by Izzy Sweet
“Language,” she chides me like she used to do when I was kid.
Both of us smile briefly.
“Sorry,” I say.
“No, you’re not.” She smirks at me before continuing. “From what the doctors are saying, it’s not a death sentence, but he needs work done to fix a bunch of problems. He also needs rest, from work and stress. Both of which we haven’t gotten much of since Tommy passed.”
“Helen—” I start to say, but she cuts me off quickly.
“No use putting blame on anything or anyone, the only way is to move forward. That’s why I talked to Bear,” she says as she looks at me intently.
“He probably doesn’t have much good to say,” I warn her, “but whatever he’s said is the truth, I imagine.”
“He said you’d say that.” She smiles softly. “He also agrees with me that Casey coming to live with you for a few weeks while I take care of Bill is the best thing for you both.”
Well, there goes my fucking mind. Boom. Big fucking brain explosion.
“What?” I ask incredulously.
“Yep, it’s high time you got out of the gutter and started putting the pieces back together. And Casey needs someone who can show him the light at the end of the tunnel he’s hiding away in.”
“But—” I try to say, and she steamrolls right over me.
“It’s also high time you start acting like the man I know you are and quit fucking around,” she snaps.
Holy fuck, she said fuck. That’s a first, and I know it’s deliberate. She’s trying to get through my thick skull.
“Helen, I don’t know the first thing about helping Casey, or how to raise a kid… Hell, I don’t even know how to raise myself,” I say wearily.
“That’s probably good for both of you,” she says before standing.
Casey comes walking back in the gym with a backpack and a large duffle bag.
“What?” I ask, and I feel like I’ve said it too many times today, and for way too many fucked up reasons.
“If you did, you wouldn’t be able to fix each other.”
She motions for me to follow her over to Casey.
My head feels light and kind of fucked up as I follow behind her. She stops in front of Casey and smiles down at him. She’s tired and she’s got so many heartaches on her heart, but she reaches out and pulls him in like she did all those years ago when she took care of me.
Her voice chokes up a little as pushes him away and holds him at arm’s length. “Casey, you can be mad at me and think unkind things, but I do this because I love you more than you’ll ever know. You both need each other, and you need to learn that life must go on.”
“Grandma, I don’t want to live with Emmett,” Casey says, sadness staining his cracking voice.
“I know, sweetheart, but you need to do what’s best for you both right now and not what’s the easiest.” She turns to me. “Pick up the phone when I call or I’ll send all the guys over again. And next time it’s Reaper who comes calling, not Chase.”
Fuck. There’s a big difference between those two names for the same person. One’s a monster, and is the one the boogeyman fears.
“Message received,” I say with a chuckle.
Reaching down, I pat my phone in my pocket and hope to hell it’s charged.
“Thought so. If it makes any difference, the girls wanted to go the first time with the guys. I said it wasn’t necessary,” she says with a wink.
Fuck, that probably would have been even worse than what happened with the guys. I’ve seen the women gang up on the guys when something needs to be done. It’s not pretty.
“Just so we’re clear, you want Casey living with me for the short term. Not like daycare where you come pick him up at the end of day?” I ask.
“See, I knew you were still smart. Not too many punches to head,” Helen teases me before she hugs us both quickly.
“I need to go, I want to get back to Bill.”
She walks away, leaving us both standing here in shock.
“Could’ve warned a guy, Case. Fuck,” I growl at him.
“I didn’t think she meant it,” Casey says quietly.
“Fuck,” I grunt.
“Fuck,” Casey grunts.
Whapping his shoulder only hard enough to get his attention, I say, “Language.”
“Really?” he asks with his eyebrows raised.
“Yeah, if you use half the words I do, she’ll rip your tongue out when you see her next,” I say with a smirk.
For a couple of minutes, we just stare out the window, wondering what the fuck we’re going to do now as we watch Helen leave.
Once she’s gone, I shake my head and motion for him to follow me. We both head out to the Jeep. I open up the back and we toss his stuff in before heading back to the gym.
We still need to watch the fights and give Bree her phone back.
By the time we make it through the small crowd that’s starting to form around the two cages and make it to the front desk, it looks like Chase has interrogated Bree pretty firmly. Well, from the tired expression on her face, I’d say she’s been interrogated.
“Hey,” I say as we step up to the desk, “how’s the head?”
“It’s—” she starts to say.
“All good,” Chase all but growls at me. “Something you want, runt?”
Jeez, I wonder if he’s sore at the whole me calling him Lurch thing.
“Yeah, Little Beast found Bree’s phone out in the parking lot,” I say as I hold it out for her.
A small spark of electricity flows through my hand as her soft, delicate fingers brush against mine to take the phone back.
“Little Beast?” she asks with a cute little quirk of her lips.
“Yeah, that’s me,” Casey says proudly. “It’s going to be my ring name when I fight like Emmett and Chase do.”
“Really?” she asks.
“Yep!” He beams at her.
“That’s a good one.” Chase grins at Casey.
