Charlie shook his head. “It was dark, you can’t be sure.”
“He was pretty up close and personal in my face, Charlie, I’m one hundred per cent sure about this,” I said a little angrily.
Charlie seemed to be battling an internal war. His body was ready to fight, but his mind was conflicted. I took a deep breath followed by a few hesitant steps towards him, and when I was close enough to touch him, I reached out a hand and gently swept away a stray lock of hair that had tumbled across his eyes. “You believe me don’t you?” His eyes stayed on mine for the longest time before he cast a quick look over my shoulder in Luke’s direction. He gave me a stiff nod. “Please don’t be angry,” I breathed. At that, Charlie’s entire body seemed to melt, his eyes softened and he took my hand that lingered on his arm, and pressed it against his chest right over his heart. His other hand reached for the back of my neck and pulled me in close. He was dripping with sweat which was a little gross, but I wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity for a Charlie Cole hug, with his shirt off!
“I’m sorry, Betty Boop,” he murmured in my ear. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I laughed at that. “That part where you jumped down from the ring with that bad ass scary look? It was kinda hot.” The rumble of laughter from Charlie’s chest seemed to thaw the mood in the gym.
“I need a new fucking job,” grumbled the General.
Chapter 10
Charlie
My mind could barely comprehend Luke had simply waltzed into the gym. That he had the balls, or stupidity, to walk right up to Rebecca blew the fucking lid right off my temper. When I saw him standing before her, blood red rage clouded my eyes and I was ready to kill. The only thing that brought my temper to a grinding halt was seeing the way Rebecca regarded me with those beautiful blue eyes battling a look of fear. Not fear of Luke, but fear of me. A few whispered words from her lips and I calmed instantly. The only other person who came close to handling my temper so effortlessly was Mercy. Under Rebecca’s hand that rested on my chest, my heart went from a gallop to a leisurely canter. I relished the feel of her soft feminine body in my arms and in that moment I was filled with an emotion I could reliably say I had never felt before: Pride? Admiration? Love? Hell, call it what you will, but in that moment Rebecca Donovan was once again mine, and I was not letting her go this time. Feeling her warm body against mine helped keep me focused; it helped keep the fury at bay. I glanced over her shoulder, my eyes settling on Luke Hollywell. The arrogant prick didn’t back down, he was standing tall, his gaze holding mine. I wasn’t convinced that it hadn’t been Luke who had hurt Rebecca, but I wasn’t going to beat him to a bloody pulp in front of Rebecca, or in the General’s space for that matter.
“What the fuck do you want,” I growled at him.
“I want to speak to Rebecca.” His eyes moved over the small crowd that had moved in closer to watch. “Without an audience preferably.”
Before I could say a word, the General moved to my side. “You want to talk to him, darlin’?” he asked Rebecca. She turned to face Luke, but didn’t move away from me. I was grateful, her presence between me and Luke was the only thing keeping me sane right now. Rebecca nodded. “You can use my office.” I went to protest but the General was quick to shut me down. “But Charlie and I go with you.” He pointed at Luke to make sure he got the message. The fucker nodded.
We followed the General to his small, cluttered office at the back of the gym. The door was shut behind us and we stood around rather awkwardly. My body was still tense, I felt twitchy, but somehow I kept my ire reined in.
“What do you want, Luke?” Rebecca sighed.
“I didn’t attack you that night. I don’t need to force myself on women. If I want to fuck, I have no problem finding someone willing to fuck me.” He gave Rebecca a smug smile.
My fists clenched and thoughts of slamming one of them in his face began to cloud my mind again. The General leaned back against his desk, watching Luke thoughtfully. Rebecca, thankfully, was still standing in front of me, keeping my hands from finding the conceited prick’s neck.
“I told Frank I didn’t think you were involved, but obviously he had to check you out, Luke. You were the last person who saw me before the attack.”
