ask. She found the number and handed Tegan the phone after also finding out through an article that the woman’s name was Emily Hobson. Tegan called the number. “Hello, Body or Bust. This is Emily. How can I help you?”
Tegan hung up, got up out of her chair, and steadied herself. “I need you to drive me, babe.”
“What do you mean? Where?”
“That gym.”
“Fuck yeah, let’s go.”
“I just want to talk to her.”
“Yeah, yeah. You talk, and I’ll throat punch the stupid thunder cunt.”
19
Fiona pulledup outside the gym and immediately pulled off her earrings. “Hold my shit.”
“Babe, we are not going to throw down with this woman.”
“Speak for yourself. Victims of real abuse are drowned out and ignored, but this twatsickle gets paid off for some made up dinky dink story? I’m gonna kick her twat in until it fucking twiddles.”
“Wait...” Tegan said calmly, holding Fiona’s arm. “I need you to go in and upset her enough so that she has to go home.”