by Tia Lewis
“And if it doesn’t?”
He chuckled. “Then we will keep trying. After all, it’s our favorite thing to do.”
My expression softened, and I reached for him, his arms crushing me against him. “I love you.”
He kissed the side of my neck lightly. “I love you, too. God woman you have no idea how much.”
I snuggled against his chest, my heart feeling complete. This was what I wanted, a loving man at my side. I didn’t care about his past; I just wanted to be his future.
“Are you sure you can live like this?” he asked, his words rumbling against my ear. “I’m not going to be able to provide you what you are used to, but you won’t want for anything.”
I looked up, touching his chin as tears gathered in my eyes. “I don’t need anything but you, Paul. That’s enough for me.” I didn’t need any money, fancy lifestyles, or the perfect relationship. I just needed him to be at my side, cheering me on through life. It was all I had ever dreamed of.
31
Paul
I walked up to the bar, surprised at the nervous jitters I was feeling inside. It had been a week since the fight, a week since Sarah had moved into my life and taken root there. I was fucking over the moon about my life right now, but there was still one thing left to do, one thing that I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied until I closed (or opened) that chapter.
I walked inside and looked around, spying Jack sitting at a table, a beer in front of him. It was time for me to find out what my half brother was really like, that is if he was my half brother at all. “Hey,” I said, sitting down at the table and signaling for the waitress. “I’m gathering you got it.”
Jack tapped on the white envelope on the table and my anxiety went up a notch. It had been Jack’s idea to get the DNA testing done, contacting me two days after the fight. I really didn’t give a shit about proving who my father was. I wanted nothing from him, but I could understand Jack’s need to know. He was an only child and I imagined the shock of having a sibling was eating him up inside. So I had consented and now the results are in. “You know,” Jack was saying. “This doesn’t prove anything. I will still call you my brother.”
I nodded. “Hell I would be honored.” Sarah had talked about how close she and Jack were anyway so he was going to be part of the family regardless.
The waitress came over and I ordered a whiskey, wanting something stronger than a beer tonight. “Before you open it, tell me about your father.”
Jack’s grin was quick. “He’s an asshole, always cared about the money and status and less about my mother and me. The only reason he’s letting me run things over here is so that he doesn’t have to deal with me.”
I rolled my shoulders. “Did you, I mean did you have a good childhood?”
Jack shrugged as the waitress brought my drink, setting it down on the table before me with a smile before walking away. “I mean he didn’t beat me or anything if that is what you are asking. He just wasn’t there.”
I picked up my glass and threw it back, letting the warm contents burn a trail down to my belly. So much for the thought of a doting son or caring father. I was better off not to even know the bastard then.
Jack picked up the envelope and slid it to me. “I’m gonna give you a choice Paul. We can either burn the damn thing and never know or we can open it and then get fucking wasted regardless of the results.”
“I vote for number two,” I said, picking up the envelope. “Let’s just get the shit over with.”
Swallowing hard, I tore open the envelope and extracted the paper, unfolding it. Well hell.
“What does it say?” he asked, anxiety in his voice.
I flipped it around, a grin my face. “Looks like I have gained another brother.”
Two weeks later we stood in the hospital room, watching as the doctor examined Matt. He was now four treatments in and the preliminary lab work was back. All of us were worried, hoping that the treatment was going to work because there was nothing left to try. This was the last ditch effort to rid his body of cancer or at least send it into remission. I hadn’t slept the night before, Sarah staying up with me for much of the night, holding my hand and just being there. The last two weeks with her had changed my life, making me realize that I had missed a huge void in my life until she had stepped in it. I loved her more than anything and took the opportunity to tell her at every turn to the point where she was charging me for every time I said it now. Hell, I didn’t care.
We were staying at her house, only because we had more room there and it had been my idea. I wanted her to be comfortable. I was slowly getting used to the fact that money wasn’t an issue any longer, already looking into some options to contribute for the future. While I had my part in the gym, it wasn’t enough to sustain a future with Sarah and I had contemplated selling it to one of the other guys. I loved it, but it couldn’t be my future. My future was with the woman at my side. I loved her more than anything.
But she wasn’t my only change in my life. I had, at her urging, reached out to Jack and set up a night of pool and beer for this week. I had come to realize it wasn’t his fault that our father was a bastard, but it didn’t mean that he was. He seemed to be interested in learning about me, and I hated to admit that I was a little curious about him myself. I wasn’t ready to tell Matt or Ma yet, but I figured they had a right to know eventually as well. Our family had just grown by leaps and bounds, and I found it funny how much my life had changed in the last month.
“Well,” Dr. Gaines said as he put his stethoscope back around his neck. “Everything is looking real good. Lab work came back, and his levels are down, which means the treatment is working.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding as Sarah squeezed my hand. It was working.
“We still have a long way to go,” the doc continued, reminding us of the road ahead. “But he’s had no reactions to the medication, so I don’t see why he can’t continue in the trial.”
