The Fighter

by E. L. Todd

  “Brutus Hemmingway… He didn’t tell you?”

  I stared at her blankly, imagining Brutus jumping him in the parking lot.

  Layla got her answer. “Maybe he was trying to protect you… I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”

  Brutus went behind our backs and attacked Finn like a coward. He beat him up in the parking lot and could have killed him. For what reason? Because he wouldn’t leave Pepper alone? Was this guy a psychopath? “Can you send me the video?”

  “Sure…but are you sure—”

  “Yes. Send it to me.”

  She pulled out her phone and sent it as a text message.

  I opened up the footage and saw Finn being cornered by four large men and Brutus. The men wrestled Finn to the ground, pinned his arms behind his back, and after a short conversation, beat him violently. Their fists slammed into his face and abdomen, striking him even when he was clearly unconscious. It wasn’t just a simple fight. It was an execution. I almost couldn’t watch it.

  Layla’s eyes shone with sympathy.

  I forced myself to watch until the end, until Brutus and his cronies and drove away.

  And left Finn there to die.

  I told the office I had an emergency and headed over to the lingerie store.

  Pepper was standing at the counter, a large binder in front of her where she kept notes on all her expenses and her payroll. She looked up when she noticed me. “Hey, Colton. Why the long face?”

  “I need to talk to you—in private.” She had girls on the floor and behind the counter. When she saw that video, she wouldn’t want to be around anyone else but me.

  “Uh…okay.” She led me into the office and shut the door behind her. “You’re scaring me. Everything alright?”

  “No, everything is not alright.” I pulled out my phone and opened the video. “I just ran into Layla, and she told me who jumped Finn that night. You aren’t going to believe it.”

  “Who?” she demanded. “No one we know, right?”

  I felt so stupid for ever rooting for Brutus, not when I now knew he was a fucking psychopath. When he didn’t get his way, he tried to terrify his opponents until they disappeared. He must have been pissed when Finn didn’t take the check, and then when Finn kept calling Pepper baby, he wanted retribution. “Brutus.”

  Her mouth immediately dropped open, and her eyes narrowed like she didn’t believe it. “Brutus? Brutus would never—”

  “This is the security footage they pulled from that night. It’s definitely him.” I held up the phone to her gaze and watched in horror as she covered her mouth with her hands and started to cry once she saw the damage Brutus had caused.

  When I pulled the phone away, tears were soaking her cheeks.

  I didn’t want to show it to her, but she had to know.

  She covered her face with her hands. “Oh my god…why didn’t he tell us?”

  I couldn’t think of a justifiable reason. Finn should have pressed charges. “I don’t know…but there’s something else that happened. Finn told me to keep it a secret, but I don’t think I can anymore.”

  She dropped her hands and looked at me, her eyes still soaking wet. “What?”

  “A few months away, Brutus showed up on Finn’s doorstep with a billion-dollar check. Told him the money was his if he disappeared and never showed his face again.”

  “Jesus, are you kidding me?” She gripped her hair and practically yanked it out of her head. “Who the fuck does he think he is?”

  “And Finn didn’t take the money…as you probably figured out.”

  She was too upset to soften, to upset to care about how devoted Finn was.

  “He showed me the check. It was a cashier’s check, and he ripped it in half. So if you’re still worried that Finn isn’t a hundred percent committed…you’re worried over nothing.”

  “Why did he make you promise not to tell me?”

  “Said he wasn’t a rat. And he wanted you to choose him, not go to him just because Brutus was out of the race.”

  “But what about this?” she demanded. “This is assault. How could he not say anything?”

  “I don’t know… I came straight here when I heard the news. Knowing Finn, it’s probably some macho thing, proving that he’s tough and can take anything, that he won’t run to the police. Why he didn’t tell you…it’s probably for the same reason.”

  She dragged her hands down her face again. “I’m giving that motherfucker a piece of my mind.” She stormed out of the office, her eyes filled with blood lust like a general about to embark on war. “I’m gonna kill him…fucking kill him.”

  I chased after her. “What are you going to do?”

  “I just said it.” She got to the street and waved down a cab.

  “Pepper, I’m pissed too, but I don’t know if confronting him is the best—”

  The taxi pulled up to the curb, but before hopping inside, she turned to me. “Oh, I’m confronting him. I’m gonna make that son of a bitch pay for doing that to Finn. Classy bitch is gone. Psycho bitch is here to stay.”

  I didn’t know what was going to happen once we came face-to-face with Brutus, but I wasn’t skipping out. I had to protect Pepper if he raised a hand to her—and I needed to get a few punches in myself.

  She stepped inside his elevator and entered the code to rise to his penthouse.

  The elevator started to move.

  “He didn’t change his passcode…idiot.”

  We rose to the very top of the building then the elevator doors opened to a beautiful living room. Luxury was obvious in every inch of the plate, from the cashmere rug to the grand piano that didn’t have a speck of dust.

  Pepper marched inside. “Brutus!”

  I came in behind her, surveying the living room for weapons.

  Footsteps sounded a moment later, and his legs emerged as he descended the spiral staircase that led to an additional floor. In just his sweatpants, he was streaked with sweat because he must have just used his personal gym.

