Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts Book 5)

by Izzy Sweet

  Fuck. I hate hugging people. I never know how long to return it or if I even should. It’s always creeped me out actually. But with Chase’s dark fucking eyes daring me to be a dick to his wife, I give in and give her a quick hug back.

  “Hey Avery,” I say with a smile, “nice to see you.”

  “It’s good for you to be seen here in our lowly establishment.” She smirks at me. “I was beginning to think you forgot where you’re supposed to be.”

  There’s a couple of smartass answers I could give her, but even if Chase wasn’t around, I don’t feel like bothering.

  Avery’s one of those pure people. She doesn’t harbor bad thoughts and shit, she cares and loves everyone. She’s genuinely a warm, kindhearted soul.

  She takes in all the kids in the gym and is like a mother to them all. This gym used to be only about MMA fighters and their training, but Chase and Avery have made it so much more. They actively recruit kids from the bad neighborhoods, and they give shelter and food to those in need.

  Being a dick to her isn’t in the cards.

  “Yeah,” I say as I rub the back of my neck, “been awhile.”

  “Don’t worry, everything’s the same. Everything except for our new administrator, Bree.” Avery smiles as she leads me over to the front desk.

  “Bree, this is Emmett. Emmett, Bree,” Avery says, introducing us, and gives me a nudge to extend my hand.

  Fuck what I said about being model material, this chick is straight up insanely hot.

  Taking her petite hand in mine, I give it a quick shake before letting go. I don’t need to get my dirty fucking mitts all over hers.

  “Nice to meet you,” I mumble out.

  “You too,” she says with questioning smile to Avery. “Are you in the tournament today?”

  Fuck no, I shout in my head. My out-of-shape ass would get pounded in front of her, which would suck big fucking balls.

  “Nah, he isn’t ready for fighting just yet, Bree,” Dale’s cantankerous ass says from behind me.

  And just like that, all thoughts of the blonde angel standing in front of me are wiped completely from my head.

  Fucking Dale.

  Turning to the shitbird, I’m tempted to give him the finger, but I just shake my head and start walking after him instead.

  “It was nice meeting you…” I hear Bree say from behind me, and again I feel like an ass.

  Turning to face her, I see there’s a faint blush on her cheeks, but she gives me a warm smile.

  “You too, Bree,” I say, and then turn to face the shitstorm my life is about to become.

  “Now that you’re done fucking around with the staff, we’ve got things to do today,” Dale growls at me in his usual fucking manner.

  “What the fuck are you expecting me to do?” I ask as I look around the gym.

  All the guys around us are going about their business, either training or prepping for the fights today. Chase has two rings set up, and the billboard set up between them shows that there’s eight fights scheduled for today and four tomorrow.

  “Casey,” he says without any further words.

  Like that’s supposed to give me any clue of what the fuck I can do.

  Damn, this isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to be a fucking ordeal no matter what I do, and I deserve it to be horrible. Even in my drunken haze these last few months, I knew I was neglecting the outside world, and I knew there would be consequences for doing it too.

  Especially if I didn’t drink myself to death beforehand.

  “Where’s Casey?” I ask, trying to ignore the deep sour feeling come up from my stomach.

  “He’s going to be here in about half an hour. His grandparents are having a rough time getting him to do just about anything,” Dale says quietly, and then turns to give me a look that I know I deserve. “It hasn’t been easy on them. Losing their only kid and having their grandkid fall into a well of depression and misery. No one should ever have to bury their own child.”

  If Chase and Bear were to both hit me as hard as they could, I don’t think it would feel as bad as what Dale just said to me.

  “I…” I start to say, but don’t even bother finishing.

  Dale’s heard all of my excuses. He and I both don’t need any more of them.

  “Tommy’s dad is in the hospital too. He’s not doing too good. So everything is now on his mom. She had to bury her child, her husband’s health is in the shitter, and her grandson is fucking falling apart at the seams,” Dale says to me as he stops to look out across the gym.

