Strike

by Jennifer Ryder

  “Who’s Pet?” I blurt out, my jaw stiffening.

  “Who? What?”

  “She, I’m assuming, rang that day, and then sent a message with an address.”

  He shakes his head and takes in a deep breath. “She is a pest, who I was trying to get rid of. I told her I was with you, but she wouldn’t leave it be.”

  “And you haven’t been with her?”

  “No! No fucking way. There’s been no one since you. I could never.”

  Thank God.

  “Where were you going?” he asks, his brows knitting together.

  “To see you.”

  “To say what exactly?”

  “That I’m not leaving.”

  He squeezes me tight, taking all the air from my lungs. His blue eyes water and he sniffs. “I’m so fucking sorry. I’m a first-class idiot.”

  “Dad just left. We’ve been talking.” I run my hands up Spencer’s chest, and toy with the buttons on his shirt.

  Spencer places his hands over mine, holding them firmly against his chest, his heart beating wildly against my touch. “I meant it this morning when I told him I’d quit.”

  My insides turn to mush. I know he means it. The vulnerability in his eyes and his flushed face tell me it’s the truth.

  “I know you did.” I breathe out loudly. I love this man, and the fact he would quit for me. “I’m sorry he put you in that position.”

  “I’m sorry it took me a week to work this shit out. Your text was like an ice-cold bucket of water over my head.”

  “You didn’t strike.”

  “No, beautiful. I didn’t. I could never do that to you. You’re it for me.” He tugs my arm, leading me to his car. “Look, I don’t know the first thing about romance, but, I, ah, got you something.” He opens the back passenger door, and smirks wickedly. “I know you’re not a chocolates-and-flowers kinda girl, so I got you a gift I knew would mean more.”

  Lying on the back seat are a stack of large, flat, square, brown-paper packages sitting on top of each other.

  “Open one,” he says, smiling expectantly.

  I rip open the brown paper, revealing a photo frame, exactly the same as the ones in my apartment, with a shot of us skydiving. A flood of emotion rushes over me, bringing back the excitement of the jump. But more than that, it’s the memory of our first time. On this very back seat.

  “Wow. It’s beautiful,” I whisper.

  He slides his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Open the next one,” he says, his warm breath tickling at my ear, sending goosebumps to prickle me all over. I prop up the skydiving frame next to the back seat, and rip open the frame beneath. The next one is a photo I took of us in bed one morning. It’s in black and white, and we’d just woken up.

  “This is my favourite photo of us. We’re raw. Just April and Spencer. Bed hair and bad breath and … in love,” he says, his voice heavy with emotion.

  A tear slips down my cheek, and I turn to face him. “They’re beautiful, Spencer. This is the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me.”

  He brushes my tear away with his thumb, and kisses me softly on the lips. “Keep going. They get better.”

  I open the remaining three packages. In each one, the frames are blank. I turn and give Spencer a puzzled look. I don’t get it. “Why are they empty?”

  He smiles brightly and pulls me in close, leaning his hot body against mine. “They’re for our story. I wanna be your next big adventure. We’re just getting started. I would have bought more frames but there are only so many walls in your apartment. These are just to start.”

  My heart swells in my chest. Swoon! “Well, you just showed romance what for, didn’t you?” I laugh nervously and run my hands over his stubbly jaw. He must have had the week from hell too. I must admit, I’m kind of digging this whole desperate I-haven’t-shaved-or-slept-for-a-week Spencer. A bruise around one of his eyes is also going that faded green-brown colour, but he wears it well. Like a total badarse. Daddy must have hit him hard.

  “I got you something else,” he says. “Something that will always remind me of how we started.”

  He lifts up a bowl covered in foil from the floor behind the driver’s seat. From the strong smell of spices, I have a pretty good idea what it is.

  “I got us a big bowl of MoFo Chilli Wings. Nothing says I love you like these.”

  He kneels down in front of me, and offers me a wing, as if he is proposing. “Do you think you can love me again?” he asks, his puppy-dog eyes in full force.

