Reckless Retribution (West Warriors Book 1)

by Gemma Pennington

  Taylor came rushing over to me, with an equally mortified look on her face, mouthing, Oh, my God.

  I couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh, but it soon stopped as I glanced past her and saw trouble coming in from the right. Jake was stomping over in our direction, and he looked pissed off.

  “What the fuck are you doing with my girlfriend?” he shouted at Cam above the music, fists balled by his side and ready for action. This was the most alive I’d ever seen him.

  Taylor shrieked as she ran toward him, pressing her hands into his chest. “Jake, stop! I’m fine. He was just helping.”

  He scowled at her then looked back to Cam.

  “Hey, I just saved her from getting fucking squashed,” Cam spat. He was pissed too.

  This could not be happening. Was I about to witness a mass brawl? Jake was livid and looked like he was about to kill him. Cam would squash him like a bug! Jamie left my side and stood right in front of Jake. He was a good few inches taller and wider than him. I felt the blood drain from my face. This was all my fault. I should have listened to Cam when he told me I would get crushed. He had only done the right thing by getting us out of there, but getting Jake to see that would be a different matter.

  “You got a fucking problem?” Jamie asked him. The way he said it was deathly, and I was feeling more anxious with every passing second. The band had finished their set, and people started to walk by, glancing over at us. I quickly walked over to him, because I felt like I needed to defuse the situation before somebody called security.

  “Jamie, it’s fine.” I curled my hand on his upper arm, which was solid, and tried to pull him back slightly. He didn’t budge or respond to me.

  “Get your hands off him.” My hand was suddenly yanked from him in a deathlike grip.

  “Ouch!” I spun around, holding my wrist where it hurt, to see one of the girls he had been standing with before had appeared from nowhere. Damn girl nearly broke it. She was glaring at me, and I glared right back and took a step toward her.

  “Move!” Jamie turned to her harshly, making both of us jump with fright. She did exactly what she was told and retreated sulkily back to where she came from. I couldn’t believe what she had just done. I was only trying to stop them from fighting.

  Jake’s friends followed behind him, and they looked like they were ready to fight. Mav’s fists were clenched, ready to defend his friend. I was petrified, and Taylor looked white as a ghost.

  “Don’t touch my girlfriend,” Jake shot to Cam, ignoring Jamie right in front of him.

  “Do you wanna make something of this, Jake?” Jamie was badgering him, almost like he wanted to fight. “You and your little friends?” He looked to them all invitingly.

  What was he doing? Why was he saying that? Jake’s friends didn’t do much once they got closer, and Jake backed up from Jamie a little. His eyes were fleeting from Jamie to Cam as if he didn’t know which one to hit first, but I knew he was smarter than to try to throw a punch at either of them—or at least I hoped he was. Cam stood level with Jamie, and they both looked intimidating in front of Jake, who was still standing before them. Some of the people around us began to stay and watch the drama unfolding. We were causing a scene.

  “Take your girl and go,” Cam said gruffly through gritted teeth, his eyes not leaving Jake’s.

  “C’mon.” Jake retreated, pulling Taylor, who meekly followed. His friends, whose glares had never faltered, turned and followed him.

  I released the breath I’d been holding. I just hoped they kept on walking. I quickly turned to Jamie and Cam. “I am so sorry. That was my fault. I should have listened to you back there.” I winced, feeling mortified.

  “It’s not your fault, but he’s a douche.” Cam’s eyes threw daggers at Jake, who was still walking away. He looked like he was having words with Taylor.

  I nodded, fully agreeing. Jake could be a douche; there was no two ways about it, but right now, I was stuck with the douche. Jamie walked back to the bar, standing back with the small group of people they were with, including the girl who yanked my wrist. She started fussing over him, but he ignored her, watching Cam and me instead. I turned my attention back to Cam. “It’s her boyfriend.” I shook my head apologetically. “Thanks for doing what you did though.” I couldn’t imagine what would have happened to us if they hadn’t got us out of there when they did. It was a sea of craziness, and certainly something I didn’t want to experience again.

