Avenging Angel (Pounding Hearts Book 5)

by Izzy Sweet

  Now it’s gone.

  I don’t have the words to describe the emotions she puts in the kiss, but it’s more than anything I’ve ever felt before. Her hands grab at my chest as she molds herself into me, and for a split second I think, fuck the world outside of us.

  Reaching down, I pull her shirt up and push my hand under her silky bra. Cupping her generous mound of breast, I give it a light squeeze.

  Moaning so quietly I almost miss it, she pushes even harder into me.

  “Hey! Who’s cooking the eggs and bacon?” Casey yells. “I don’t think you guys want food poisoning, but I can try.”

  Bree pushes my hand out of her shirt and pulls away from me. “Shit!”

  “Fuck,” I growl and start stalking toward her, my throbbing cock leading the way.

  Wide-eyed, she looks down at my cock and then back up at me. “No way!” She darts for the door. “Get dressed!”

  “Get back here,” I growl at her.

  She says, “No way, no how,” before she dashes out of the room and slams the door behind her.

  “Motherfucker.”

  Gym shorts are not the best clothing to wear with a raging hard-on. I have to tuck my dick up behind the waistband like I’m some damn kid in high school.

  Trudging down the long hallway, heading for the kitchen, I can’t help but smile though.

  She’s so mine, that fucking kiss proved it. She wanted it and needed it as badly as I did.

  The smell of bacon and eggs hits me as soon as I walk into the kitchen, and it’s startling to notice the difference. Gone is the smell of booze and stale pizza. Casey and I did a pretty good job when we rushed to clean the house yesterday, getting it ready for Bree. We even got the fancier toilet paper.

  Can’t have her using the sandpaper I was buying before.

  “Damn, that smells good!” I groan, rubbing my stomach.

  “Right?!” Casey groans as he looks at Bree, rubbing his stomach too. “Emmett is a horrible cook compared to you.”

  “Really?” Bree looks over at me with a huge grin. “Thanks.”

  “Watch it, Casey. I’ll start buying turkey bacon if you keep that up,” I grumble at him.

  He’s right, though. The smells coming from the pan top anything I could make.

  Laughing at Casey’s horrified expression, Bree says, “Turkey bacon isn’t that bad.”

  “Oh, yes it is!” Casey says, sliding away from Bree as he holds up his fingers in a cross. “That stuff is for bad people who go to jail or something.”

  “He’s right on that. Turkey bacon can’t compete with real bacon,” I say.

  Rolling her eyes, she looks at us both. “It’s a healthier bacon, guys.”

  “Ew, that’s just wrong,” Casey says, and I nod to agree with him.

  Breakfast was fucking amazing. Just the three of us stuffing our faces with food as we sat around the table, laughing and joking. I had a heavy thought though when it was over, right after we cleaned up the table.

  What if we were a family and Casey was ours?

  It fucking wrecked me.

  I was able to get away from them before they could see me just about lose my shit. And thankfully I made it to the hallway bathroom before I threw up everything I just ate.

  Tommy swam in my blurry vision when I looked up from the toilet and into the mirror. Fuck. I’m not supposed to be raising Casey with some chick I just met. That’s not how any of this shit was supposed to go.

  This is far past who I was ever going to be. This isn’t who I ever thought I could or would be. I’m in unknown territory, and it’s scaring me that it feels so easily right. Is it? Can I even know the difference?

  Driving Bree back to her mom’s house, I think she can feel the vibe that must be oozing out of my pores.

  Fuck.

  She grabs my hand on the center console and gives it a tight squeeze while tugging it toward her.

  Glancing over at her, I see that there’s concern in her eyes.

  Casey is just chattering away behind us, oblivious to the drama unfolding in my head.

  Quietly, so that only I hear, Bree asks, “What’s going on?”

  I shake my head because I can’t even explain the long, twisted thoughts that are flowing through my mind. The one thing, though, that lingers in the background of all those thoughts is that I have her here, right now, by my side.

