by Lynn Rider
“A weather front moved in so we did the last of the shoot inside and they’ll piece it together for the final spread,” I say, reaching for her face and embracing it between my palms. Stopping any more of her chicken shit kisses, I quickly scan every inch of her beautiful face before I kiss her deeply.
She matches me with the same thirst, her arms and legs tightening around my neck and waist. Her body melding into mine, my dick instantly growing under her and forgetting all about the more than unusual homecoming. This is exactly what I need.
“Can I let Lucy out? She’s whining.” Matthew calls out from upstairs and Mia and I both whimper, neither of us wanting to end this moment. Mia uncoils herself from me and looks up through her lashes, contritely. I’ve never seen that expression, but I easily hear the apology in it. Truth is, I wanted a dog. The therapist even said it would be good for Brandon, but I hadn’t intended on doing it until full custody put them here.
Before Mia can respond, nails on the hardwood stairs drown out Matthew’s apology for her bolting by him. I step in front of Mia, my instinct to protect her when a huge blonde Labrador comes barreling toward us. Mia steps to the side, doubling over with a wide smile and the dog runs directly to her. “Good girl, Lucy,” she praises the dog and I’m momentarily lost in the sight. It’s that smile. My smile. The smile that momentarily makes my heart forget to beat. It comes out when she’s truly happy. I’d get another hundred dogs to just to see it again.
“What’s going—Chance!” Brandon shrieks the last and I turn, forcing my eyes from Mia and this small horse sized dog to where Brandon crosses the room—with another dog in his arms. I turn briefly looking at Mia questionably before looking at the little black and tan bundle. This one smaller than the blonde horse, probably no more than ten pounds with ears that would size-wise, fit on a German Shepherd. It’s got to be one of the ugliest little dogs I’ve ever seen, but the protective way Brandon is carrying him, tells me all I need to know.
I glance back at Mia. She’s worrying the corner of her lip with a guilty expression and my heart does a funny flip-flop and I swear it just fucking grew with more love for this woman. I wanted a home and as I look around at this fucking circus happening in my living room at three-thirty in the morning, that’s exactly what she’s given me.
Milton holds me tight in a clinch. His breathing comes in heavy pants across my shoulder. I know he’s winded and at the point if this wasn’t a sparring match, I would’ve already seized my opportunity to knock him out. At twice my age, he’s a tough son of a bitch. I’ll give him that any day. I push back, forcing his tired arms to release me. He looks at me and I smile around my mouthpiece.
Smith catches my attention as he stretches the ropes, wedging his big body between them to enter the ring.
“Vic wants to see you,” he says, his eyes looking down at my gloves unnecessarily. Smith could lace and unlace gloves in his sleep. One more thing I’m going to miss about him.
I push the mouthpiece from my mouth. “Awe man, did you go in there pissing him off?” A small smile touches the sides of his mouth. In the two weeks since we’ve been back from Oregon, I’ve had to learn to let go of the animosity. Whatever his reasoning behind his decision, it’s his decision. I won’t lose my brother over it.
“Thanks for not telling him,” he says and I nod. It’s not like there hadn’t been plenty of opportunities but he said he wanted to wait to tell Vic. It’s his cross to bear so I bit my tongue.
“Your family, your decision, isn’t that what you said?” His eyes lift to mine as he loosens my other glove. He wants to say something, I know him enough to recognize the look, but each time I’ve seen that anxiousness in his expression, he drops the conversation.
“My decision, but you’ll always be my family,” he finally says.
“Promise me I’m not gonna lose you over this. That you’re not going to do some stupid shit and get thrown into jail…” his smile grows a little before he looks down as he pulls the first glove off. “Or even worse, get yourself killed, Smith. You’re my brother.” His eyes dart back up to mine.
“I promise Chance. It’s not like that. You’ll see.”
My eyes narrow, wanting to probe further, but he tugs the last glove from my hand and turns his back. I lift the headgear off and my discarded mouthpiece hits the canvas.
