“Yeah,” he says as he rubs the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I should have spoken to you first.”
I ignore his worries and start flicking through the papers until I get to his signature. I study the black ink on the paper. It’s right there before me, I can see it as clear as day yet I still don’t believe it. “He signed,” I repeat.
I’m finally free of him. From now on, that bastard will never be able to hold a damn thing over me. I won’t have to fear him coming here and demanding the possessions that I’ve worked to the bone to get and I don’t have to fear that he will ruin me again. I’m free. I can finally move on to this next chapter of my life with Luke.
An overwhelming freedom settles over me and the tears instantly start flowing. “Fuck,” Luke grunts. “I’m sorry.”
I fly to my feet on the bed and launch myself across the room at him. He catches me with ease and before he can say another self-doubting word, I kiss him with everything I’ve got. “Thank you,” I murmur against his lips as the tears continue to slide down my cheeks.
He pauses as he takes in my thanks. “Are you sure?” he questions.
“Yes,” I smile. “Definitely, yes. I’ll never have to worry about him again and it’s all thanks to you. You’ve given me my life back and I can finally move on. I’m finally a single woman.”
“Like hell you are,” he scoffs. “You’re mine.”
I can’t help but smile as I shake my head in exasperation. “From one man’s clutches, straight into another’s.”
“Just the way I had intended,” he tells me.
Chapter 23
Luke
The boys and I walk through the door of the new club. We finally got the call to say that the majority of the build is just about complete, and we’re here to approve all the changes.
Pulling into the parking lot and just seeing the big ass sign right out the front gave me the feels. It was incredible seeing it and I still have a hard time believing we’ve done this.
The doors aren’t even open and we’re already getting inquiries about joining every day. I swear, we have a list of at least two hundred people who have expressed their interest. We’ve even had the local schools reaching out and requesting health and fitness programs for the students.
I just can’t wait.
As a group, we head through the door. First things first, we walk straight into the front office. There’s a giddy excitement flowing through each of us, even though not one of us has uttered a word since walking in.
“This is nuts,” Caden finally says, breaking the silence.
“I know,” Jace scoffs as he runs his fingers over our logo stuck up on the front window. “It’s fucking crazy.”
Cole and Caden each get serious while Jace and I are still taking in the amazement before us. “Do you see anything that needs to be changed in here?” Cole asks as he looks around.
I look around with the eyes of a business owner rather than the one of a kid in a candy store. “Nah,” Caden says. “Looks good to me.”
We’re just about to walk out of the front office when I look up. “Isn’t there supposed to be a surveillance camera installed in here?”
The boys stop and at once, all eyes are up looking around the roof. “Yeah,” Cole grunts. “The security company was supposed to come out earlier in the week to get it done. Maybe they haven’t been yet.”
“Nah,” Jace says as he steps out of the office and back into the entryway. “There’s one out here. They must have missed it.”
“Shit,” Caden grunts before pulling his phone out and jotting it down. Just like that, we make our way around the club and put together a list of any changes or updates that need to be made. Things like an extra outlet in the cardio area so the outlets aren’t overloaded, a bigger mirror in the weights area, more benches and free weights. Even adding more yoga mats for the chicks.
An hour later, we stand out the front looking at the club we’ve built. We’re about to head back to the other club when Jace clears his throat. “So, I wanted to talk to you all about something,” he says.
My eyebrows furrow as I wrack my brain for what he could possibly have to say. We all wait patiently for him to hurry up and come out with it. “What’s up?” Cole finally says.
Jace lets out a little breath before meeting my eyes, followed by Cole and Caden’s. “This place is going to be opening in two months and we’ve all been avoiding the topic of who’s actually going to run it. So, I’m volunteering myself.”
“What?” I grunt, slightly taken back. I had thought for sure that Caden would have been the one to do that.
“Yeah,” Jace says. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done here with marketing and hiring staff that we need to get a jump on. It’s a bit far away for you guys to be driving every day. You know, you guys have your girls at home and I, well… I don’t have much keeping me home right now. Call it taking a page out of Cami’s book.”
“Are you sure?” Caden asks with concern.
“Yeah,” Jace says quietly. “I’ve thought it over. I’ll come here a few days a week until we open, and then I’ll stay full time for a few months until it’s up and running, scaling back after that.”
“Shit,” Cole says. “You’ve really thought about this?”
“Yeah,” he says. “I mean, as long as the three of you are cool with it, then we’ll make it happen.”
I cross my arms over my chest, not convinced that this is what he really wants. He loves working at our club. He loves his group classes and all his clients. It’s a big fucking deal for him to give that up for the next few months.
“I’m good if you’re good,” Caden says to him. “We could sort something else out, like a time share deal. We could all run the place, have a day that we come. I’m sure we’re all good to do something like that.”
“Yeah,” Cole agrees.
