She blinks quickly, and her breathing sounds a little haggard. I fear she might cry but before that happens, she speaks. “I wasn’t going to.” Taking in a deep breath, she gets control of her emotions. “But we never really talked and I wanted to clear the air. For good.”
The way she says “for good” makes my chest hurt. “Okay….”
“I just wanted to tell you, all of those things Hayley said about me weren’t true. I know you saw that number that one time, but I swear, it was simply an accident that it made it home with me. I always throw them away after the guy walks off but we really were too busy for me to even think and I spaced it.” Her face, her typically tanned face seems pale, sickly. She looks just like she did the first time I saw her in rehab. If not for the clarity in her eyes, I’d be concerned about her using again.
“I never went home with anyone. No one but you. And I haven’t imbibed in anything that threatens my sobriety, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Cecelia,” I begin, but she holds a hand up to stop me.
“I don’t know why these things started happening. I don’t know why people, why Hayley started saying things about me.” She laughs bitterly. “Well, no, I do know. She was a manipulator. She liked to play games with people because she really was a bored little rich girl. But mostly, I just don’t know why you believed them. Why you didn’t try to talk to me or figure anything out. You just assumed and that was that. Years, gone. Trust nothing but a memory left behind at Trinity.
“And because of that, I really don’t know why you sought me out after.” Her eyes lock on mine and once again my chest seizes up. The agony floating through her eyes kills me. “I mean I have an idea. And while I don’t particularly enjoy the idea, I…I don’t really have any other options at this point. The alternative hurts too bad so-“
She’s cut off by Vaughn shouting my name. “Delane, we’ve drawn. You’re fighting first.” I scowl at him for interrupting, especially since Celia hasn’t finished her thought and I really want to know what she’s talking about, what she’s thinking and what this idea is. But I can’t ask because one, I don’t have time currently to do so, and two, she’s here; I want to win tonight.
“Hold that thought.” I turn to walk to my match but stop and turn back around real quick. “Please stay,” I add because a big part of me fears once I enter that fight, Cecelia will bolt once more and I’ll have nothing again.
After what I’m sure is only seconds, though it feels like a lifetime, she nods her head slowly and gestures to the entryway of an apartment complex. There’s a bench near it.
“Thank you.”
As I reach the “ring,” I see my opponent is Adams. I know from what I paid attention to of his find with Bolson that Adams is not going to be easy. He’s built tough and I really want to win this night.
As Vaughn starts going over the rules again, I see Celia out of the corner of my eye sitting on the bench. Her arms are wrapped around her middle, and she looks so uneasy I almost wish I wouldn’t have asked her to stay. But I want her here. I need her here.
“Who’s the girl?” Adams asks as Vaughn finishes up his speech.
“No one to you,” I respond unintentionally sounding pissed off. I don’t know this guy. I don’t want him to know me. And I am really so fucking sick of being asked questions or talked to about Cecelia.
But Adams ignores me. “She the girl who nearly killed that other girl?” he asks and it’s a question I’m not expecting. “I hear she fucked her up so bad, that other chick is eating through a tube.” I don’t respond to his thought, I just watch him stare at Celia, admiring her in a way that’s wholly different from most of the guys I encounter at these fights. In my shock, he turns his attention back to me. “Eh, that bitch deserved it.” His words hold a deep meaning and I feel sick at the possibility crossing my mind. “I’m sorry for having to kick your ass in front of her.”
Shaking off my wonder of how close Adams and Hayley were and what she possibly did to him to make him admire Cecelia that way, I laugh. “We’ll see.”
In the end it’s just over twenty minutes of a battle in which I find a way to not get my ass kicked. Both of us wheezing, Adams shakes my hand, thanks me for a good fight though laughs while telling me I got lucky, before grabbing his stuff and heading out. I don’t watch the fight between Franco and Sifter, but I do see Franco take off telling me I’m fighting the Goth guy.