Luke shook his head with frustration. “I have an alibi and I’m still being followed. Every time I turn around there is a fucking cop in my face,” he spat.
Rebecca shrugged. “I have no control over the police, Luke. You have a problem with them, take it up with them yourself.”
Luke took a step forward and immediately the General was on his feet as I stepped around Rebecca, placing her slightly behind me. Luke stopped and finally showed the good sense to look a little nervous. He moved to the doorway and pulled it open with a little too much force.
“I didn’t hurt you,” he snarled at Rebecca. “You’re not even my type. Though I gotta say, the new clothes are an improvement.”
“Son of a—” I lunged for the asshole, but was met by a wall of resistance in the form of the General. “Let me fucking go!” I demanded.
“You’ll get your chance in two weeks, Cole. In the ring.” After what seemed an eternity, I settled down enough that the General cautiously let me go.
“What do you mean, ‘in the ring’?” came Rebecca’s wavering voice from behind us.
Shit, I had lost my freakin’ temper again. I ran a hand down my tired face and leaned against the now closed door in frustration.
“It’s what my boys do when they have a problem with someone. Rather than let them battle it out on the streets, they resolve it in the ring, with officials to watch over it and a ref. It’s safer that way,” the General explained.
“You’re going to fight him in the ring?” I turned to face Rebecca. I was surprised to see the anger in her eyes. I nodded. “What kind of barbaric caveman mentality is that?” Her voice grew louder as she glared at both the General and me. “We are not in grade school anymore, we are all adults here. Has anyone ever thought about sitting down and talking out their problems instead of fighting them out?”
Being the asshole that I am, I couldn’t stop the laughter that spilled from my lips. The idea of me and Luke sitting in the same room was beyond hilarious. The General did a much better job at keeping his face unreadable.
“You’re laughing at me?” Rebecca demanded, her pretty cheeks tinged with red.
She was pissed off and it reminded me so much of the old Rebecca that I smiled again. Dumbass move, Cole!
“Rebecca,” the General said gruffly, “this is a place for fighters who are not typically known for articulating their problems. They use their fists as an outlet, it’s their way to get their aggression out. Talking does not always work for the people who train here. I’ve had a lot of experience in handling men like this, both in the military and in this gym. Trust me on this, dealing with it in the ring is safer.”
Rebecca opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She looked like a fish out of water, her lips moving but no sound coming out. At her exasperated failure of speech, she threw her arms up and stormed right past me, out of the General’s office and into the gym. I followed her, concerned that Luke might still be lingering somewhere out there. Rebecca had her cell phone in her hand, scrolling through her contacts as I approached.
“Who are you calling?” I asked.
“I’m calling Ella to see if she can come pick me up, which says how desperate I am to get away from you right now because she drives like a freakin’ mad woman.” Instinctively I grabbed the phone right out of her hand. She was not escaping me again. “What the hell, Charlie?” she screamed.
I winced and I was pretty sure some of the guys around me did, too. “We are going back to your place, just like we planned. You are not chickening out on me now.”
The fury in her eyes was palpable. “I was not chickening out. Ella can take me!”
“You are not running away from me, Betty Boop.” She seemed to
take a few long deep breaths before calming herself. It was a nice turn around to see someone else losing their shit for a change.
“I’m not running away, we are having a time out!” She reached for her phone again, and some childish part of me saw fit to stuff it down the front of my shorts, right into the uncomfortable briefs I only wore when training. Rebecca shook her head, her face horrified. “Oh, that’s just plain nasty! You’re all sweaty and gross.” She rubbed her eyes and finally sighed in defeat. “Fine, whatever. But I need to get out of here now, Charlie. All this macho man-sweat and aggression is giving me a headache. I need a drink,” she grumbled.
“Fine, give me ten and we’ll be on our way.”
Back in the warm cabin of my truck, I pulled Rebecca’s cell phone from the pocket of my hoodie. Rebecca just glared at me.