Milton spits out his mouthpiece and takes his headgear off before stepping toward me. “Chance, you get better and better, man. Today is an honor.” Milton smiles, extending his hand.
I shake my head. “The honor is all mine. Thanks for the bout. I enjoyed it.” I throw my hand in his and shake vigorously under his firm grip. Milton has seen and done more shit in the military than my civilian mind can understand. I’ve seen him spar with just about everyone in here, but today was a first for us.
“Chance, my office, now!” Vic yells angrily from across the gym. I glance at Smith and he shrugs, reminding me of when we were young. It wasn’t unusual for the two of us to stay out late, drinking and hanging out with a girl…or a few. Vic would somehow always find out and despite Smith being the older one, I seemed to endure the majority of the ass chewing.
I step into Vic’s office and he’s looking at his desk-sized calendar. He’s got the large grid with this month’s calendar flipped up, obviously looking at next month. The month of my fight.
“You really need to update your technology old man.” I tease, sliding into the seat in front of his desk. If I’m going to get an ass chewing, I want to get a few quips in first.
“We’re only weeks away from the fight, Chance. What are you gonna do?” he asks casually, dropping the calendars page and sitting back in his chair. I glance back at the doorway, recounting the memory of a very pissed off looking Vic standing there just minutes ago yelling across the gym for me. I turn back, fighting the urge to ask if I just walked into the twilight zone.
“Well, I was hoping to jet out of here early today and surprise Mia at the dance studio. Since I got back, she’s been working a lot of extra hours, getting ready for a recital. She’s really nervous about being able to choreograph one of the performances and I’d like to see it before opening night. You know, give her some encouragement. Then we’re going to pick up the boys for the weekend and go to her friend’s graduation.” He scowls and I know damned well that wasn’t what he was asking, but I don’t have an answer for what I’m doing about Smith leaving.
“About Smith, Chance. I don’t need to know your weekend plans.”
I shrug. “I don’t know, I know that you like Mia and seem to be interested on how she’s doing each—”
“Chance!” he interrupts, but his face is still soft at the mention of Mia and I chuckle quietly. There’s no hiding that she made an impression on him. He’s asked about her every day since meeting her. If he were a younger man, I may have to be concerned about his motives.
“I don’t know that I need a bodyguard.”
He shakes his head. “Chance, you need to start treating this career of yours differently. You’re a different level athlete than you were just last year. You’re probably going to need to consider hiring a manager—”
“You’re my manager,” I interrupt.
He smiles, shaking his head again. “A real manager, son. You have a family now and they need to be in the forefront of your mind. Having a real manager can get you to the next level.”
“I’m good, right where I am.” I smile and then it dawns on me. “You’re quitting too!” I jolt forward, my back going ramrod straight.
Vic’s face tenses into alarm. “No, son. I’ll never quit on you. Just with Smith leaving it’s got me thinking. Maybe this is the time you need to shake stuff up and make some drastic changes.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want anyone on my team that I don’t trust. You know how important that is to me.” He nods, his eyes softening as his expression relaxes into an understanding smile.
“I know that son, but what are you gonna do?”
/> “I hadn’t thought too much about it up until now, but I have an idea.” I sit back and get comfortable.
“Care to share?” he asks, one bushy eyebrow quirks higher than the other.
“What’s Milton’s story. His kids are grown, right?”
“His youngest left for college last fall.”
“You think he’ll work for me?”
Vic smiles and I know he already likes my idea.
42
Mia
“Mia…Mia!” I turn, scanning through the mass of faces. It can’t be. Here, at a MidWest’s graduation? Chance stops, sensing my resistance as I hurriedly scan the faces of the crowded auditorium. He looks down and despite him being a good sport about coming and bringing the boys with us, the expression on his face says he wants out of here.
Thankfully we offered our congratulations to Brittany before the ceremony because it wasn’t long after, people figured out who Chance is. The camera phones have been raised in his direction more times that I can count since. One guy was brazen enough that rather than video the graduation, he was videoing Chance watching the graduation. “Mia…” the voice calls again, closer this time and all doubt goes away. There are some voices you know as well as your own and Audrey’s is one of them.