Instead, I sit by Cecelia. I intend to start our conversation up again, but she shuts me down. After explaining this is probably not the best place for such talk, especially with all the ears around, and the fact I’ll be called to fight again, we can wait for later.
The only thing that gets me by is that promise of later. Because if she’s giving me that, well, I’ve already won the night.
By the time I’m called to fight Sifter, I am completely confident in my ability to win. And I do. I feel like it must have been a fluke, Sifter’s wins against Bolson and Franco, because out of every fight I had tonight, he was my easiest. It felt like old times too. When I could read my opponent perfectly. When I knew how to move, how to strike. Glancing at Celia, still seated on the bench as Vaughn dishes out just over eight grand to me, I know she’s the reason for the ease. The reason for the win.
SIX
Though we still have yet to fully clear the air, Celia and I are back. In a way.
I don’t really see her during the week unless I can’t take the separation and I call her. Which tends to happen a lot. Thankfully she gave me her new number so I can reach her. And she’s no longer staying with Melody and is back living with Ricky. Who, I might add, is still a douche to me. But I guess I deserve his anger toward me. All things considered.
Cecelia has returned to watching me fight. And since that time, I haven’t lost once. I was such a fool for ever thinking I could do anything without her by my side. She brings Melody around every now and again too. I’ve noticed Stretch has taken a liking to Melody but she doesn’t really pay him any mind. Unless she’s just playing hard to get. I’ve also noticed on the nights Melody shows, Stretch tries flirting with Celia. I don’t know what his end goal is with this. Either he wants to piss me off, or he’s trying to make Melody jealous. Either way, he’s doing a bang-up job of bothering me. It doesn’t help that Celia lets him flirt with her either.
I try to tell myself she’s just being friendly. Stretch never treated her bad. Never said anything about her. But seeing his interactions with her, the light arm touches, hugging her, they grate my nerves.
Of course anytime I try to bring this up, she gets this look on her face that makes me back off. We have a tenuous relationship as it is. Fragile. Easily defeated with the right gust of wind blowing across the city. I don’t want to ruin what we currently have because my head is still fucked up with uncertainties. And truthfully, I can be pissed off about it all I want, but I’m no fucking saint here. My involvement with Hayley ultimately negates my need to be bitter about who Cecelia hangs out with.
Besides, Stretch only flirts it up with Celia when Melody shows up. I’m sure a part of him likes aggravating me, but I have to know the bigger part is just trying to get Melody’s attention more than anything. Again, it’s not really working and just because I’m not trying to rock the boat with Cecelia, doesn’t mean Stretch is off-fucking limits.
I’ve won my first two fights and am waiting for the winner of the match between Cadillo, who should just fucking retire already cause I am so tired of dealing with his pathetic ass, and Big Lou, some Army prick who thinks just because he joined his shit don’t stink. Fucker was never deployed once. Not even to Europe but he acts like he’s seen shit. He’s seen nothing. To be honest, he gives the military a bad fucking name. I think it’s possible he was kicked out but since no one here is gonna do a background check, it’s not like we care to check his record.
“You gonna say it already or what?”
I keep my eyes on the fight, for once hoping Cadillo
wins just so the Army bitch goes home, when Stretch moves to stand next to me.
“Say what?”
I hear him scoff. “You know, I never pegged you for being a bitch.”
I look at him finally. I try to keep the sneer off my face but I’m sure I succeed. “Why do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“You know, I always pegged for being a bitch,” I say his words back, but change them up to show my irritation.
“Honestly, because it pisses you off.” He shrugs and watches Cadillo land a good hit against Army Prick’s head. “For all your ego, you still got your girl back.” I snap my eyes to him, my jaw twitching at his words. “Yeah, you may fool these other assholes, but you don’t fool me. What, you got her to fuck you again? That means nothing in this arena. You know that.”
“We’re taking things slow, learning to trust each other again.” The lie sounds like a lie.
“Sure you are,” Stretch laughs at me. “You don’t trust that girl at all. And from my vantage point, she don’t trust you either. So I flirt with her, piss you off, let her feel good about herself for a bit.”
