Fight For Me
by
Bethany Bazile
Copyright © 2014 by Bethany Bazile
All rights reserved.
Warning: No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Edited by Lori Whitwam of Ripleygold Proofreading & Copyediting
Proofread by Cassie McCown of Gathering Leaves Editing
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Chapter One
Alexis
Confessions & Consequences
My phone chirped simultaneous to the sound of my fist rapping on the door. I juggled the brown paper bag and my books to my left arm so I could pull the phone out of my pocket. It was a text from Paige.
We need to talk. How soon will you be home?
Paige was my roommate. We’d had a plan to go to the same college and room together since our freshman year in high school. My mother, of course, was not on board. She’d offered me a car if I stayed home and commuted to school. There was no bargain that would’ve talked me out of our set agenda, so my brother took the car, and I packed up and moved into the dorms.
I sent her a quick text letting her know I was at Logan’s place. I stuffed the phone back into my pocket and banged on the door a little louder. Just as I was about to call him to let him know I was there, the door flung open.
He looked incredible despite the fact that he was only wearing a pair of jeans. Well… maybe because of the fact. Logan was the guy most girls on campus had their eyes on and wanted. He was there on a football scholarship. He had bad-boy good looks but came from a prominent family. Dusty-blond hair and a killer smile that lit up his blue eyes. I didn’t care that he drove his motorcycle like a maniac; I just loved to jump on behind him and hold on for the ride. He was everything that made a girl melt. And I melted.
We’d met in high school. Logan was two years ahead of me. After he graduated, we maintained a long-distance relationship. He spent quite a few nights sneaking into my window after Mom went to sleep. Once we were living on the same campus, everything seemed to be lining up. At twenty, I thought I had my life together.
“Guess what I got us?” I smiled as I strolled past him, waving my brown paper bag. I dropped my books on the table near the kitchenette. His apartment was small but a lot bigger than the room Paige and I shared.
He smiled. “You’re the only girl I know who gets this excited over grease truck burgers.”
I pouted at him. “Don’t make fun of my love of burgers.”
“I would never,” he said, pulling me into him and wrapping his arms around my waist. “As long as you love me more.”
“Hmm?” I pretended to think about it, and he frowned at me. I laughed at his expression. My phone rang, so I pulled it out of my pocket. We both looked down at Paige’s face on my screen.
“Maybe I should get this. She’s been texting me all day.”
“No!” He snatched my phone out of my hand and stepped back. What the hell was that?
I knit my brows as I looked at him. He continued looking down at the phone until it stopped ringing. “What was that about?”
“We need to talk.” He looked edgy, like he wanted to bolt.
“That’s the second time today someone ‘needs to talk.’” I didn’t like it. Any conversation starting with those words didn’t end well.
He walked around, placing my phone on the table and then pulling out a chair. “Sit.”
I shook my head. Another bad sign. I wasn’t going to sit down as though I were too weak to take his news.
“Just tell me what’s going on.”
“I love you—”
“Logan… just spit it out.”
He reached for me, but I stepped back. His eyes dropped to the floor. “I slept with Paige.”
Huh?
Wait….
I needed a minute for my heart to start beating again. I took a few steadying breaths, but it didn’t work.
“I’m so sorry, Lexi.”
Sorry?
“What do you expect me to do with this, Logan?” I even sounded unsteady—shaken—as my tone echoed through my head.
“We can work through this.” He clasped my head between his palms, forcing me to look into his eyes.
“No, we can’t,” I said as calmly as possible. I wanted out. Out of the room that felt like it was suffocating me with its proclamations of truth. He’d confessed. He’d unburdened his secret on me, but how was I supposed to move on after he cleared the burden off his chest and laid it upon my bleeding heart? I tried to pull my hand away, but he tightened his hold. My eyes were stinging, but I refused to shed a single tear in front of him.
“No more lies. I just want to be with you without this between us.”
I gave him everything for four years, and it all came down to one confession. Logan betrayed me with Paige and broke me. I grew up with Paige, and I couldn’t comprehend how she’d hurt me this way.
My relationship with Paige would never recover from this. I wasn’t sure if I’d recover. Then I remembered all the messages from Paige and…
“Was she going to tell me?” I asked.
“What?” Logan pulled on his floppy hair, a clear signal of his nervousness that I always thought was cute. At this point it irritated me. I just wanted an answer.
“Paige has been trying to get me to meet up with her all day. Was she going to tell me, Logan? Did you confess so you’d beat Paige to it?”
He sat back in his seat and looked away.
