Fighting for Love

by L. P. Dover

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my gaze to his and never wavered. I refused to let Kyle get the best of us. “It wasn’t, Matt, I promise. I never slept with him or anything like that. The pictures make it look like more than what it really was. We kissed a few times … that’s it.”

  “What about this one?” he asked through clenched teeth, holding up a picture of us at Hayley’s party. “This is the night you were supposed to tell him it was over! That’s the same dress you were wearing when I came to your house. What were you two doing in a fucking bedroom?”

  The picture was of Kyle the moment he got me on the bed after I tried to push away from him. His lips were on the swells of my breast and my legs were parted on either side of him, showing the very tops of my bare thighs. It made me sick to my stomach just looking at it.

  “What did he do to you?” Matt shouted, his gaze burning through me. He glared down at the picture one more time, his eyes full of fire and breathing hard. “Your arms in the picture are tense, like you’re trying to fight him off, Shelby,” he said, his voice low. “I know how your body looks when you’re enjoying yourself and this isn’t it. If he forced himself on you I’m going to fucking kill him.”

  The door opened behind us, and when I glanced over my shoulder it was Garrett pointing at his watch. “You have thirty minutes to get dressed before you need to head out, Matt,” he said nervously.

  Clenching his teeth, Matt slowly lifted his angry gaze to him. “I’ll be ready,” he snapped. “Now close the goddamned door.”

  Nodding, Garrett disappeared and as soon as he was out of sight, Matt grabbed my face with his strong hands and held me in place. I was never a good liar, especially when I had to look straight into someone’s eyes, and he knew that.

  “Look at me and answer the question,” he demanded.

  Taking a deep breath, I released it slowly and made sure to keep my gaze solely focused on his. “No,” I claimed in all honesty. “He didn’t hurt me. However, I’m not going to lie, he did scare me at first because I had no clue what he was going to do. When I tried to push him away he wouldn’t move, but as soon as I told him no, he backed off.”

  Letting me go, Matt turned his back on me and fisted his hands in his hair. “So that’s what Jace meant when he said it was a good thing I wasn’t there. Kyle would probably be dead if I was.”

  “Exactly, which is why I didn’t ask you, I called him to come and get me. Kyle wanted to see if I’d have sex with him so he could rub it in your face that he slept with me. When I refused, that’s when he told me who he was. Jace got there shortly after.”

  I had never seen him so worked up, and I had no idea if he’d repel from my touch. I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and waited on him to respond by touching me back, but he didn’t. Slowly, my heart sank and I backed away, letting my arms slide free.

  “Is it always like this, Matt? Has Kyle always tried to find ways to get you down?” I asked nervously. “Because dealing with this shit on a regular basis isn’t healthy.”

  Shaking his head, he glanced over his shoulder at me and huffed, “I agree, but no, it’s never been like this before. I’ve had my issues with him but nothing compares to this. The only thing about these pictures is that it isn’t just me involved. I can’t help but get the feeling that someone wants to get back at you as well. Kyle’s a worthless piece of shit, but he’s smart. He wouldn’t just start messing with you if there wasn’t something in it for him.”

  “But who?” I asked, circling around to face him. “I don’t have enemies, Matt. I can’t think of anyone who would have a reason to come after me. It has to be someone you’ve pissed off. What about the girls you’ve been with? Surely, there’s a scorned lover in there somewhere?” I added sarcastically.

  A woman scorned was a fearsome thing to behold, and I was almost positive he’d pissed off a few, maybe even one that wanted him to pay him back. How could there not be after going through so many of them?

  “That’s a possibility,” he agreed, “but how would any of them know about you to want to get you involved?”

  The only people on my mind were Lexi and Jace, except I knew they were in the clear even though the coincidence with Hayley was uncanny. However, there was someone else who came to mind that until just recently had spent years hating me. Not to mention, she probably had some friends that got their hearts broken by the infamous Matt Reynolds.

