Chapter 4
Aaron hit the heavy bag, circling it around and around between jabs and hard right hands. He threw in the occasional front kick and a spinning back kick, plowing through the bag and his imaginary opponent. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, his body covered with sweat, and his mind was focused solely on the task at hand. He had to destroy this opponent or it was going to destroy him.
With a spinning back fist he knocked the heavy bag so it recoiled high in the air and slammed down towards the ground on its chain, where it bobbed and weaved as the vibrations tapered out of it.
Aaron leaned against the bag and rested a few minutes. He felt like he was about to drop. He wasn’t sure how long he had been at it, but his workout had gone far beyond even his physical fitness level. Even though he didn’t get to hop in the ring anymore and fight he still demanded himself to be in top physical condition. He was still a fighter. He was just retired.
That was how he liked to think of it. He loved coaching and being a trainer. He loved running his own gym his way and teaching the techniques of the sport to the younger generation so he could help them avoid the pitfalls that he had fallen into a time or two on the way up as a young fighter.
He took off his gloves, grabbed his water jug, and emptied it into his mouth. The cold water was so refreshing after a hard workout. He had a problem of remembering to stay hydrated at times. He would have to make sure he drank a bunch of water and Gatorade that night to compensate for it.
In the shower, while surrendering himself to the soothing warmth of the water spraying over his body, he thought about why he had pushed himself so hard today. There was a definite limit to what he could do and what he wanted to do, and he had crossed it. He had trained as if he was fighting again and had a match coming up.
He found himself actually thinking about Shelby. She was amazing. Ever since he had told her about himself, his past, and his career he had been on this adrenaline high that was causing him to push himself harder than his capabilities might allow. Last night he had woken up with a vicious shoulder cramp and almost passed out because the electrolytes in his body had not been replaced. When this happened his injury acted up. And he had been going all out on the heavy bag, allowing the momentum from his punches to vibrate back into his arm and up into his shoulder. It was hurting so bad the past couple of mornings so he’d had to ice it all morning. But here he was at it again. Maybe he was crazy.
He suddenly felt a pair of hands around his waist. He jerked quickly almost knocking the person to the ground. Had they not belonged to another fighter they would have fallen quickly.
Chelsea Ford jumped back out of his way as he twirled towards her, almost colliding with her chest. He realized it was her instantly and reached out to grab her to make sure she didn’t fall, but his assistance was not needed. She was already steady and out of his reach, except for her large, firm breasts.
“Whoa, what’s got you so jumpy?” Chelsea said. Chelsea was one of the top female fighters in her circuit. She was sexy and dangerous in the ring. Aaron had fallen quickly for her, but when he found out she cheated on him with another fighter—one of his students, no less—he had dumped her hard and fast. That was one thing he never could abide; he could not stand cheaters in any way. He figured if the person cheated on you once then they would cheat on you again.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Aaron asked. He was angered to see her and he was angry that she had almost caused him to accidentally knock her on her ass.
“I came to see you, handsome.”
“You never give up do you? When are you going to get it through your thick skull that no means no? We are done. End of story.”
“Oh, it’s cute that you think that.”
“You are unbelievable,” Aaron said.
“I know. You’ve told me that after many wonderful nights in bed,” Chelsea said. She reached forward and began to stroke his penis.
He was momentarily distracted by his growing erection, but quickly came to his senses and slapped her hand away.
“Grow up!”
Aaron turned off the shower and stormed out towards the locker room.
“Come on, I barely touched you and it’s ready to go. You can’t tell me that you don’t still want me.”
“We had something great. I loved you and you ripped my heart out. I will never forgive you for that. We will never be together again.”
“Oh, that’s such a shame. One little mistake—“
“One little mistake? When people are together that means they are together. It is a commitment to each other. That is something you obviously still don’t understand anything about.”
“You always were the little drama queen,” Chelsea said.
“Whatever. Why don’t you get lost?” Aaron finished putting on his clothes, grabbed his keys and started heading for the door.
Chelsea rushed ahead and jumped in front of him, blocking the door.
“Get out of my way.”
“Oh, you can’t leave now. I know you still want me. You don’t just throw me aside. I don’t know who the hell you think I am.”
“You cheated on me. This is all your fault. Besides, I’m with someone else now.”
A look of anger crossed Chelsea’s face and he smiled at the sight. It was about time this bitch showed her true colors.
“Oh, is that so?” Chelsea said.
“Yes, now move.” Aaron forged ahead and Chelsea stepped out of his way.
As he walked to his truck he didn’t want to look back, but he couldn’t resist.
He wished he hadn’t because he saw Chelsea standing there with the most evil expression on her face he’d ever seen on somebody. It sent chills down his spine.
That girl was crazier than he even realized.
