I step out of the kitchen and take a deep breath. I have to face him sooner or later. As I make my way outside, I pass Rylee. “Hey,” she says stopping me with a slight cringe, probably wondering if it’s going to be awkward between us since she bombarded me at my home. “How are you?”
“Honestly, I’ve been better,” I tell her. “I don’t like when he’s upset with me.”
“I know,” she sighs. “I’m sorry about the other night. I just… he’s my person.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I would have done the same thing in your position,” I tell her before looking around her to see Cole’s eyes narrowed on me. “How’s he taking it?”
“Not good,” she cringes. “He has the shits with the world. He’s upset that I didn’t tell him when I first suspected it and he’s been a broody ass since Tuesday. He hasn’t spoken a word to Caden since he tried to knock him out and he’s even going as far to train Xander at his gym instead.”
“Shit,” I cringe. “I’m sorry. Did he really try to knock him out?”
“You don’t know?” she questions.
“No,” I say. “Caden hasn’t spoken to me all week. I’m sure he wants to sort things out with Cole first.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not going to get better for any of you until Cole can come to terms with it and to do that, he needs to talk to you.”
“Yeah, I know,” I tell her. “I’m going to talk with him now.”
She reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. “Alright, good luck,” she says before disappearing inside.
I step out the back door and turn to face Cole. His eyes are already flaming and he gets to his feet. “Well,” he starts. “If it isn’t my backstabbing little sister.”
“Cole,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, now you want to talk?” he snaps with an impossible amount of sarcasm. “What happened to talking a fucking year ago, Imogen? It’s been thirteen months. Thirteen months you could have come to me, but you didn’t. You lied right to my fucking face.”
“Cole,” I say, trying to get him to calm down, but I know he won’t stop until he gets it all out.
“He’s my best friend,” he says. “Why him? Were you trying to get at me for something? Did I piss you off?” he lets out a curse before starting up again. “Do you want to be with him?” he questions, throwing me completely off.
“No… I, um.”
“Shit,” he curses. “It’s a yes or a fucking no, Imogen. Do you want to be with him?”
“I don’t know,” I finally admit. “It just happened. I wasn’t trying to get at you or anything like that. I feel like shit that I didn’t tell you, but I was scared.”
“Scared?” he grunts, cutting me off. “I’d never fucking hurt you.”
“No. Not scared of you. I was scared you’d make me stop.”
“Of course, I would have made you stop,” he yells as though it’s so damn obvious.
“Exactly my point. I like spending time with him and I wasn’t ready for it to be over,” I explain. “It just happened, alright? I was drinking and it happened. Neither of us had the intentions of hurting you, and you’re right, I should have told you straight away.”
“Yeah, you should have told me,” he says as the rage begins to fade from his eyes. Disappointment and hurt flash across his face and tears my heart to shreds. “I thought we could always tell each other the truth.”
At that, the tears that I’ve been holding onto finally break free. “I’m so sorry,” I cry. “I just…” a sob rips from my throat. “Don’t hate me. Please, don’t hate me. I couldn’t take it.”
“Fuck,” he curses before rushing to me. He wraps his warm arms around me and holds me close. “I could never hate you. I’m just hurt that you kept it from me and went behind my back. You know, if you truly liked him, I would have got used to it eventually.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoff into his shirt while also using it to dry my eyes.
“It would have been hard, but if it meant that you both were happy, then I would have dealt with it.”
I pull out of his arms and try to get myself together. “You know, I love you, right?”
“I know,” he says. “I love you too.”
I cringe as I look up at him, a little unsure if I should be asking, but I need to know. “Are, um… do you think you’ll sort things out with Caden?”
He shakes his head and presses his lips into a tight line before finally taking a sip of his drink. “I don’t know, Imogen. He’s my best friend, but I can’t look at him without wanting to knock his lights out. Every time I see him, I see you and him, and it kills me.”
“If it helps, I was the one who asked him not to say anything. He wanted to tell you so badly, but I wasn’t ready.”
“I figured,” he grunts. “It’s not like him to keep secrets from me. That’s all you.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
He lets out a breath and I know the worst is over. We’re going to be ok. “So, um,” he says with a cringe of his own. “You two… Were you guys actually together or was it just a” cringe, “physical thing?”
Jesus, save me now.
“It was just physical,” I tell him, unable to meet his eye.
“And you don’t want anything more?” he confirms.
At that, I look him straight in the eye. “Honestly,” I say. “I don’t know.”
I manage to make it through lunch without pissing off any more of my family members and finally get myself home only to end up at a bar with Izzy, completely and utterly wasted.
After hearing from Cole that things are still rocky with Caden and will be for a while, I can’t help but feel responsible. It’s my fault that all this happened. Caden is risking losing his best friend because I was a horny bitch.
Fuck.
It’s that thought that has me throwing back another shot.
“You know,” Izzy starts which has me sliding my eyes across to her as she throws back a shot of her own before cringing at the burn. “I knew all along.”
“What?” I shriek. “That’s not possible. Nobody knew.”
