“Get out,” I say trying my best at appearing big and intimidating.
His eyes narrow and in the quickest flash of a second, he pushes me hard. I fall back and come crashing down into the kitchen counter. Pain pulses through my whole body, and I don’t doubt I’ll have one hell of a nasty bruise following this. I try to get myself up, but he’s right there, hovering over me. “You’ll see,” he snarls. “I’ll get what’s mine.”
He lets out a grunt before turning on his heel and walking for the door. He slams it hard behind him and I let out a hard breath. My head falls to the ground beneath me as I briefly close my eyes.
My whole body is rattled and my hands begin to shake. I can’t believe that just happened.
I know he grabbed my wrist the last time he showed up here, but pushing me? He really has changed. He’s a man that I don’t even recognize and it’s sad what he’s allowed his addiction to do to him.
With my eyes still closed, I listen as his boots leave the porch and disappear into the dirt.
It’s the sound of a very familiar truck starting up that has me flying off the floor and forgetting about the pain the rockets through my back and ass. I run to the door with everything that I have and practically pull it off its hinges as I rip it open.
I dart out the front just in time to see my dickhead husband disappearing down the street in my fucking truck.
I crumble to the ground as the tears take over. “No,” I sob as I watch the tail lights fade away.
How could I let this happen? Deep down, I know this is just a temporary issue. Somehow, I’ll be getting my truck back, whether it’s by the help of the police or going down there armed with every axe I can find in the closest store. But the feeling of watching him take it away from me absolutely guts me. It’s like my past all over again.
For years he would just take and take and take until there literally wasn’t anything left. I was a crushed woman, and right now, watching the cycle come back around, I’m that same deflated woman I used to be.
No matter what I do, he’s never going to sign those papers and he will always hold it above my head. Always threatening to take away the life I’ve created for myself. Always threatening to destroy me again. All I know is that I can’t go back there. I can’t go back to a life of struggling day by day and watching everything I’ve done drain away.
As I sit in a heap on the dirty ground, I find the tears flowing freely from my eyes. I don’t even notice my hand digging into my pocket and pulling out my phone, but the next thing I know, I’m dialing Luke’s number, desperate to hear his voice.
Chapter 20
Luke
“Hey, man,” I say as I walk into the lunchroom at Rebels Advocate and see Jace moping around while he attempts to eat his lunch. Let’s be real, he’s just playing with it.
He’s been like this for the past week, and so far, none of us have been able to figure out why, even though we have a pretty good idea. Whenever Jace is like this, it’s usually got something to do with Cami, which means he’s probably hurt her again.
I just hope it wasn’t as bad as last time. It would have been a good year ago when he told her again that it’ll never happen between them, which is the usual routine for them. It’s just that he sort of did it in front of everybody right after he kissed her.
It took her months to start coming around again. I just wish they’d sort it out already. Cami is a good girl and she doesn’t deserve to have her heart broken over and over again. But Jace is my best friend, and to me, it’s as clear as day that he’s in love with her and they should be together. He’s just too stubborn or scared… I don’t exactly know. I just hope she can hold on long enough for him to work it out. If not, the past year and a half would have all been for nothing.
Jace grunts as I walk in. “What’s going on?” I ask as I head past him over to the fridge and start rifling through it until I find what I want for lunch.
“Nothing,” he says, with absolutely no emotion in his voice.
I let out a nearly inaudible sigh before dropping into the seat beside him. “Seriously man,” I say. “What’s going on? You’ve been moping around for the past week.”
“I haven’t been moping,” he defends with a grunt.
“Bullshit,” I chuckle. “You’re walking around the place like you’re about to go for a rectal exam.”
He shakes his head, clearly not in the mood for joking. “It’s nothing,” he repeats. “Just the same old bullshit with Cami.”
“I thought as much,” I murmur. “How’d you break her this time?”
“Fuck off,” he grunts.
“Well?” I question.
He shakes his head, not wanting to get into it, so I let it go as that was the most I’ve managed to get out of him all week. I wouldn’t want to push my luck and end up with a black eye like I have so many times in the past.
We have our group self-defense class this afternoon, so I’m going to go ahead and assume Cami won’t be showing up for that one today, meaning odd numbers. Just great. We had planned for the class to work in pairs where one would act as an attacker and the other would have to defend. Well, I guess that won’t be happening.
“So,” I start. “What’s happening with today’s self-defense class?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “We can either act as one of the pairs or we can do groups of three and they can practice two against one with either one attacker and two defending or two attackers against one.”
I cringe as I think it over. “That’s more for the intermediate class.”
“Nah,” he says. “I think they can handle it. They’ve been improving a lot lately.”
Maybe he’s right. I have noticed a lot of improvement, especially with the ones who have been coming all year. In fact, if a brand new student was to join that beginner class, it would be out of his or her league. “Maybe it’s time to relabel them an intermediate class and start another beginner course.”
