by Cindi Madsen
I reached over and ran my fingertips through the hair at the nape of his neck. With him next to me, I felt beyond safe. “I’m sorry that we’re a little late.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Shane said. “Hector’s parties usually go long into the night.”
I wasn’t sure I could wait until “long into the night” to get back to Shane’s place and relieve all the sexual tension that’d built and built between us until it’d reached the explosive level. For safety reasons, we’d made a rule halfway through our drive about keeping our hands to ourselves.
Shane parked in front of a squat gray house with a cinder block fence and black bars on the windows, and rounded the hood of the Mustang to open my door for me.
I let him pull me up and then wrapped my arms around his waist. “The hands-off rule is now null and void, and you should probably know that I plan on taking advantage of that fact all night.” I moved my hands lower and grabbed his butt.
His chuckle filled my ear as he copped a feel of his own. He kissed me, and we started up the sidewalk, only to go back for the beer.
Case in hand, Shane draped his arm around my shoulders and led me up the sidewalk. He didn’t bother knocking, simply opened the door and walked on in. Music drifted over to us, along with the scent of freshly-mown grass and grilling meat, and my stomach growled, reminding me I’d skipped lunch in order to get more work done. My never-ending pile hadn’t even shrunk that much, but that was a worry to shove away for later.
All eyes turned to us as we stepped outside onto the patio.
Then greetings erupted from every side. Shane introduced me, and I tried to memorize names as he rattled them off. One of the girls gave me a razor-edged smile that made me wonder what kind of history she and Shane had, but before I could linger too much on it, he said, “And this is Hector.”
The guy at the grill set down his spatula, wiped his hand on his shorts, and then extended it to me. Ink covered nearly every exposed inch of his bronze skin, and his arms were about as cut as most of the guys who came to the gym on a regular basis. Definitely not someone I’d tussle with—not that I was planning a tussle, but I supposed I’d gotten used to assessing guys at a glance and placing them into either “possible fighter” or “other.”
“What do you know? My ma was just asking about the pretty girlfriend you’d brought by her restaurant, and I accused her of exaggerating. Not the pretty,” Hector directed at me, “but the girlfriend part. I told her I’d believe it when I saw it myself, and I’m afraid if I tell her about this, I’ll never hear the end of how she knows best, and how that means I should let her match me up with a nice girl, and…” Worry flickered through his brown eyes as he turned them on Shane. “I’m, uh, assuming this is the girl you took to the restaurant? The same one giving you trouble a few weeks ago?”
“It is, and she gives me slightly less trouble these days.” He tucked me closer and gave my shoulder an extra squeeze. “Good thing, too, or this would be even more uncomfortable.” He mock-whispered, “In case you didn’t notice, Hector has a problem with putting his foot in his mouth.”
I smiled, because that was what you did, but I couldn’t help noticing that it sounded like his best friend doubted his ability to have a relationship. Gah, I hated that my brain couldn’t just shush up about that. I was well aware I had some trust issues, but couldn’t they leave me alone for a while? The rest of me was so happy, why couldn’t my brain focus on that?
Instead of wishing for it, I resolved to actively work on it, and as we circled the party, ate a ton of yummy food—someone knew how to make pasta salad that wasn’t globby—my cares lifted.
The more we talked with Hector, the more I liked him and his easy, open manner. He also handed Shane his “all protein” plate with a flourish, mocking him while showing he cared about his training and the strict diet he needed to follow. Angelica, the girl who’d given me the fake smile, didn’t bother faking it by the end of the night. She rolled her eyes at a few things I said, but I let it slide right off me. Partially because I’d met girls like her before and I could hold my own, and partially because I recognized the longing that crept into her features every time she looked at Shane. I imagined it was the same way I looked at him, and while I was trying to be a bigger person and all, I might’ve wrapped myself around him a bit tighter to show her he was mine.
Once the sun dipped lower in the sky, Hector built a fire in the pit they had in the yard, and the drinking kicked up a notch—with the exception of Shane, who stuck to water. He’d ducked inside to grab “the perfectly fine free water” Hector recommended, and as he neared, he extended another Corona to me.
I stood so he could sit in the lawn chair I’d been occupying, and then he pulled me onto his lap, my back against his chest, the way we’d sat all evening. The way I wanted to sit forever.
Now that I’d gotten more comfortable with his friends and had a nice buzz going, I figured it was time to live up to the giving-him-trouble thing. “Okay, who has a good story about Shane? I need something to torture him with.”
Shane’s hand circled my thigh as his lips moved to my ear. “You’re torturing me plenty with this little dress.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Nice try, but I’m not going to be deterred that easily.”
Hector piped up, as I suspected he would. I wanted to know more about Shane. To know everything, even though that also meant getting in deeper, and it already felt like I was in over my head. Good thing I wasn’t worrying about that now. “How about the time we—?”
“No,” Shane said, at the same time Hector said, “met.”
Shane shook his head. “I knew he was going to tell this one. He thinks it makes him look heroic, but he forgets that it just makes us both sound like opportunistic little shits.”