“I knew,” she slurs proudly. “But good for you. I’m so jealous. Caden is fucking hot. I need to find me a man like him. I can only imagine how good the sex is.”
I ignore her running comments and focus on the important stuff. You know, apart from confirming just how good the sex was. I mean, mind fucking blowing. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I question.
She gives me a look which tells me she just knows me that well. “Because I knew you’d tell me when you were ready. I just didn’t expect it to take so damn long.”
I roll my eyes at her comments. “When did you work it out?”
“Right at the beginning when you stopped sleeping around. You know, the night those guys were offering you a threesome.”
“What?” I gasp. “I was always going to say no to that. It’s hardly a massive indicator that I was screwing my brother’s best friend.”
“First off, you would have said no to the threesome, but you would have taken one of the guys home, and secondly, I only knew there was a ‘someone’ at that stage. I didn’t work out that it was Caden until I noticed the way you looked at each other.”
“Huh?” I grunt. “What do you mean?”
“Well, before, it was always innocent, but then you’d start lighting up when he was in the room and every time you looked at each other, your eyes would sparkle. It was dazzling,” she says. “Anyone with two eyes would have been able to tell that you two were falling for each other.”
“Whoa,” I grunt. “Slow the fuck down, cowgirl. We weren’t falling for each other. It was no strings attached, wild, dirty sex.”
“Denial,” she says, mimicking the voice of Bruce from Finding Nemo.
I roll my eyes. I am not in denial. I was the one actually experiencing the wild sex fests. I know firsthand what it was, and I know there was no falling going on. At least, not from me. If Caden was doing this so-calle
d ‘falling’ I would have known about it. I mean, sure, he might have had a bit of a crush on me, treated me nice and took care of me, but I’d know if a man was in love with me.
I indicate to the guy behind the bar. We’re going to need a few more shots down this way.
Needing to move on from the whole ‘falling’ thing, I turn to Izzy with a grin. “We had sex in your bed.”
“What?” she demands, but all I can do is grin. Her eyes narrow and she slowly shakes her head as a grin of her own rips across her face. “You little hussy.”
Chapter 16
Caden
I walk through the door of Rebels Advocate and come to a startling standstill.
Shit.
He’s here.
It’s been nearly two weeks and I haven’t seen or talked him. All his training sessions have been at Xander’s gym and he’s been training his other fighters later in the afternoon when he knows I’m not there as I usually do the early morning clients.
I’ve been dreading this moment since the night he found out about Imogen. I have no idea how he’s going to react. Am I going to get punched again? Am I going to get the silent treatment, or does his being here mean he’s ready to talk?
I should have looked out for his truck in the parking lot, at least that way I could have saved myself from looking like a stunned moron in the doorway.
As if sensing my presence, his eyes flick to mine and I see the rage still deep within them. I cross off ‘ready to talk’ from the list of possibilities. Maybe he just realized it doesn’t look good for business if he’s not here to actually help train our fighters.
Not able to handle seeing him look at me that way, I cast my eyes away and walk around to my office. I dump my phone and keys down on my desk, let out a heavy sigh, and sit down. Today is going to be a trying day. I feel it in my bones. Not to mention, I haven’t seen or spoken to Imogen either and that alone has a heavy feeling settled within my heart.
I fucking miss her.
She hasn’t texted and I know it’s out of respect for Cole, but I just need to hear from her to make sure she’s ok. I’m sure this whole thing couldn’t be easy on her and I’m sure she knows she could always call if she needs, but I’m not about to go and call her until I’ve sorted shit out with Cole.
Needing to keep my mind off the whole situation, I go through and reply to all my emails before double checking my schedule. I have Brandon’s session this afternoon and I find myself oddly excited. That kid has really grown on me. He’s like a little fucking ray of sunshine, though, the only negative that comes with it is that Imogen isn’t here to enjoy it. I know she has a soft spot for the kid too.
It pains me to know what he’s gone through. Each session he reveals a little more about his prior life and I hate that he’s had such a shitty upbringing and I’ve found myself, on multiple occasions, wishing I could give him something better. The kid needs some good memories to grow up with, something positive which he’ll be able to share with his own kids one day.
The day drags by, fighters come and go, and I manage not to get my nose broken by my best friend.
The only thing to make me feel somewhat human is when Brandon walks through the door for his training session, though, I’m not going to lie, I’m disappointed when it’s only Susan and Katia accompanying him. I didn’t expect Imogen to be here, but I had hoped. She didn’t show up last week and something told me Brandon was also disappointed by it.
Brandon runs over to me and instantly gets straight into it. “Can you teach me those jump spin kick things? I saw it on YouTube.”
“Slow down,” I laugh. “You’ve got a bit to learn before we can start that stuff,” I tell him.
His face falls and it kind of breaks my heart so I promise him that I’ll show him a few things that I know he’d find cool. We get stuck into our session and I put him through a quick warm up before I ask if he’d prefer to train in the ring today seeing as though Cole has Xander doing circuit training right now.
Brandon’s face lights up as though I’ve just granted all his wishes at once. We head over and it takes all of about two seconds for him to slide himself through the ropes and get himself situated in the center.