  Her and Casey, here in the now.

  And I’m not letting her get away. I don’t care what I have to do, I’m fucking keeping her ass.

  Keeping her and never fucking letting go.

  “Tell me later?” she asks, and she gives me a small smile, showing me how fucking warm her heart is.

  Showing me how deep her emotions must run. That she can read me and see that I’m twisted up shows. Fuck, this girl is something special.

  Nodding my head to her, I mouth back, “I’ll try.”

  “So guys, anyone want to place bets on whether Dale makes Emmett puke today or not?” Casey asks.

  “I hate you right now,” I growl out at him.

  “I’ll tell him you said that.” Casey snickers at me. “I’m safe, he likes kids and women.”

  “Well… keep it up and we’ll see,” I say.

  I don’t have a comeback. He’s probably right about it all.

  Squeezing my hand tightly, Bree gives me that warm and mushy feeling all over again. It’s fucking jarring and settling at the same time. It’s also so unfamiliar, I just might fall into it and not come back out.

  Last night was… I hate to use the term, but it was fucking magical. I don’t know how else to describe the pleasure I gave and received. I don’t know how to describe the connection we formed. The only thing I’ve ever experienced that comes close to it is the peace I feel when I’m in the ring. And even that isn’t the same.

  I’m actually happy that she’s beside me right now. I’m happy and I feel guilty as fuck for it.

  How the fuck do I deserve to be happy?

  The ride to her mom’s has my head swaying from happy to guilt to confusion. Fuck, I’m a goddamn mess.

  When we pull up in front of her house, my hand seems to have a mind of its own. It simply doesn’t want to let her go. I even have to do an awkward reach over my body with my free hand to put the Jeep in park.

  “I’m going to need to take my hand with me, Emmett,” Bree says with a laugh when I refuse to let her go.

  “Fine, but only if you agree to come to dinner with us,” I say with a smile. “Unless you want me dragging you to the gym with us right now in your clothes from yesterday.”

  Growling, she yanks on her hand, but I refuse to let go without the promise. “Fine, dinner, but you have to cook.”

  “Works for me.”

  I smile and let go of her hand. If she knew how much it costs me to let go, I doubt she would have made me just yet.

  Pulling her hand away, she looks back to Casey. “How bad is it going to be tonight?”

  “Depends, they have food poisoning vaccines yet?” he asks.

  “That was one time. One goddamn time and it was like four years ago,” I growl at him.

  Casey groans. “Dad and I almost died!”

  My stomach drops when silence fills the car.

  The weight of the world is crashing down on me.

  I look back at Casey though and try to give him a smile as I grab his knee and give it a small squeeze.

  “I won’t make fish, I promise,” I say with fake cheerfulness.

  “I can’t even go to Red Lobster anymore because of you,” Casey says back with a sad smile.

  His dad said the same thing to me every time I mentioned cooking around him.

  “How… How about HotStop Wings?” Bree suggests.

  Poor Bree, she doesn’t know what she just did.

  “Who’s buying?” I ask with a real chuckle.

  “You should buy since you’re the one who asked me to come back.” She looks between the two of us. “Why are you guys s
miling like that?”

  “She’s never seen a growing boy eat hot wings, has she?” Casey begins to laugh.

  “Remember, we probably need to wear bibs,” I say and wink at Casey.

  “That’s what the to-go bag is for. You just rip it a bit and tuck it down your shirt to catch the droppings,” he says.

  “Genius,” I say, grinning at him.

  “You guys are worrying me,” Bree says with a giggle.

  “You’re just lucky it’s me buying. I don’t think you could afford the two of us. We have, lets say, large appetites,” I say as I grab her hand again and pull her toward me.

  “I’m starting to think that after seeing how much you two ate at breakfast.”

  She leans into me, and she must be more comfortable with me in front of Casey now because she doesn’t get upset when I give her a quick kiss on the lips.

  I let her hop out of the Jeep without stopping her, and Casey takes her place. He elbows me in the shoulder when I don’t stop watching her sexy ass walk all the way to the front door.