“You’re an asshole. If she wasn’t going to tell me, would you have ever confessed?”
He fell silent. I picked up my books and my phone and headed to the door. But before I made it there, Logan jumped in front of me.
“Where are you going?” His eyes were frantic and panicked.
“We’re done.” I sidestepped him, but he followed, pushing the door shut as I pulled it open.
“You can’t leave me,” he pleaded. I was
facing the door, and he was begging into my ear.
He was delusional to think I’d stay with him. Did he think a confession was his salvation? Our salvation? Because I only saw what he’d done as our destruction.
“I love you so much, Lexi. Please….” His words were gritty, and I knew the moisture against my neck was his guilty tears.
“I loved you, too.” I pulled the door, and this time he let me go. I walked down the hall with my head held high, despite the fact I was carrying the burden of Logan’s confession on my shoulders. Everyone here knew I was Logan’s girlfriend. Tons of girls were just waiting for me to move out of the way. I refused to walk out of the building crying. The last thing I needed was to be campus gossip by morning.
I took the steps down, wondering where I’d go. I wasn’t ready to go back to my dorm to see Paige and face the end of a ten-year friendship. I tapped through my phonebook and called the one person I could count on no matter what.
“Al-Alec.” My voice began trembling when I heard my brother pick up.
“What’s the matter, Lexi?” Alec always knew when something was up.
“Logan slept with Paige.” The confession tore at my insides, and I finally released a sob as I reached the exit door.
“Fuck! I’m going to kill that asshole.”
“No, Alec. I just need you to get me out of here. I can’t go back to my dorm, and it’s pouring outside.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes. No one fucks with my little sister.”
“Hey, only by two minutes.”
“Yeah, how did I survive without you for two whole minutes?”
“You didn’t. They didn’t get you to breathe ‘til I came out.”
“You think you’re my world.”
“I’m not?”
“Of course you are, Lexi.” I heard the jingle of car keys as he picked them up. The elevator dinged behind me, and I noticed Logan stepping off. He’d pulled on a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers and was heading my way. I didn’t want to deal with him anymore. Ever.
“Alec?”
“Yeah?” He was breathing heavy like he’d been running to his car and chewing on gum. Always chewing on gum.
“Can you hurry?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there in a few minutes, and I’ll knock some fucking sense into that dickhead.” He hung up as I stepped out the door. I stood under the metal awning, figuring I was safer out here in the rain than in there with Logan. It was fitting that it was raining, because it felt like a huge part of my life just got washed away in a storm.
Logan stepped out, and I moved to the far left. “You can’t walk home in this rain. Come upstairs and we’ll talk.”
“Alec is coming to get me.” If he knew what was good for him, Logan would leave before he arrived. My stepdad had taught Alec mixed martial arts, and Logan would not end up on the winning side.
“I’ll wait with you.”
I ignored him.
Five minutes passed. I felt him watching me, and I sensed his need to say something… anything, but I prayed he’d keep his mouth shut and disappear. The tension was unbearable. The emotions were drowning me. If I didn’t let them out, I’d self-destruct. I’d had our life perfectly planned out like a pathetically delusional teenager who only saw bright, beautiful colors. I was seeing things clearer. I just didn’t appreciate the dark grays and blacks of the world.
The next twenty minutes felt more like eternity. The wind whipped the rain around angrily. I was wet and cold to the core. Alec was taking far too long. I pulled out my phone and quickly dialed his number. I paced in front of Logan, being careful to avoid any contact.
Logan grabbed my arm, stilling my movements. My gaze shot to his face as I yanked my arm away.
“Lexi…”
“Don’t, Logan. Don’t talk, and don’t touch me.”
Fuck! Where’s Alec? I moved far away from Logan and pulled out my phone. Something strange churned inside me as the phone went to voicemail, but I pushed the unsettling feeling aside. By now it was past half an hour, and Logan was fidgeting and slowly moving my way, mumbling things to himself.
My phone rang as I was pulling it back out, and I snatched it up. “Hello.”
“Alexis…” My mom sounded choked up and barely audible. She was clearly distraught. I had expected it to be Alec calling back. The knot in my stomach grew. “Alexis… honey… I need you to meet me at the hospital.”
That’s when I heard it—the anguish in her tone. The sick feeling in my gut increased, and I took a few breaths to keep from hurling.
“Mom…” I didn’t want to say it, but I felt it.
“Alec has been in an accident. Please… just hurry.”
