by Bella Jewel
I swallow and glance at Ripley, who is listening intently.
“He’s right,” Finn says. “Sorry you’re hurtin’ so much, but it’s our only option right now. You have another option, we’ll hear it out, but right now the chances of us even finding Brody before this fight is next to none. This way, we’ll be able to get him back here and he won’t question it.”
“Will you tell him I’m here?” I ask, my voice a broken whisper.
“No,” Lincoln says. “No, I’ll make contact through Jerome and have him come back, with the promise that we’ll train him, and he’ll get into the fight. Once he’s here, you can do what you need to.”
“And you’ll give me the chance to do that?” I ask, holding Lincoln’s eyes.
“Yes, because regardless of what you think, none of us want him in that fight. However, we know he’s goin’ to go into it, even if it isn’t what we want. If you can get him to change his mind, have at it. I only ask that you don’t interfere with our training, because if he does happen to go in, we need him to have the best chance.”
“Okay,” I say, my voice shaky.
I’m not happy about it, my heart aches, my whole body hurts, but I know they’re right. Brody is going to find a way in; at least this way he has a chance of making it through, or I might get my opportunity to change his mind.
“I have one condition,” I say, glancing around at them. “If Brody does fight, if I try everything and he refuses to give this up, then I want to be there. I want to watch it.”
“No fucking way,” Ripley cries, shaking his head. “No, you’re not watching that. You’ve been through enough.”
I hold my friend’s eyes, not wavering. “It’s not optional, Ripley. You want my support in this, that is my conditions. I’ve been through enough, yes, but if he’s going down, I’m going to be there every damn step of the way. Do you understand me?”
My voice doesn’t waver.
A strength I never knew I had grips my chest.
“Okay,” Lincoln says. “I accept.”
Ripley stands, sliding the chair across the floor as he storms out.
He has to know by now that I’m not going to stop.
That I’ll do anything.
Anything in the world.
I’ve fought this long for Brody.
I’m not about to give up now.
~*~*~*~
“You deserve this,” Lucy says as we all settle in at a huge table.
We’re at her boyfriend Nicolai’s club in town. It’s gorgeous, sleek and modern, and filled with people. She tells me there is a strip club upstairs, which is kind of cool to be honest. I think it’s quite smart, really. He literally has the best of both worlds going on. He’s got a club, a strip club, two of the world’s favorite things, right? I mean women like drinking and dancing, and men like drinking and watching girls.
Win win.
I glance at Lucy and smile at her. After everything that happened, she insisted on bringing me out. She said I needed five minutes to myself, to forget everything, to have fun. She’s probably right but, honestly, I don’t know how to do that anymore. It has been so long since I’ve relaxed and had fun. She told me that for now, I knew Brody was safe, and there is nothing more I can do. One night out to relax and breathe, and forget the world.
She’s right.
So I agreed and here we are.
She has invited a few of her friends, some I know, some I don’t. I’m familiar with Erin and Shania, but she also has Ellie, who I met on the first night and Damon’s girlfriend, Penny. They’re such nice girls, and they make me feel at ease, which is awesome.
“Thanks for doing this,” I tell Lucy. “I really appreciate it.”
“You’re more than welcome. I do have one other surprise for you, I was told it was a good idea, so I’m super sorry if it isn’t. Look behind you.”
I turn and see Aria standing behind me, a few feet away. The moment I see her, my eyes well up and I stand, screaming with happiness as I throw my arms around her. I have missed her, I can’t lie about that, but she was becoming too much for me with all the stress and worry. Still, I’m so happy she’s here now. I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“Ari,” I croak, hugging her tight.
She pulls back, looking at me. “I’m only here for the night, but I promise you, we’re going to have fun. Lucy called me, told me everything that’s been going on. I’m so sorry I wasn’t supportive enough before, I should have done something like this with you earlier. Tonight, we talk only of fun things. I swear.”
“I missed you.” I smile, happily.
“Gosh, me too. You have no idea.”
“Okay.” Lucy claps. “Ladies, let’s have some fun!”
Sounds damn good to me.
We drink, we dance, we laugh. Hours go by, and I feel incredible. These women are amazing, and having my best friend back finally lets me feel like I can breathe again. She doesn’t say a thing about Brody, or how things are, she just enjoys the night with me, which is exactly what I need. More than anything in this world.
“So, how did you two meet those gorgeous men of yours?” Erin asks when we’re all sitting down after our last dance, sipping some sparkly pink drink that tastes way too sweet, but I love it all the same.
“I met Blade as a one-night stand,” Ari tells the group, “only to find out he was my stinking step-brother!”
“No way!” Lucy squeals. “Are you serious?”
“Yep, I knew my mom’s partner had kids, I even knew their names, but I’d never met them. So, when I found out, I lost my shit. It was awkward as hell.”
“That’s so funny!” Shania laughs. “I love that story! You should totally write a book.”
Aria laughs. “I’m thinking about it.”
“What about you, honey?” Lucy asks me.
“I met Brody through Aria. We all went on this family trip to get to know one another and I met him there.”