  Damn, running shorts look good as fuck on that ass of hers. It swishes and jiggles in the perfect way.

  “Dude, you’re drooling,” Casey says.

  “Just making sure she gets into the house,” I say and look at him. “When you start dating, you always wait until they make it into the house before you leave. And if it’s dark, you walk her to the door. It’s a safety thing.”

  “Doesn’t that seem kind of creepy? You watching them walk up their driveway or whatever?” he asks, and takes a quick look to make sure Bree got in.

  “No, and if a guy doesn’t think of his girl’s safety first, he doesn’t deserve her,” I say as I put the jeep into drive. “Oh, and never honk at a girl’s house, expecting her to come out. That’s just douchey. She isn’t a dog that responds to whistles.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emmett

  My phone starts to blow up again as soon as I turn it on in the gym’s parking lot. And by blow up, I mean texts, emails, and phone calls coming in one right after the other.

  Fuck, what the hell is going on now?

  I don’t have time for shit like this, not one fucking bit. I need to get focused on training and taking care of Bree and Casey.

  Those are my two priorities.

  I turned the motherfucker off for a reason last night. Everyone who needs to get a hold of me knows my house phone number for emergencies.

  Getting out of the Jeep, I toss my phone to Casey. “Silence that fucker. I don’t want to hear about it until after training today.”

  “Yes, sir,” Casey says with a laugh as he starts fooling around with it to make all the chimes and dings stop. “You want to know what it’s all about?”

  “Nah,” I say, “it’s probably bullshit anyways.”

  Casey drawls out, “Okay.”

  And I get the feeling maybe I should find out what’s going on.

  But as I walk into the gym, I don’t think I’ll need the help.

  Chase, Bear, and Dale are all standing near the front desk, looking up at the large TV that plays the sports updates. Once I see what they’re watching, my entire body starts to go numb with deep-seated rage.

  Turning to see who came in the door, Chase gives me a pissed off look. He motions for me to get over to him before he points up at the screen.

  Dale spits out, “Fucking Silva.”

  Over the clatter of the men and women working out around us, I hear the sportscaster talking about something Silva did on some social media platform last night.

  Last night while I was having one of the best nights of my life, this douchebag was talking major shit.

  I stick my hand out for my phone and Casey hands it to me quickly. Swiping it on, I check to see what I’m missing. It doesn’t take me long to find it, Brett sent me a link through text.

  Opening the link, my hands start to tremble as I watch a video of Jamey reenacting the end of our last match. Except whoever the fuck he has acting like me is howling and screaming like a girl about his arm.

  The fuckers even reenact the part where Jamey knocked out Tommy, calling him a dead little bitch.

  I stare at the phone long after the video ends, the craving for the dark, blackout stage of being drunk calling to me.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him,” Casey whispers beside me.

  “I get him first,” I growl and throw my phone across the gym, sending it slamming into an empty wall.

  “Shit!” Casey winces as he chases after it.

  I hope I broke that fucker, but knowing the case I bought for it, I doubt it.

  “Well, I guess you know the first thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Dale says as he walks over to me.

  “Yeah, what’s the second?” I ask, staring at him.

  “The company called this morning. Seems they had a cancellation for next month’s match. It was supposed to be a title fight, but one of the guys got a bad staph infection. They want to know how you feel about moving your match up a month,” Dale says in a way that I’m positive he already knows my answer.

  “I want a bigger payout for beating him,” I say, and then look around me.

  Chase is still pretty pissed off, and I bet I know the reason why.

  Dale laughs in his harsh, almost raspy, way. “Already did, figured I’d act like I gave you an option.”

  “Anything else or can I go get changed?” I ask.

  “Yeah, were you the reason why Bree didn’t make it home last night?” Dale asks and his voice has this deadly calm to it.

  A calm he only gets when he’s ready to hurt someone.

  Only a fool would think he can’t fight. Being a trainer doesn’t mean he can’t dish out a serious ass-whooping.