Using his height to his advantage, Chance begins looking over the crowd, telling me he’s heard it too. “Is that your sister?” he asks, looking in the direction of the stage where the graduation ceremony just concluded. “I think it is your sister,” he says affirmatively looking back before pulling the boys and I along.
I still haven’t told him that she left Texas in route of St. Louis weeks ago and hasn’t been heard from since. I didn’t tell him that I’ve spent every spare minute, sinking myself into my work at the dance studio, even when Francis and Martha are gone because it allows me to get lost in the emotion of my movement and not my heart. I didn’t tell him what a problem she is and that despite my eyes combing the streets looking for her blonde hair each day, I’ve reconciled with the idea that I have to erase her from my life because I choose him and the boys.
The crowd parts for Chance as he leads the way deeper into the auditorium and the boys and I follow, ignoring the looks of recognition on people’s faces as we pass. “What the fuck,” Chance mumbles under his breath as he stops.
“Mia!” Audrey lunges around Chance and wraps her arms around my shoulders in a bear hug, forcing me to release Brandon’s hand in the process. She steps back, allowing me to take her in. She’s in an electric blue skin-tight mini dress and matching sky-high stilettos. She looks better suited to take the stage at The Big Shebang than dressed for a college graduation. She fidgets with her nose, smearing her bright red lipstick in the process. She’s high.
“What are you doing here, Audrey?” I ask and her smile falls.
“You’re not happy to see me?”
“Of course,” I partially lie. I’m relieved she’s still alive, just not in this state. I carry a worry that any day the police will contact me to tell me the last member of my blood family is gone. My heart physically hurts with the thought and I grapple with wrapping my protective arms around her, wanting to heel the demons she battles with.
“Is that your sister?” Brandon asks, tugging on my wrist and preventing me from moving any closer. I look down, nodding with a forced smile. His mouth closes, his happiness wiped clean from his face when he sees me trying to blink away the tears in my eyes. His little hand wraps around and snakes up my arm as he steps closer in a protective way.
“Wow! You’re quite the little family. I mean, shit Mia. When I told you to go after Chance, I didn’t mean forever. You got a ready-made family.” Audrey sneers sarcastically and I look back up, for the first time, noticing Paul at her side. My heart stutters and I instinctively step in front of Brandon.
“Audrey, we need to talk.” I say, my eyes jerking back to her. Her hazy gaze briefly catches mine, showing me a glimpse of the old Audrey before it’s lost and she glances around nervously. Paul wraps his arm around her shoulders, tugging her toward him and I feel the color drain from my face. His lips contort slowly into an evil smile as he watches my reaction. He won. He didn’t get all the money from me, but he got Audrey and he knows that’s all I ever wanted.
“No Mia!” Audrey practically yells, my eyes returning to her. “You’ve never treated me like an adult. I don’t need you in my life to tell me everywhere you think I’ve gone wrong. I’m happy,” Audrey says, smiling up at Paul then glancing at Chance before leveling her eyes on me. “You don’t need to stay with Chance anymore. I know he’s not your type and you were only doing it for my sake, but you don’t need him anymore.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Chance tense, his hand tightening into a fist like it does when he’s stressed. Her eyes shift to him. She noticed it too. “Oh?” she says questionably before shifting her eyes back to me. “Did I just say something I shouldn’t have?” She laughs, calculatingly, knowing damned well she’s choosing the coldest words she can possibly muster. She looks back to Chance. “We conspired the entire thing. Paul and I had a little disagreement because Mia put her nose in something she had no business in. She sent me away and was worried Paul would hurt her or come find me. It just so happened that you fell into the plan when you bought those tires—”
“Audrey!” I say sternly, stepping forward.
“Don’t Audrey me. I’m happy and no thanks to you! My life is great. Paul and I are going to get married. Isn’t that right, baby?” She looks up and smiles at Paul, but his expression is blank as he’s captured by a death glare from Chance.