“Thank you, doctor,” Ma said, squeezing his hand before wrapping him into a hug. The doctor gave her a light pat on the back before shaking my hand, giving us all a little wave as he exited the room.
“It’s working,” Matt said, looking up at me. “That’s good, right?”
“That’s great news,” I said, ruffling his hair. “You’ll be back to being a pest before you know it.”
He stuck out his tongue, and I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in quite some time. Everything was falling into place now. I said goodbye to him and Ma before we walked out into the hallway, where Sarah threw her arms around me. “It’s working.”
I gripped her tightly. “Thanks to you. You saved my brother’s life, Sarah.”
She pulled back and gave me a grin. “I just provided the funds.”
I touched her cheek with my finger. “No, you saved his life. Even after I was such an ass. I’ll spend forever making this up to you.”
She blushed and kissed my jaw. “I can think of a few ways that you can start.”
Epilogue
Paul
Six Months Later…
I watched as Sarah walked up to the podium, grinning from ear to ear as she started her speech. I could tell that she was nervous, but it was only because I had listened to her speech ten times last night. Now, her hand slightly trembled as she held the paper, looking out over the crowd. Today was a big day for her, for both of us, and more importantly for her family’s charity foundation.
“Today we start a new venture in the realm of charity foundations,” she started, her voice crystal clear. “We have spent countless hours raising money, writing checks but is it enough? Are we making any connections with those that we provide funds to? The Gilden charity foundation is excited to add a new layer and providing a series of camps for children with long-term illnesses or those that have lost a loved one in a violent way. Today, I am proud to announce we will have our first round of camps starting this summer and will be free of charge to any child that q
ualifies. We hope that this will provide lasting friendships for these precious kids.”
Sarah continued with her speech as I sat there like a proud boyfriend, eager to get this started. The idea had formed from my brother actually, after he had finished his treatments. He had wanted to start training with me at the gym, and after talking with the guys, we had decided to hold a summer camp for kids to ease them into the world of MMA fighting. A subset of that group would be the kids that Sarah was talking about right now, and she wanted me to head up the program. Turns out I was better at it than I thought I was and had gotten camps started with Hannah’s bakery and Julia’s restaurant. I suspected after today, we would have more people jump on board with this worthy cause.
Sarah finished her speech, and the applause was thunderous as she turned toward me, a grin on her face as she made her way back to her chair, her growing stomach outlined by the cut of her dress. My heart swelled with pride, knowing that our kid was growing inside. When she had first told me that she was pregnant, I had freaked out. A kid? Me? But I wasn’t cut out to be a father. I wasn’t the right person to have that responsibility. It had taken some sleepless nights and a few conversations with Sarah to realize that she had the same feelings about herself and that we would get through it together. Now, I couldn’t wait to see our kid. I was going to give him or her everything I could within my power, show them that there was nothing more important than my love. I sounded like a complete douche even to myself, but that was Sarah’s doing.
She sat down, and I reached over, grabbing her hand just to touch her. “Good job. You hit all the points.”
She looked over at me, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Really? You think they are on board?”
I looked at her father at the podium now, throwing his support behind the program. “I think they won’t have much of a choice, but if they aren’t, we’ll just do our best.”
She nodded, looking over the crowd. It was a mix of board members, city officials, and top contributors to the foundation, a tough crowd by any means. “You fucking nailed it.”
Squeezing my hand, she rested the other on her stomach. I swallowed as I watched the simple gesture, knowing I was damn lucky to have her and that kid. She had turned my life around, given me things in terms of love and support that I didn’t know I was living without.
The speech ended, and the entire room stood, clapping enthusiastically. We had it in the bag. I helped her down off the stage and back into the small entry room, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Now the fun begins,” she joked as she touched my face.
“I’m so proud of you,” I said, framing her face with my hands. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said softly, pressing her lips against mine.
I reveled in her soft kiss; my pulse was pounding in my ears. Now was the time. I had waited long enough, attempting to find the right time, yet I never could. Until now. Suddenly my mouth was dry, worry settling in. I couldn’t screw this up. This was what every woman dreamed about. It wasn’t about her not saying yes, it was more along the lines of me doing or saying something stupid to ruin the damn thing. So, in the end, I stuck to the basics. “Marry me, Sarah.”
Her mouth rounded and her eyes widened as she looked at me, surprise in her depths. “W-what?”
I cleared my throat and dropped to one knee, pulling out the ring I had kept in my pocket for the last month. I had opened the door, now time to follow through with my words. “I love you more than anything in this world. My damn day rises and sets with you, and I can’t imagine not having you in my life. Marry me.” They flowed out of my like I had practiced them and I knew they came from the heart. I looked forward to the morning, so I could see her curled up next to me, our kid growing in her belly and reminding me I was about to have a family of my own. At night, I had her sighing and kissing me, falling asleep in each other’s arms with our dreams filled with each other. I loved her.
Tears glittered in her eyes as she pulled me up to her, throwing her arms around my neck. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you, Paul.”