“I wiped it off.” I chuckled.
“You owe me a new phone.” When she refused to take it from me I threw it onto the dash and backed the truck out of Lee’s parking lot.
“Come on, Betty Boop, after everything we did a year ago, you have a problem with your cell phone touching my junk?” I grinned at the blush that flooded her cheeks.
“That was different,” she murmured.
“How so? I was pretty damn sweaty that night and you couldn’t keep your hands off me as I recall.”
She laughed and the sound was like a break in the storm, it was peaceful and calm for just a moment. “As I recall it was you who couldn’t keep your hands off me. You had my damn panties off before we even got out of your truck!” The surge of lust that filled my body at the memory went straight to my dick and I shifted uncomfortably. “Having trouble there, Charlie Cole?” she quipped in a cute sing-song voice.
I gave her a smug grin. “This stroll down memory lane is waking someone up,” I murmured.
Rebecca’s smile fell a little, and her eyes became distant. “I’m sure there are plenty of women prepared to take care of that for you.”
She looked away from me, but not before I saw the sadness in her eyes. In that moment, I wanted to explain to her that I didn’t want anyone else, only her. I didn’t want to screw up this opportunity though so I kept my mouth shut and went over the words I needed to say. It was only a ten minute drive to her house, but it was the longest ten minutes of my life. The drive was quiet and strained. As soon as I pulled the truck into her driveway and put it into park, I reached across and grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes to mine.
“Baby,” I whispered. Her sadness and fragility was back now, old Rebecca, strong Rebecca had fizzled in the space of fifteen minutes. “I don’t want any other woman taking care of me,” I quietly confessed. “I didn’t want anyone other than you back then, I haven’t wanted anyone other than you since then, and I sure as hell don’t want anyone other than you now.”
Rebecca’s brow furrowed with confusion. “You have had plenty of someone else’s since me.”
I cringed at her far too accurate observation. I shook my head and stared out the windshield of my truck. If I told her the truth, if I told her how I fucked to take away the aggression, the restlessness, the loneliness, what the hell would she think of me then? I didn’t want to lie to her though, and there was really no other explanation I could give.
“You’re going to think I’m a complete asshole.” I glanced her way and she was watching me expectantly. I shrugged. “Dave calls my escapades a search for the affection and love I lost as a child in the arms of anyone willing to accept me. Apparently it is destructive behavior, and to be honest, I’ve only recently come to the realization that he’s right.” Rebecca didn’t say anything and I shifted nervously in my seat, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly I thought it might snap. “It also helps me blow off steam.”
“Okay, so why does there have to be lots of different women, rather than just one?”
I looked her straight in the eye. “I found one. There was a misunderstanding and the stubborn woman refused to take my calls. As it turns out, I’m apparently just as stubborn because instead of banging down her door and demanding she listen to me, I refused to chase her.” Rebecca’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “That was one of the biggest mistakes of my life,” I told her without looking away. “I won’t make it again.” A tear slipped down her cheek and I opened my door and quickly made my way around to her side of the truck. I unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled her around to face me, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “If you run, Rebecca, I will follow you. If you refuse to take my calls, I will end up on your doorstep and I will demand you hear me out. I won’t make the mistake of letting you go again.”
Tears fell down her face but she smiled and somehow managed to laugh. “Your timing sucks, Charlie,” she whispered. “All you’ll be taking on right now is one basket-case of a woman who wakes up screaming every night, who’s scared of the dark and jumps at every little sound. And she’s not even sure if she can handle being touched intimately anymore.”
I ran my hands up her thighs and squeezed. “Betty Boop, just being beside you, near you, just like this is enough for me. I’d be happy for the rest of my life if this was the closest we got. But, baby, you are going to have so much more. That fear is not always going to be there. I promised you I would help you defeat it, and I won’t let you down.” Her small nod was good enough for me. “You still want to do this today? We can come back tomorrow if you want.” She pulled away and looked over her shoulder toward the house.