“Audrey, please,” I quietly plead, looking around at the amount of spectators that are casually lingering. I don’t want to do this here, with an audience, but my heart is breaking. “Please come with us,” I beg, hopefully.
“No!”
“Let’s go Mia,” Chance says. I glance up and his face is pale, his expression void of any emotion.
“Ooops, did I ruin your fairytale?” she snickers at Chance and then looks at me. “You don’t have to go with him, Mia. It’s over. Paul and I are together. You’re free to go back to your boring old life.”
I glance down to Matthew, meeting his green eyes before meeting Brandon’s browns. They watch, with weary expressions as this all unfolds. Brandon’s hand still twisted protectively around my arm. “Let’s go,” I mumble, pulling them away from the vileness of Audrey. I turn into the crowd, forcing my own path, needing to protect my family.
We ride in silence the entire hour and half drive home. I’m lost in a clutter of thoughts. Nausea, disgust, hatred and sadness wash over me, changing by the minute. That should have been the closure I needed to keep Audrey out of my life and thoughts, but there’s still a niggling sense of hope she’ll clean herself up. Visions of Paul enter my mind, knowing that as long as she has him, I’ll never see the old Audrey. I’ve lost her.
I look through the visor mirror. Matthew and Brandon are both asleep, leaned against their doors. I don’t know how to explain why my sister was so nasty in front of them. Not one glimpse of the fun-loving person I’d described when looking at her pictures was seen through their eyes today. She doesn’t even look like that same girl. Her frame is thin, her skin pasty looking with hollow, sunken cheeks covered in acne under her thick makeup.
I glance over at Chance, he hasn’t looked my way once since leaving the college. My eyes drop to where his fist is secured tightly in a white knuckled grasp around the steering wheel and I know there’s no more hiding who my sister is from him. Up to this point, I’ve only spoken of her briefly and always in past tense, referencing the good Audrey.
She’s far from that person now.
I know it and now he knows it.
We drive through the double gates and he races toward the side of the house, not pausing to close the gates like usual.
When we pull into the garage, he reaches back, tapping both Matthew and Brandon’s legs. “Boys, go in the h
ouse. I’ll be in in a minute,” he says with the engine running idle in the garage. Both boys open their doors and without question they disappear into the house. Chance’s gaze stays rooted to the door of the house. “I want you to get in that SUV and go somewhere. Anywhere, but here—”
“Chance—”
“No, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve heard all I need to hear. Just go Mia.”
“Chance, Audrey’s not—” He turns, looking at me with such contempt in his expression that I physically feel the weight of it against my skin and my words die off in my throat.
“I told you I don’t want to hear it!” Just get in that SUV and go away. You can come back tomorrow and get your things. I’ll sign the title to the truck and leave it on the counter for you. That’s all you’re getting out of me.”
The tears I held at bay fall. “I don’t want—”
“Just leave,” he looks away, closing his eyes with a deep breath.
“What about the boys?”
His eyes snap back to mine holding a fierceness I’ve only witnessed when protecting them. My heart cracks open a little wider. He’s protecting them from me. “Just get in the fucking truck and go! Don’t you think they’ve been through enough?” He shuts the truck off and pulls on his door handle, sliding from the truck before I can respond.
He stops at the door of the house, pushes the button on the wall to open the garage door in the bay where the Escalade is parked and then disappears into the house.
I swallow back the lump, driving the distance of Chance’s driveway. Nothing has changed since he told me to leave yesterday, but somehow it all looks and feels different. I could hardly see the road yesterday when I left here, with nowhere to go, my mind worked on autopilot, taking me to Martha’s.
I glance in the rearview mirror and take a deep breath. True to his word, Francis is following directly behind me. He turned out to be a solid shoulder to cry on. When I arrived at their house yesterday, he was the only one home and listened without interruption to the entire story. He was quick to declare Chance just needed time to absorb it all, but insisted he’d be here today in case I needed someone on my side, as he put it.