“How does you flirting with her make her feel good about herself? Especially when you want to bang her coworker? I mean call me fucking crazy, but how does flirting with Cecelia help get you Mel? Huh? How does that happen? What, you make one woman feel good but who cares about the other one? The other one you actually fucking want?”
“I’m wearing Mel down,” is all he says.
“You’re really not. The way you play it up with Celia every night makes her look at you in disgust. I really thought you were smarter than this.”
“What do you know? You let some two-bit rich bitch hang off of you because she said a few things that you bought, hook, line, and sinker.”
“Yeah, at least I’m trying to make up for it. But apparently you think it’s your turn to be a complete fucking douche. What did you say about me chasing Cecelia? Girls don’t want to be chased if you walk away from them first? Wasn’t that it?” I ask remembering it well. It played over and over in my head every moment I couldn’t get a break on finding Cecelia. “You seem to be chasing the wrong fucking tail, my man.”
I can see he’s pissed at me. Probably realizing how right I am, especially since it makes no fucking sense for him to express interest in Melody but then play hot and cold with her, flirting with her fucking friend right in front of her. This should be a no-brainer. But the words that come out of his mouth surprise me more than anything. “I told you. I told you you had no claim on Cecelia anymore and that you couldn’t get pissed if someone else took an interest. I told you you had no claim on her and if someone else wanted a go, you had to step back.”
It’s interesting. One second I’m standing next to Stretch, hearing him say all this bullshit, and the next, my fist is connecting with the side of his face. I don’t even hesitate to throw the punch. And it feels so fucking good. Especially watching him go down.
“You are a piece of work.” I storm off, leaving him on the ground where he fell to go take on Army Prick.
As Brees spouts off the rules, I keep my focus on Stretch, watching him massage his jaw, seeing it turn a nasty shade already. And then I see Cecelia show, dressed in her work uniform of black on black. She always arrives right at the main event match for Fridays. With her job letting her off so late, I’m glad she can see me at all.
At least I was.
I watch her wave timidly at me before looking around at those gathered. There’s the usual girls hanging out, there clothes barely concealing their parts, and some of the guys who are waiting to find out who will take the win. Then there’s Stretch. She notices him and heads his way. This isn’t unusual, but his words, they now make me reevaluate her interactions with him.
And to think we were just getting shit fixed.
“Chace!”
“What?”
Brees is staring at me, his face a mask of irritation. “You fighting tonight or you gonna spend all your time daydreamin?”
I focus my attention on Big Lou, seeing him sneering at me like he thinks he has a chance. I just shake my head. Fucker picked the wrong night to take this fight.
As we’re called to fight, I try to keep an eye on Cecelia and Stretch, but Big Lou is dirty, so I can’t look away from him too often. I get shots in to his side, watching as he closes in on himself a couple times, and dropping his fists from in front of his face allowing me easy shots there. He goes down, shaking away the sting I’ve delivered.
“Lucky shot for a little bitch.”
“You talk too fucking much,” I reply as he gets back on his feet. I allow him to stabilize before I am attacking again. He claims to have fought a little bit in the Army. Probably during his “deployment” days so I’m sure he’s lying about that too. My left then my right connect with his face, before following up with some hits to his gut and then back to his face.
His left eye is starting to swell and he’s spitting out blood faster than he can throw a punch now. I dance around him, watching him stumble a bit while knowing he’s about to topple over any second now. And just as he starts falling, I throw a quick look toward where Cecelia and Stretch are. They’re close. Too close for my liking, and appear to be having an intense conversation.
I briefly watch Brees count out two grand to me and see some guys helping Big Lou off the ground. I don’t give a fuck about him so I shove the cash into my pocket and head to Cecelia and Stretch. I hear pieces of their conversation the closer I get.
“I can’t believe you told him that,” Cecelia whisper-shouts at Stretch. He has the decency to look ashamed, but not guiltless. “How…why would you do that? Are you fucking crazy?”