  “Get up, you muppet,” I say and laugh.

  He puts the wing back in the bowl, wiping his hands on his jeans.

  I wrap my hands around his neck and pull him down so our noses touch. “I’d never stopped. I love you, Spencer.”

  “I love you too, beautiful,” he says and then gifts me with a third-grade Spencer kiss. I can’t believe how much I’ve missed these, missed everything about him.

  I giggle against his mouth as he gives me another kiss. “You’d better take me upstairs real quick. I’ve suddenly got a craving for hot sex and hot wings.”

  “You read my mind. Truly.”

  We lock up the car, and I grab my bike keys and helmet and the wings, and somehow Spencer manages to carry me bridal-style up the stairs and into my apartment.

  It’s at this very moment that I know in my heart that I will marry Spencer Jones.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  * SPENCER *

  We made love.

  Twice.

  It was fucking magical. It was more powerful and emotional than any other time we’d been together, and fuck me, that was saying something.

  Lying in each other’s arms, my life is back to where it once was. At the pinnacle. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’d aged years since I saw her last. I’d even lost weight, not having the energy or the appetite for food. I’d only wanted April.

  “It was the worst week of my life, beautiful,” I say, turning my body to face her, running my finger along the smooth skin of her jaw.

  “Mine too. I wanna hate you for it, but I can’t. I could never hate you. I think the only thing that got me through it was that I wasn’t alone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Soph stayed with me.”

  Sophie consoled her? My eyebrows try to jump from my forehead as I imagine the two of them wrapped up together while my girl cried her heart out. I’ll never forget how this week made me feel. I’ll never again let something so stupid ruin the best thing in my life.

  “Wait. You ran into the arms of a hot blonde lesbian, who incidentally has a thing for you?”

  She nods. “Yeah, something like that.” Her eyes crinkle at the sides.

  Did they sleep in the same bed? Did Soph try and touch her? Did things get more than friendly? If Soph tried something, I don’t know whether I should be mad or fucking turned on. I don’t know what the fuck to think.

  April runs her fingers over my wrinkled brow.

  “Relax,” she says.

  “It’s a bit fucking hard when my head is about to burst thinking of how hot that would’ve been.”

  “She was here when I needed a friend. Soph was my shoulder, and boy, was it wet.” She chews on her bottom lip. Cheeky girl.

  “Stop it,” I order.

  “Oh, and just a warning. I’d be careful around Soph if I were you. She wants to cut you.”

  “What the hell? Cut me?”

  “Yep. I’d watch your back.”

  Great. Just what I need. “Got it,” I mutter.

  “You know, you’re lucky I’m steadfast in my love of dick, and of you, otherwise I could have easily turned.”

  I pull her whole body against me and roll onto my back so she’s on top of me. April straddles me, sitting on the top of my thighs. We both look down, and somehow my dick’s hard again. April shakes her head and smiles. Today, my dick knows no bounds. “Looks like I have to work my magic again,” I say, running my palm d
own my swollen cock.

  “Yeah, it’s nice to have the magic back,” she says, running her fingers over the lines of my stomach, causing my dick to twitch.

  But I have to tell her something first. I still don’t know whether I made the right decision, but there are some things in life that are worth taking a risk on. I hope April will be proud of me. It wasn’t an easy decision. “You know I told my father I quit,” I blurt out.

  Her hand stills. “What? When?”

  “Today, and you know what? He wasn’t as devastated as I thought he’d be. He prefers to call it ‘extended leave’, and said I’ll always have a place in the company if I want it. After seeing me take out the championship, he said he could finally see why I loved it. I nearly lost my shit when he said he was proud of me, and what I had achieved.”

  April’s eyes glisten, and her chin quivers. “I’m proud of you,” she says and places her hand over my heart. “You did it, Spencer. It makes me so bloody happy to see you take a hold of what you really desire. You can go as far as you want with this.”

  I glide my hands upwards from her knees and grip her waist. “You finally made me see that, so babe, I’ve got a helluva lot of thanking to do. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Her smile widens and she leans over me, her hair tickling at my chest. I smooth my hands up her sides.