  “I’m fucking here, Dale,” I growl at him quietly. “I get the fucking message.”

  “I’m not sure you really do.”

  Dale turns to me. The usual piss and vinegar is gone from his face. He’s not giving me any blustering or the usual callousness.

  No, he’s looking at me with genuine anger.

  “I’m here. I’ve got no fucking clue what to do, but I’m here,” I say.

  “Good enough, I guess. I mean it’s not like someone’s future is on the line. Some kid’s who’s lost everything and everyone,” Dale says before he turns toward the sign hanging in the back.

  On the sign are the names of fighters and who they’ll be up against.

  God, what I wouldn’t do for a drink right now. Just a sip of rum or bourbon. Maybe a quick visit to the Jeep would be a good way to calm the nerves…

  “Go look over Mia Collins and Blake Gorlewski. I need to see them with a fighter’s eyes. They’re new and I want to know if they have any raw talent,” Dale says in a much more normal voice.

  “I’ve never done anything like that—” I stop for a moment, trying to figure out what good I’ll be looking at someone.

  “You’ve fought enough to have eyes on a fighter. Look for the little things. We’ve got some raw talent in here and I want to see who will be going on to bigger things,” Dale says.

  “Um, I don’t know anything about girls, Dale,” I mutter quietly.

  “I didn’t either, but they’re just like us, except meaner,” Dale says with a loud laugh.

  Fucking dick. He’s going to enjoy watching my discomfort.

  Turning away from him, I look up at the board and see the two names. Blake is in the Middleweight class and Mia’s a Bantamweight.

  “Where are they at?” I ask as I look around the gym.

  “I saw Mia running to the locker room with a hand over her mouth, and Blake is over there working on the bags,” he says as he nods toward a guy who doesn’t look much older than eighteen.

  Looking back to Dale, I ask, “Was she puking because of you or nerves?”

  An evil grin spreads across his face as he says, “Probably both. I’ll have Casey come over when he gets here. If Puking Beauty makes it out of the bathroom, I’ll send her over to the bags to get warmed up.”

  “Fucking dick,” I laugh as I walk away from him.

  Dale doesn’t feel like he’s doing his job unless someone pukes. He loves to make the fighters work and work hard.

  “Just because you guys aren’t working out today doesn’t mean you get to sit and play grab ass. You, Bear, Brett, and the others will be working,” Dale says to my back before I hear him start to yell at some poor soul.

  We’re not working out today? I’m not planning on working out anytime in the near fucking future either. This is a one-time fucking gig.

  Heading for the fighters, I have to pass by Bree.

  Shit.

  With the fucking whirlwind of pain and emotions this place brings, her damn smile keeps entering my head, making me feel like I’m getting slugged in the lower part of my gut.

  And it’s not in a bad way.

  Fuck. This is probably what a lack of alcohol is going to do to me. Reduce me to a drooling idiot.

  But one look at her and I don’t know if I mind it.

  She’s fucking beautiful, and not in the typical way I’ve come to see in the women around Vegas. She’s naturally sexy and doesn’t look sh
e’s had any fucking work done on her. Her makeup is minimal, and her clothes are for comfort, not show. Her pale blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes are showstoppers, and those plush fucking pink lips look so damn kissable.

  How the fuck did Chase get her to work here? I mean, this place is definitely on the map as a world class gym/MMA facility, but she’s a cut above every woman I’ve ever seen. She’s also noticeably not a gym monkey, she’s not all lean and hard. No, she’s got the curves of a woman who takes care of herself but doesn’t break herself to do it.

  And now she’s looking at me as I walk past.

  Fuck.

  “Hey, how’s the front desk treating you?” I ask as I slow down.

  “Good, at least for my first day. It’s been… interesting,” she says with a quirk of those damnable lips.

  Kissing her is surely a sin.

  Nodding my head, I ask, “Everyone treating you okay?”

  Laughing quietly, she nods her head. “I’m pretty sure Chase petrifies everyone enough to keep them from being mean.”