“So—” I start to say, only to stop when I feel a sheer fucking amount of malice directed at my back.
I know who it is right away. Dammit
“Hi Bree,” Dale says in that grizzly voice of his. “Mind if I borrow these two from ya?”
I wince at the words, and I’m betting Casey does too. We both know Dale’s only nice to the people he’s not training. Especially the little kids. But us fighters, he fucking hates us with a passion.
“Sure, Dale!” Bree smiles sweetly at him.
She’s totally in that bastard’s fucking thrall. She doesn’t know his evil.
Heavy hands land on both mine and Casey’s shoulders as he turns us away from Bree and Chase.
As Dale marches us away, I hear Chase’s loud laugh.
Fucker’s laughing at us, I just know it.
“So ya got yourselves a break, I see. Didn’t even ask ol’ Dale if he wanted to join ya. Nope, just left an old man like me to do all the work,” Dale croons to us softly.
Casey looks over at me. “Can I say it now?”
“Only in your head,” I grumble.
“Cheer up, boys, there’s still lots of work you can help me with. But first we’re going to have one of those heart to heart talks,” Dale says as he leads us over to a quieter area of the gym.
“I’d rather you make me puke from working out,” I groan.
“Oh, that comes soon enough. No, this one is of a serious nature,” he says as he turns us to face him.
When all three of us are standing in a small triangle, he says, “Bree only gave us enough information to get Chase to stop hounding her for the moment. I’m not happy with that.”
The hackles on the back of my neck rise at his words. He’s pissed, and so am I all of a sudden.
“I want the fucker’s name who was messing around with her, understand me?” Dale says to me as he looks directly in my eyes.
I nod my head. “I want it too.”
“Good, we’re going to make sure trash like him
don’t mess with family,” Dale says, and then looks to Casey.
“Okay,” Casey says with a grin.
“You’re old enough now to be a part of the gym and the guys. Don’t fuck that up,” Dale warns and then motions to the rings. “Go watch the ones I need you to look at.”
Then, smiling at someone behind us, he changes his whole demeanor. Switching from the grizzled old bastard to some jolly fucking man.
Turning to see who’s worked a miracle, I see Grace and her daughters walking toward us. Grace is beaming at Dale, while, if I’m not mistaken, Hope is giving Casey a devilish grin.
“We need to go,” Casey hisses at me as he tugs my arm. “Like right now.”
“What’s the big rush?” I ask with a smile. “Don’t want to talk to Hope?”
“I’ll tell Dale you called him a pussy,” Casey says, and then pulls even harder.
Fuck, a man can only take so much teasing, I guess.
“Alright! Talk to ya later, Dale!” I say as we rush past them and head for the fighting cages.
Chapter Eight
Bree
My head is fucking pounding, pain throbbing and pulsing behind my eyes. But like I’ve done in the past when everything is falling apart and I can’t show the world what I’m really feeling on the inside, I force myself to slap a happy smile on my face as I sit behind the front desk.
Chase is hovering beside me like a mother hen, and the amount of anger simmering off him is so strong I find myself shivering.
He’s pissed and rightly so. Someone attacked me outside his own gym. I get that. His pride has taken a hit. But I think what is really biting him is that I won’t tell him who or why.
“Just give me a name,” he mutters for the hundredth time as he squeezes his inhumanly large hands into fists.
It’s tempting, so tempting to give him what he wants. To put it all out there. To put it in those hands of his so he can fight my battles for me.
But I can easily picture the consequences. Chase going after Tristan… Chase beating the shit out of Tristan… Chase ending up in prison… Avery and their children suffering without him…
Our family completely and utterly ruined.
Unfortunately, with the shit I’m dealing with, violence isn’t going to settle it.
Tristan’s family is filthy, stinking rich.
Theoretically, I could file a police report against him, but his team of lawyers will just make it disappear. And if they don’t, then there’s all the judges they know…
When you have as much money as his family does, you don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else. You can use it to practically live like a god amongst us lesser mortals.
I know because I’ve been witnessing it for years.
They own the entire system we’re all forced to live and abide in.
Really, the only thing I can think to do is wait him out because fighting back is not an option. I can’t risk whatever he’d bring down on me, my mom, Chase… or even this gym.
Tristan will get bored eventually and move on…
I hope, anyway.
The heat simmering off Chase shoots up a hundred degrees as I press my lips together and refuse to answer him.
“I should call the fucking cops,” he mutters, giving me a threatening look.
And once again, I can only hope it’s simply that. An empty threat.
Because if he actually does it…. Fuck me… I don’t even want to think about it.
Turning my face away, I hold my breath because it’s the only way I can keep myself from hyperventilating.
Once again my heart is racing a million miles a minute, and with everything it’s gone through today I’m afraid I might have a damn heart attack.
My eyes scan the crowd, searching for something to focus on. I need a distraction or I’m going to have an emotional meltdown.