The phone slipped out of my hand and hit the ground, breaking to pieces. Everything else slipped out of my arms and followed the phone. It was bad—really bad. I heard it in her voice, I felt it in my soul, and the pain was unbearable. I swayed on my feet and would’ve hit the ground if Logan hadn’t caught me.
“What happened, Lexi?”
I tried to respond. My mouth kept opening and shutting, but I couldn’t form the words.
Logan pulled out his phone and called my mom. “Oh shit,” he said before sweeping me into his arms and racing to his car.
As soon as we got to the hospital, I threw up in the parking lot. I kept hacking even when my stomach was empty. It felt as though I were purging my connection to my brother. I didn’t want to go in. I knew my brother wasn’t in that building, and I was afraid to face that fact.
My mom met us in the hallway with a grim look, tears pouring down her face, and shaky hands. I turned and began to walk away before she said anything.
“Alexis,” she called after me. I couldn’t handle it.
“No.” I continued to take the path back to the exit, but she caught up, spun me around, and hugged me.
“He was gone instantly. He never felt anything.”
“No. No. No.” I screamed as pain exploded in my chest and traveled through every cell in my body. I tried to push her away, but she wouldn’t release me. I didn’t want to hear this. My mother’s tears wet my hair as I buried my head in her chest and panted for air. I felt like the life had been sucked out of me.
It was my fault. He was coming to get me. And in an instant he was gone. What was I supposed to do? He was part of who I was. So who was I now?
Logan pulled me over to a chair, and I was too numb to even care about his presence. We could have sat there for a few minutes or hours. My head couldn’t calculate time anymore. My world ended with my twin.
A big man with bloodshot eyes came up to us and gave his condolences. Then he confessed he’d been speeding. It was raining, and the road was slippery. Alec stopped short in front of his semi, and he couldn’t stop in time.
It was the ugly truth, laid at our feet at a time when the details no longer mattered. He got to confess his part in Alec’s death, only to make our burden heavier with the gruesome details of my brother’s last minute.
I hated confession. Everyone just took their pile of shit and buried it into the open wounds they’d caused.
Chapter Two
Ryder
Sea of Grief
“What are you doing here, Ryder?” My dad stepped out of his house, pulling the door shut behind him. This was the second time I’d been here since we stopped speaking, and each time he shut the door to keep me away from his new family.
It had been five years since I walked away and left him at this doorstep. He had tried to contact me, but I was too angry to respond. But something kept tugging at me and pulled me here.
I worked my ass off my whole life for this championship fight. And every time I thought about the road that led me here, I saw my dad teaching me kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, and everything to do with fighting. He’d been there for every fight. Every win, every loss. He was my one constant, but we were at the point where I couldn’t even call him Dad anymore. He was just David to me.
His abrupt
departure from the family had been painful, and I hadn’t been able to forgive him for it. It took two weeks to convince myself to invite him to the championship, but I was uncertain again. He was definitely not happy to see me here. Surprised? Yes. Happy? I wasn’t seeing that.
Fuck it, I’d driven all the way up here for a reason. “I came to invite you to the championship on Saturday.”
“Oh.” He looked bewildered. Like he never thought I’d extend the olive branch. “I’d love to be there.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“But I can’t. This is not a good time for me to leave town. Vanessa—”
“Forget it, David. Forget I asked. I almost forgot your wife and her kids come first.” The disappointment was instant, but I didn’t want him to see it. I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm. I looked down at his hand, then back at him. He removed his hand when he saw how close I was to lashing out.
“Listen, Ryder, Alec was in a car accident. He… didn’t make it, and… I can’t leave now. Please understand.”
“Alec… What? What are you saying? No. No.” I shook my head, running a hand over my face. A knot formed in my throat as I fought back the quick rush of emotions in my chest. Hurt, anger, and regret swiftly bubbled up inside me. David and I had problems we may never fix, but Alec used to be a good friend. Before David ruined everything, we’d been like family. Me, Alec, and…
“Alexis? Where is she?” I didn’t need to ask how she was because I was certain she’d be devastated.
“She’s been closed off in her room since last night. Before you got here, she finally came out. She wanted to sit out on the beach like she used to with Alec. If you want, you can go and see her.”
I wanted to get in my car and leave, but I was compelled to see her. “I don’t think she’d want to see me.”
“You used to be close.”
“Until I cut them both out of my life. I don’t want to upset her.” Alexis and Alec had tried to reach out to me so many times, but I didn’t want anything to do with them. I knew it was unfair to blame them for something that surprised us all, but I needed distance from David. And I couldn’t do that and keep them in my life.
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