  “What about your sister?” I asked hesitantly. “Other than Lexi and Jace, she’s the only other person that would know our history.”

  Immediately, he tensed, gaping at me with wide eyes before snapping, “There is no way Gabriella has anything to do with this. Do you honestly think she’d help out that douche bag? The last thing she’d want to do is hurt me.”

  Okay, maybe that was the wrong approach.

  “I didn’t exactly say that, Matt, but think about it. I love your sister to death, but she’s hated me for years and I’m sure she’s had no qualms about telling someone what I did to you. I’m not saying she’s the one who’s helping Kyle because I agree with you, she wouldn’t deliberately want to hurt you, but what about some of her friends. Surely, you’ve broken a few hearts out of them?”

  As soon as I said that it was as if everything fell into place for him. Groaning, he nodded and hung his head before sitting on the plush, brown leather couch in the middle of the room. “There were a couple,” he admitted, running his hands over his face.

  “All it takes is the right place, the right person, at the right time. Kyle might have heard or seen something and then made his move. What better way to find out the dirty secrets about you than from someone who had a tie to your own sister.”

  Sighing, he leaned over on his knees and held his head in his hands. “I’ll talk to her and see who she keeps in touch with. We both know she has a big mouth.”

  That’s the truth, I wanted to say. He still didn’t know that she told me about his plans the night after I left him; the ones about his proposal. Maybe I could talk to her and find out some answers myself.

  A knock came at the door, and this time it was Carter, not Garrett, who stuck his head in through the side. “You have five minutes, son. If you want to forfeit the fight we need to know.”

  Getting to his feet, Matt scoffed and ripped open his bag, dumping the contents on the table. “I’m not forfeiting, and while I’m gone have someone round up all of these pictures so I can burn them.”

  Carter nodded and lifted a brow at me before rushing off. We were surrounded by pictures of me and Kyle, and honestly, all I wanted to do was get out of there so I didn’t have to see myself in them. I was embarrassed and appalled, but most of all I was angry at Kyle for making me look like a fool and for having the audacity to even do such a thing. I couldn’t wait for their fight in two weeks so I could watch Matt beat the hell out of him.

  Matt had his head down, wrapping his hands while I stood there motionless. I knew he was still angry, but it was hard to tell if it was all directed at Kyle or if he was a little upset with me because of the pictures. Swallowing hard, I slowly took a step back and reached for the handle on the door.

  “All right, I’m going to go get my seat and let you finish getting ready,” I stammered, hoping he’d look up at me. When he didn’t, I continued on, “Gabriella’s probably wondering where I’m at since I’m supposed to sit beside her, so ...”

  Realizing I was wasting my breath and looking like an idiot, I sighed and opened the door, taking one last look at all of the pictures and Matt in the center of it all. People dealt with anger in their own ways, and I knew he needed to get his head into the fight and focus. I just hoped we could move past it.

  Garrett and Carter paced outside of the room, and as soon as I ventured out they stormed in. My heart pounded in my ears as I walked down the hall; all I wanted to do was run away from it all and get away from the eyes that watched me as I passed. I needed an outlet, a way to let go, and as soon as I turned that gloriou
s corner I found what I was looking for.

  “Why hello there, love,” Kyle taunted with a sneer on his face. “How did you like the pictures? I hate that I missed the expression on Matt’s face when he saw them.”

  He must’ve just recently finished a fight because he was sweaty and still wearing a pair of black fighting shorts and a blue T-shirt with his sponsors’ names on it. A couple of other guys stood with him, but I didn’t care about them or the knowing smirks on their faces.

  The closer I got, the angrier I became and either Kyle didn’t realize how pissed off I was or he was too stupid to back out of the way. Guffawing, he spread his arms wide and opened up that mouth of his again. “Have you decided to come back to me now that Matt’s through with you? Don’t worry, love, you can always be my bitch. I’ll forgive you for making the wrong choice.”