Hector scooted forward and the firelight flickered across his features, casting them in relief one second and highlighting them the next. “So this punk-ass kid walks into school for the first time, and you could see the big fucking chip on his shoulder from a mile away.”
I placed my hand over Shane’s, lacing my fingers with his.
“I took it upon myself to tell the white kid he should chill it with the death glare, or he’d get his ass kicked.”
Shane’s deep voice rumbled through me as he spoke up. “I believe his exact words were ‘hey, vato, you better chill the fuck out or you’ll get your ass kicked, ese.’”
Hector leveled Shane with a flat look. “Vato and ese? Really?”
“Hey, you embellish it your way, I embellish it mine.”
I loved seeing Shane like this. So relaxed, making his jokes, comfortable in a way he often wasn’t. It made me snuggle that much closer to him. Not that I wouldn’t have otherwise gone for the snuggling, for the record.
Hector pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, acting all exasperated when he was clearly eating it up. “Anyway, this kid tells me that he’s never met anyone who’s ass he can’t kick, and that I best spread that shit around. He gets in a couple of brawls, people start making bets, and I see a business opportunity and step in as bookie. To keep us from getting suspended, we start going just off school grounds every day, where we set up our own fight club.”
The pads of Shane’s fingertips brushed my neck as he wound one of my curls around his finger. “Make sure to talk about how I only lost one fight ever, and that was because my eye was swollen shut from the fight the day before. We had a rematch, and I won that, so the title of reigning champion and biggest badass at CVH is still all mine.”
Hector waved a hand through the air. “Yeah, yeah, all that’s true. He likes to skip over how it was my idea to make money off it, instead of letting him get beat to hell for nothing.”
“For a title. Although, admittedly the money sweetened it.”
I twisted in Shane’s arms so I could see his face. “And you call me bruiser?”
“I told you I used to get in trouble a lot for fighting. Hector and I made
a ridiculous amount of money, too. Until some asshole took a swing at me during school. It was strike three at CVH, and I was this close to being expelled, but then Tammy stepped in, talked the principal into giving me one last chance, and did her best to straighten me up by enrolling me at the gym.”
I doubted he’d like me to say he was all straightened up in front of his group of friends, but he was a better guy than he gave himself credit for.
“Anyway, that was the start of a very beautiful and fortuitous friendship.” Hector lifted his beer bottle, and Shane lifted his water bottle. I went ahead and added mine, the clink nice and satisfying.
“Then there was the time we knocked over the liquor store,” Hector said, and I sputtered beer, my eyes going wide before I could pull back my reaction.
Hector laughed, loud and full, and even added a knee slap. “I got you. You should’ve seen your face.”
“So not funny,” I said, which would’ve been a lot more convincing if I could’ve kept a straight face. I looked to Shane for help, but he just shrugged.
“Hey, you opened the box. Now you have to deal with it.”
A few people got up to leave, and when another conversation started up on the other side of the pit, I shifted and placed my hand on the side of Shane’s face. “I don’t like thinking about you taking all those punches.”
He rolled his eyes as if it was nothing. “Most of those guys couldn’t hit for shit—they were all talk. It wasn’t until I got into the cage that I experienced the power of punches that could knock guys out.”
“Guys, but not you?”
His cocky grin spread across his lips. “’Course not.”
I dragged my fingers over the jaw that’d undoubtedly taken several punches through the years. “I can’t get over the image of two teenage kids running their own fight club. All for a title? One that was pretty much self-proclaimed, at that.”
“At the time, it was all I had.”
A sharp tug plucked at my heartstrings. I’d never thought of it that way, and it made me sad for the kid he used to be, and glad he’d turned into the man he was now. “You really did defy the odds.”
“Little tip. Always put your money on me.”
“What about my lips?” I moved them to his jaw. “What should I do with them?”
“Definitely put those on me.”
I kissed my way up to his mouth, getting caught up in the delicious way it moved against mine, and I temporarily forgot we weren’t alone. Then whoops and hollers broke through, and I felt Shane smile against my lips.
My cheeks burned, but a pinch of embarrassment for this much happiness? I’d take it every time, no question. I relaxed into Shane’s embrace, feeling light and carefree for the first time in a long time.
Hope even sparked, whispering that maybe this amazing thing between us wasn’t as destined to crash and burn as I’d originally thought.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Shane
The sun had set, and people had left one by one, until only Hector, me, and the woman in my arms remained. I’d thought about taking my leave, but Brooklyn had fallen asleep, and since she constantly pushed herself to the brink of exhaustion, I couldn’t bring myself to wake her up. Not to mention how comfortable I was myself. For the first time, I didn’t feel restless. Everything in my life was aligned, even if only temporarily.
“You seem happy, bro,” Hector said. “It’s not something I’ve seen on you for a while.”
Automatically I glanced down at Brooklyn, the reason for most of that happiness. She looked deceptively sweet when she slept. Although I had seen her sweet side more recently—I liked that she made me work for it, and didn’t show that side easily. It kind of made it feel like she saved it just for me. “I am. Things are lining up. I’m getting back to where I used to be.”
He nodded. “Now that you’ve got your fight.”