  “The supercross season is gonna be intense, but I’m feeling good about it. Right now, the sky’s the limit.” Especially now I have you.

  April’s face falls and she sits upright. “Shit. I’d better cancel my ticket.”

  Huh? “Ticket?” I ask.

  “To Spain.” Oh, yeah. The damn ticket. It’s a cool reminder of how close I came to losing her.

  I sit up, wrapping my arms around her waist, looking up at her. “Wait. Why don’t we do Spain together? If you can postpone it until the end of November we can go then.”

  “Seriously?” she asks, as if she can’t believe her luck. I’d do anything for her. Anything.

  “Yeah, beautiful. Seriously.” I kiss her softly on the lips.

  She squeals and jumps up and down in my lap. “That’d be awesome! Oh my God, we are gonna have so much fun,” she says, her voice all squealing and excited.

  “Yeah, it will be. I might even kick some arse while I’m over there.” Either that or I’m gonna strut around like a fucking peacock showing him I got the girl. THE girl.

  Her brow crinkles. “Whose?”

  “Your mate, Nick.”

  Her face relaxes and she shakes her head. “Nick? Ha, he’s long forgotten. I promise you. Don’t worry, Karma will take care of him. Karma’s gonna eat him alive.”

  I claim her mouth with mine, because I’ve had enough talking about him. I just wanna make love to my beautiful girl. Again. Our kiss deepens but April breaks away. Stunned, I look up at her, trying to understand why. She’s blinking rapidly. Something is up.

  “I saw some shots the other day from a friend of mine. We can go base jumping in Norway. Some place called Priekestolen or something.”

  “Uh-huh,” I mumble, weaving my hand up to the nape of her neck, pulling her it is against my chest. She parts her lips for me, enough so I can flick my tongue against hers.

  She pushes her hands against my chest, breaking her sweet mouth from mine. “There’s white-water rafting in Scotland, oh, and we can do the Brussels beer-tasting tour,” she continues to rant.

  A chuckle rumbles up my throat. She’s so damn excited. And why shouldn’t she be? The blinding grin on her face instantly causes one to spread across mine.

  “Running of the bulls is in July, we could delay it until then—”

  My smile drops. Ah, hell no. “Out of the fucking question,” I say and clear my throat. “November is fine.”

  April giggles and runs her hands through my hair. “We can go to the Vatican in Rome. You can show the altar boys exactly how it’s done.”

  “Unlikely,” I say. “Because I’ll be busy maiming my sister.”

  I don’t care if Victoria’s only just forgiven me. I know this is her way of having the last say. But she is my baby sister. And I love her. Can’t say I’m not impressed with her play.

  The thing that makes me less likely to hurt her, is the way she’d got along with April after the race. They instantly connected, and I saw them chatting and laughing. And one day, I know it, they’ll be like sisters. It filled my heart to overflowing, seeing how easily my family had accepted April. As if they had any other choice. How could anyone not fall hopelessly for this girl?

  “We can do Hong Kong on the way home, or ride elephants in Thailand, and find a beach and get some sun—”

  “Are you ever gonna stop surprising me?” I ask, leaning my head to the side.

  She takes my hand and kisses my knuckles, then wraps her arms around my neck and leans her forehead to mine. “I sure hope not.”

  I gift her with a stone-mouth kiss. “Me either,” I whisper.

  EPILOGUE

  * APRIL *

  Eight Months Later

  “Come on, April! Push!” Spencer barks. That tone in his voice is really grating on me. All day, he’s been at me. I can’t wait for this to be over.

  “Shut up, pretty boy! I’m exhausted!” I growl through clenched teeth.

  I push as hard as I can, groaning louder than I’d expected.

  “That’s it,” Spencer says, a bit calmer this time. “Just a little to the left, now.”

  “Are you kidding me? This bookcase is fucking heavy!” I throw my hands up in the air. “It’s staying put!”