  I didn’t exactly think about the consequences of my actions at that point, because frankly, I couldn’t think of anything other than making Kyle pay for what he did. It wasn’t just for Matt, it was for me.

  I reacted … and I paid the price for it.

  WHEN SHELBY SAW THE PHOTOSHOPPED pictures of me and all of those women, I didn’t exactly know how she felt until I saw the ones with her and Kyle. If I had to see her in pictures it probably would’ve been easier to see her with twenty different men than it was seeing her with that fucker.

  “You know, I thought you were going to be the one to screw up with Shelby,” Garrett confessed. “I even warned her about you, but she was the one who ended up—”

  “Garrett, shut up,” Carter cut in. “That’s the last thing the boy needs to think about right now. He needs to let her go.”

  Shelby.

  So much was going through my mind that I didn’t even realize she was gone until Carter said the words ‘to let her go.’ I didn’t want to let her go. It wasn’t her fault and she needed to know that.

  Jumping to my feet, I marched to the door and looked down the hall. “Where did she go?”

  “Uh … she’s gone,” Garrett pointed out awkwardly, “she walked out of here a couple of minutes ago.”

  “Where to? Did she leave?”

  Carter put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed when I started to take off down the hall. “No, I don’t think so, son. She didn’t go out the exit, so I’m assuming she went to the arena. Would you like to tell us what’s going on?”

  “Kyle’s what’s going on,” I spat. “I know you think Shelby cheated on me with him, but that’s not what happened. Somehow he got to her weeks ago and pretended to be someone else so he could use her to mess with me.”

  Mouths gaping open, they were stunned into silence until Garrett came around first and replied, “Wow, I didn’t think the guy had the brains to pull something like that off. Surely, he wasn’t the mastermind behind all of that.”

  That was true, but who? I was going to have to have a long talk with Gabriella as soon as the fight was over.

  “All right, you two, it’s time to go. There’ll be plenty of time to figure out who did what after the fight,” Carter exclaimed.

  As usual, once we got to the arena door where I’d enter through the crowd, I had just made it in time to hear the announcer call out my name. The cue for me to get ready came when my song blared over the speakers; “Bad Company” by Five Finger Death Punch. Once the song hit the forty-five second mark where the beat ratchets up it was time for me to make my appearance.

  Carter slapped me on the back and smiled. “Knock ’em dead, son.”

  The curtain pulled back, and like I always did, I jumped in place a couple of times and punched the air in a series of jabs just to hear the crowd cheer. Once that was over, I kept my pace down the aisle, keeping my gaze on the target in the ring. The ladies screamed at my sides, grazing their hands and nails across my skin as I walked past, but I kept going. I used to love it, to know that I was the one the people cheered for and wanted, but at the moment my mind was a jumbled mess of seeing Kyle and Shelby together.

  I wished it was him in the ring. I wanted to make him suffer, to make him bleed, but in the end all of that was just physical pain. Physical pain you could heal from, emotional pain was a torment that could stick with you for the rest of your life. That son of a bitch didn’t even have a heart to know what that felt like.

  When I got into the ring, I did my rounds and waved to the crowd thinking I would see Shelby sitting beside my sister, but her seat was empty. Where was she?

  Gabriella knew what I was thinking when I looked at her and shrugged in response, mouthing the words ‘I don’t know’ at me. What the hell, I thought. If she wasn’t there then that meant she left.

  “Matt, wake up,” Carter yelled. As soon as he said that my head snapped to the side as Jeremy landed a punch to the right side of my face. The pain brought me back to the fight. Immediately, I recovered and got into fighting stance.

  The bell had rung and I completely missed it.

  With a smirk on his face, Jeremy—thinking he could best me—tried to swing in for another hit, but I blocked him and countered with a kick to his shin. I hated cocky bastards, especially ones that outright loved to gloat. Usually with newbie fighters, I’d extend the fight if they were genuinely good people, just to give them time to be noticed by others, but guys like the one I was fighting could kiss my ass. I didn’t want to waste my time on cocksuckers like that, especially when I really needed to find Shelby. Jeremy tried to get in a jab to my ribs, but I turned on my heel at the last minute and landed a strong, left handed punch to the left side of his face, knocking him flat out on the mat.

