“Good point,” I grunt as we make it to his truck. Caden helps Izzy into the backseat while I make myself comfortable in the front.
Just as I had thought, twenty minutes later, Caden is walking up the stairs with Izzy draped over his shoulder. I unlock my apartment as usher him in before ducking down to my bedroom and grabbing a spare pillow to place down on the couch so he can lay her down. I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and throw it over her before yanking off her heels. She snores a little and makes herself comfortable before settling into a deep sleep.
“You ok here?” Caden asks as I kick off my own heels and head into the kitchen for a glass of water.
I finish off the glass before placing it down and strutting right up to him. My hand rests on his chest and I tilt my chin up so I can look him in the eye. His arms instinctively wrap around me and he pulls me in tighter. “Why don’t you come to bed?” I murmur as I press my lips to his.
He shakes his head ever so slightly but still manages to kiss me back. “You know my rules,” he says.
I roll my eyes. “I will remember it in the morning,” I argue.
“I don’t care,” he says. “I don’t sleep with girls who are drunk, no matter the circumstances.”
I do my best to bat my eyes lashes at him, but all that does is make my head spin. Shit, maybe he’s right. I should probably lay down. I give him a smile knowing sex is off the cards for tonight. “Your loss,” I tell him.
“Believe me. I know,” he says before curling his fingers around mine and dipping his head to kiss me again. “Come on,” he says. “Let me put you in bed.”
With that, he leads me down my hallway and pulls my dress over my head. I don’t miss the way his eyes rake over my body or the way his dick bulges in his pants. He wants me and I love that he does, but he has rules and I’ll respect them even if it kills me. Besides, I have a glow-in-the-dark friend hiding under my bed who can relieve the ache the second he walks out. Hell, if he isn’t fast, I might not wait for him to leave.
Caden pulls the sheets back and helps me to slide in bed. “You good?” he asks, repeating the question I never answered earlier.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “Thanks for coming and getting us.”
“It’s no big deal,” he says.
“It is,” I tell him. “I know you weren’t actually out. If I had to bet on it, I’d say you were already in bed.”
With a twinkle in his eye, he presses a kiss to my forehead and steps away to shut off the light. “Goodnight, Imogen,” he says, confirming what I already know.
“Night, Caden.”
With that, he walks out of my room and closes the door behind him. I hear him moving around my kitchen and I have no doubt he’s putting out two glasses of water and some painkillers for me and Izzy come morning.
Not long after, I hear him fiddling with the lock on the front door before closing it as he leaves.
I let out a sigh. Caden is going to make some woman extremely happy one day. He’s going to love her so fiercely that she’ll never want for anything, and honestly, the thought makes me a little jealous.
Chapter 4
Caden
My alarm screeches to life at five in the morning and I groan as I roll out of bed to turn the bastard off. I’m so fucking tired, but I honestly don’t care.
I had spent my night waiting in my truck for Imogen and Izzy to emerge from The Dark Room. Call me a fucking pansy ass but it makes no difference to me. I’d prefer to spend my night in my truck than to let either of those girls get hurt. You never know when you might come across a sick fucker who’s more than willing to take advantage of a couple of hot chicks. Sleep be damned. I have my fucking priorities straight.
Imogen was right, I was fast asleep in bed when her message came through, though it’s not like I’m actually going to admit that to her. It all paid off watching Imogen beg me to fuck her, but she knows the rules.
Even though we’ve been screwing for nearly a year and I know she wouldn’t have regretted it the next morning, I still couldn’t bring myself to do it. There’s just something morally wrong about sleeping with someone who’s wasted. I wanted to do it though, if she hadn’t drunk quite so much, I would have been up in there within seconds. My dick was practically clawing at the front of my jeans, begging to be unleashed on the world.
With only a few short hours of sleep to keep me going for the day, I rub my hand down my face and get my ass up. I have a quick shower and pull on a pair of track pants and my Rebels Advocate top before making my way into the kitchen. I make up a shake and before I know it, the shake is in the bottom of my stomach and I’m halfway to the gym.