“No, let’s just get it over and done with. Anyway, my vodka and wine is in there and I really, really need a drink.” She wiped away her tears and I helped her down from the truck.
Chapter 11
Rebecca
Who would have thought that the doorway into my own home could make me so nervous? Common sense told me I was safe. Charlie unlocked the door and was keying the security code into the keypad on the wall to our left. I knew I was safe, I knew there would be no figure cloaked in darkness ready to grab me. I was scared, but safe, yet I still couldn’t force myself to move. My mind was clogged in a fear so all-encompassing that I could almost taste it. Through that fear I peered across the perfectly tidy living room. No longer were there flowers strewn across the wood floors, the small magazine table beside the couch sat upright, the magazines stacked neatly atop it. The kitchen beyond looked just as it should—empty. My vodka, sitting in the glass door cabinet on the wall, was demanding me to get my pathetic ass over that threshold and possess it. Sensing my obvious distress, Charlie stepped into my line of vision. His smile was gentle, opposing the fierce warrior that I knew lurked underneath. He took my hand and raised it to his lips, kissing my fingertips, his eyes never leaving mine. I couldn’t draw my gaze away from his if you paid me.
“Breathe, Betty Boop,” he murmured. I wasn’t even aware that my lungs were full, holding precious air in. They say the first step is the hardest, they seriously have no idea. Hard didn’t even begin to express the difficulty I was having taking that first step. “You know, if you don’t come in here soon, I’m going to go looking through that drawer next to your bed, the one that you told me to stay out of.” Charlie’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
I knew which drawer he was referring to, the very drawer I nervously asked him not to look in the night he packed a bag for me following my attack. The drawer where Big Red lived. I immediately stepped across the threshold.
Charlie laughed. “Damn, now I’m going to be thinking all sorts of wicked things.”
I blushed like a schoolgirl and pretended to ignore his eyes full of playfulness. As I walked further into the room, the easier I found it. My house was just as it should have been: quiet and clean. I walked around the living area, taking in every little detail, looking for anything out of place, and nothing was. I moved to the kitchen and did the same thing, my eyes and hands moving across everything familiar, everything safe. Eventually I came to stand at the narrow hall that led to my bedroom and I froze. During my entire exploration thus far, Charlie fo
llowed behind me quietly, not pushing, not teasing. There were no questions about what the hell I was doing. Somehow I think he understood. I was forcing myself to see what was in front of me: my home and my things, untouched and safe. There was that word again—safe. It felt foreign. Again, Charlie didn’t push, he just simply stood at my back, the warmth of his body drawing me against the solid wall of his chest. I leaned against him and his arms came around me, holding me tight. Charlie’s earlier confession whispered through my mind, calming me, giving me a new focus and a break from my fears. He promised that he wasn’t going to let me go again, and as possessive as his words had been, I held them dear to my heart. It didn’t matter if I couldn’t be with him intimately, he still wanted me. His staunch determination and his unyielding promise made me feel truly cherished for the first time in my life. I clung to him a little tighter and he didn’t hesitate to squeeze me back. My token jealous streak caused my heart to ache at the thought of the other women he’d been with, both before me and after our interlude, over a year ago. I couldn’t think about them though, it would rot away any chance we might have of building an actual relationship. He was with me now, now was all that mattered. The warmth of his body at the back of mine, his breath tickling my ear, and his declaration of propriety helped lessen that jealous ache. I wanted him, I always had.
“What’s goin’ through that head of yours, Betty Boop? I can hear the wheels turning.”
“I’m glad you’re here with me.” There was no need to explain further, those few words summed it all up. I felt the deep rise and fall of Charlie’s chest, as if a heavy sigh had silently escaped his lips.
“There is nowhere else I would rather be,” he murmured. We stood like that a little longer. Charlie’s arms were wrapped tightly around my shoulders, my back pressed hard against his front.
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