by C. A. Harms
Before I could even move, Brock spoke up. “I’m good.” I looked over at him, quirking my eyebrow. Was this guy serious?
“I’m fine without any gear,” he added. I found his cockiness extremely irritating, so who was I to argue?
“Okay then,” I said with a shrug as I turned to face him. “If you say so.”
I started out slow, sorta building up to the point where I could knock him back a few notches. The eye gouging, upward thrust to the nose, stomping on the foot moves. The basics, really.
I could see his cockiness, as if he thought I was just some girl who thought these moves would truly hurt a man of his size.
It was actually quite a feeling to know I had his defenses down. As most attackers who approached a woman, he seemed to feel as if I was absolutely no threat to him.
I stepped back from Brock, placing distance between us. I turned around placing my back to him and relaxed my arms at my side. “Most attackers will approach their victim from behind, catching them off guard.” I looked back over my shoulder as found Brock looking over my backside, still wearing a look of confidence I was just about to wipe from his face.
“Come at me.” Brock looked up, and his eyes locked with mine.
“What?” he asked.
“I want you to step up behind me and grab me from behind,” I stated clearly. He smiled and widened his stance.
“You got it,” he said with a smirk.
Chapter Six
Brock
What the fuck just happened?
I was lying flat on my back, a stinging pain shooting through my stomach and my leg. The wind was knocked out of me, and my eyes watered as I tried to take in a deep breath.
The sound of clapping surrounded me, and for a moment I forgot where in the hell I was.
That was until I looked to my right; I saw not only Natalie, but Megan and Lexi too. All three were looking down at me, smiling brightly.
“Are you okay?” a soft-spoken voice asked, pulling my attention away from the girls.
Long locks of beautiful red hair hung loosely as they dangled toward my face. A set of gorgeous green eyes peered down at me, concern etched at the corners. A foggy haze filled the space around her, making it appear as if she was highlighted in some way.
And she was beautiful.
“Are you okay?” she asked again as she moved closer.
Her voice sounded as if it echoed.
I had to be fucking dreaming.
I lifted my hand and combed through her hair with the tip of my fingers. It felt so soft.
I allowed my hand to continue upward, and without warning, I weaved it around the back of her neck and pulled her down toward me, pressing my lips to hers.
When she jerked back and squealed, I was suddenly brought to the present, and the beauty I saw only moments ago looked pissed as hell.
“What the hell are you doing?” Charlie asked as she got to her feet and took a step back from me.
It was then that I remembered where I was and why.
A classroom filled with women I had seen come in and out of the gym, not to mention three who I knew would have a hay day with the scene that had just unfolded.
“In his defense, I think when you flipped him over, he may have took the brunt of the impact to his head.” Natalie to my rescue. I can see why my brother loved that girl so much.
“Bullshit, he is always this dumb,” Lexi added as she crossed her arms over her chest and continued to stare down at me.
“I don’t think hitting his head has anything to do with it; the guy has absolutely no sense of control, always thinking with the wrong head.” And there goes Megan. She’d always been a thorn in my side, but pregnancy made her cockier.
I sat up and cringed when my lower back ached. Suddenly I regretted the objection of wearing gear. Who knew Charlotte packed such a punch? The girl was tiny but apparently lethal.
And I was impressed.
“Do you three know him?” I heard Charlotte ask as I slowly stood from the floor.
“If we say yes, will you hold it against us?” Megan was always so mouthy. I suddenly felt sorry for Radley.
“Wait,” Lexi said next, “we have no choice in the matter; her fiancée forced him on us.”
I used to like that girl.
Used to.
“He will soon be my brother-in-law, and though he may be rough around the edges, he is actually a pretty decent guy.” Nat came to my rescue once again.
Once I was finally standing, I looked around at the three of them but only offered Natalie a wink. That girl had my back; piss on the other two.
When I faced Charlotte, I suddenly felt regret for my earlier actions. “Sorry,” I began. “Not only for that but for everything.”
She looked at me skeptically, and I knew it was going to take much more than some weak apology.
“Not that Sassy One and Two need any reassurance from me.” I motioned toward Megan and Lexi, and they both glared back at me. “But they are right; I don’t always think before I act or think at all for that matter. I’m an ass on most days and go to bed each night with an immense amount of regret for the shit I pulled, but when I say ‘I’m sorry,’ I mean it.”
I had an audience, but if there was any time for embarrassment being deemed necessary, this was it.
“I want to apologize for the way I acted when we first met. I was an idiot. As I am on most days, as Lexi so willingly pointed out.” I jerked my thumb in Lexi’s direction, and she smiled proudly.
What the fuck was with these girls? You piss off their men, apparently you pissed them off too.
“I’m not proud of the way I handled that day or most prior, but I’m trying to make amends for that. Apologizing to you was top on that list. So I came to your class, knowing it was most likely my best shot at getting you to talk to me,” I confessed.