I consider myself to be a bit of an early bird, so being the one to open Rebels each morning is absolutely no problem for me. Besides, the fighters generally like to train in the afternoon as the majority of them have a hard time getting their asses out of bed.
I stick to Personal Training while the sun is still coming up and I wouldn’t have it any other way, neither would my clients. Every single one of them is completely dedicated to making a change in their lives, which is why I’m not surprised to see my first client of the day waiting by the doors, getting her stretching out of the way.
Lisa came to me nearly a year ago, depressed about her weight. She had told me that she was really happy in her marriage and had no issues with herself until she caught her husband cheating. She stacked on the weight and he decided he wasn’t going to fight for her and her girls any longer. He was moving in with the other woman.
Her goal was to lose the weight before the cheating bastard’s wedding which happens to be in a few weeks, and I’m glad to say that she’s lost just over fifty pounds and is absolutely rocking it. I haven’t got a clue why that jackass would want to cheat on her. I mean, she’s fine. If I didn’t have morals when it came to sleeping with my clients, I’d definitely be all up in her business. You know, if Imogen wasn’t in the picture.
“Have a sleep in, did you?” she teases as she stretches down to grab her ankles.
“Whatever,” I laugh as I pull the gym keys out of my pocket. “I’m still early. What’s going on with you? Did you forget how to sleep?”
“No,” she smiles. “I wanted to get the warm-up out of the way so I could have better use of our session.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” I grin as I open the door and usher her in.
She instantly struts into the gym with too much energy while I detour to the office and turn on all the lights. I grin to myself knowing that when I’m done with her, that energy is going to be completely gone. Lisa always works her ass off for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t bother with clients who don’t give their all. I’m not here to have my time wasted and every single one of my clients know it.
I walk around the gym getting things ready for Lisa’s session while she gets stuck into her warm up. A few other people walk in and mind their own business as they pull their phones, towels, and earphones out of their bags before getting stuck into their own shit.
Rebels Advocate has become the top gym in the area and I absolutely love it. We’re crazy busy every day and because of that, we’ve had to put on extra trainers and staff. Hell, once Luke is back from deployment, we’ll be discussing franchising.
Cole is our designated MMA trainer as that’s his background, and man, he’s fucking good at it. He was the heavyweight champion for three solid years before he retired from the professional circuit a few years ago. He was an incredible fighter, but he’s an even better trainer, and that fact alone has kids coming from far and wide to train with him.
Luke and Jace are personal trainers like me, though they’re rarely seen before midday. Luke is our designated nutritionist while Jace generally prefers the group sessions. We’re all trained in MMA and could kick anyone’s ass… apart from Cole and Xander of course, we haven’t got a chance in hell against them.
I get started on Lisa’s session and just as expected, sh
e works her ass off. Sweat drips down the side of her face but I know she won’t give in. She’s determined to stick it to her ex and I know she’ll do just that. Lisa never fails.
Two hours later, I sit in the lunchroom annihilating my breakfast when Cole comes in. He dumps his phone and keys down on the table before making himself a protein shake. He doesn’t need to be here for a while so I’m assuming he’s getting ready for his own workout before his fighters come in.
“What’s up?” I say by way of greeting.
“Not much,” he grunts as he measures out his shake. “How were your morning sessions?”
“Good,” I tell him. “Lisa had another weigh in. She’s down another few pounds.”
“Fucking A,” he says with pride in his voice. Once you join Rebels Advocate, you become part of the family, so your success is all of our successes. “What’d you do with her?”
“Circuit training,” I explain. “The wedding is in another three weeks and now she wants to find a date to take with her.”
“Good on her,” he grins. “She deserves her revenge on the sorry bastard.”