  “Don’t sweat it. It’s fine.” He smiled genuinely.

  After apologizing yet again, I said goodbye to him and walked back to Taylor, deep in thought about all the drama that had just happened, and what a waste of time it was trying to see the band. We weren’t able to watch them after all. The whole thing had put a dark cloud on what should have been a good day. Although, like the saying ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’, my silver lining was the fact Jamie had just had me over his shoulder, where I got a good eyeful of his pert behind, and he had his hand on my butt. The feeling of his warm hand on my skin was enough to dampen my panties. But judging from the reaction I got from that girl, I knew he was off limits. I snagged Taylor’s hand as I caught up with her. “I knew it was a bad idea coming here.” I let out a loud sigh.

  “Why?” she yelled above the music of another band that had now taken to the stage.

  “We’ve been here three hours, and already we were nearly crushed to death, had our panties shown to the world, Jake almost caused a fight, Jamie’s girlfriend almost broke my wrist, and now the guys think I’m a moron.” I threw my hands up in the air then put them on my hips.

  “First off, he had a right to be pissed. They didn’t need to manhandle us. Secondly, since when have you cared so much about what other people think of you?” She looked tired and upset; the almost fight had taken its toll on her.

  There was truth in what she said though. I had never cared about what people thought about me until now. I was so worried the guys wouldn’t like me. All I wanted to do was make a good impression on them because I was a girl in their all-male club and I didn’t want to feel like an outcast. But was I really going to hurt my friendship with Taylor to do that? I knew that answer right away. Not a chance. “Is Jake still annoyed?” I asked anxiously.

  She nodded and looked glum. “Are those two still angry?”

  “Yeah. They’re like my work friends now, and I didn’t want them thinking I was an idiot that hung around with troublemakers just getting up to no good,” I said honestly.

  “Thanks a lot.” She looked offended.

  Maybe that was too honest to actually tell her to her face. “You know what I mean,” I softened.

  “They didn’t have to pick us up. If they hadn’t done that, Jake would have been fine.”

  I nodded. I knew she was right. But if they hadn’t picked us up, we probably would have gotten hurt, and then worst of all, there would have been no way Jamie would have had his hand on my butt. I smiled to myself. Just thinking about the way he smelt and his hard body beneath mine made me wish he was carrying me off to bed, not just to safety.

  But he has a girlfriend, I reminded myself.

  Taylor bumped into my arm and raised an eyebrow.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’m saying nothing,” she protested, and I’m glad she didn’t follow through with her train of thought.

  “Let’s get another beer,” I suggested. Lord knows we needed one.

  We were lined up for what seemed like an eternity and decided to get two beers each rather than have to stand in line again. We stood back with Jake, and I felt uneasy about everything that had just happened.

  He wasted no time in getting some answers. “How do you know Jamie O’Shea?” He crossed his arms defensively across his chest, the scowl on his face telling me they had a mutual feeling of distaste for each other. I was also surprised he knew his last name when I didn’t even know it. Maybe he knew him from the fighting scene? The way Jamie had reacted to him made me wo
nder if they had beef going on between them. He didn’t even mention Cam’s name, who was the person he actually had the problem with.

  “Through work, why?”

  “Be careful around him.” He shook his head disapprovingly.

  “Why?” I couldn’t help but look at him, confused. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Do you know anything about him?” he asked, before swigging from his Coors Light.

  I shook my head. I didn’t know anything about him. I had literally worked there a week, and he hadn’t uttered a word to me until today, so I hardly knew his life story. I was beginning to wonder whether I wanted to know.

  “He went to school with my older brother. He was always fighting and got himself arrested a ton of times. Got my brother into trouble too, and then all of a sudden he left school and no one saw him for a while. There were rumors he went to juvie.”

  That shocked me. Juvie? What could he have possibly done to land himself there?