  He walked toward us, rigid as he looked at Pepper. “What are you doing here?”

  Fearless, Pepper made her move. “It was you! You’re the one who almost killed him!”

  He glanced at me then looked at her again, not denying the charges.

  “You fucking asshole! What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “He wouldn’t back off.” Brutus spoke with calmness, as if beating a guy in the parking lot was no big deal. “I warned him and gave him a chance to get out of it, but he refused.”

  “So you jump him?” she asked incredulously. “You think you’re the mob or something? How dare you?” She launched her momentum forward at alarming speed and slapped her hand across his face so hard he actually staggered back.

  I couldn’t help but be proud—because I’d taught her that.

  “You piece of shit.” She slapped him again then shoved him as hard as she could.

  He landed on the floor. “Pepper—”

  “How does it feel?” She kicked him in the knee. “Huh? You like that?”

  She didn’t even need me to jump in.

  “Stop.” He grabbed one of her legs to steady her.

  “Oh, you want me to stop?” She tilted her head, looking crazy. “Did Finn ask you to stop?” She dropped to her knees and slammed her fist hard into his dick.

  Brutus screamed and crawled into a ball, cupping his dick like he’d been shot. “Fuck!” He writhed on the floor because the pain was so excruciating, he couldn’t do anything else but breathe through the hurt.

  Pepper turned around and marched off. “Go fuck yourself, Brutus.” She walked past me and headed to the elevator.

  I wanted to get a few punches in, but seeing him practically weep on the hardwood floor was enough revenge for me. With a punch like that, it would hurt every time he peed. And getting hard was probably so painful it wasn’t worth it.

  “Let’s go, Colton.” She held the door open.

  I turned around and j
oined her and watched the doors close.

  “I hope I broke his dick,” she said as the elevator descended to the ground floor.

  “Even if you did, I don’t think that’s punishment enough.”

  “I agree. I wish I could mutilate his face with a baseball bat…”

  I wanted to take it a step further… I wanted to bury him six feet under.

  26

  Pepper

  My mind had been in a daze since I’d heard the horrific news.

  Brutus was responsible for the worst day of my life.

  The man had no right to do what he did, to cross the line in such an egregious way. He didn’t even do it to protect me. He did it for himself.

  And he could have killed the man I loved.

  I sat on the couch with Soldier and struggled to slow the adrenaline pumping through my heart. Attacking Brutus in his penthouse and punching his dick didn’t give me the satisfaction I wanted. Even if I broke his heart and ripped out his ribs, I still wouldn’t be satisfied. Nothing could ever avenge the pain he’d caused.

  My temple throbbed with my pulse, and my fingers kept tightening until my knuckles were hard. Brutus was responsible for this, but I felt like the one to blame. If I’d never dated him at all, this wouldn’t have happened.

  Finn wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital with broken ribs.

  Soldier knew something was wrong, so he kept looking at me with those sad puppy eyes.

  I was too furious to be sad.

  Minutes, the sound of the motor opening the garage fell on my ears. The truck entered the space, the engine loud. Then it died, and the door slammed shut. Seconds later, Finn entered the house, his satchel over one shoulder while he wore his scrubs.

  I stared at him, both happy and pissed.

  He didn’t notice me until he set his satchel on the dining table. “Hey, baby. I didn’t see you there…” He tensed when he saw the livid look on my face. He must have seen the rage in my eyes, a billowing inferno that was about to engulf the entire house.

  I rose to my feet and walked up to him, my stature so intimidating, he actually stepped back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He held his stance, clearly bewildered.

  “Finn.”

  “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  “Why? You have a lot of secrets?” I stepped toward him again. “Colton showed me the security footage from that night… He showed me the video where Brutus ganged up on you with four men and nearly killed you in the middle of the parking lot in the freezing cold. And you said nothing?”

  When his secret was out in the open, his eyes filled with despair.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He bowed his head.

  “How could you not tell me? How could you not tell me that he paid you a billion dollars to leave me?”

  He still had nothing to say.

  “Finn.” I stomped my foot to get his attention. “Answer me.”

  He lifted his gaze again. “I didn’t tell you about the money because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I didn’t want to be a rat. I didn’t want to win you back because I kicked him out of the race. That’s not how I wanted this relationship to form.”

  “You don’t think turning down a billion dollars for me would get us back together?”

  His eyebrows fell as he considered it. “I still wanted you to choose me on your own.”

  “And the hospital? How could you not tell us that he’s a psychopath?”

  His answer didn’t come easily. “Again, I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction. He wasn’t going to get me to cave.”

  I would never understand his machoness or his code of ethics. “What he did was so wrong… You should have told me.”

  “I had the chance to get out of it, but I didn’t.”

  “What did he say to you?”

  “He told me to disappear and he wouldn’t hurt me…so I told him to do his worst.”

  I closed my eyes as I remembered that image from the film, seeing blood fly out of his mouth from being hit so hard.

  “I didn’t tell you because I wanted to use it against him.”

  “Against him how?”