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” he says.
Half an hour later, we walk out of the lunchroom after completely losing track of the time. We now have a whole new beginners’ class that we’ll be squeezing in on a Saturday morning. After a few changes to the schedule, and maybe a post on our Facebook page, we should have enough participants to get started next week.
We walk through the gym to get back to our offices so we can start making this shit happen, when the sound of the door slamming open and banging against the brick wall has every single person in the club coming to a standstill as their eyes instantly zone in on the door.
Rylee comes tearing through the door with nothing but fury on her face. “Oh shit,” I grunt. Cole must have done something really bad to get that kind of reaction out of her.
Cole walks out of the front office as he sees her. “What the fuck, babe?” he grunts, but she doesn’t even notice him, her eyes practically scan straight past him before she focuses that lethal glare on Jace and storms towards him with Cole hurrying behind.
“Fuck,” he grunts under his breath. “She knows.”
“Knows?” I question. “What the fuck does she know?”
He doesn’t have time to respond as she already on us. “Jace King,” she yells at him as she slams her fists into his chest and tries to push him back. “What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” he tells her as he tries to capture her hands so she’ll stop trying to hit him.
“Babe,” Cole says as he grabs her and hoists her back away from Jace. “What the hell is going on?”
“She’s gone,” Rylee says with venom in her eyes as she stares at my best friend.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Jace grunts, clearly knowing exactly what she’s talking about, but as for me, I’m lost.
“I went over there because I hadn’t heard from her all week and she’s fucking gone. She wasn’t there,” she yells. “You did something to her.”
It’s about then I realize it’s got to be about Cami. Nothing
else could possibly bring that look to Rylee’s eyes, and nothing else could make Jace look so fucking sick. Jace doesn’t respond and it’s clear something really did happen.
“Babe,” Cole says in a soothing voice, trying to calm her down. “She’s probably just busy. Maybe she was at her store. Did you check there?”
“She’s not at her store,” Rylee demands. “She’s. Gone.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Jace repeats in frustration.
At that, Rylee pulls a slip of paper out of her back pocket and slams it against Jace’s chest. “She’s on a fucking plane trying to get as far away from you as she possibly can.”
“Over my dead fucking body,” he grunts as he rips the note out of her fingers and instantly begins scanning through it. “Fuck.”
His hands ball into fists and the note gets scrunched up in the process. Rylee shoots forward again just narrowly slipping through Cole’s fingers and slams Jace in the chest. “What did you do to her?” she demands.
Jace lets out a frustrated groan and storms away. Rylee tries to go after him, but Cole grabs onto her arm and hoists her back while I watch in shock as Jace storm over towards his office, punches a hole through the wall and kicks his door in before grabbing the computer off his desk and launching it across his office.
“Fuck,” I cringe before noticing the note on the ground. I bend down and scoop it up. Whatever was in this note was enough to have Jace lose his fucking mind.
As I uncrumple the note, Cole pulls Rylee into his arms. “I wanted to tell her,” Rylee says into Cole’s chest.
“I know,” he murmurs as he runs his fingers down her hair and over her back. I find myself wondering what the hell she wanted to tell her that is so damn important, but it’s not my place to butt in with my questions right now. Besides, there’s way too much going on to change the topic.
“She’s going to miss it,” she cries. “I need her here. I can’t do it without her.”
“She’ll be back soon,” Cole tells her. “She’s not going to miss anything.”
At that, Rylee pulls back and looks up at him. “Six months,” she tells him with a broken voice. “She’ll be gone for six months.”
“Fuck,” Cole grunts under his breath before leading her away.
With that, I look down at the note.
Rylee,
Please don’t hate me, but I kind of did something.
I knew you’d be the first to come over here and find this note so you need to know that I’m so sorry. I love you so much, but I had to do it. What I’m about to tell you, please know that it has nothing to do with you. You’re my best friend and I hate that I’m about to hurt you, but I need to do this for me.
I have to get away. My heart is hurting too much and I don’t like the person I’ve become over the past year and a half. I need to figure myself out and remember the woman I used to be. I can’t go on the way I have been, wanting and needing something I’ll never get. I love him so much, but it’s never going to happen.
I need time away from life and time away from him. I need to forget about him and the only way I’m going to do that is by leaving for a while.
I’ve booked myself accommodation for the next six months at every beach resort I could possibly find and in every beautiful city over the world. I know we talk about traveling together all the time and I’m so sorry that I’m doing it without you, but this is something I feel I need to do on my own.
I’m sure you’ve probably noticed my phone and iPad on the counter… I’m leaving them here on purpose. I don’t want to hear from him while I’m gone and I’m assuming the second he finds out I’m gone, I’ll be swamped with missed calls, messages, and emails. So, I’ve deactivated my email as well, but I’ll set up a new account when I get there to check in with you.