“So you decided to show up during one of my lessons, slap on your cocky smirk, and show how bad ass you were.” I tried to stop her, but she didn’t give me a second to jump in before she started again. “Becoming a disruption for me and those in my class.”
“A disruption?” I repeated. “You used me as your punching bag. So how in the hell was that me being a disruption?”
“You knew exactly what you were doing,” she barked back. “You avoided any chance of being paired up with anyone else and made it a point to move closer to the front of the class. You knew exactly what you were doing when you made it impossible for me to avoid you any longer. So you had being knocked on your ass coming.”
I wouldn’t say she knocked me on my ass, more like caught me completely off-guard. Had I been paying attention, I don’t think it would have been so easy for her to flip me around like she had.
The minx interrupted my thoughts.
“Go right ahead and convince yourself that if you’d been paying attention to my abilities, there would have been a whole different ending to the situation. If that helps your ego, then so be it. But I think everyone in this classroom, me included, knew you were going down regardless.”
I saw this going a completely different direction.
“I still have twenty minutes left of this class, and I’d like you to allow me to teach it,” she continued.
I held my hands out at my sides as if saying “go right ahead.” Because at that point, there really wasn’t much more I could say. I’d found once I pissed off the fiery little red head I was better off backing away and letting her cool off. There was no getting through that.
I stood back by the door for a few minutes watching her attempt to regain control, until I finally gave up and admitted defeat.
That was one for Charlotte, zero for Brock.
I tried to rethink my approach, and when I came up with absolutely nothing, I knew I was screwed.
But the worst part about it all was that I had no clue why I even gave a shit. But every time I let myself go down that road, I remembered the conversation I overheard her having with the young girl not
too long ago. It was that memory that pulled at something inside me.
Charlotte wasn’t hard and careless; she was so much more. She was vulnerable and compassionate. The way she comforted that girl and shared a peace of her own painful past was inspiring.
And the memory only made me want to know her more. I wanted to know what lay beneath that tough exterior.
I wanted to be the person she looked to when she just needed to vent or scream. And there was nothing dirty about that; they were thoughts in the purest form. Something I’d never experienced.
The attraction for her was there, that was pretty much instant, but it wasn’t just that.
Now I had to prove I wasn’t the arrogant ass she thought I was. The typical cocky bastard everyone thought I was.
It was time to grow up and stop acting like the adolescent prick I’d been pretending to be.
Chapter Seven
Charlotte
“I’m not defending him. I promise I’m not. But he isn’t truly as bad as he seems.”
Those were Natalie’s words after class ended two days ago.
And absolutely nothing about that made me feel better. Usually when people felt the need to explain the actions of others, it meant there was something they were trying to help cover up. At least in my experience that was the truth.
It was actually the words of the girl I learned was Megan that truly stuck. She seemed as if she was the “say it straight” girl in the bunch.
“Arrogant, cocky and full of himself, that is the best way to describe Brock. But there is also loyal, caring and confident. He hides those things behind the darker version though, as if he’s afraid that showing his weaker side may only lead to trouble later. But on occasion he’s shown those parts on his own without even realizing he’s doing it. Those are the times I believe we get a glimpse of the true man he is. It’s just up to you if all the garbage surrounding him is worth digging through to find the gem inside.”
I came here for a job; that was it.
So why was I letting this guy and everything that surrounded him interfere with that?
I was walking to my car after my Friday night class, completely lost in my own thoughts, when a deep voice spoke up from only a few feet away. “Charlotte.” I looked up, almost instantly bringing my hands up in defense, when I saw Brock jogging toward me. “Do you have a minute?”
I wanted to say no. Actually, I wanted to tell him I’d already wasted enough time on his stupid tactics, but I held back, the words Megan spoke coming back to me.
I really was doubtful there was a gem somewhere inside the man before me.
“What do you want, Brock?” I asked, finally letting my hands fall back to my sides. He watched as I did so, obviously noticing that I had taken a defensive stance, but he didn’t comment on it.
He rubbed his hand over his short hair, roughing it as if he just needed something to relieve even a little of the tension he was obviously feeling. Hell, I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“Listen, I know you and I got off on the wrong foot, and from that point on, it’s been one screw up after another. I know that you don’t owe me a damn thing, but…” Again he roughly brushed over his hair, his hand coming to rest on the back of his neck. “I just want another chance to show you I’m not an asshole,” he said in a rush.
“I’m cocky and on most days a complete smartass, but I’m also a decent guy. Yes, I may have screwed up a lot lately, not just with you but in general, but I’m really trying to get my shit together.” He wasn’t giving me much of a chance to say anything. “I’ve disappointed my brother and my parents. Kole wants to kill me, and Radley, I think, is just waiting in the wings for Kole to give him the go ahead to fire me. I think the only person who truly likes me is my nephew Luke, but that’s because he just doesn’t know any better yet. I’m a screw up in the worst sense; I always do the wrong thing, say the dumbest shit, and normally that doesn’t bother me.”
