by T M Kelly
“Did your father call?” Lily asked from the doorway.
“What? No. Why would you ask that crazy question?” I stood and walked over to wrap my arms around my best friend’s waist.
“Because the room feels off. You have this look I can’t quite decipher.”
I kissed her cheek. “Sit. We need to chat.”
Twenty minutes later…
“Absolutely not.” Lily stepped away from me. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”
I was wrong; she didn’t take the plan well. “Lily, listen.”
“Nope.” She placed her fingers in her ears.
I stepped up beside her and screamed. “Did I question you when your mom became crazy? Or when we discovered she was involved with a mob ring?” I placed my body in front of her and shoved her back. While still screaming, I continued to say, “How dare you judge me or my actions?” When I stopped yelling, the room went silent. All you could hear was the tick tock of the annoying clock on the wall. Then I noticed a single tear fall down Lily’s cheek. I threw my arms around her body. “Fuck, Lily. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
She rested her head on my shoulder. “Charlie, do you realize what it feels like to know your best friend has the same messed up family as her own?” Lily lifted her head to face me. “I mean, I knew your dad was an asshole, but I never in my wildest dreams would have expected him to capture and attempt to kill you.”
“He didn’t, though.”
“That’s not the point,” she said and stepped out of my embrace. “So now you want to try to take down your father, but Charlie, he’s probably been doing this kind of shit for decades.”
“So you don’t think it’s possible for us to try to stop this shit from ever happening again?”
“I want to believe it is.”
Brooks and Jackson were sitting on the couch, silent through this whole scene. “What do you boys believe?” Jackson dropped his head at the same time as Brooks. “Fine, so basically we just let him continue working his magic on more innocent individuals?”
“No.” Lily was doing her classic pacing when stressed move. “We just need to think about a better take-down plan. I also think we need to involve Julian.”
“If we involve Julian, then others will want in, and we can’t have the whole gym in on the plan.”
“Julian has worked as an anonymous source and even an informant. Do you really think he will try to involve others?” Lily stopped pacing and faced me. “We need his strength.”
My bestie did have a point there. “Fine, call him.”
“Let me get this straight.” Julian sat down in an overstuffed chair. “We all go to a bar that is allegedly used to cover up possible crimes played out by your dad’s business?” He leaned back. “How is it possible to go in guns blazing but without a single gun?”
“Or just Mason,” Jackson said from the corner of the room.
Julian gave my brother his scowl. “What?”
“It’s possible, but not likely, my brother acted alone,” I interjected. “I find that thought way out in left field, though. Mason has always been the type to serve others.”
“That’s true,” Jackson said and laced his hands behind his head.
It was one a.m., and we all had been talking about this subject for far too long. I needed to sleep on everything. Maybe in the morning, I would see what a cockamamie plan it really was. Who was I to think I could go to a bar and kick ass? A bar allegedly owned by several very dangerous people.
I turned to face everyone. “Let’s talk about this in the morning. For now, why don’t we sleep on this and reconvene tomorrow at the gym?”
As everyone piled out of the house, I stood there thinking, this is my family. I didn’t need to have blood to tie me to a person. I needed them. My fighter family who were willing to care for me come hell or high water.
Brooks walked over and wrapped his arms around my body and pulled me close. “Let’s get you up to bed.” The way he said the words sent a chill up my spine.
With all the hospital visits, I couldn’t think about my boyfriend in a sexual way. Well, to be fair, having a headache from hell really killed any mood. Until today apparently. I reached for his hands and tugged him toward the stairway. “I’m only sorta kinda tired.”
“Oh yeah, what else do you have in mind?”
24
As I walked out of the bathroom after taking the longest shower known to man, I could hear Brooks snoring. My initial plan as we’d made our way up the stairs to the bedroom had been to devour him. Then for some reason I’d changed gears and told him I would be back. I disappeared into the bathroom because my head sometimes made me feel foggy and out of place. I enjoyed a hot shower or bubble bath to ease the discomfort most days.
I leaned against the door frame and watched Brooks’s chest rise up and down. Just a few short months ago we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. Now my head dictated what I did day in and day out.
There was a quiet ring. I glanced over to the nightstand and noticed my phone buzzing. Before it woke up Brooks, I ran over and hit accept. I didn’t even take the time to see who was calling. That was a mistake.
“Charlotte.” I looked down to see my father’s phone number on the screen.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Now, is that really how you want to greet your father?”
I noticed Brooks roll over and move lower under the covers. “Greet you?” Was he joking?
“Well, I did call to make sure you were okay.”
“What is wrong with me?” I decided to play the dumb act. My body was shaking just at the sound of his voice. I walked out into the hallway and leaned against the wall for support.
“I heard you suffered a head injury. Was it from one of those fights you like to play in?”
It took everything in me to not scream. “You know why I was in the hospital. Don’t you dare try to play dumb with me.” Brooks peeked around the door frame and grabbed the phone. I tried to protest, but he didn’t listen. He held the phone up to his ear and then hit end. “You hung up on him.”