  Jake watched me as his information sank in. “He’s hotheaded, and if someone gets on the wrong side of him, he just goes for ‘em.”

  I frowned, remembering how he was with Jake, almost like he wanted a fight. Then something bugged me. “If he’s so hot headed, why would you try to start a fight with him and Cam then?” I asked curiously.

  “Because I don’t like him and I’m not scared of him,” he said, slightly shaking his copper hair.

  I stifled a laugh at that admittance. He wasn’t scared of him? He could hardly look Jamie in the eye. He was scared, all right. “Well, I only work with him.” I shrugged. Yeah, Jamie was quiet and closed off and might have a bit of a temper, but not everybody is happy-go-lucky all the time. But then again, people always say the quiet ones are the worst, and the way he reacted to Jake earlier kind of made sense. Maybe there was some truth to what he was saying. But I didn’t want to think about that. He was just someone I worked with; that was all. Who was I to judge?

  Done with the conversation I walked away from Jake and asked Taylor if she wanted to have another walk around. She nodded, and Jake looked uneasy that we wanted to go off again, but I needed to get away from him. My head was now clouded with unwelcome thoughts. As much as I liked Jamie, the whole bad past thing was something I didn’t need to get involved in. I had enough crap on my plate; I didn’t need more added to it.

  He has a girlfriend anyway, I reminded myself yet again.

  We watched a few more of the bands from a safe distance then decided to call it a night at 9 p.m. We were tired, and we’d had enough drama for one day. We headed back to Jake, who parted from his friends, and we hailed a cab. I was quiet the journey home, trying to work out if there was any truth to what Jake had said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I felt really awkward seeing Cam and Jamie at work after what had happened, and knowing a bit about Jamie's background made feel uneasy around him. If he found out I knew, he would probably kill Jake. I couldn’t see it being something he wanted shared with everyone. I watched him train more than usual today, and I wondered why he was so hot headed if it was true. But I was almost sure he just reacted the way he did because Jake was mouthing off to Cam. Part of me wondered whether Jake was making it up because he didn’t like him and, for whatever reason, felt jealous or intimidated by him. I decided to leave my thoughts there because I had no right to pass judgment on hearsay.

  Luckily, Cam has been fine with me and talked to me like nothing had happened. Jamie had been… well, Jamie. He nodded at me as he came into the gym, so I took that as he was okay with me too.

  Kal came over to the desk, obstructing my view of Jamie where he sat on the bench working on his impressive arms, and informed me that Cam had offered to do my self-defense training. Dread filled me. I really didn’t want one of them doing it. Kal was a gentle old man—well, not old, but he wasn’t a young cage fighter who brutally beat people for a living. I started to worry Cam would accidentally hurt me by being too rough. But I didn’t want to sound ungrateful, so I just thanked him and looked over to Cam, who was at the speed bag repeatedly throwing quick, powerful blows at it, and my stomach tensed. Pushing my worries aside, I carried on printing out the diet sheets I was asked for.

  The guys soon went home to rest, and I cleaned the equipment down while they were gone. Two hours later, they came back and got stuck into training again. Cam approached the desk with a weird look on his face. I frowned, wondering what he wanted.

  “Hey, Lauren, um, I can’t train you after all tonight. I have to pick my sister up from the airport. Is that gonna be a problem?”

  I was actually relieved. “No, it’s fine, honestly.” I could leave work earlier now, and maybe Kal could do it sometime instead.

  He drummed his fingers on the raised desktop then began to look around the room before turning back to me. “I can have a word with Jay and see if he could do it?” he offered.

  I shook my head. That, I was not okay with. “No, I’ll wait ‘til you’re free.” I hoped I didn’t sound too desperate. I really didn’t want to go anywhere near Jamie at the moment. He was quiet and moody, and as Jake said, most likely hotheaded. What if he snapped at me if I got a move wrong? No, it was too much risk. Yes, he was hot with an amazing body, and I got off watching him clean his truck that time, but that was it, as far as it went. I was not interested in him training me. At all.