Jace scoffs. “That’s a fucking stupid idea and you two bastards know it. We need one person to be here every day and run the place. It’ll be all sorts of fucked up if we’re all doing it on separate days. Shit will get missed.”
“I agree,” I say. “But I’m not convinced you want this.”
He looks me in the eye with a challenge clear in his own. “I do,” he tells me.
I narrow my eyes on him. He’s flat out lying and I have no idea why, but the look in his eyes is pleading me to let it go. “Fine,” I say. “But don’t come running back after a week saying you change your mind.”
“I won’t,” he says with determination.
“Alright,” Cole says. “I guess that’s settled. We’ll get back to Rebels and get it sorted.”
Caden nods. “We’ll see you guys there.”
The two of them turn and head for Cole’s truck, while Jace and I make our way over to mine. We get in and I start up the engine before pulling out of my spot. We sit in silence as I drive back to Rebels, getting about a mile down the road before I turn to him with a question in my eyes. “What’s the deal, Jace?” I ask. “And don’t bother lying to me again.”
He lets out a sigh and looks out the window. I’m about to prompt him to spit it out when he finally does. “I slept with Cami.”
My eyes widen and I nearly swerve right off the road. “What?” I shriek like a gossipy teenage girl.
He continues looking out the window as he presses his lips together and nods his head. “Yep,” he confirms.
“And?” I ask, still in shock. I mean, here I was asking about why he wants to run the new club and he goes and spills an entirely different can of worms. Cami’s been gone for a few weeks now, so I had come to terms with the fact that he was never going to tell me what went down.
“It was everything and more.”
Shit. It suddenly makes a lot of sense, as all of my questions about why Cami had left are instantly answered. “You still told her no,” I state.
“Yeah,” he replies. “I hurt her real good this time.”
I nod as I let out a br
eath. “I bet,” I say not sugar coating it. Jace turning her down after they’d been that intimate would have killed her. No wonder Rylee was so furious, she must have known on some level what had happened. Hell, I can only imagine that when Cami gets back, Rylee will be keeping her far away from Jace.
My eyebrows furrow as I try to work out how the hell this had happened. From my understanding, Cami was trying her hardest to stay away from him. We all knew they were crazy about one another. Whenever they were in a room together, they would gravitate towards the other. They’re like magnets made for one another. If only Jace could see that, they’d be the happiest couple anyone could ever meet.
The first time Jace told her no, she took it as though it was a challenge. Like maybe he was just being stubborn. The second time, he’d hurt her and she pulled away until he drew her back in. From then, it’s been a cycle, only the hurt gets worse and worse. After he couldn’t physically resist her any longer and kissed her, she swore she was done. I guess she wanted to risk her heart one more time.
“How?” I ask when the wondering becomes too much.
“It was that day you told me about Iraq,” he says, still with his eyes trained heavily out the window. “I just… I couldn’t process it all and I ended up at her place. She gave me a drink and she sat there next to me on the couch all curled up and just listened.”
My back straightens. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I didn’t tell her about Iraq, we were just talking about, I don’t know, life, I guess.”
“Ok,” I say. “So, you had a few drinks, you got a bit drunk, and then what? You sleep together and leave?”
“Nah, man. It’s worse than that,” he says.
“How?”
“Afterward… I stayed. I told her I love her,” he murmurs. “It wasn’t until the next morning that I left.”
“Fuck, Jace,” I cringe “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I’m no good for her,” he says. “She deserves someone who’s going to treat her right, not someone like me. I’m all shades of fucked up. I hurt her over and over again. What kind of man does that to the woman he loves?”
“I don’t get it, Jace,” I tell him. “Why do you do it?”
“I wish I knew,” he says, hanging his head.
I let out a sigh. I simply just don’t know how to help him with this one. If I did, I would have done it when they first met. I just wish he would open up about it, let me in. Or anybody for that matter, so we can work out what his issues are and fix them.
“How does this tie in with working at the new club?” I say, asking the question that hasn’t stopped bothering me since he first said it.
“It’s the same as Cami,” he tells me. “She needs space to forget, and so do I.”
“That’s bullshit,” I tell him.
“It’s not,” he argues.
“It is,” I say. “You’re running from it. You want to be somewhere else where everything doesn’t remind you of her. She hurt you when she left without any warning or a form of contact. You don’t want to deal with it, so now you’re running from it.”
He presses his lips into a firm line and shakes his head as he refuses to answer, telling me he’s already perfectly aware and isn’t bothered to continue arguing his case. “It doesn’t matter,” he eventually says. “It is what it is. Cami’s out having the time of her life and I’m happy for her. So until she gets back, I’ll be at the new club.”
“Alright, man,” I say with a shrug. “If that’s what you want and you think it will somehow help, then I’m fine with it.”
“Good,” he grunts before sitting in silence. After a short while, he lets out a breath and fiddles with his phone in his hands. “Every time I talk to her, I end up driving her away.”
“I know, man,” I say. “We’ve all had our girl problems.”