“Yup, he called to fuck with your emotions.” He reached out his hand and guided me back into the room. “Your Dad will pay for what he’s done to you.”
When we reached the bed, he had me lie down, and then he covered me up with the duvet. I felt him slide in beside me, and that’s when I finally let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
How did I get so lucky?
I knew I came to Las Vegas for a reason.
Maybe my life led me here to meet Brooks.
Now I was afraid all this would be ripped from my grasp.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to let go of the negative thoughts, and then I rolled over to face Brooks. He was watching me as I snuggled in beside him. “Want to talk about it?” he said and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“There’s only one thing I want to discuss?”
“Tell me.”
I leaned up and pulled my tank top off. Then I pushed his body so he was on his back. “I’m sorry,” I said and straddled him.
He placed his hands on my hips. “For what, baby?”
“My head takes me to dark places lately. My family creates emotions that I wish could be avoided.” I hopped off him for a moment and removed my shorts and panties. Then I quickly hopped back into place and bent to kiss him.
“Charlie, I knew what I signed up for when I met you.”
“You didn’t sign up to deal with a head case.”
“Sunshine, you are not a head case.” He curled his hand around my neck and brought me closer. “We can visit a hospital full of head cases if that would help.”
“Let’s not and say we did.” I touched my forehead to his and then lifted up. “This needs to go.” I laced my fingers around the hem of his T-shirt and inched it up higher. I rubbed my hands over his abs and teased him by placing one finger in the waistband of his shorts. Suddenl
y, my body was flying through the air, and I was on my back.
“That can be arranged.” He threw off his shirt and pushed his body to the side to kick off his shorts.
“Brooks.”
“Yes.”
“Think we are making the right choice by going to that bar?” I rubbed my hands up and down his chest.
“I don’t know.” He inched lower and moved his body in between my legs. “We’re fighters sure, but not street fighters. It’s not our job to cause harm to innocent people.”
“Wait?” I placed my hands on either side of his face. “If this is a drop-off location for Hill Enterprise, none of the individuals in that building have an innocent bone in their body.”
He placed his hand over my breasts and squeezed, causing my body to buck up. “Hey, let’s discuss who’s innocent and who needs to have the shit kicked out of them later.” Then he bent and took one nipple in his mouth and sucked hard.
I missed this. The way he made me feel.
“More,” I cried out. “Harder.” He bit down, causing the pain to shoot to my core. I reached down and started to stroke his hard length, loving how he felt in my hand. Brooks lifted up and stopped. He just stared at me for the longest moment. “What are you thinking?”
“Just how happy you make me feel.”
I lightly squeezed his balls. “Yeah, do I?”
He flashed that sexy smirk that made my insides squirm. “I won’t last long if you keep that up.”
“We have all night.” I positioned my butt and let the tip of him just barely touch my most sensitive spot. “I miss you inside me.” He didn’t hesitate. One second he was teasing my core, and the next he was plunging deep inside me. “Fuck. Yes.”
He moved back and forth slowly. Then he increased his pace and at the same time bent to capture my lips. I felt hungry for more and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer. We both looked like we were grappling on the bed, fighting for the perfect position.
“Brooks, faster.” I could feel every part of my body ignite, and then suddenly I was being taken over the edge. He didn’t stop which caused every nerve ending to go into overdrive. The feelings running through my body as he continued to plunge deep inside me were almost overwhelming and yet still completely erotic. When he cried out my name and slowed his pace, I felt sad. “More,” I whispered beside his ear. I thought he would protest, but he didn’t. Instead, he shocked me by sliding down my body. “Brooks, wait. What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted more.”
“But…” I knew I sounded confused. “You just came inside me.”
“Yeah, so.” He brushed his tongue over my clitoris. “What my baby wants, she will always get.” Then he bent his head and answered my demands.
I wasn’t prepared for the feelings coursing through my body. I wanted to stop him because the feelings were so intense, but then he would do this swirl motion with his tongue. Somehow this man had a gift. He was able to do what no man before him could do: make me come twice without a rest session in between.
It took me a few minutes to recover. I lifted up on my elbows and looked down at his shit-eating grin. “You feel pretty proud of yourself, don’t you?”
“Just a little.” He lifted up and moved to position his body behind mine.
“Brooks.” I pulled his arms closer and snuggled my behind against his already hard erection. “Can I tell you I love you yet?”
He turned my body to face him. “What? Why couldn’t you tell me before?”
“I was afraid. I mean, what if something happened to us after professing our love.”
“Sunshine, I knew the moment I met you.”
“Knew what?”
“That you were the one.”
All the years in my father’s house seemed to make sense now. My determination to be a fighter had a purpose. There was a reason for everything in life. Sometimes it didn’t make sense and you had to weed through the bullshit to find the answer. I placed my palm on the side of his face and knew what I wanted. I wanted to let go of the negative in my past and fight to win that damn championship belt.