  “Eh, he’s a big pussy cat,” I say with a grin.

  Shaking her head, her smile widens to show her teeth, and damn if it doesn’t make her even more intoxicating.

  “Pussy cat, huh?” Brett, the fucker, says from behind me.

  Sighing and putting my head down for a moment so I don’t show my lack of timing, I turn to look at Brett.

  He’s wearing a bright pink shirt that matches his wife Mandy’s.

  His says: I Bring The Pain. And hers says: I’m A Pain.

  “What’s going on, Brett?” I ask.

  “Not much. Was wanting to introduce Mandy to the Pussy Cat’s sister, Bree,” Brett says.

  When the couple walks past me, Brett turns for the briefest of moments to give me a wink and smirk.

  Yep, he just let me know how fucked I really am.

  Waving my hand at Bree, I smile and keep my mouth shut for the time being as I walk off. No need to stir up a hornet nest when I need to focus on the two fighters Dale has me looking over.

  Watching first Blake and then a very pale looking Mia work over the bags gets my legs twitching. My arms almost start raising up to make the same motions.

  It’s unnerving to feel just how quickly my body wants to fall back into the rhythm of pounding the bags.

  It was the first thing I discovered I was good at, that I was actually talented at, and that I could do for myself. I could see the results in the mirrors, and I could see the results on score cards. Most of all, I could see the results when I looked down at my opponent on the mat.

  It’s like some zen-like tranquility flows over me as I give pointers and little instructions on how to improve. I don’t notice the time during this and I don’t notice the world outside of this little corner of the gym.

  I notice nothing but the way to work and improve, that is until the sound of the front doors banging open brings me back to the here and now.

  Turning to look back, I see it’s only members of the gym, not Casey.

  And fuck, I have no clue what to do.

  Signaling to both Mia and Blake that they need to take a rest, I look around to see what else is happening. When I spot Dale, I head over to him.

  “How do they look?” he asks.

  “They’re not too bad. Blake, he’s…” I pause for a moment, thinking on what I saw. “He’s got a mean kick if he can keep it on target. And Mia, she’s going to be a killer if you can get her core muscles up to snuff. Both are resting up for the fight.”

  “What about Blake? That was a long pause,” Dale asks.

  “He’s good for fighting, but he won’t ever be a top contender. At least not right now. He doesn’t have that look in his eyes. He seems more…” I trail off as I watch Dale nodding at me.

  “Yeah, I noticed that too. Great kicks and punches, but he isn’t catching the reasons why he needs to do certain things. Even after we’ve tried talking and showing him the reasons. He’ll probably drop out after he figures out being an MMA fighter isn’t easy,” Dale says quietly.

  “You knew that before I went to take a look at him?” I ask.

  “Yeah, Chase and I both have worked hard with him. He seems more interested in strutting around the gym than actually being a fighter,” Dale says with a shrug.

  I grunt at him.

  Fuck, I never wanted anything more than to be a fighter.

  Soft feminine giggling suddenly floats over from the front desk and I turn my head to see Bree laughing with Avery.

  Damn… if that doesn’t make me feel something I haven’t felt in a long, long fucking time…

  An elbow in my ribs reminds me none too gently that I’m not here to ogle the boss’s sister.

  “Eyes front, asshole,” Dale growls at me.

  That’s easier said than done. My eyes don’t want to focus on anything but the way she smiles.

  Turning back to the fighters, I force myself to keep watching with Dale when all I really want to do is watch Bree.

  I check my watch then look to the front doors of the gym. I keep expecting Casey to show up and for Bree to walk back in from her break.

  Both thoughts are warring through my chest.

  Casey is dread and Bree is maybe a spot of sunlight in this miserable day. Man, I feel like a dick though, thinking of her smile to get through the dread of seeing a living reminder of Tommy.

  It’s strange how my fucked-up head is spinning in circles.

  Casey’s long overdue and it’s causing me to have heart palpitations every time I hear a door open.

