“You’re hugging me again,” he whispered huskily into my ear, sending shivers through me. Within a nanosecond, he had me on my back, and I let out a shriek mid-fall. This time, he was down on the floor with me, lying on his side and grinning like an idiot. My side stung from the impact, but I ignored it. I lay still, staring at the ceiling, regaining my breath from the shock. When I looked over at him, he was watching me, and his amused expression slowly disappeared. His eyes left mine and glanced down to my mouth before he met my eyes again, making my insides squirm. Mirroring him, I looked at his lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss him because I was getting an overwhelming urge to do so. I was beginning to find him more and more irresistible, and with the looks he gave me sometimes, it felt like my feelings were returned, only I couldn’t be too sure, because I couldn’t exactly ask him.
Breaking the moment, he swiftly moved on top of me, holding his weight on his hands and toes, his face inches from mine. “Fight me off.” His voice was nearly a whisper.
I thought about the times he’d given me those gorgeous grins and flirted with me, and I also remembered our hug after he’d won the fight. Did he like me, or was I just imagining it? What I did know was that I didn’t want to fight him off me; it was the total opposite of what I wanted, whether that was appropriate or not. I had to restrain myself really hard not to grab his T-shirt and pull him on top of me. I gave him his answer by gently shaking my head at him.
He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
There was a long pause of silence between us.
“I don’t want to,” I whispered.
“Tell me why,” he prompted again, adjusting his weight. I swore his face was inching closer. He narrowed his eyes at me again, and I could see he was silently questioning me.
But I couldn’t tell him. I don’t think I could deal with the rejection of being the silly girl who fell for the unobtainable golden boy.
“Do you like me?” he asked. His expression was serious, and there was no trace of a playful smile to indicate he was teasing me. I couldn’t believe how brazen and direct he was being. Despite being a person who hated being put on the spot, him asking me that outright was a major turn-on. I reached up and clenched the bottom of his T-shirt in my hand, and my heartbeat started thumping in my ears. He looked down at my hand then back at me and swallowed deeply. I willed my hand to drop his shirt, but it wouldn’t let it go. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head like he knew the answer without me even saying it. “You don’t want me,” he breathed. When he opened his eyes, there was certainty in them.
“Why?” I asked him, curious about his statement. I needed to hear it from him, that I couldn’t have him because girls like me don’t get guys like him. I wanted him to tell me now so I could put a stop to my silly crush.
“Are you saying that you do?” he asked, pushing himself farther away from me with his arms. I stared at him, still unable to admit the truth. He bowed his head slightly, and I knew the rejection was coming. “What the fuck?” he hissed suddenly.
When I had time to register what he was cursing at, I batted his hand away from where he was lifting up my shirt, revealing the huge bruise on my side. “Get off,” I snapped, pulling it back down. I tried to get up, but he placed his other hand back at the side of my head and was staring down at me in horror.
“He did this, didn’t he? That’s why you were upset this morning.” Anger laced through his voice.
Needing to get away from him, I struggled against his arms. “Let me go. Please,” I begged. I felt distraught and ashamed that he knew.
He shook his head and I looked away from him. Grabbing my chin, he turned me to face him. “Hey, I’m here if you need anything. You know where I live. I got you, okay?”
Giving him a nod so he would drop his hand, he did just that and I turned away from him. I didn’t need his sympathy or his heroism. I wriggled out of his hold and walked out of the cage as quickly as I could toward the staff break room.
“That was intense. Thought you were gonna make out with her right there,” Marc shouted as I approached the desk. I shot a quizzical glance to him then realized it wasn’t me he was talking to. Jamie was hot on my heels. I walked past the desk and to my locker, opening it to get my things.
“Don’t run,” he pleaded, standing beside me.
“Leave it, please,” I quietly begged him.
“Not when he’s hurting you.”
“You don’t know anything, leave it.” I was mentally drained and had no fight left in me.
He rubbed his hands over his face in anguish. “Please talk to me.”
“I don’t want to talk. Why do you care so much?” I slammed my locker door shut.
He let out a laugh, stunned that I was questioning why he cared that Dad was hitting me. I didn’t bother giving him the time for the ‘we’re friends; I care about you’ crap and walked out past the desk.
“Thanks for covering.” I forced a smiled to Marc.
“Anytime,” he shouted after me.
My shift was over, and I had never been more relieved.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As I sat waiting in Math class, Taylor was a no show. Where are you? I texted her. She was never late, and I started to get the feeling that something was wrong. Thirty minutes after class began, she walked in looking like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were red. I knew that look too well; she’d been crying. She slumped into the seat next to me.
What’s wrong? I mouthed, concerned by how upset she looked.
“I had a fight with Jake and he ended it.” She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with a soggy tissue.
I rubbed her arm sympathetically. “What happened?”
“I heard he was cheating on me, so I confronted him. He denied it, but I didn’t believe him. He said he didn’t want to be with me if I didn’t believe him, so he broke up with me.” She sniffed again.
I tried to be sympathetic, but this happened quite a lot in their relationship. They argued, broke up, and then got back together again. “Who told you he was cheating on you?” I asked suspiciously.