Chapter 5
Shelby was about two hours into her morning writing stretch when her phone buzzed with an email notification. She normally turned her cell phone off during the blocks of time she had marked off for writing. She had to immerse herself in a bubble of total silence before she could really focus on the work she had to do. She wasn’t even able to have any music playing at that time. She had tried music because she had read it helped some artists and writers get into the creative spirit, but it made her want to get out of her chair and sing along with her favorite songs. She had decided very quickly that she would have to have total silence and no distractions to do her work effectively.
She was stunned out of her writing mode by the sound of the phone and she instantly scolded herself. She had been right in the middle of a great scene and being interrupted was the most annoying thing she could possibly think up right at that moment. She wanted to punch a wall for a brief second. But she needed her hands to write, so she just gritted her teeth—that damage was already probably done—and checked the message.
It was an email from someone she didn’t recognize. Normally she would just chalk it up to spam and delete it, but the subject line read: Aaron Davis Sex Tape. Her heart caught in her chest. What the hell was this? It had to be some sort of a sick joke. Who would do this?
She realized that she still hadn’t opened up the video yet. Was she that afraid of what she would find? Was Aaron cheating on her? Could she even call it cheating yet? After the sweet day in the park they had gone on several other dates, including last week when they had visited the Grand Canyon and then hopped over to see the Hoover Dam. After that they spent a day and a night in Vegas.
Aaron had been a perfect gentleman, even suggesting they get separate rooms, but Shelby wasn’t having that. You don’t take a girl to Vegas after a romantic couple of days and expect to get separate rooms. Aaron had been quite surprised that she had suggested it.
They had made love for the first time together in that Vegas hotel room. It had been sweet and romantic. The way their bodies moved together creating a perfect poetry of expressive lust that was the thing Hollywood romance movies tried to capture. It had been the most intense nig
ht of her life. Aaron just knew where to touch her and how to touch her, as if he had read a book on everything she liked. He had even done some things to her that she had never known she liked.
Shelby had not thought about it that much, but she realized right then and there that she was falling in love with Aaron Davis and if this video showed him cheating on her, then she might have fallen apart right then.
She took a deep breath and just pushed play.
The video began. It was worse than she had expected. It showed Aaron and some hot girl in the midst of a passionate sexual encounter. Aaron was on top of the girl and he was riding her doggy style.
In the lower left hand corner of the video it showed the date. It was the night after they had returned from Vegas.
Shelby turned it off and allowed the tears to well up in her eyes. She felt a piercing, stabbing pain deep in her chest, right over her heart. It felt like she couldn’t breathe and she thought she might be having a heart attack, or at the very least an intense panic attack.
She stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. She chugged it hard and sat down at the table to allow the pain to pass by. It slowly started to and she felt her breathing return to normal. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing, just allowing the hyperventilation to go away.
It was over with Aaron. He had betrayed her just when she was starting to feel close to him. She had opened herself up and let him into her heart despite all of her misgivings and hesitations, and the worst had happened.
He was supposed to pick her up for their dinner date that night. She knew what she had to do.
Shelby picked up the phone and forwarded the email to him. She added a text line to the body.
Hope you had fun with your whore. We are done.
Shelby walked into her living room, sat down on her couch, and cried until she passed out.
The knock at her door woke her up. Darkness consumed her as she tried to get her eyes to focus. The only light she could make out was the glow of the digital clock on the front display of her cable box.
She moaned as her body moved, feeling the bones in her back crack and pop as the joints came to life. She had not slept that good in a long time.
“Shelby! Open up, we have to talk.”
Shelby turned on the light in the living room, and winced as her eyes adjusted.
“Go away. There is nothing to talk about.”
“Shelby. This is a lie. I did not cheat on you.”
Shelby opened the door so she could look Aaron in the face.
“Really? You are going to stand there and lie to me. I saw the video. It’s right there plain as day.”
“This woman is my ex- girlfriend. She is unbalanced. She cheated on me and I broke up with her, but she won’t take no for an answer. This video is fake.”
“Give me a break. That is clearly you and her in the video.”
“Yes. It is me and it is her, but the date is completely wrong. It is from six months ago.”
“How can I know that? I want to believe you, but I just can’t. How can you expect me to believe that story?”
“I can prove it.”
Shelby looked at him incredulously.
“How?”
Aaron pointed to his ankle. It was bare except for a barbed wire tattoo.
“So? What about your ankle?”
“I didn’t have the tattoo in this video. This is my newest tat. I got it two months ago. Apparently, Chelsea doesn’t pay attention to detail. She is just trying to break us up. She still thinks I’ll take her back.”
Aaron held up his phone. It showed the paused video of him and Chelsea having sex where his ankle is clearly visible, with no tattoo. He was telling the truth.
Shelby burst into tears, lurched forward, and wrapped her arms around Aaron’s neck, pulling him close.