  “Because when I was hurt, all you wanted to do was take care of me…and that’s how I got you back. I made him regret his decision, made him suffer knowing he was the reason we came back together. Everything he did only pushed us closer together. He offered me that money thinking he could get rid of me…but he only forced me to prove how much you meant to me. He gave me everything I needed to get you back. All I had to do was be patient.”

  All the doubts I’d had about Finn seemed ridiculous now that all this information was on the table. I was so scared he would hurt me again, that I preferred to be with an asshole with no morals. “I’m so sorry…” Tears bubbled in my eyes. “This is all my fault.”

  “No,” he said quietly. “It’s not your fault at all.”

  “But if I hadn’t dated him—”

  “I was the one who provoked him—and I have no regrets.”

  I wiped away my tears with my fingertips even though my eyes continued to water. “When Colton told me the truth, I couldn’t think straight. I marched to his penthouse and gave him a piece of my mind…”

  “He didn’t hurt you, right?”

  “No…but I hurt him.”

  His eyes narrowed.

  “I slapped him a few times then punched him in the dick.”

  A slight smile appeared on his mouth. “That’s my girl.”

  “I can’t believe he did that to you. You should press charges. You could get a lot of money for damages—”

  “I’ve never wanted his money. Couldn’t care less about it. The only thing of his I wanted is now mine. So let’s forget about him for good. I already have.” He pulled the stethoscope off his neck and tossed it onto the table before he walked up to me. The distance separating us diminished until there was no space in between us. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me close. “Marry me tomorrow.” He grabbed my left hand and placed it on his chest, letting my engagement ring catch the light. Without looking at my hand, he seemed to have noticed it was there, must have noticed the ethereal glow from its endless prisms.

  “Tomorrow?” I whispered.

  His hand moved into my hair as he tilted my chin up. “I don’t want to waste another day like this, not when we should be so much more. I want to wake up in the morning and see my wife next to me. I want to come home to her every day, eat her mediocre cooking but pretend to like it to spare her feelings. I want to start a family with you, make lots of babies and have them climb all over the furniture like monkeys. I want us to be a family…to live to a ripe old age then be buried side by side in the graveyard for eternity, until the sun explodes in five billion years and brings us into permanent darkness. Say yes.”

  “I can’t…”

  His eyes filled with sadness, like I’d ripped his heart out of his chest so I could watch him die.

  “I want Colton there. I want your parents there. I want our friends to be there. How about Saturday instead?”

  The darkness quickly disappeared as the affection returned to his eyes. His fingers gripped my chin, and he looked into my gaze like I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Love shone in his eyes brighter than the sun. His fingers gripped me possessively, like he never wanted to let me go. “I guess I can wait until Saturday…”

  Finn shut the bedroom door, closing it right in Soldier’s face.

  Soldier whined through the wood.

  “Sorry, boy. Not tonight.” He pulled his V-neck over his head, revealing the strong physique that had survived the cruel punishment he’d endured just a month ago. The bruising had faded away, and the scars were almost impossible to see because his tattoos commanded all the attention.

  He untied the drawstrings, so his pants fell to his ankles. His muscular legs stepped out of the material before he pulled his boxers down, letting his enormo
us cock pop out and steal the show. With a thick vein along the shaft and an impressive crown, he had the kind of dick an artist would love to paint.

  I’d missed it.

  Proud of his junk, he crossed the bedroom and came to me, lifting me into the air and pulling me against his chest. His large hands supported my ass as he cradled me against him and kissed me.

  My arms moved around his neck, and I squeezed his hips as I used my strength to keep myself up. My fingers ran through his hair, and my nipples dragged against his soft skin. My mouth ached for his lips, ached for the reunion of our bodies.

  I was about to fall headfirst into the greatest love I’d ever known—and I wasn’t scared at all. This man wouldn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t break my heart again. He would be everything he promised. That ring would stay on my left hand forever because he would never ask for it back.

  When our kisses became so heated we could barely breathe, he rolled me onto my back and maneuvered between my legs, like his dick couldn’t wait to get inside me. One arm hooked behind my knee while the other dug into my hair. Like he remembered every angle of my body, he tilted his hips and slipped inside me, inching deeper and deeper until he was balls deep.

  “Oh Jesus…” My nails clawed down his chest as I moaned in ecstasy. His dick felt exactly the way it used to, hard as steel, warm, and so fucking big. This was the dick I fantasized about when I was alone, the dick I wished were inside me when it was just me and my vibrator. I couldn’t wait to have this monster inside me every night for the rest of my life.

  “Fuck.” He breathed against my mouth as he enjoyed the slickness he’d just slid into. “Baby, I’m not gonna last long…” He remained idle as he enjoyed my tightness, as his dick got reacquainted with my pussy once again. He tilted his hips and throbbed in between my legs, practically coming apart the second his cock got wet.

  At least I knew he’d really been celibate these last two months. “Me neither.” I guided his lips to mine and kissed him, starting off slow as our bodies got used to each another. I moved the fingers on one hand into his short strands of hair, while my other hand gripped his muscular bicep. I was stuffed full with his cock, and he didn’t need to move for me to enjoy it.