“Some skank down where he lives.”
Jake didn’t live in the best of areas, and Taylor refused to go there, which also caused big problems for them.
“I went down there to find him because I’d not seen or heard from him in days, and the skank was hanging out near his house and told me she’d slept with him last week.”
“Why on earth would you believe her?” I asked. It wasn’t like her to be so naïve to believe some random girl she’d never met. And why was I sticking up for Jake? “You need to sit down and have a real talk with him about it,” I suggested. She nodded solemnly. I hated seeing her like this.
When class was over, I tried to cheer her up and bought us lunch at the local deli before I needed to head to the club for my shift. Taylor’s problems aside, I was having my own boy problems and was dreading seeing Jamie after what happened. I didn’t know if he was going to have more to say. I was worried that he thought I was pathetic for allowing Dad to treat me the way he had, but I had no choice and knew it wouldn’t be forever. Jamie and I were starting to have this pattern of arguing every now and then. First, about him coming to my house unannounced, then it was because of the way he treated Taylor and me at his party, then I punched him at the club, and now this. I’d gone from him keeping his distance and not wanting anything to do with me, to being closer to him than I was with the others.
“What’s wrong?” Taylor nudged me.
“Nothing.” I gave her a breezy shrug.
“You looked pretty deep in thought.”
I let out a small sigh. “I just don’t want to go to work, that’s all.”
“I feel ya.”
I looked at her in disbelief and chuckled. Taylor had been fortunate enough to never work a day in her life thanks to her parents. I cocked an eyebrow at her, and she burst out laughing before pulling me into a hug.<
br />
“Speaking of the club, when can I come down and see it?”
I widened my eyes at what she was asking. “You are not coming down to the club.” I shook my head at her.
“Why?” She frowned.
“Because.”
“Because why?”
“I’m not having you down there, Taylor, and distracting the guys—and me, for that matter.”
“I promise I won’t. Please, just for a half-hour?”
Unable to resist her childlike pout, I closed my eyes and knew I was going to regret what I was about to say. “I’ll think about it when it’s quiet,” I appeased, although I had little intention on doing so.
“Yes!” She jutted her elbow in a downward motion like she’d just scored a goal.
“You’ve cheered up,” I teased.
“Well, you know what they say. A cage fighter a day keeps the doctor away.” She grinned seductively and wiggled her eyebrows.
I burst out laughing at her and she giggled back. I was starting to think there was some truth to that. Since I’d been working at the club, I’d been feeling great, for the most part. Our petulant giggling was beginning to disturb people eating at the surrounding tables, so we gathered our belongings together and Taylor returned to school, while I made my way to work.
When I walked into the club, Kal was sitting talking with the guys. They all greeted me when I walked to the desk, including Jamie. I put my belongings away then grabbed the disinfectant and set about sanitizing the equipment, wiping them down while they sat with Kal. When I finished, I stored the cleaning things away and walked back to the desk. The guys were out front talking, and Kal came out of the break room with his jacket on like he was going somewhere. “Just going to watch my daughter’s school recital,” he beamed. “I’ll be back in an hour. If you need anything, ask one of them.” He pointed to the guys outside.
“Okay,” I replied. He walked out, and I watched him say goodbye to the guys before he got in his car and drove away. Marc and Leon got in their trucks and went off somewhere, leaving Cam and Jamie.
“Do you want us to pick you up any lunch?” Cam shouted through the door to me.
“I’m okay, thanks.” I smiled at the sweet gesture.
“We’ll be back in ten.”
I nodded to them, and then realized I would be completely on my own without any of them here. I’d never been completely alone at work. I tried not to panic. The phone and the customers kept me busy, and before I knew it, Jamie came back in, eating a sandwich, with Cam nowhere to be seen. With a mouthful of food, he gave me a delicious wink as he walked past me into the break room, and I smiled at him while chatting to a customer on the telephone. He came back out carrying a bucket of water, and my insides heated in anticipation of seeing his glorious body.
When the conversation on the telephone ended, I placed the handset down and sat back in my chair with the perfect view of him. Luckily, the double front doors were wedged open to let the hot air inside the club escape. Pulling his white T-shirt over his head, he tucked it into his snug-fitting shorts and wiped his forehead with his arm. Yet again, I couldn’t help staring at his physique, and I couldn’t believe the other day I was standing right in front of him when he lifted his shirt up for me in the cage. I wish I’d ran my hand down his chest while I had the opportunity.
He started soaping up his truck as Imagine Dragons “Demons” blared from his speakers. The band was definitely a favorite of his; their music was all I’d heard him play. The way he rubbed and caressed the truck with the sponge made me want to lie down on the hood and beg him to wash me. Cam’s truck entered the lot and parked near Jamie. Climbing out of it, he said something to Jamie that made him smirk and shake his head in response. They chatted for a while as he continued to wash it, and Cam’s eyes glanced over to the club door.
I lowered my head, pretending to write on my notepad, and when I looked back up, Jamie was turned facing me with a cocky smirk on his face. He bent down and dunked the sponge into the water, and I got ready to dodge it, as it was obviously coming my way. But it didn’t. Instead, he held it above him and squeezed the sponge over the top of his shoulders, and the soapy water and suds trailed down his sculpted body like butter in a hot pan.
