The Beat and The Pulse Box Set 2

by Amity Cross

  I had to bide my time because sooner or later, his arrogance would make him slip, and that’s when I’d get him.

  “Josie,” Gabe said again. “Are you worried about seeing Hayes again?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  He narrowed his eyes, not looking convinced in the slightest. “I’ve got your back. I won’t let him come near you.”

  I bet you won’t, I thought to myself.

  The car came to a stop, and the driver announced that we had arrived. Gabe smiled and threw me a cocky wink before reaching over and unclipping my seatbelt. Suppressing a shudder, I slid out of the car, leaving the door open behind me so he could follow.

  “Let me look at you, Cunningham.”

  I closed my eyes, praying for something to smite him with, and turned.

  I’d gone for something a little more off-center than I usually wore to these events. Black leather-look jeans, patent black heels, cream blouse with silver buttons, and a tailored suit jacket thrown over the top. I was still appearing as one of Gabe’s PR managers, so I had to look the part. It was a different kind of professional than I usually exuded.

  I waited as he looked me over, and he nodded appreciatively. My outfit seemed to pass the test.

  “You look ravishing tonight,” he said. “Just in case I neglected to mention it.”

  Holding my tongue, I smiled and turned to walk into the arena, but Gabe threaded his arm through mine and tugged me against his side.

  Fans were lingering outside, watching the fighters arrive and calling out to their favorite for photos and autographs. When they saw Gabe, they began to go crazy, the event security trying to hold them back.

  “Don’t look so panicked,” he said to me. “You look good on my arm. Ex-PR manager of my rival, who came across to the winning side. The pretty blonde with the lips to match.”

  “You’re such a vapid excuse for a human being,” I hissed.

  “Why, thank you,” he exclaimed with a great big smile as cameras flashed in our direction. “I’d rather spin it as being ruthless in the pursuit of excellence, but each to their own.”

  Anything to justify his shitty behavior, I thought to myself, putting on an impassive expression for the press.

  Thankfully, Gabe slipped his arm from mine and went to lap up the attention from his adoring subjects, and I had a moment of blessed peace.

  As I watched him sign autographs for fans, I began to think about Dean. I didn’t know if I would ever be with him again, like we had been for those few short weeks, but I would never be able to shake my feelings. The same feelings that’d done nothing but grow out of control since we’d been apart.

  I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve stood up to Monica. I should’ve stayed put when Dean pushed me away. He had been confused, and I was afraid… Our feelings had never been in the same place at the same time. Maybe that’s what went wrong when it came to the crunch. We were always just out of sync with one another.

  Once we finally made it inside, Gabe barked an order at me.

  “Go and make sure the press are ready and waiting for my entrance,” he said. “I want this fight to be about me and only me.”

  I nodded sharply and ducked out of his locker room before he could add anything else to his list of extravagant demands.

  “Josie.”

  I turned at the sound of my name and almost had a heart attack. My gaze collided with a familiar face, and my knees almost gave way.

  “Coach Miller,” I said, my hand flying to my heart.

  He placed a hand on my shoulder and guided me to an alcove where we were out of sight from the foot traffic out in the hall. It was reassuring to see his familiar features. His salt and pepper hair, his lined forehead, and his eyes that eerily resembled Ren’s when she was pissed. After two weeks under Gabe’s thumb, it almost had me in tears.

  “Josie, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Andrew?” he asked with a kind smile.

  “Yes, Coach.”

  He’d always been more of a father figure to me and the fighters he trained than the hard-ass coach he was known as. Not that he should be underestimated. His fathering packed as hard a punch as his coaching technique did. I wondered if I was going to get some of it now.

  “Dean’s worried that Gabe has done something to hurt you,” he murmured. “Has he?”

  I hesitated, panic beginning to rise. If they meddled, then I wouldn’t be able to stop Gabe from spilling to the press. He had the recording from my conversation with Ren to prove every word he’d say.

  “You’ll find no judgment with me,” Coach went on. “I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes over the years, so I’m not qualified for that, but Josie… If he’s hurt you in any way, I can help you.”

  “I made a mistake,” I said, trying to hold my tears at bay. “I should never have taken a job with Gabe. Ever since I walked in the door, he’s been manipulating me to get to Dean. Coach, he’s blackmailing me.”

  “What?” His eyebrows rose in surprise. I bet he wasn’t expecting me to say that.

  “I knew I was dancing with the devil, but I needed the money,” I blurted. “I thought I could handle him, but he’s threatening to ruin Dean’s career if I don’t follow his orders. He’s been forcing me to give away all your secrets. Training, weaknesses, the whole lot. I’ve been faking as much as I can, but I can’t for much longer.”

  “Josie…” he said, his eyes filling with sadness.

  “I’m hurt, but I could never be part of something that would destroy his life, not willingly. Fighting is his entire life, Coach.”

  He nodded sharply.

  “Don’t tell him,” I pleaded. “Not now. Not before the fight.”

  At first, Coach didn’t say anything, he just stared at me with that stern expression he gave the Twins when they were misbehaving. I almost crumbled under the pressure of what I believed to be his complete and utter disappointment. But then he decided to tell me about his daughter.