  “Emmett!” Bear shouts at me from the front of the gym when I’ve finally given in to ignoring the door like a boiling pot of water.

  Eventually the fucker’s going to boil.

  Bear ushers Casey a couple of feet toward me before he pulls back to stand next to Tommy’s mother, Helen.

  Dammit. I’m fucking craving a shot of rum so bad right now that it’s good Bear is standing next to Casey’s grandmother. He’s positioned both her and himself between me and the doors out of here.

  Time and again Tommy would jokingly say to me Casey got his good looks from his mom, and he was right. Casey looks a lot like her… everywhere except the eyes.

  Casey has Tommy’s eyes.

  Those stormy dark blue eyes that show the whole world what he’s feeling stare at me with unrestrained anger and contempt.

  He looks so much like Tommy, all the alcohol I had last night wants to come back up.

  Sweat beads across my forehead and down my spine when I see the anger on Casey’s face. He’s mad and he’s looking at me like the piece of shit I am.

  He’s grown bigger since the last time I saw him, but just like his dad, he’s on the smaller side for his age.

  Jesus, my fucking heart feels like it’s skipping beats as I slow to a stop before him. There’s a huge fucking ache behind my ribs.

  Fuck, am I having a heart attack right here, right now?

  “I’m here,” he grunts at me.

  He’s looking up at me with those damn eyes and I feel like I’m slowly falling into the deep black as I stare at him.

  My throat catches before I can speak, and I have to take a breath before I say, “Me too.”

  Dropping to the floor, I kneel before him and look into his eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

  The fist comes out of nowhere, and I’ll be damned if my head doesn’t rock back and then to the side.

  Looking up, I see his loathing, his pain and suffering. But most of all, it’s his broken heart that makes me feel every bad emotion I can think of. He doesn’t say another word before he breaks away from me and runs out the front doors of the gym.

  “Fuck,” I hiss as I stand up from the floor.

  “That could have been worse, I guess,” Dale mutters as he grabs my arm to keep me from following. “Give him a few minutes before you go chasing him down.”

  A few minutes of hell. Now I’m straight up the center of attention in this
crowded gym. Center of attention and I feel like I’m going to puke.

  I’m going to go on one hell of a bender tonight, I can feel it.

  Chapter Six

  Bree

  Waking up at five in the morning is rough, especially for a natural night owl like me. So when Chase lets me know it’s time for my second break of the day, I nearly fall over with relief.

  It’s been a long day. A satisfying, eye-opening day, but a long day regardless.

  Feet dragging, I hear Chase chuckling behind me as I somehow manage to haul my ass over to the office to grab what remains of this morning’s coffee. After gulping down a few mouthfuls out of a mug, I pour it into a paper cup to take outside with me.

  I’ve been cooped up inside all day, and I’m hoping some sunlight will rejuvenate me.

  Walking back through the gym, heading for the doors, I take one last peek around, soaking in everything around me.

  Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting when I first walked into the gym this morning, but it certainly wasn’t to be embraced by this… family.

  Everyone, from Brett and his wife Mandy, to the big, hairy guy they call Bear, has been friendly and welcoming. So welcoming, I almost feel uneasy.

  I’m not used to people being so nice to me. In the circle I’ve been running with, people aren’t nice unless they want something.

  That mental shit, though, is completely on me. No one has given me any reason to believe that they’re being anything but sincere. And I know I can’t live the rest of my life suspicious of everyone’s motives, so I try to push the uneasy feeling away.

  Sighing at myself, I take another deep gulp of my coffee and then nearly choke on it when my gaze happens to land on the guy everyone has been whispering about today—Emmett.

  Our eyes meet as if drawn to each other like magnets, and just like it happened when we first met, I feel this strange and unwelcome jolt coursing through my body.

  And just like earlier, I find myself smiling nervously.

  Emmett smiles right back.

  My heartbeat starts to beat in this quick pitter-patter at the sight of his teeth, and I seriously have to wonder what the fuck is wrong with me.