“Yeah, and I can’t wait to get in the cage with the guy. The asshole used to date Brooklyn, and that gives me even more motivation to beat him.”
Hector rolled the neck of his beer bottle in his fingers, delaying what he’d inevitably say—it was unlike him to plan his words before bluntly blurting them out.
“Spit it out,” I said.
“She date a lot of fighters?”
I tensed, sure I knew where he was going with this. “She actually goes out of her way not to date them.” At his skeptical look, I added, “Hey, I’m charming as shit. She tried to brush me off, and she comes with enough complications that I probably should’ve let her. I can only imagine how badly her dad and brothers would want to beat my ass if they found out about us.” It was good motivation to keep our relationship a secret, but if I had my way, we’d stop hiding it and tell them. Tell everyone. Just shout it out and deal with the repercussions.
All so she can leave me behind in a few weeks while her brothers and dad hold a grudge. Since I wanted to stay happy, I shut that thought down as fast as possible.
“But you’re Shane Knox, and you can take on anyone, right?” Hector asked, swinging his beer around.
I gave a short, mirthless laugh. “Fuck no. I know my limits, and I’d never have a chance against all three of them. One of them at a time, maybe, but they’re big boys, and without a ref there to break it up, it could get ugly.”
Hector glanced at Brooklyn—assumedly to double-check she was still asleep, something I could feel by her relaxed muscles and soft, slow breaths—and lowered his voice. “Don’t get me wrong, I like her. But I didn’t say anything about that social-climbing gold-digger you were with before, even though I had my suspicions, and I kicked myself afterward. I’m supposed to have your back.”
“You do have it, and I appreciate it. But Brooklyn isn’t anything like Jacquie—or Angelica for that matter. She’s not like any of the girls I’ve been with.” Hindsight was twenty-twenty, and now I could see how Jacquie had made sure to be front and center after every win, not to brag about me, like I’d thought back then, but to keep herself in the limelight. It didn’t feel great when she left me after loss number two, but I’d been too consumed with my mom and the various cancer treatments, and Jacquie was just one more in a sea of people who’d decided I wasn’t useful anymore.
Angelica and I had been one of those forever off-and-on couples in high school, based mostly on her moods and how much of a self-centered ass I was being. Once I started seriously training, the strain was too much to make whatever we had work. Our tight circle of friends meant we’d made peace for the most part. I got the vibe she thought eventually we’d give us another shot—hell, at one point, I’d thought it myself, figuring it was safest to stick with people who knew me before I was anyone—but after this past week with Brooklyn, there was no going back. “Brooklyn grew up in this world. She knows the ups and downs.”
My lungs tightened. It was something I’d already known, but I couldn’t help wondering how many downs she’d sit through. How could I possibly measure up against the men in her family? Sure, she could visit my world for a night, but she’d never want to set up a permanent residence here. She deserved better, too.
More and more, my thoughts involving her drifted toward the serious side of the fence, somewhere they had no business going. Not yet. Not until I’d proved myself and regained the ground in my career I’d lost.
“All I’m saying is that you’ve got a lot on the line,” Hector said. “Are you sure now’s the time to risk so much?”
Was I sure? Hell no. Did I care if being with her was reckless? Not if I weighed all the overwhelming positives, like kissing her and holding her and listening to her talk and laugh, and the way she centered me and made it easier to focus on what was important. Those things far outnumbered the risk, and that was before I even threw sex into the mix, which tipped the scales so far it wasn’t even a competition. “I’m sure that I’m not willing to let her go yet.”
…
As I drove back to my place, I thought about what Hector had asked, and how I�
��d answered. Brooklyn snoozed in the passenger seat, occasionally making sleepy noises or giving one-word nonsense answers to questions I didn’t ask.
I pulled into a parking space and then went around to open her door.
Her eyes fluttered, and then she shot me a beautiful smile that made me feel weak and strong at the same time.
“You better give your brother a heads up that you won’t be home tonight, because there’s no way I’m letting you drive in this sleepy condition,” I said.
She let me pull her out of the car and covered a yawn with her hand. “I already took care of that before the party.” She wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled my neck. “I knew it’d be a late one, and I figured if you wouldn’t let me stay with you, I’d find a spot on the beach to sleep it off.” Her low laugh signaled she’d been joking, but I didn’t like even the thought of her walking alone, and she sure as hell wouldn’t be sleeping anywhere but in my bed with me.
Her body sagged against mine, and I had a feeling all the sexy scenarios I’d spent a great deal of time daydreaming about would need to wait until tomorrow morning.
“Come on, lightweight.”
“Hey,” she said as I lifted her into my arms. Then she snuggled tighter and gave a happy sigh that warmed me from the inside out. I pushed into my apartment, carried her into the bedroom, and laid her down on the bed. She stirred as I pulled off her shoes.
A stream of unintelligible words tumbled from her lips. I eyed her dress, sure she’d be more comfortable if I took it off. Thanks to the hard-on already straining against my zipper at the sight of her legs, I was also sure I’d be more uncomfortable, and it’d make it that much harder to behave.