  “Oh, babe. Who knew moving in together would get you this riled up? All that yellin’ and growlin’ has given me a mother of a stiffy.” He wraps his arms around my waist, pushing his hips against me, confirming he does in fact have a mother in his pants. He gets hard at the drop of a hat. It’s no surprise that moving house would do it too. The guy’s a walking hard-on. How lucky am I?

  I smack a loud kiss on his lips, and then flop onto the couch. “Yeah, well you’ll have to deal with it yourself. I can’t move another thing, including that,” I say, pointing my finger at his crotch. I’m too exhausted, too flustered to consider sex right now. Just get me a glass of red and a steaming bath full of bubbles.

  Spencer stands over me and takes my hands in his and tugs. “There’s just one last box to unpack. Come on, you finish it off and I’ll finish hanging the frames.”

  “Fine,” I grumble, letting him pull me to my feet. “And then we’re ordering pizza. Just make sure you put the one of us in the thermal pools in Turkey last,” I add as he starts to walk away.

  One more box and this shit is over. I’m never moving again. Or I’ll pay for someone else to do it. I start to unpack the box, but Spencer is hanging around with a sheepish grin plastered on his pretty face.

  “What are you hangin’ around for, huh?” I really should shake this mood, but exhaustion has a way of giving me the cranks. Besides that, we’d been up most the night, making sure we made our mark on my old apartment before settlement. I will always remember that island bench. Sigh. It’s a shame Spencer’s apartment doesn’t have one, but the dining table I’m sure will do just fine. It’s a good sturdy table that I’m sure can take a pounding.

  He shrugs. “No reason.”

  I flip open the lid of the cardboard box, and on top of a stack of my photo albums is a small black box tied with a silver ribbon. I pick it up, and eye it from all sides. I shake it. Not even a rattle. I packed all my boxes. I’m sure I’d remember a box like this. Especially a box like this.

  Strong arms wrap around my waist, and with Spencer’s hot breath at my neck, and the stubble I begged him to grow prickling at my skin, a flurry of goosebumps take over my body. This could only be one thing. Well, not exactly. If it’s a pair of earrings I’ll be devastated. Especially seeings my heart is pretty damn sure this is … it. My heart does the rumba as I turn around in his arms to look up at him.

  “W-what’s
this?” I say, holding it between our noses. Spencer’s eyes glisten, and his cheeks are flushed, something rare for him.

  Spencer takes the box then gets down on both knees, and looks up at me through his lashes. He sweeps a hand through his wild blond hair, which is a lot longer these days, and then wipes his hand down the front of his jeans.

  “Aren’t you supposed to get down on one knee?” I blurt out, and then wish I hadn’t.

  He smiles wickedly, making my insides clench. “One knee is for pussies,” he says cockily.

  A nervous giggle tickles at the back of my throat, but I swallow it down.

  “Before I ask you something, April, I need to tell you a story.”

  Please make it quick, then. Temporarily unable to find my voice, I nod.

  “One day, I went to a café. I know it sounds like the beginning of a boring-as-shit story,” he says and chuckles. “Not quite how I planned this going,” he says and rakes his hands through his hair.

  “That doesn’t sound boring at all. Tell me the rest.”

  He clears his throat and takes in a deep breath. “One simple decision changed my life. Just one. I sat down at her table. We talked, we laughed and I opened up to her, even if it was only a little. At the end of the night, I kissed her and then watched her tear off into the night. It could have all ended there, but by some miracle, she texted me.”

  Spencer chuckles low in his throat, and I bite down on my lip to stop from doing the same.

  “And then she tortured me,” he says, taking my right hand in his.

  I can’t help but smile. I did. I tortured the poor boy. But I’d do it again.

  “It was the sweetest form of torture I have ever experienced. But because of that I got to know her. I began to fall for her, because she made me fight. And every single day I’m grateful she did, because she is the most precious gift I could ever have. I will never stop fighting for her, as long as I live.”

  “Oh, Spence,” I choke out. I wipe the sleeve of my shirt under my eyes to catch my tears. There’s no way holding them in is an option. Needing to be close, I kneel in front of him, our knees touching.