  “I made a lot of mistakes with Monica,” he said. “I gave her everything she wanted and never thought anything of it. I thought if she wanted for nothing, then somehow, it would make up for my shortcomings with Ren. It was my guilt that caused Monica to be the person she was. I let her walk all over me.”

  I wanted to say something to make him feel better because Coach Miller was a decent man at his core, but he was right. You couldn’t sugarcoat the kind of person his daughter had become.

  “What I should’ve done was raise her with a stern hand and show her as much love as I did for Beat and the fighters I trained.”

  I didn’t understand what he was trying to say, but I waited to see where it was going.

  “The moment I found out she was responsible for letting that man into my gym to hurt Ren, my eyes were finally opened. I’d neglected her just as much as I’d neglected Ren. Monica’s betrayal broke everything in my life. It broke apart my marriage, it broke my heart, and it broke everything I’d believed in my entire life. It broke everything but my relationship with Ren and the Twins. I’m not a young man anymore, and now I can see…”

  He sighed sharply, and I began to realize he still blamed himself for what happened the night Ren was attacked.

  “I saw everything Monica did, but I didn’t do a thing to stop any of it,” he continued. “I saw the way she led Dean on. I saw the way she treated Ren when she first came to find me, and I saw the way she hadn’t changed when she came to see me the other week.” He looked at me for a long moment, perhaps waiting for his words to sink in before moving on. “What I have seen is the way that young man has grown since she left. Dean has become a man who can stand on his own two feet. He can stand on his own, separate from his twin. He was always a step behind his brother, in fighting and in life, but ever since you opened his eyes, he’s leapt right to the top. The boy has finally become a man.”

  “Coach, I…”

  “He told you the truth, Josie,” he stated. “He loves you, and I know
you love him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t still be with O’Connell trying to save Dean’s career.”

  A tear escaped my eye and trickled down my cheek. Raising my hand, I swiped it away and composed myself.

  “We’ll find a way to work this out,” he said kindly. “He doesn’t blame you.”

  “He should,” I muttered, my voice wavering. “I didn’t believe him when he needed me the most and look what I did to him.” I waved my hands around, gesturing to the arena and the chaos of the pending title fight.

  “One fight at a time,” he murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder. “One fight at a time…”

  Wandering back to Gabe’s locker room, I contemplated everything Coach Miller had told me, my heart beating triple time. Dean had told me the truth, and I’d walked away from him.

  Lingering outside Gabe’s locker room, I actually began to feel sick to the stomach. I didn’t want to go in there and face the man who was into blackmail and treated me like a pretty whore to hang off his arm. I didn’t want to go in there knowing I was the one who’d gotten myself into this mess because of my pride.

  The sound of raised voices began to tug at the edges of my raging mind, and I peered into the room. Gabe was talking earnestly with his coach as they prepared for the fight, so I lingered in the shadows, waiting and watching, not in any hurry to announce my presence.

  “We need to get rid of him,” his coach said. “You beat him tonight, and he’ll just come back and challenge you again. Him or his brother. It’ll never end.”

  “What do you suggest?” Gabe asked, shaking out his arms between stretches.

  “It’ll be tough to get it through without being disqualified, but the only way I see this playing out is if you hurt him enough that he can’t come back.”

  Gabe paused, and a malicious grin began spreading on his face. “Ruin his career. For good.”

  “And if it doesn’t pan out, you have the girl.”

  I slapped my hand over my mouth as their words sank in. They were going to ruin Dean’s life, no matter what I did. He’d go down in the octagon, or he’d go down in the press afterward. Either way, he was screwed.

  My gaze darted back into the locker room. They hadn’t noticed I was here, so I had a chance to slip away and warn Dean, but I had to take it now. If I was ever going to admit I was wrong in leaving him, now was the time.

  Pushing off the wall, I slunk down the hall toward Dean’s locker room, knowing I had to suck up my pride and do the right thing.

  I was wrong.

  28

  Dean

  Smack!

  I punched the pad on Lincoln’s left hand, my gloved fist striking the leather dead center. Swinging with my left hand, I struck his right. I went back and forth, increasing my momentum.

  “Careful,” my twin warned. “You don’t want to wear yourself out before the main event.”

  “I’m too amped up to stand still,” I replied, firing off another set.

  “Keep your focus,” he countered, bracing as I smacked my fists into the pads again.

  I’d done nothing but keep my focus for the last week. Until yesterday, my eyes were on the prize, and now they were on the future. The title was nothing without Josie at the end of it.

  Seeing her so scared had me on edge more than the looming fight with O’Connell. I knew the guy was dirty but mistreating his staff? Shit, and if his kind of mistreating had anything to do with harming Jo, physically or mentally, there would be hell to pay. That kind of misconduct was a new low even for him.

  A knock at the door broke through my pattern, and I shook out my arms, flexing my head back and forth.

  “Yeah?” I called out.

  The door opened a crack, and a blonde head peeked through. Josie. She inched into the room, her gaze darting to Lincoln, then to me.

  “Can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked me, her voice wavering.