I grin as I walk up to him. Since our first session, we’ve been using the punching bag, but being in the ring, he’ll have to aim his shots at me and I hope he has come far enough that the act of turning your fist on another human being doesn’t have him freaking out on me.
The last thing I would ever want to do is damage any of the progress Imogen has made with him, but sometimes all a boy needs is a man in their lives who can push them in the right direction. I like to think of myself being that kind of person to Brandon, and I think if anyone asked him, he’d agree with me.
I give him a combination to work on and I grab a set of pads. We get straight into it and I’m pleased to find he’s doing great. He has a look of absolute concentration on his face and I try my best not to grin at it. We’ve been working on relaxing and letting the moves come naturally. I don’t want him thinking so hard about it. He needs to be able to free his mind so he’s aware of the things around him, especially if he were in a fight. He needs to be aware of his opponent, not just his own moves.
He gets that but knowing something and doing it are two very different things, so I throw a few challenges in his way. Every now and then, I’ll swing my arm out and tell him to duck. The first time didn’t go so great and he completely dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The next few were better, but now, nearly three-quarters of the way through our session, he’s the one throwing extra challenges at me.
I swear, this kid is going to go far in MMA and I truly hope he stays with it.
There’s a commotion at the door but we ignore it. It has nothing to do with us and I’m sure with both me and Cole in sessions, Jace will take care of it.
“Brandon,” a voice is hollered across the gym. I look down at Brandon who suddenly freezes. “Get your ass down here.”
I turn towards the commotion to find a big burly man trying to get past Susan and Katia. Jace is darting across the gym to figure out what the hell is going on, but something tells me this man is Brandon’s father.
I turn back to Brandon and realize he’s taken a step to his left which puts him directly behind me and out of his father’s sight. The move has pride swirling through me. If he hadn’t had moved, I would have done it for him. “You ok?” I murmur.
His eyes are wide and he shakes his head. Shit.
Brandon’s father gets fed up with Susan and Katia and strikes his arm out. He instantly bowls them out of the way and they scream on their way down. I realize just how much strength he possesses, but what really pisses me off is this man had been using that strength against a child.
Jace makes it to them and situates himself directly in front of the man. “Whoa,” he says, holding his hands up in a sign that he’s not there to fight. “What’s going on here.”
“I want my son,” he demands as he tries to look around Jace. “Where the fuck is he? I know he’s here.”
Susan and Katia get themselves to their feet as Cole and Xander start making their way over, each with furious looks on their faces at what they just witnessed happened to these innocent ladies.
One of the fighters in the gym also makes his way over, but I’m shocked when he takes a place next to Brandon’s father. “Come on,” he says to Cole, knowing he’s probably the biggest threat in that little group. “He just wants his kid back.”
“No fucking way,” Cole grunts.
I want nothing more than to go down there, but with Brandon at my back, I’m not moving an inch.
I notice Susan on the phone and I have no doubt she’s calling the police to get him removed. “Get out of my way,” the man orders as if Cole, Xander, and Jace are all just going to bend at his will. I mean, the guy’s got the wrong fucking gym if he thinks that’s the case.
“Get out of my gym,” Cole asks as calmly as t
hough he were on a tropical beach.
A vein practically pops out of the guy’s head. “Give me my kid.”
The other fighter takes a step forward and it’s almost comical the way my three boys straighten up at the threat, always prepared for anything.
The man tries to look around Cole’s shoulder. “Brandon,” he roars. “You have three fucking seconds to get your ass down here.”
“You need to leave,” Cole says again.
The man ignores him. “One,” he says, starting his countdown.
I can’t practically feel the anxiety coming off Brandon behind me. I turn back. He’s as white as a ghost and his whole body is shaking. “Please, don’t make me go,” he begs.
“You’re not going anywhere,” I promise him.
“Two,” his father screams out.
The other fighter is done with waiting and launches himself forward. He tackles Xander to the ground while the man goes for Cole and Jace. Susan and Katia scream and scatter away as my whole body tenses. I know there’s no way in hell he could get through them, but I’m not taking my chances.
This kid is mine to protect. He’s here because he wants to train with me. He’s my responsibility and there’s no way in hell he’ll be getting hurt on my watch.
With the man distracted, I usher Brandon out of the ring and into the studio room with Susan and Katia. It’s a glass room so it’s not great for concealing them, but it’s all we’ve got without crossing the entire gym to have them hide out in our offices.
They all watch with wide eyes and I make my way across the gym to the front reception area.
By now, both men are restrained. Cole and Jace usher out the man while Xander practically throws out the other fighter. As they’re getting the man out the door, he swings around with an elbow and nails Jace in the face. The sudden movement has his beefy wrists torn out of Cole’s hold and he storms into the gym like a raging bull.
I step into his direct line and he attempts to take me down. I swing my fist and nail him in the face. He falls back a step and I go with him. Steam practically comes out of his nose and ears as he prepares to fire back, but I’m too quick. I get him with an uppercut that has him doubling over. “What’s wrong?” I question. “You don’t like it?”
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