“Did you hit it off immediately?” Shania asks, smiling.
“Nope,” I chuckle. “Not even close. I’m not sure how much you’ve had to do with Brody, but he’s not the easiest man to get along with.”
The girls all laugh, nodding their heads. They’ve obviously met him enough times to have figured that one out.
“It took a while, we definitely had a connection, and then it kind of went from there.”
“That’s nice, that you two are with brothers,” Ellie says, her voice so soft it’s hard to hear her over the music.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Aria agrees.
“You know,” Penny says, “I thought the Knight brothers were something else, but then I saw pictures of Brody and his brothers. Wow. It’s like we picked the hot brothers and stole them all.”
I laugh. “That’s basically it.”
“You should see the bikers,” Shania says. “Holy crap.”
“Bikers?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she tells me. “Friends of ours date the Iron Fury MC members. They’re gorgeous, seriously, it’s ridiculous.”
“Wow,” I say, eyes wide. “Bikers hey? That’s awesome.”
“They’re the nicest guys, my boyfriend Slater is part of the club,” Ellie flushes.
“Slater? Really. Wow. That’s super cool. He’s like the best of both worlds.” I laugh.
“Yep,” she says with a grin. “He sure is.”
“And what about your guy?” I ask Lucy.
We all saw Nicolai earlier in the evening—he came down and gave us a few rounds of free drinks. Holy, he’s gorgeous. I mean, I’ve met him before but he never fails to make me do a double take, he’s really a great looking man.
“Yeah, he’s pretty good.” She grins, glancing at Shania, who smiles at her.
I’m not totally sure what went on there, but I know that Nicolai and Shania have a child together, so I’m guessing things were complicated before Lucy came into the picture. I’m sure one day she’ll tell me more about it.
W
e talk and dance some more, and then decide we’re going to go and crash the guys’ place. They’re all over at Lincoln’s having a few drinks too. I’m totally okay with the idea, so we pay for our tab and head off. He doesn’t live far from here, so we all start the walk toward his place.
I’m wearing heels and a tight black dress that Lucy insisted I wear. It hugs my body in ways I’m not sure I’m used to. I loved dressing up once, getting out and letting my hair down. I miss that girl, that fun loving, happy girl. The one who laughed about everything. Before Brody, I was her. Even with Brody, I was her. Until Mick.
We arrive at Lincoln’s house and I can hear music coming from around the back on the porch. We’re all laughing and chatting as we walk through the front door. We round the corner into the kitchen and see Finn and Ripley standing, making some drinks and chatting about something. I smile as they turn to look at us.
Their faces drop.
I lose my smile.
“Oh,” Finn says, “what are you girls doing here?”
“That’s hardly any way to chat to your girlfriend,” Erin says, walking over and going up to kiss him.
He leans down, saying something to her, and her eyes widen, and she turns, looking at me.
She wants to say something.
Something is going on.
“Honey,” she begins.
But she doesn’t finish.
She doesn’t need to.
Because he walks through the back door.
And my whole world stops.
Brody.
Brody is here.
12
THEN – MELANIE
“How is he doing?” I ask Brody, running my lips over his chest.
He just made love to me, slow and deep, first thing in the morning. The best and only way to do it. Mick has been gone for a month, staying with a friend of Brody’s, and things have been slowly getting better between us. We’re spending time together again, making love, having fun. It’s perfect. Everything is perfect.
“Not sure,” Brody murmurs, his voice still husky from sex. I love it when his voice is like that. It turns me on more than he can even begin to imagine. “Goin’ to see him today.”
“Did he manage to find work?”
“No, still workin’ on that, but one thing at a time.”
“You’re right. One thing at a time. You’re a good friend, honey.”
He runs his fingers through my hair. “Have to be. He’s always been there for me.”
“When you were going through your hard time?” I ask, because Brody has never really told me much about it. Just that Mick has been his friend since he was a kid.
“Yeah, after everything happened, and I was in a shitty place, he was there for me. He was the only one who understood. Was meant to go into the Army with him, it was always something we swore we’d do together, but I was fucked up, couldn’t even deal with most days let alone something like that. Lookin’ back, it probably would have been the best thing for me. I didn’t know that at the time, though.”
“Understandably,” I say. “It’s hard to feel anything during grief.”
“Yeah, anyway, Mick went and I stayed. He was still good to me, though. Called when he could, wrote to me, he was a fuckin’ good friend. When he came back in between tours, he’d take my mind of shit, help me through it. I couldn’t have done it without him.”
“So now it’s your turn?” I say softly.
It makes more sense to me now. I mean I knew most of what he told me, but I guess he never went in depth with it. He feels like he owes Mick, because Mick pulled him out of a bad time and he now owes him the same kind of friendship. I respect that. I really do. I don’t think the two men are in the same boat, because Mick is so, so broken, but I know Brody is good for him.
He ended up apologizing to me for the things he said when we were away on vacation. I accepted the apology and said nothing more about it, but I know it bothered Brody, I know it put a strain on their relationship. It did with ours, too, for a while. I know Brody was disappointed in me for even bringing up the job to Mick, but we’ve all moved forward from it.