  “Give us a minute,” I said to Lincoln, never taking my eyes off Josie for a second in case she disappeared.

  I was vaguely aware of him tossing the pads and leaving the room. When the door closed, she just…came alive.

  “He’s planning something,” she said, her voice full of a desperation I’d never heard in it before. “He’s going to hurt you in the octagon.”

  I snorted. I’d suspected as much, and we’d trained for every possible scenario leading into this fight.

  “Please, Dean,” she went on, taking my gesture as a dismissal. “You have to believe me.”

  “Don’t you say a fucking thing, Jo,” I said, turning on her. “This time, you can listen to me.”

  Her expression fell as if I’d slapped her, but she remained silent, which must’ve been quite a feat on her behalf.

  “I know O’Connell is dirty,” I said, laying out my frustrations. “I know you kissed him when you ran off to Melbourne. I know everything.”

  “How…” she began, looking like she was about to hurl.

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out,” I went on. “It doesn’t even matter that you kissed him. I get it. We’ve both made epic mistakes and there’s no changing that. What I give a crap about is what happens next. Know that I’m going out there to fight for you. Not for the fucking title or revenge on a guy who kissed my girl. I’m going out there to show you I’m a good man, and I can win by playing by the rules. I’m going out there to prove to you I’m worth loving.”

  She stared at me with wide eyes, her mouth falling open as a tear slid down her cheek.

  “It’s fucking crazy,” I said, pulling on my gloves. “But I’m pretty sure this ache in my heart is love, Jo, but I can’t do that part alone. Not again. After all these years, I’m strong enough now to walk away if I have to, but I don’t ever want it to come to that. Not with you, but you’ve gotta choose. Either you love me back or you don’t.”

  “He was right…” she whispered, her eyes glassy with tears. I didn’t know who she was talking about, but I didn’t care.

  “I can win all the fights in the world,” I murmured, closing the space between us. “But I can’t win this one alone.” Raising my hand, I picked up a strand of her golden hair and twisted it around my fingers. “What’ll it be?”

  “You need to know something,” Josie said, dashing my hopes.

  “Now?” I asked, dropping my hand away.

  “I made a mistake,” she said firmly. “I believed a lie because it was easier to handle. I wallowed in my hate and walked right into a trap.”

  I frowned, not sure what she was getting at. “O’Connell?”

  “He wanted to lure me away from you all along,” she explained. “He’s going to ruin you, Dean. He’s blackmailing me.”

  “He’s what?” I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It was so farfetched it was almost laughable. “Why would he do that?”

  “Because he can.” She placed her palms on my chest and told me the whole story. Start to finish. “He’s going to destroy you, no matter what you do. That’s the only reason I’m staying with him. It’s my mistake. I need to find a way to fix it for good. I want to bring him down so hard he’ll never fight in the AUFC again.”

  “Fuck that,” I snarled.

  “I want to destroy him,” she said, like she’d just decided to fight.

  “Then let’s do it together.” I wrapped my arms around her body and held her close, drowning myself in the feel of her against my bare chest. She smelt the same, her familiar perfume wafting up my nose and sticking to my skin. I never wanted to let her go again.

  “Everything’s riding on this fight,” she murmured. “If you don’t win…”

  “Either way, I’m fucked,” I said, pulling back so I could see her eyes. “Unless I can win the title.”

  “But if you win, he’ll still ruin your reputation! Fighting is everything to you!”

  “I’m not a fan of fighting dirty,” I said, burying my hands in her hair, “but I reckon we need to fight fire with fire.”

  She stared at me, her e
yes sparkling, and waited.

  “Make me a promise, Jo,” I murmured, lowering my mouth toward hers.

  A sigh escaped her lips, and her body melted against mine. “Anything.”

  “Fight with me. Not just until things get hard or scary but forever and through the wall of shit life throws at us. Because there’ll be a wall of shit like you won’t believe.” I stroked my thumbs across her damp cheeks, studying every fleck of blue in her beautiful eyes. “Promise me, Jo. Promise me you’ll believe this time. Promise me, and you’ll never be alone again.”

  Her gaze flickered to my lips and back up, her breathing becoming shallow.

  “I love you,” she whispered, the words I’d been dying to hear for so long finally out there. “I’m so sorry for not believing in you. I’m so sorry.”

  Fisting my hand into the hair at the back of her head, I pulled her mouth onto mine and kissed her, opening the floodgates. All my pent-up anxiety and longing bled from my skin into her, and when her tongue darted out to meet mine, I could’ve thrown down right then and fucked her blind…but I still had a fight to win.

  Reluctantly, I tore my lips away and rested my forehead against hers, my chest heaving. This was right. This was how it should’ve been all along.

  “Dean?”

  I glanced up at Lincoln, who’d stuck his head through the door.

  “What?” I asked, still spinning from the taste of Josie’s lips on mine.

  He glanced from me to Josie, and a sly smile appeared on his stupid face. “It’s time to walk, bro.”

  Turning my attention back to Jo, I smiled. “So crunch time has arrived.”

  “Give him hell,” she murmured, her fingers running over my swollen lips.

  “I intend to,” I replied, kissing her again. “All or nothing.”