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok, baby. You had every right to think that, but I promise you that I am not a cheater and I would never do anything to hurt you or betray your trust. I love you Shelby Wilkes.”
Shelby pulled back a second and looked him dead in the eyes. She could see that he really meant every word of what he said. There was nothing hiding behind those perfect eyes of his.
“I love you, too.”
The words echoed in the calm air of the dark night and hung there, repeating in her ears. She had heard those words spoken before, but she had never believed that they were true until just now. The cadence and timing in his voice, and the emotion behind the words, as well as the truth gleaming from his eyes told her all she needed to know. He really meant those words when he said them.
She leaned against him and let her tears continue to fall as the emotional outburst slowly started to subside, returning her to a normal state of being.
Chapter 6
Six months later
She is so amazing, Aaron thought as he saw his beautiful bride walking down the aisle. He was completely enamored with the way she was basically glowing in the light of the beautiful, old church that was packed with close friends and family. He never really thought that this day was going to come. It was one of those things he had longed for and wished for, but he had just about given up hope on the search when Shelby walked into his life. He supposed he should thank Carly, his beloved lab for introducing them. He had wished she could have been here. It was weird to have a dog at a wedding, but stranger things had definitely happened. In the end he was outvoted. He smiled at the thought.
Shelby looked so beautiful in her wedding dress and he had to fight the tears that were threatening to roll down his face. He had never been happy enough to cry before and it was a surreal experience for him, but the event unfolding before his very eyes was something that he was not equipped to handle. As she came closer to him-- a beautiful, sweet smile on her face—he found himself replaying the events of the past several months over in his head.
After the fiasco with the sex tape that Chelsea had sent to Shelby, he had confronted her. Chelsea had been a little pissed that she had neglected such a vital piece of evidence in her trickery, but she had laughed the whole thing off. Too bad for Chelsea that she was set to fight one of his friends in an upcoming match.
Vanessa Daniels was a top ranked female MMA fighter that Aaron had known for years. They had never been anything romantic, because their relationship felt almost like brother/sister. She truly was the little sister that he never actually had. When Vanessa heard about what Chelsea did she made it a point to punish her in the ring. It was a brutal beat down of a fight, with Chelsea enduring a career ending busted knee.
Aaron had not asked Vanessa to do that and he had actually felt pretty bad that it had happened, but Vanessa was very protective of him when it came to women and she had gone out of her way to make sure that Chelsea paid for what she did.
He looked over at Vanessa and smiled. She smiled back with pride. She had loved Shelby from the moment she met her and the two had become fast friends, which was very important to Aaron. He did not have that many truly close friends, but Vanessa was one of them.
Shelby reached the end of the aisle and was now standing in front of him. He reached up and grabbed her hand gently, taking it in his and watching her small hand disappear in his large grip. She smiled that amazing warm smile at him and he felt the first tear roll out of the corner of his eye. He smiled as a wave of relief fell over him.
It was the type of relief one feels when you realize that what you have so desperately wanted and longed for has finally arrived and it is even more spectacular than you thought it could be. Shelby’s face lit up even more when she saw the tear stream down his face.
As the minister spoke Aaron blocked out most of what was said. He was too caught up in looking into Shelby’s eyes and the amazing times they’d enjoyed together over the past six months and the wonderful times that were surely to come in the future for them.
That night they would be heading towards their hon
eymoon destination—The Bahamas. Aaron had always wanted to go there and so had Shelby. Aaron had travelled fairly extensively during his fighting career, but he had not gone outside of the country except for a few fights in Mexico and Canada. He had never travelled anywhere exotic, and he was looking forward to a great getaway with the love of his life.
The hardest thing for him and Shelby was going to be letting go of work, but he was proud of Shelby. She had worked extra hard to get caught up with all of her clients so she could take the week off for their honeymoon vacation. He admired the way Shelby worked so hard at something she was passionate about. She was so determined in everything she did and he knew there was nothing out of that woman’s grasp if she wanted it. It was great how they could just immerse themselves in their work and not see or talk to each other for hours on end, and when they came together it was like they had not even been apart.
If someone had sat him down and explained to him when he was younger that this is what love was supposed to feel like then he wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to make it happen, and he wouldn’t have wasted so much time and made so many mistakes with women who were obviously not right for him.
But he guessed it was all for the best. Everything he had done and everything he hadn’t done or achieved had all brought him here today. He thought about all of the what ifs in his life and how each decision—no matter how big or small—had altered his life in some beautiful way to carefully bring him to this moment at this time. It was all so perfect. He was not a deeply religious man, but at times like this he had to believe something higher than him was behind the wheel.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to unite Aaron and Shelby, two pure souls who have found each other according to God’s beautiful plan. At a time like this we are reminded of what it means for two people to unite themselves together and to make a pact—an eternal commitment—to each other before all of us and before God.”
Kane (Alexander Shifter Brothers Book 1) Page 37