At least, that’s what it feels like.
“I should get up and go check on him, I haven’t for a week.”
“Yeah,” I say, rolling toward him and inhaling his warm skin, breathing in the masculine scent that draws me to him every time without fail. “Okay, honey.”
He growls, rolling me to my back, propping himself up on an elbow and looking down at me. “Don’t sniff me like that, makes me fuckin’ hard. I could go again, I could spend all day in here with you, but I gotta run.”
He leans down, kissing me, long and deep.
His kisses still make my skin prickle with delight.
He still makes me giddy.
I love him so damned much it terrifies me.
They say you should never love someone so much that they become your whole world, but they don’t warn you how hard it is to avoid that when you have someone you feel on a level that goes beyond anything you could have ever imagined. When it reaches into your very soul and hangs on so tightly some days you feel like you can’t breathe without them.
I love Brody more than I could have ever dreamed.
It scares the hell out of me.
“Love you, baby,” he says, pulling away from the kiss.
“Love you too, honey,” I whisper, watching as he rolls out of bed.
His perfect body flexes as he walks to the shower and gets ready.
I lie back in bed, looking up at the ceiling and smiling.
Things feel good again right now.
They’re just how they should be.
I just can’t imagine my life in any other way. Brody is it.
He’s my everything.
He comes out of the bathroom ten or so minutes later and leans down, smelling even better. He kisses my forehead, a long lingering kiss that flutters my heart. “Miss you when I’m gone,” he murmurs. “Call you later, beautiful.”
Little do I know it’s the last genuine kiss he’ll give me.
Because when he walks out of this room, everything is going to change.
He’s going to drive the car right off the beaten path. We’re no longer going to be on the straight, narrow road with an end in sight.
No, we’re going to take the long way around.
The really, really long way.
That’ll no doubt destroy us forever.
~*~*~*~
“I don’t know where he is,” I say to Blade, pacing around Jack’s kitchen, waiting for the man I haven’t heard from for three days.
“I’m sure he’s okay, we’re doin’ our best to find out where he went. Mick is with him, that much we know,” Blade tells me, scrolling through his phone, finding someone else to call.
Brody left me that morning in bed to visit Mick, and I haven’t heard from him since. Today is the third day, and I’ve been sick with worry, calling him over and over, only to find the calls going straight to voicemail. He’s gone somewhere, but nobody has any idea where.
Did he leave me?
Have they gone together?
Or worse, has something happened to him because of Mick?
I don’t know, all I know is something isn’t right. What that something is, I’m not sure, but it’s not right.
“It’ll be okay,” Jack says, gently putting a hand on my shoulder. “He’s probably just tangled up in something with Mick. He’ll call soon.”
I know he wants to believe that, but I can see in his eyes that he’s scared for his son. He’s worried. Wondering the same things I am. What the hell has happened, and where is Brody?
“We’ll wait for Lee’s call,” Blade says, dialing someone else and pressing the phone to his ear. “I’ll keep trying to get hold of Leroy, he’s the one Mick was staying with. He might know something.”
He too is not answering his phone.
Which scares me even more. Does he know something and he’s too afraid to
tell us so he’s avoiding it?
“I’m going over there,” I say, unable to sit around waiting anymore. “I’ll wait there until someone shows up. If Leroy is avoiding me, I’ll find out.”
“No,” Jack says, “I can’t let you do that, it could be dangerous.”
I cross my arms and say, “Jack, I respect you, but I’m going. You can try and stop me, but your attempts will be futile.”
Jack exhales. “Women,” he mutters. “Fine I’m coming with you.”
“Great,” I say, grabbing my keys and walking out the door but not before I shout to Blade, “Call me if you hear anything.”
“Will do.”
Jack and I climb into my car, and the entire drive to Leroy’s house is quiet, which doesn’t surprise me. He’s worried, too. No doubt wondering what kind of hell his son has gotten himself into this time. I mean, they just got through the last one, and things were good, and now this.
Mick.
It all comes down to Mick.
“Here we are,” I say, arriving at the old, run-down home.
It’s still tidy, it just needs a serious gardener, and maybe a paint job. Otherwise, it looks good enough. I climb out of the car and Jack follows, and we approach the front door together. We knock a few times, but nobody answers. I’m about to take a seat on the front porch when I see movement inside. Just a flicker of it, from the corner of my eye, but it’s movement.
Someone is in there.
“I just saw somebody,” I say to Jack, rushing to the window and banging on the glass. “I know you’re in there! Open up! I’m not leaving until you do!”
Jack bangs on the front door again, over and over, until finally the latch clicks and it opens, presenting us with Leroy. I knew he was here. I just damn well knew it. He’s hiding something, otherwise he’d have no reason to ignore us.
I glare at the overly tall, overly lanky man with messy blonde hair, a shirt that’s at least two sizes too big, and eyes that look like he hasn’t slept in a month. Wow. I had no idea he looked like this, I didn’t think Brody would dump Mick with someone that looks like he hasn’t had a job since the seventies.
Although, maybe that’s exactly why.