“He had a right to know-“
“Know what?” I ask stopping right beside them.
Cecelia looks at me, her caramel eyes wide and uncertain. She looks caught. She looks exactly as I expected her to look all those times before. I can’t believe I let myself be played for a fool again.
“Actually, I don’t wanna hear it.”
It’s like fucking déjà vu all over again. Fucking around behind my back, fucking people who I thought were friends, taking everything I thought we were and throwing it away. No wonder she’s been so fucking skittish around me. She’s back to her old ways. Makes me wonder if she only enjoys messing around if she has me to destroy in the process.
“Chace! Chace, wait up.”
I ignore the voice yelling behind me. It’s not even Cecelia trying to catch up to me to defend herself, again, but instead, it’s Stretch. I’ve already hit him once. Hearing him tell me all about fucking my girl behind my back might just make me kill him.
“Fucker, stop and listen!”
He’s running to get to me and I don’t even realize how fast I’ve started walking. “Fuck off.” My pride is hurt, but so is my heart. All that searching for nothing.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he shouts as he grabs at my arm. I swing around to hit him again but he ducks out of my way. “Easy,” he says, hands up in surrender.
“What do you want? Huh? To gloat? To brag a little more? Rub it in my fucking face how you knew what I went through and still did this shit to me?” I sound hysterical. I sound crazy. But I’m so fucking done with all of this bullshit. So done I think maybe I’ll disappear this time around.
“No. Shit, no that’s not it.” He looks back at Cecelia and I glance back at the same time. She’s hunched in on herself and it looks like she’s crying. The moment I see her wipe her eyes I know she is. Part of me wants to comfort her. So rarely does she cry, but I can’t figure out the reason for her tears. Is it because she got caught? Again? “Jesus, I’m sorry okay?”
I scoff. “Fuck off.” I turn around again and head even further away from the prying eyes watching this little soap opera. They might not be able to hear what’s being said, but body language is sure giving them a show.
“No, Chace, I’m sorry because you have it all wrong.”
Stretch is in front of me, cutting off my path. “I shouldn’t have said what I said. It wasn’t true. Jesus Christ, I swear it wasn’t true.”
“Yeah, sure.” I push around him but he cuts in front of me again.
“I mean it. I only said it to piss you off. I didn’t think you’d really believe me.” He looks at me, his jaw turning purple and I have to wonder if my next punch would knock him out for telling me these lies like he is. “I’m telling you the truth here. I was being a dick, talking shit to you. I didn’t mean for it to get like this.” He waves a hand at me and then back toward where Cecelia is slowly creeping our way. Her face is streaked with black from her mascara and her caramel eyes look red from her tears.
“I’m sorry, man.”
I stare at him for a long time. I stare at him and try to gauge just how truthful he’s being, just how sincere. Because what I heard…it’s pretty damning. “What did you mean, ‘he has a right to know?’ Huh? What was that?”
Stretch shakes his head and looks down for a moment before looking me again, straight in the eye. I’ve learned the people who want you to believe them will always keep eye contact. “You have a right to know how much you’ve hurt her,” he sighs. “I don’t have to know what’s gone on, all the details to know that this girl is destroyed over you. You have a right to know, no, you need to know what your actions have done to her.
“I said what I said out of anger, I admit it.” He presses a hand against over his heart. “You were right about my actions. And in the end, I hurt her too, put her in the middle when she didn’t deserve to be there one bit.” His eyes stay on mine and I can’t help but believe him. I can’t help it especially with his next words. “Hit me again if you want. I deserve it. But please believe, nothing happened between Cecelia and myself. Ever.”
Cecelia doesn’t come home with me that night. Not for the next few, actually.
Even though I know she and Stretch have never been anything more than friendly acquaintances, I allowed myself to accuse her of something else. She refuses to keep me company and I can’t blame her. Barely with each other a few weeks and one moment of doubt cast aside all the work I’d put in to tracking her down.
And the Sweet (Addiction Series Book 2) Page 5