“That she does,” I say as he collapses down in the chair beside me and props his foot up on the opposite chair. “Rylee said she saw you at the club with Imogen last night,” he starts.
Shit.
“Yeah,” I say, looking across at him to try and read him, though, so far it just seems like general conversation rather than trying to dig for information. “She was out with Izzy and called me by mistake. She was pretty wasted so I headed out and picked them up. I think she was trying to call you.”
He rolls his eyes. “Thanks, man,” he says. “That’s so typical of those girls. They have absolutely no regard for their safety.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” I murmur, knowing perfectly well just how true that statement is.
“You didn’t have to get them. I would have headed out,” he says, being the perfect overprotective big brother, though, he and I both know that I would have done it anyway. I’ve been looking out for those girls since we were kids.
“No drama,” I tell him with a shrug of my shoulders.
“Nah, I really owe you,” he says. “I was exhausted last night, so thanks. You’ve always been there for Imogen when she needed you. You’re like another big brother to her. I’ve always appreciated that. I probably don’t tell you that enough.”
Fuck, if only he knew. “Yeah,” I grunt, feeling like a backstabbing prick. If it was anyone else we were talking about I’d probably bust his balls for getting all girly on me, but this topic is way too close to home.
“I think she’s dating someone,” he says before throwing back the rest of his shake.
I turn to him with wide eyes and I’m more than pleased he mistakes my look for curiosity. “What makes you think that?” I question while trying my hardest not to show just how badly I’m freaking out. Fuck, does he know? Maybe Rylee did work it out and said something. Maybe he’s testing me.
Shit. This is it. This is the day I meet my maker.
He shrugs his shoulders. “Don’t know,” he muses. “I just have this feeling. Rylee thinks so too.”
“Care to explain?” I ask while turning my eyes back to the table to appear like I’m not incredibly invested in the topic.
“She’s just being secretive. Usually, when she’s seeing someone she tells me about it just to piss me off, but this time it’s like she’s purposefully going out of her way to keep me in the dark, and when I ask about it, she dodges the topic like her ass is on fire. Something’s up with her and it’s annoying as fuck that I don’t know what it is. Maybe this guy is serious and she’s taking it slow.”
“I… um, don’t know what to tell you, man,” I say with a slight cringe that he doesn’t pick up on.
He turns to me with a wicked, excited gleam in his eye, one that after years of being his best friend, I recognize as complete and utter mischief, so I prepare myself for whatever’s about to come out of his mouth. “I’m staking out her place tonight.”
“What?” I grunt. “You can’t. She’s going to fucking kill you.”
“I know,” he laughs, always more than ready to mess with his little sister. “But I can’t stand not knowing. You in?”
I let out a sigh before an excited grin takes over. “Yeah, alright,” I laugh, at least with me on his stakeout, I’ll be too busy to be able to sleep with her.
He gets up from his seat, clearly very proud of himself and disappears out the door.
The rest of my Saturday flies by just as it usually does and before I know it, we’re parked out the front Imogen’s building with a pizza wedged between us and a beer in my hand.
I feel like a creepy as fuck stalker sitting outside her place, but I know it’s harmless. All that’s going to come from this is a fight between Imogen and Cole while I stand back as an innocent bystander. I mean, I could always send her a text and let her know what’s going on, but to be honest, I kind of love messing with her too.
With Imogen living in an apartment, all we can really see is when a light is turned on in her bedroom or bathroom, so I can sleep easy knowing were not truly spying on her. It’s not like we have binoculars and are peeping through her window. We’re just checking if any guys are making their way inside, which, deep down I know there’s not, but I’m still a bit curious if I’m the only one she’s getting with.
Cole and I get carried away discussing Xander’s next fight that we forget what the hell we’re even doing here. When Imogen’s bedroom light is flicked on, my eyes glance up and I find myself watching with interest. Her shadow passes by the window a few times before she comes to a standstill right before the window.