Holy shit! I was about to spontaneously combust in my seat. Biting his bottom lip, he suggestively rubbed the sponge over his chest and stomach, washing himself. Suds trickled down his happy trail, where the droplets ran off down the front of his shorts, and my eyes followed them. Mischievously, he held the sponge out in my direction, and I covered my gaping mouth with my hand and shook my head, laughing. Was he seriously offering me the sponge to wash him? This guy was the least shy person I knew. Except Taylor. He was the male version of her. At this point, Cam was now bent over laughing at him, and Jamie smiled devilishly back to me and dropped the sponge into the bucket then chuckled along with Cam.
He began to hose the soap from his truck. He was dripping wet and couldn’t care less. I, on the other hand, was so turned on it was unreal. That must have been one of the sexiest things I had ever witnessed. Damn you, Jamie O’Shea!
Cam came walking into the club, shaking his head and still laughing. “Lauren, your face was priceless.”
I blushed, embarrassed. “How the hell should I have reacted to that?” I gestured in Jamie’s direction. No one in their right mind would have ignored him doing that. He was such a tease.
“You know, you starin’ at him like that is just going to spur him on.”
“I wasn’t staring. He should go wash his truck at home.”
“Oh, you were staring all right.” He raised his eyebrows at me, his green eyes full of amusement.
“What do you expect? A hot guy starts washing his truck while shirtless, and I’m supposed to….” I stopped talking and squeezed my eyes shut, mortified I had just called Jamie hot in front of Cam. I wanted to die. Opening them back up, Cam’s eyes had widened and his grin got bigger. “I didn’t mean… I meant…,” I stuttered. He held up his hands in a ‘way too much information’ gesture and walked off to the kitchen.
Jamie came through the door, dripping wet and holding his bucket. I didn’t know where to look, so I focused on the computer screen, hoping he couldn’t see my heart pounding through my shirt. He bent down to my ear, his chest bare and wet next to me, and whispered huskily, “You know, you could have helped me.”
Turning to him, I saw his eyes were glinting mischievously and he had that cute smirk on his face. A breathy laugh escaped me as I watched him stand up straight. “Yeah, you wish,” I retorted, self-conscious. He replied with something that sounded like “yep” as he walked away, but it was too quiet to know for sure. Actually, I would have loved nothing more than to wash him all over with that damn sponge. Leaving the desk, I grabbed the mop and bucket and cleaned up the mess he dripped in, and dried it with a towel before we had a lawsuit on our hands.
Cam walked out and winked teasingly. I quickly turned away, mortified. Seconds later, Jamie followed wearing fresh clothes and sneakers, and I was bummed to see him dressed. They both got in the cage and began sparring. They laughed and talked humorously while they were doing it, which wasn’t like them, and with all that had just happened outside, I wondered what exactly they had done while they were gone. They definitely must have taken some happy pills or something, because this was the most boisterous I’d ever seen them. Leon and Marc returned and got stuck back into their training, and when Kal eventually came back, normality resumed, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself thinking if he only knew what had just happened. They seemed to do all this stuff when he wasn’t around.
Pulling up a chair next to me, Kal began to show me pictures of his daughter’s recital. He was so proud. It felt really nice that he was including me in his personal life; he kept that very close to his heart and rarely talked about his family. Looking at this beautiful, dark curly-haired girl pictured in a pretty white dress, I asked him how old she was.
“Ei
ght,” he replied. He told me her name was Isabella, and he had a younger son named Zack, who was almost five. His wife’s name was Lucille.
“What about your family?” he asked, putting his cell back in his pocket. There was a guarded look in his eye like he felt a little awkward asking me.
“Just me and Dad. My mom left some years ago.”
“No brothers or sisters?”
“No.”
“Well, you have four brothers now.” He smiled, nodding over to the guys. I had to suppress a laugh when I looked over at them, especially Jamie. I wanted to do very naughty things to that one.
“And you now have an uncle.” He patted his chest. I laughed quietly at his sentiment.
“Thanks, Kal.”
“No problem, sweetheart.” He cupped my shoulder then walked off to the guys. That left my heart feeling warm and fuzzy. It was such a sweet gesture from him. He truly was one of the nicest guys I had ever met.
****
Saturday, Taylor and I decided to hit the bars for a much needed night out. She arrived in a cab at 7:30 and squealed with excitement when I climbed into the car. “You should definitely wear dresses more often. You look amazing.” She squeezed my hand gently.
I had settled on a navy bodycon dress that hugged my curvy figure and showed a little cleavage. Taylor looked amazing too. She had expertly put her black hair up with some strands hanging loosely around her neck, and as usual, her lips were as red as rubies. Teamed with her simple black dress, she looked stunning.
When the cab pulled up, Taylor began to exit the car and, shuffling out behind her, I noticed her dress was completely backless. “Are you not wearing a bra?” I screeched, almost too loudly. I was shocked that she would be brave enough to go braless. I paled at the thought of not wearing my push up.
Reckless Retribution (West Warriors Book 1) Page 13