  He nodded and walked away. Right up to Jamie. I widened my eyes in horror as I watched him. What an ass, after me blatantly telling him no.

  As if on cue, Jamie rolled his eyes, and I was mortified that I was able to see the whole thing, and he obviously didn’t give a damn I was watching.

  Cam walked back over looking somewhat happy with himself.

  “Why the hell did you just do that?” I asked him a bit too harshly, gesturing in Jamie’s direction.

  “I didn’t want you to miss out.” He shrugged, his green eyes soft and warming.

  I couldn’t stay mad at him. “I would rather miss out than spend an hour with misery guts.” I glanced over at Jamie, who was carrying on with his training.

  He laughed. “You’re not happy, he’s not happy, now you both have something in common.”

  “This isn’t funny, Cam.” I shook my head at him.

  “He’s a nice guy, honestly. It’s just a front.”

  “I don’t care.” I turned back to the computer screen.

  “Be ready at five.” He smirked.

  I groaned in displeasure, and he playfully shook his head at me then walked away from the desk. My stomach twisted in anticipation of having to deal with Jamie, and I wondered if I should just cancel it. But knowing how desperate I needed the training, it was more important over my feelings about having to deal with a moody boy.

  Right at 5 p.m, he walked over to me, and I held my breath as he stood before me at the opposite side of the desk.

  “You ready?” he asked, keeping his tone low and quiet. His eye contact with me was brief, like usual.

  I nodded, remembered to breathe, and stood from behind the desk with slightly shaky legs. The walk over to the cage seemed to take a lifetime as I slowly followed him. It was like time stood still. Going into the cage itself felt weird like I was about to fight for my life or something. I looked around the hexagon pit, running my hand along one of the padded yellow intersections, which felt squishy beneath my fingers. Then I ran my hand along the metal wiring encasing it all. It must hurt like hell to be thrown against it.

  He stood watching me curiously, hands on his hips, and a slight frown forming a V between his eyebrows. When I’d finished exploring it, I looked at him, and he was waiting in the center, standing on the West Warriors logo. I walked over to him cautiously, like a lamb going to the slaughter, stopping a yard in front of him. His stance was confident. His golden body was well-built and ready for battle. His closely shaved head and brooding expression all made for a heady combination. Previous thoughts that Jake had put in my head melted away as I stood before him. When ou
r eyes met, my stomach twisted in anticipation. Those were not the feelings I had a minute ago when he approached me. Where had the fear gone? That’s what I was supposed to be feeling.

  “Have you done any martial arts before?” he asked.

  “No,” I said quietly.

  “I’m gonna take you through some Krav Maga.”

  I nodded, taking in what he was saying.

  “There are certain pressure points on the body, weak spots if you like, that could practically bring a man to his knees.”

  A small snort escaped me when he said that. I found it childishly funny. What I wouldn’t give to be able to bring a man to his knees with one touch, jeez!

  He tilted his head to the side slightly, and the look on his face said he was about to walk away. “Look, if you’re not serious about this, I’m not gonna waste my time.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  I dipped my head and instantly composed myself. I apologized to him in the most sincere voice I could, looking up at him through my lashes, scared I was in trouble.

  He carried on with his talk. “There are a number of different pressure points on the body….”

  He started to name them, but I got lost again drinking in his good looks. I knew the features of the other three guys by heart now, but he always stayed the farthest away, so I was never really able to get a close look at him. Except at MusicFest, but that was neither the time nor the place to be blatantly staring at him. His eyes were a lovely deep chocolate brown, framed by short, dark lashes. His nose was perfect—well, perfect for a fighter. It wasn’t bent or broken. His jawline was very angular, and his lips were set into a heart shape. His bottom lip was plump, and the way he held it sometimes made him look like he was pouting. He was clean-shaven, which I loved. His skin looked silky smooth—