I smirk as she pulls her top over her head and laugh to myself as Cole groans and instantly looks away. He punches me in the arm when it’s clear I’m not averting my eyes, but when my mouth drops open in surprise, his eyes are instantly looking back up at her.
Another shadow crosses the room and comes to a standstill right before her. Arms are thrown around each other and a brutal jealousy is slammed right through me, nearly paralyzing me. What the fuck? I know we’re not exclusive, but never in my wildest dreams would I expect to feel this way.
“Fuck,” Cole grunts as the figures in the window get a lot closer and their faces get smooshed together. “We’re on. I’m going to nail this bastard. The fucker isn’t going to know what hit him.”
With that, we jump out of Cole’s truck and 007 our way up to Imogen’s apartment. One thing I know for sure is that I’m right with Cole at the moment. I want to nail this guy just as much as he does, though, I don’t know if it’s because I see Imogen as mine or if it’s coming from a place of being protective of my best friend’s little sister.
Fuck. I need to sort my shit out. All I can think about right now is getting in the room and tearing that mother fucker off my girl. Shit. She’s not my girl, just a girl.
Cole pulls out the spare key to Imogen’s door and lets us in. We creep in and it’s then that I come aware of just how wrong this is. I mean, this is a nasty invasion of Imogen’s privacy and it’s suddenly gone from a brother playing a stupid prank on his little sister to two guys breaking into a woman’s home like fucking creepers. Shit, I hope she sees this in a good way or I could be ruining my chances of ever getting between those legs again.
Cole and I have done a lot stupider shit than this, hell, half the time we had Imogen right by our side egging us on, so she should be able to forgive us, but right now, my priorities are all fucked up. Shit, even if I wasn’t sleeping with her I’d probably still be right here.
I creep down the hallway trying to be as quiet as possible, but Cole doesn’t seem to give a shit about the amount of noise he’s making as he tears his way down the timber floorboards in his desperation to save his sister from being defiled by some jackass.
Cole grabs the door handle and with a quick twist, he throws the door open. I hardly have a chance to duck for cover before
both Imogen and Izzy are squirting us with water pistols and practically pissing themselves with laughter.
“Got ya, fuckers,” Imogen laughs as she soaks us with water, though I still find myself looking around the room for another man even though it’s perfectly clear that Imogen was actually the one messing with us.
“Fuck,” Cole grunts with absolute relief in his voice before he storms forward to save himself from being drenched. Imogen squeals and ducks out of his way.
Izzy can hardly contain her laughter and falls onto the bed, leaving Imogen without her back-up against her brother who storms into her room and steals the water pistol out of her hands.
Always being on the same wavelength as Cole, I race forward and wrap Imogen in my arms while keeping her own arms pinned to her sides. Her back is squished to my chest and she kicks out her legs while Cole removes the water from the pistol.
“No,” Imogen screams out, knowing exactly what he’s about to do.
She squeals for Izzy to help, but she’s still hunched over the bed trying to control her laughter. With one quick movement, Cole raises his arm and dumps the water over the top of Imogen’s head, instantly drenching her. Though, just my luck, I end up soaked as well.
“Oh, my god,” she squeals as the cold water assaults her. “You jackass.”
Cole bursts out laughing, extremely proud of himself as I finally release my grip around her. I make sure she finds her footing before stepping away and joining Cole as he makes his way out to Imogen’s living room.
A moment later, Imogen comes out with a towel in her hand, trying to squeeze the water out of her hair while Izzy comes out behind her, wiping the tears of laughter out of her eyes.
Imogen flops down in the couch beside me while looking over at her brother. “Next time you go on a stakeout, use someone else’s truck. Oh, and don’t park right outside my apartment with your windows down. I saw you the second you pulled up.”
“Shit,” Cole grunts.
“What were you trying to achieve anyway?” she questions.
“I’m trying to work out who the hell this guy is that you’ve been fucking,” Cole says. “If you just introduced me, none of this would have happened.”
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