A deep breath.
“Okay, so that’s a lie,” he added with a tortured look. “It does bother me, but I just don’t show it. But the weird thing is, it bothers me more knowing that you think I’m a screw up more than the rest of them do.”
It appeared that when Brock groveled, he also rambled.
“Can we just start over?” he asked. “Be friends, say ‘hi’ when we see one another. Go out for a beer if it’s been a long day, ya know, the things that friends do.”
I continued to watch him, waiting for him to grin, laugh, anything really. But instead he held that same hopeful stare, and something about it told me he was being truthful.
I didn’t know Brock. And from what I’d heard, not many did. He didn’t go out of his way to get to know anyone much more than necessary. But for some reason, he felt he needed to clear the air between us and ask me for my friendship.
That had to mean something.
Right.
“Fine,” I finally said in reply. “We can be friends.” He seemed almost instantly relieved. “I don’t know about the hanging out and having a beer part, but who knows. Maybe over time we can work up to that.”
“I’ll take what I can get,” he said, finally smiling, but this time it seemed genuine. Definitely not that same arrogant smirk I’d seen so many times before.
***
“So how’s the job?” my father asked me as I placed the pan of roasted chicken on the table before turning back to gather the remaining dishes I’d made.
“It’s great, actually,” I replied.
It’d been a couple weeks since I last had dinner with my father. Due to my new job and getting settled in my new place, the time had just gotten away. But every Thursday evening was a night we agreed to set aside for just us. A time to reflect on our week, sharing together both new memories and old.
Those of the past were always so bitter sweet, but it had not stopped us from remembering.
It had been six and a half years since we lost them. But never once had we forgotten the beauty they both brought into our lives during the short time they were with us.
Corrine and my mother were two of a kind.
“How is Lillian?” I asked and tried not to show signs that it still bothered me my father had decided to date.
Each time I thought of him being with any woman other than my mother, I fought this painful reaction inside of me that it somehow meant he was cheating on my mother.
He was a lonely man who deserved to be happy again.
I knew he’d never love another the way he loved her, but he had to keep moving. And it helped that I knew my mother would have wanted him to find someone to make him smile.
Lillian was the librarian at the elementary school where my father was principal. He skated around the subject for weeks before he finally admitted that she had caught his interest. So if it meant that I had to push my own insecurities aside for the sake of my father’s happiness, I’d gladly do so.
If I was being honest, Lillian was a sweet woman.
She was a widow, and I knew they somehow found comfort in their mutual losses and learned from each other how to grieve without allowing it to be crippling.
“She is good, sweetheart,” he replied as I took a seat across from him. “You know it wouldn’t hurt you to find a nice guy to spend time with.”
I looked up at him and cocked a brow.
“Um, Dad,” I said. “Since when do you push for me to meet a guy?”
This was new territory.
“I just think it would make me feel better about you living alone if I knew you had a guy friend to help look after you.” He shrugged as he began dishing the food onto our plates.
“I can take care of myself, ya know.” I’d been doing it for years.
“Yes, I do know,” he agreed. “But I’m not just talking about keeping you out of harm’s way, Charlie. I’m talking about so much more.”
Suddenly my stomach began to twist.
“We are so not talking about the ‘oth
er things.’” He looked up at me and smiled. I shook my head, making it a point to ensure my recent statement wasn’t a joke.
I absolutely refused to sit at the dinner table with my father and talk about the intimacy or lack thereof in my life. This was wrong on so many levels. And it just confirmed that my father had definitely been shagging Lillian.
I shivered at the thought, because even though I knew it happened, no child in her right mind even wanted to think about her parents doing the deed.
Chapter Eight
Brock
I was finally off janitor duty.
Not that I wasn’t still being watched for any wrong move by Kole, Radley, and even Adam. But I had no intention of repeating my past mistakes or making any new ones. You’d be amazed at what you find when cleaning a gym. I knew I’d have nightmares for months from the terrors I faced.
Hell, I still shivered whenever I thought of the women’s locker room.
I was back to working weights with the college kids and basic maintenance of any equipment that may need to be fixed throughout the day.
It wasn’t what I planned to do with the rest of my life, but for now it was paying the bills, and classes at UNC could get expensive.
I walked into the gym every day feeling less stressed and more motivated.
Charlotte, or Charlie as she insisted I call her, had been accepting of me and my quirks. Even though I’d tried to keep them at bay, at times I still slipped up. But come on, I’ve been a smartass with a dirty mind for years. It was hard to control on most days.
“Why didn’t you just have Brock bring Lucas?” I looked up as I entered the lobby to see Adam pointing toward me, with Natalie at his side.
“Are you kidding me?” she said in return. “Your brother drives worse than you, and that’s bad. I wanted to make it here safely, and I’d never put Luke in the car with him.”