And do it all with Brooks by my side.
25
“Turn your foot out,” Brooks yelled from the side of the ring. “This is basic stuff, Charlie. You should know this shit.”
I was bouncing back and forth on the balls of my feet, gearing up for the move. The moment Brooks started yelling, I stopped and turned to face him. I noticed Tyler slap his brother on the back and quickly walk away.
Instead of saying anything, I pointed my index finger in Brooks’s direction and then moved it, indicating for him to come here. When he stepped up beside me, I didn’t hesitate; I performed the cut kick on him, causing him to drop to the floor. “What the fuck was that about?” He was now on his knees, looking up at me.
“Don’t talk down to me.”
“I wasn’t,” he said and stood up. He lifted his hands in front his body, probably worried I would kick him again.
I dropped my hands to the side. “Brooks, you know how much I care about you, right?”
“Well, I’m questioning that right now.” He was still protecting his body with his hands.
“When you say, this is basic stuff and I should know this shit, how do you think that makes me feel?”
“I’m not your father, Charlie.” He stepped forward and grabbed my hand. “I’m here to help you win that belt.”
If Lily was here, she would tell Brooks to get used to my outbursts. Then she would put me in a headlock for accusing Brooks of treating me like my father. I realized at that moment I was the worst. Of course I knew Brooks was trying to help me. I stepped closer to him. “I’m sorry.”
“How can I prove to you that I’m not like your father?”
“You have. It’s me I need to work on.” The moment I dropped my head, he placed his finger under my chin and lifted it up. “What?”
“Should we have a stop word to help when this happens?” He circled his hand around my neck and tugged me closer.
“Or better yet, just sucker punch me.”
“I do it all the time,” Lily said, stepping into the ring. I noticed how she was gearing up to punch me.
“And you fail every time.” I laughed and turned my foot out one hundred and eighty degrees, preparing to perform the cut kick. “Which is why you should think of a new plan.” Then I lifted my other leg and delivered the perfect kick right above her knee.
Lily leaped back. “You’re evil.”
“Just proving to Brooks I know how to perform the kick just fine.”
“He doubted you?” Lily turned at the same time as I did to face the man in question.
“What? I never said I doubted you.” He had his hands up in surrender.
Just as Lily and I were about to advance on Brooks, my eyes caught sight of someone. A man. “Who’s that?” I whispered and turned toward him.
“Well, make it obvious you’re looking at him, C.” Lily laughed and turned my body away.
Brooks stood there for several moments, and then he jumped down from the ring and walked over to the guy.
“Think he knows him?”
“Sure looks that way.” I placed my hands on my hips.
I watched as Brooks’s face changed a few shades of red. “Somebody grab me some popcorn.” Right as I said that, Julian stepped in between the mystery guy and Brooks. “This seems bad.” Right before the guy left the gym, he turned in my direction and stared at me for the longest time. “Who the hell was that?”
“Let’s go find out,” Lily said and jumped down from the ring.
“Brooks,” I said and lightly touched his shoulder. He surprised me by pulling my body close. “What am I missing?”
“Nothing,” he said and kissed the top of my head.
I knew the answer nothing always meant something, so I placed my palms on his chest and pushed him away. “Do you plan to build our relationship on lies?”
“What?
No.”
“Really?” I pointed toward the door. “He looked at me before leaving. Who the fuck is he then?”
He let out a deep sigh. “Let’s go into Julian’s office.”
“And you plan to tell me everything there?”
“Yes, I promise.”
Julian, Lily, Brooks, and I piled into the office when I noticed Jackson enter the gym. “Hey, bro, come join us.” I looked over at Brooks. “I mean, I assume that’s okay.”
“Of course, he needs to hear, too.”
Lily and I sat in the two chairs available by the desk, and I turned my body toward Brooks. “I’m guessing you remember him somehow?”
“Charlie, he was standing behind Mason after we escaped the house.”
“Are you sure about that? I thought the cops found everyone involved in that mess.”
Brooks knelt down and grabbed my hands. “He’s the one that shot you in the leg.”
“How the hell do you remember him?” I rubbed my fingers over my temples. Whenever I got a little too excited, my head would threaten to make my life hell for a few days. “Why can’t I remember the asshole?”
“He shaved his head and grew a mustache.”
I stood up and pulled a Lily move by pacing the room. “Wait.” I stopped to face Brooks. “I joked about a mole at the gym when we were in that shit-hole room together. Is that him? Please tell me no.” A part of me wanted to be wrong, but then if I was right, maybe we could get some answers.
“I don’t know. We will have to check our security camera footage.”
“Let me go talk to Tyler,” Julian said and left the room.
“Yeah, I never worked with him,” Brooks said and leaned against the desk. “He does look different, but I will never forget those eyes.”
“So what now?” I sat back down in the chair. “If he wasn’t a mole before, he was attempting to become one today.” Jackson was standing by the door, staying silent. “Any thoughts over there, bro?”