  “I was, and she’ll be staying at my house for the foreseeable future,” I answer.

  To be honest, if he or Chase wants to push the issue one fucking inch, I’ll fucking break ‘em both.

  “She in love with you?” Dale asks.

  “She doesn’t know it yet, but yeah. Just as much as I am with her,” I say before walking away and heading to the locker room.

  I need to get ready. Pounds are going to be shed and muscles are going to be worked until they’re hard and lean.

  I know when Bree arrives because the moment she steps into the place, I can feel her presence in my mind. Like she’s rooted there.

  Chase notices it too though, and the dirty ass look he gives me lets me know he’s going to make my life a living hell.

  Fuck it though, she’s worth the hell and pain. She’s worth everything.

  “Hey Dale,” I call out after a very long set of burpees. “Casey said you wouldn’t punish him too hard because he’s a kid. Sounded like he called you a pussy to me, but I could be wrong.”

  “Casey!” Dale shouts out across the gym, and I would snicker if I wasn’t worried about getting in trouble.

  Casey, poor kid, was sitting on the desk next to Bree, reenacting something for her. And I can tell by the way his head turns toward us, he’s scared.

  Yep, little turd shouldn’t have fucked with me.

  Stopping my burpees exercise, I bend over at the waist, taking a couple of deep breaths. Burpees don’t look hard on the body, but they are, and they fucking suck. Do enough of them and you’ll wanna die.

  Casey jogs over to us and gives me the stink eye. “Yeah?”

  “I’m a pussy, huh?” Dale asks with a growling snarl.

  Casey’s eyes go wide. “What? I… I never said that.”

  “Place your bets, ladies and gents,” Dale shouts to the gym. “We’re going to see who can last the longest, Casey or Emmett. First one to puke has to mop up the mess!”

  “Wait, what?” I ask in horror. “What the fuck did I do?”

  Dale cackles as he looks around at the growing crowd. “Burpees, boys. Ten sets of ten to start off!”

  “I just did twenty sets of ten!” I mutter loudly.

  “I hate you, Emmett,
” Casey groans as he gets into position.

  “This will teach you both about the value of being a good role model. And it’s good for your testicular fortitude,” Dale laughs. “Now start!”

  Fuck. Me. I’m going to die.

  I can see Bree over at the desk, watching in growing confusion as all the guys and gals around her start betting money, workout routines, and just about anything under the sun.

  “This is gonna hurt,” I whisper to Casey.

  “I really hate you,” Casey groans as we both drop down into our first set.

  The first ten reps aren’t too bad. I just remember the video I was shown earlier this morning, replaying Jamey Silva’s words in my head.

  Dead little bitch.

  That keeps the fire in my stomach more than anything else. I let those words heat me up. I let them slither and writhe all over my brain, encompassing me with rage and disgust.

  At the fifteenth repetition, Casey falls to the mat, gasping for air and telling Dale he taps out. Looking over at him to make sure he’s not seriously dying, I keep going.

  My body is shaking by the twentieth rep, and I can feel my stomach wanting to hurl from the abuse I’m pushing myself through.

  After finishing up, the crowd is staring at me with a strange mixture of bemusement and acknowledgement. Not a lot of people can make it through what I just did. I’ve had a full day so far with my workout and training inside the ring.

  My body hurts in places I don’t remember existing, but I still have the drive to do something else.

  To punish something.

  Eyeing Dale with annoyance, I say, “I’m heading to the bags.”

  “Twenty-five elbows strikes, thirty punches on both arms. Then the same for the knee strikes and kicks,” he says, and I just nod.

  He knows I’ve got the anger again in me. I’ll be worth shit tomorrow, but right now I need to blow this steam off any way that I can.

  Bree’s soft voice comes from over my shoulder. “You okay?”

  Nodding my head yes, I don’t turn around. “I’m good.”

  “You sure?” she asks, and then out of the corner of my eye I see her sit down beside me on the curb of the sidewalk.