  Once it was clear he wasn’t getting up, the crowd cheered and the announcer yelled, “Ladies and gentlemen, your victor for the last Heavyweight fight of the evening is MAATTTTT ‘The Destroyer’ REEYYNOLLLLDDDSSSSS!”

  He lifted my hand in victory and I smiled at the audience. As soon as he let me go, I jumped out over the side of the ring and straight down to Gabriella. “Where is she? Have you seen her at all?” I asked quickly.

  Shaking her head, she narrowed her gaze at me. “No, I haven’t seen her since I left your house. I was going to go to the back and look for her, but I kept thinking she’d eventually make it in here. Did something happen between you two … again?”

  “Kind of,” I muttered, taking her elbow and ushering her away from her seat. “And before you start getting in your little angry sister mode it’s not what you’re thinking. It wasn’t Shelby’s fault this time. It happens to be someone else’s.”

  “Who’s causing problems?” she asked curiously. “If it’s a girl I’d be happy to kick her ass for you. I think you’ve taught me enough of your moves to where I could be a professional fighter.”

  “I’m sure you could, and I might let you once I figure out who it is.”

  She gaped at me. “You mean you don’t know who it is? Why does that not make sense to me right now?”

  The further we got to the back of the arena, the less people there were milling about so I pulled her to the side. “Have you told any of your friends about my past with Shelby? I need you to be honest and tell it to me straight. Who exactly have you told?”

  Hesitating for a second, she opened her mouth, shut it, and then stuttered when she spoke, “I–I do–don’t … why would you ask that? What does that have to do with anything?” She tried to laugh it off, but I knew better. Once she got tired of me glaring at her, she sighed and shook her head. “Okay, fine. I told a couple of them, but it’s not like it mattered anyway. What’s the big deal?”

  “All right, let me rephrase the question so you’ll understand what I’m getting at.” It was awkward enough talking to my sister about certain things, especially about her friends I’d messed around with. “Have there been any of your friends that I might have pissed off or done something with who have been asking personal questions about my relationship with Shelby?”

  “Ah, so those friends,” she remarked sarcastically. “Yeah, there are a couple of those
that asked some questions … you know, trying to get an idea of what type of girl you like, so I always mentioned Shelby. However, I don’t really talk to them that much anymore. They only wanted to hang out with me in hopes of getting close to you.”

  Now that I thought about it, I never saw her around the friends of hers that I’d messed around with. In my defense, I only slept with one of them and fooled around with a couple of the others. I pissed off some of them because I wouldn’t sleep with them, but would that actually make someone angry enough to want revenge on me?

  “So, other than the friends you don’t talk to anymore you haven’t said anything to the ones you hang out with now?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Nope, because believe it or not, my friends like to know what’s going on with me … not you,” she teased. Pausing for a second, she gazed up at me nervously and bit her lip. “With all of these questions, you don’t think I’m the cause of this so-called problem right? I mean, I know I might have spilled some personal things about you and Shelby, but that was a long time ago. Why would the problem arise now after all this time?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. “That’s what I’m hoping to find out.” Just then, her eyes locked on something over my shoulder. I figured it was because she saw Shelby, but when I turned around it wasn’t her at all; it was Ryley, one of the Jameson twins.

  “Dude, I was hoping you’d get back this way. You wouldn’t happen to be looking for your girl now would you?”

  He had the biggest grin on his face, and I knew whatever he was going to tell me wouldn’t be so funny to me. “So you’ve seen her?” I asked him.

  Ryley burst out laughing and slapped my shoulder. “Of course I’ve seen her, but she’s not exactly here right now. She got taken away in a police car, which, to be honest, I think was a little overboard.”

  “What?” Gabriella and I both gasped.