As if my mind is subconsciously seeking him out, I find myself picking Emmett out of the dozens of faces in the crowd. With Casey beside him, he’s standing outside one of the two cages that have been set up for today’s exhibition. There’s currently a fight going on inside the cage, and the two of them seem to be focused on it.
At once I begin to relax a little bit. It’s almost as if simply seeing Emmett, knowing that he’s close, has a calming effect on me. I try not to think about it too hard as I soak in every little movement he makes.
The way he lifts his muscled arm to point, the slight turn of his head as he talks to Casey.
I zero in on him, shamelessly using him as the distraction I desperately need.
He has a damn good jawline, I find myself musing. And I especially like that natural arched quirk of his left brow.
He might not be quite as fit as some of the guys around here, but he stands tall. His posture alone practically screams don’t fuck with me.
I only had his hands on my cheeks for a minute or two, but even now I can’t forget the sheer power his touch had over me.
Or the way those eyes of his seared into me as if he could see me. The real me.
Casey says something, his mouth moving, but the crowd suddenly begins to cheer and hoot.
Emmett leans down to Casey, putting himself at his level to give him his ear.
It’s such a little thing, but out of the blue I have the most fucked up thought of my life.
Emmett would make such a good daddy.
Jesus Christ.
Mentally slapping myself, I jerk my head away.
Only to find Chase glaring at me.
Ugh, was he watching me watch Emmett the whole time?
Chase doesn’t say a word, and he doesn’t have to. The look on his face says it all.
My face burns with heat, and I try to think up an excuse to explain away what I was doing but come up with nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
With all the shit I’m in, you’d think I wouldn’t have the time or emotional energy to become fixated on a guy of all things.
But that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Shaking his head like he’s disappointed, Chase turns away from me, directing his glare at Emmett.
Emmett must feel the weight of it because he glances back, his gaze colliding with Chase’s. The two of them glare daggers at each other, neither attempting to mask their animosity.
And suddenly I feel like crying.
What am I doing? What am I causing?
What the fuck am I destroying?
My throat begins to close up on me, and I’m on the verge of saying fuck it all and making a run for it when my phone starts to vibrate and ring.
Glancing down at the screen, for a second I just want to crawl into a fucking hole and die. It’s the last fucking thing I need…
But maybe this is the universe’s way of giving me the out I need.
Or punishing me even more for what I’ve been doing.
Snatching my phone up from the desk, I stand up.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Chase asks without looking at me.
I try not to take his tone personally, given what’s recently happened, but still bristle a little on the inside. “I have to take this call.”
Finally Chase drags his attention away from Emmett to look at me. “You can take it right here, where I can see you and protect you.”
Whatever irritation I was feeling immediately evaporates. He might be rough around the edges, but at his core Chase is truly a good guy. A good guy who doesn’t really know me but seems to want to protect me.
If only he knew what he was protecting.
“I can’t,” I explain. “It’s my father… I have to take it privately.”
Chase continues to stare me down as if his glare alone will force me into submission. I have no choice but to lift my chin and stand my ground.
I can’t give in on this, unfortunately. I have to speak to my father, and it has to be in private. If I don’t, there will be severe repercussions.
Repercussions that are more frightening than
anything that Chase could do to me.
My phone stops ringing, the call most likely going to voicemail, and I cringe. If my father calls back and I don’t pick up, there will be hell to pay.
I count the seconds in my head.
One… two… three…
My phone begins to ring again.
Panic grips my heart. I don’t even know how many damn rings I have left.
“Chase, please,” I beg after the next ring.
I don’t know if it’s my tone or my pleading eyes that gets through to him, but Chase’s face softens a little with sympathy.
Glancing away, he huffs out, “Fine, but take it in the office. I don’t want you leaving the building alone.”
Nodding my head, I grip my phone and make a dash for the back office. I probably look ridiculous the way I’m rushing, but it’s the least of my worries right now.
My phone rings twice more before I make through the office door.
Slamming the door behind me, I hit the big green accept button on my screen and pant out, “Hello?”
There’s a long pause before my father’s irritated voice comes over the line. “Am I interrupting you, Aubrey? Is there something more important you need to do than talk to me?”
Shit. Here we go, starting the guilt trip already.
Leaning my head back against the door, I close my eyes and try not to sigh. “No.”
“Are you sure? I could call back at a more convenient time...”
“I’m sure,” I answer immediately, my head popping up and my eyes going wide.
I know that’s not a sincere offer.
It’s a threat.
“Very well, then,” he says tersely. “I know you’re busy, too busy for your father, so I’ll get straight to it. I just got off the phone with Warren Yates.”
There’s another pause, and I don’t say anything because I keep expecting him to go on while I hold my breath.
Finally, he asks coldly, “Is there something you want to tell me?”
Oh god, what does he know?
I didn’t expect him to get wind of everything so quick. I don’t think it’s been an hour since Tristan was here.
Did Tristan go crying to his daddy right away?
Or perhaps my father doesn’t know what happened today. Maybe he only knows about the split?