I know it’s a lot to ask, but while I’m gone, could you check in on Style Me Crazy every now and then to make sure the girls haven’t destroyed it?
Shit, Rylee. I know you’re mad with me but please remember that you’re my best friend and I love you with everything I’ve got.
I know this trip is spontaneous and probably not really thought through, but know that I need this more than you could possibly understand. Hell, more than I even understand. I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you about this first, but I knew you’d try to change my mind and I knew that it would work.
Please remember, that Jace is one of Cole’s best friends and while I need to get space from him, you don’t. I know you well enough to know that you’re going to blame him for all of this, so take it easy on him because it was my decision to leave, not his.
So, anyway, my plane leaves in a few hours. I love you so much and I promise that I’ll check in with you as soon as I can.
Be safe.
Cami xx
Oh shit.
I consider going to Jace, but after reading that note, the guy is going to need some time to himself. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s booking a flight right now, though, it’s not like he’d know where she is or where she’s planning on going. The only information he has is that she’s gone because she needs to forget about him.
He has no way of contacting her and that fact alone would be driving him insane.
In the note, she admitted that she loves him, but I’m sure he knew that already. It’s as clear as day when you look at the two of them together. I just don’t know if she has physically told him that before. It couldn’t have been easy for him to read.
With a sigh, I head back down to my office. There’s not a lot I can do for Jace right now. He needs time to come to terms with it before I can approach him and check that he’s doing ok.
I drop into my chair and neatly fold the note before sliding it into my desk drawer knowing that he’ll probably want to read it a few more times.
I let out a sigh as I lean back in my chair. I suddenly don’t have that same excited motivation that I had when we walked out of the lunchroom with our ideas on the new beginner self-defense class.
Instead, I find myself wondering how I’d react if that was Lex wanting to get away, leaving me with no form of communication and a broken heart. I’d be a fucking mess.
I don’t know when or how, but at some point over the past few months, I’ve started falling in love with her, and while the idea of sharing my life with someone is terrifying, it’s equally as exciting. It’s then I realize that no matter what happens, I’ll never be letting her go.
I try my best to motivate myself to get back to work, but it’s just not happening. Instead, I grab my shit and head out to the main part of the club for my own workout while thoughts on how the hell I’m going to tell Lex that I love her are swirling through my mind.
I want to do something special for her as I feel that she hasn’t had a lot of special in her life, particularly over the past few years. From what I understand, she had it tough with her ex, and not mention all those miscarriages. I can’t even begin to understand what that would have been like. I’ve never been in that position, but I’d assume for a family it would be devastating.
I want to somehow give her the world, I just need to figure out how to do that.
I slide the weights onto the end of the bar and get myself in position for a chest workout. I rest my hands on the bar and take a deep breath. As I’m preparing to lift the bar, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
Saved by the bell.
I release the bar and dig through my pants until my fingers curl around the cool metal of my phone. I pull it out and see Lexi’s name across the screen and grin to myself.
I hit answer and bring the phone up to my ear. “Hey, babe. What’s up?”
Chapter 21
Luke
Her sniffle comes through the phone and the sound has me sitting straight up with my workout completely forgotten. I mean, is she crying right now? Not once in the few months that we’ve been together have I ever heard her cry.
Sure, when I told her about Iraq, there were t
ears in her eyes, but that was different.
“What’s going on?” I demand, desperate to know what could have possibly happened to have her in tears.
Before she’s even answered, I find myself pushing my way through the doors of Rebels Advocate in my need to get to her and make everything ok.
I hear her take a breath to try and calm herself, but the broken sound in her voice rips my heart to shreds. “Jeremy was here,” she finally tells me.
“Shit,” I grunt. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you again?”
“Yeah, he pushed me, but that’s-”
My blood boils. “I’m going to fucking kill him,” I grunt, cutting her off. How dare he lay a hand on my woman. I consider turning my truck around to go and teach the mother fucker a lesson, but she needs me right now. The lesson will have to wait.
“That’s… That’s not…” she can hardly get the words out and I feel myself straining to hear what she’s trying to tell me.
“What is it, babe?” I question as I start up my truck and peel out of the parking lot. Images are flashing through my mind of what state she could possibly be in right now. I mean, is she in shock after he hurt her? Did the fall cause her to bleed? Fuck, is she bleeding too much?
“Are you bleeding?” I rush out as the image in my head is almost too much to bear.
“No, I… I did my drip just before. I should be ok, but…” she takes another breath and lets it out. “He was threatening to take my house and I told him he’d never get his hands on anything of mine ever again. And after he pushed me into the counter, he stole my truck.”
“Shit,” I curse.
A sob rips through the phone and has me shattered inside. “I couldn’t get it back,” she tells me.
“It’s ok,” I say as I pull my truck around in an illegal U-turn. “What’s his address?”
“What?” she shrieks. “You can’t go there. I’ll call the police. They can get it.”
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