“Yeah,” he grunts. “I bet you never made a woman leave the country and all her friends for six months.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “I can’t say I ever fucked up that bad.”
Finally, a smirk crosses his lips and just like that, his spirits are finally lifted. We drive back to Rebels and get out of my truck. We go on inside to find the afternoon self-defense class showing up for their session, so Jace and I instantly get to work.
We cut it a bit close, but in the eight years that we’ve had this place, we’ve never once left our clients without an instructor.
As usual, during the self-defense class, I can’t help but think of Iraq. Especially when we discuss ways of getting yourself out of bad situations. The thought has me wondering how Ben is doing and the second the class finishes, I find myself stepping into my office and pulling out my phone.
I scroll through my contact list as I drop into my desk chair and find his name. I hit call and hold the phone up to my ear.
It rings twice before Ben answers. “You’re fucking kidding me?” he laughs. “I thought I was going to have to go into a psychotic breakdown to hear from you again.”
“Shut up,” I grin as the tone of his voice has something within easing my heart. He sounds just like the kid he used to be before we left for Iraq. The kid I got to know over the few months we were there, working together before everything went to shit.
He sounds happy again and the thought warms me. He’s come so far over the past few months and I have to admit that hearing him being a little shit over the phone has me the happiest mother fucker around. “What’s up, kid?” I say. “How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m feeling good.”
“I’m glad,” I smile. “What’s going on?”
And just like that, I spend the next hour on the phone with Ben, discussing every tiny detail of his life. He tells me how he’s applied for courses and how he’s wanting to study mental health so he can help other people struggling with the silent killer that’s their own mind.
I feel like a proud father listening to him tell me about his new life. He sounds excited and positive about his new future and I find myself ecstatic for him.
He’s come so far since the shell of a man I saw only a few short months ago, and I’m happy I was able to give him a piece of himself back. Shit, I’m happy I was able to get his ass out of that country and bring him home to his mother alive.
The world would have been a sad place without Ben. When you’re a soldier, you see things and you lose people way too soon. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a reality. To still have both myself and Ben here is a miracle and I’m proud that Ben can finally see it.
He’s finally moved on from the horrors of Iraq and now we can finally close the book on that chapter.
I hang up the call with a promise that we’ll get together with all the boys from our squad as soon as we can to celebrate him. He laughs and tells me I’m overreacting and being a princess before rushing in and disconnecting the call first.
With a grin, I grab my wallet and keys out of the top drawer of my desk and get my ass home. After all, there’s a spitfire living next door who I’ve been craving to touch all day long.
Chapter 24
Luke
“Come on,” Lex begs with big pleading eyes. “Please.”
I let out a huff. “Why?” I argue. “Can’t I just close my eyes and you lead me outside? I swear, I won’t peek.”
“No,” she demands. “It’s not the same. I need to blindfold you so you get the full effect.”
“Babe,” I say softly as to not hurt her feelings. “I see your yard every single time I walk out of the house. I already have the full effect.”
“I know,” she says, “But you haven’t seen it with the lawn or the water feature that went in today. I promise it’s like a whole new yard than the one you saw yesterday.”
She pouts her bottom lip out and I swear, those beautiful eyes of hers seem to get even bigger. “Please?”
I look at her for a moment, waiting for her to give in, but the longer I look, the bigger her pout becomes. “Oh, fine,” I groan. “But only this once.”
I help her out as she’s just a bit short, and the second she has the blindfold right where she wants it, she takes my hand. “You look absolutely stunning,” she tells me.
“Keep it up and I’m going to have to spank you,” I warn her.
“Ooh,” she moans. “Do you promise?”
I let out a huff and roll my eyes, not that she can see it, but I bet she knows I’m doing it. Her fingers lace through mine as she leads me to the door and I listen as she unlocks it. Her excitement is infectious and I find myself wanting to please her.
She leads me across my drive and over the pebbled garden between our houses. This is where I assume she will stop, but she doesn’t, leading me right up her new drive and out into the middle of the road so that when I take off this blindfold, I see the whole damn thing at once. “I better not get run over,” I warn her.
“You’re alright,” she tells me. “I’ll jump in front of the cars if I have to.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” I tell her.
I feel her take my shoulders in both hands and soon enough, she’s right there pressing a kiss to my lips. I bend down so she can kiss me more easily and wrap my hand around her waist. “Just try and stop me,” she warns. “Are you ready?”
“Born ready, babe,” I murmur against her lips. “We better make this quick, I can only imagine what Mrs. Johnson down the road is thinking.”
“She’ll probably spread the word that her favorite little guy is about to have his virtue stolen by the devil living next door.”
“I bet she’s jealous,” I grin.
“Eww, Luke,” she scolds me. “Mrs. Johnson is like one hundred years old.”
“Hey, just because she’s old doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want a piece of this cherry pie. I bet she’s still got it in her.”
“Yuck,” she chuckles. “Now, shut up and pay attention.”
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