I squeezed her gently, the room breaking out into applause and cheers as I pulled back and slid the small diamond onto her finger, making this official. “I love you,” she said softly as I leaned down for a kiss. “I can’t believe this.”
I rested my forehead against hers, drawing from her strength. “Believe it, darling.” I had gone through a lot of things in my life, dealt with shit that people couldn’t even imagine, but if this were the prize at the end, I would do it all over again. This was worth waiting for.
Epilogue
Matt
I clapped along with the crowd as I watched my brother Paulie get engaged to Sarah, thinking it was about durn time he did so. I was starting to think I was gonna have to give her the ring myself. I still remember the day he picked me up and told me we were gonna go ring shopping. I liked Sarah. She was the reason I got treatments for my cancer that had put me in partial remission and allow me to play football next season at high school. No more treatments for me right now.
Plus, she made Paulie happy and Paulie hadn’t been happy in a long time. He was so wrapped up in doing things for me and ma that he forgot to live his life as well. Now he was gonna get a shot at doing so with Sarah.
Besides, there was a new baby on the way. I couldn’t wait. Be an uncle? Heck yeah I was excited. Paulie had already told me I could come to Sarah’s house whenever I liked and that he wanted me to help out at the camps they had just announced. Sarah had even said it could be my summer job. Money in my pocket, that was what I was talking about. Just kidding. I wanted to help kids like me enjoy life even with diseases like cancer. We aren’t fragile or contagious. We just wanted to be regular kids.
I looked next to me at Ma, who had tears in her eyes as she watched Paulie kiss Sarah. I knew she was happy for Paulie too. We had even started to do more stuff together, like go to movies and Sarah had found us an apartment in a better neighborhood. She had actually offered to buy us a house, but ma had told her no. I knew why. Though she let Paulie take care of us all them years, she wasn’t no moocher. Instead ma got a job at a local office, doing reception work. I don’t know why she waited so long to do so, but hey I wasn’t old enough yet. I think Ma is happy about Sarah. She talks about her nonstop when we don’t see her, how good she is for Paulie.
And me? I liked Sarah. I couldn’t say it enough really. She had been nice to me even when Paulie had screwed up and tried to get rid of her. She paid attention to me, not some kid who has cancer.
Paulie and Sarah looked over at me and I gave him a grin, glad to see smiles on their faces. Things were looking up for our family.
Sneak Peek: Restrained: Warrior Zone Fighters Book 4
Benji
“That’s good. Yes, just like that. No, harder. You want to make them feel the punch.”
I wiped the sweat out of my eyes and punched the pad hard, feeling the smack against my knuckles. Though they were protected by layers of padding, I could feel their soreness. My entire body felt like it had been strung out, muscles aching that I didn’t even know I had. But it was worth it.
“That’s good, take a break.”
I hung my head for a moment, drawing in a painful breath. My trainer, Joey, was working me extra hard tonight, but for good reason. For the first time in my MMA fighting career, I had a title shot. “Geez, man you are fucking killing me.”
“You love it,” Joey grinned as he threw the towel at me. “Take a breather, get some water and we will start on the legs.”
I shot him the middle finger as he walked out of the cage, my body protesting as I attempted to do the same. The gym was quiet, the time approaching midnight and I wanted nothing more than to go home and get in the bed. Collapsing on the bench, I pulled out my water bottle and my phone, checking in on the ballgame I was missing tonight. I was a huge Cubs fan, even holding season tickets, but all the fun things I enjoyed doing had been put on hold during my training. This was
likely my one and only shot, working my way through the heavyweights in short order. By day I ran this joint, my brainchild, but by night I fought my ass off.
The phone was ringing as I flipped it over, answering it. “Hello?”
“Benji Lomns? This is the Chicago police department.”
My breath left my body, thinking that any time the police called at midnight, it couldn’t be good news. “Um, yeah this is he.”
“We need for you to come down to the station.”
“Now?”
“Yes sir, now.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” I hung up and gathered my stuff, throwing my t-shirt over my torso as I stripped off my gloves. What had happened? Was it one of the guys? I didn’t have any family in Chicago. My partners in this gym were my family. Right now we were on baby watch, one of the partners, Paul and his fiancée Sarah expecting their first child any day now. I couldn’t wait to become an uncle. I loved these guys like they were my own brothers, each one of them bringing something to the gym that I hadn’t anticipated.
“Where are you going? Are you already done?”
I looked back at Joey as I zipped up my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. “I gotta go, man. Something has come up.”
He waved me off, and I tore out of the door, hitting the button on my key ring to unlock my sleek, new two-seater roadster. It had been a splurge, but the money from the fights I had raked in had paid for it. For a kid who grew up on the streets of Philly and fought his way to where he was at today, I definitely deserved it. Hopping in the driver seat, I gunned the engine and pulled out onto the street, heading toward the police department. What was going on? Was someone arrested? Maybe that was what it was. Though, I was the last of the guys that did not have a significant other, but I could see some of them not wanting to call their respective wife or fiancée if they had done something as stupid as gotten arrested. That had to be it.
