Fighting Greed

by Miller, Jennifer

  But then, Levi - the fucker - stops me from doing so.

  “You going to introduce us to your friend, Zane?” he asks the sound of amusement heavy in his voice which immediately annoys me and makes me frown.

  Refusing to look at him, I hope he gets the clue and leaves. “No. I’m not.” Or I can just get straight to the point, “Go away.”

  Of course, Levi could care less. He ignores me, which he demonstrates by walking right up to Sutton and holding out his hand for hers. I almost smack his hand away.

  “Hi there, I apologize for my rude and clearly less charming friend. My name is Levi, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, beautiful.”

  I growl, fucking growl at him and give him my best back off look. I’m being stupid, I have no right or claim to her and better yet, I have no idea what the hell is wrong with me. Especially when I blurt, “Back off, Levi. She doesn’t care about nor want to meet you.”

  Of course to my annoyance Sutton smiles at him and laughs at me. She puts her hand in his and my frown escalates to a complete tightening of my body.

  “Hi Levi, it’s very nice to meet you. Any friend of Zane’s…”

  Pushing Levi aside and breaking their handshake in the process Dylan now stands in front of Sutton.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I sigh.

  Ignoring me, Dylan too holds out his hand. “I’m a friend of Zane’s as well. Some may even say his best friend-”

  “No one says that,” I grumble but Dylan ignores me and Sutton laughs.“I’m clearly also the best looking friend of these two jackasses. I’m very pleased to meet you. Tell me, why have we never met before? Would you like to get out of here, go some place quiet; intimate? That way you can tell me all about where you’ve been hiding.” He wags his eyebrows at her while thoughts of throwing him to the ground and stomping on him run through my mind.

  Sutton smiles and laughs.

  “Don’t encourage him,” I groan.

  She ignores me and takes his hand. “It’s nice to meet you Dylan, but I’ll have to pass on the… umm… offer. But thanks.”

  He’s still holding onto her hand and smiling and I consider ripping his hand away, but then I wonder once again what my problem is. I need to chill the hell out. Taking a few deep breaths does my body some good. It relaxes bit by bit.

  “So tell us, how do you know Zane, Sutton?”

  “How do you think?” Levi asks with a laugh. “My guess is they’ve been naked together.”

  “Shut up, Levi!”

  “See?” He gestures between the two of us as if he’s proven a point.

  “Is that how you know him?” Dylan asks with a wicked smile.

  “None of your goddamn business,” I state rudely at the same time Sutton says, “We met a few years back. We’re… old friends.”

  “That’s interesting. We’re old friends too… since high school. How come we’ve never met you before? I know I’d remember you,” Levi says suggestively. God, could the two of them be anymore nosy?

  Before I can tell him to get lost, Sutton surprises me, “Well, what can I say? I guess you aren’t as good of friends with Zane as you think.”

  She’s joking, but he looks butt hurt at her joke, which makes me chortle. He’s a child, I swear.

  “Alright, you’ve met her and annoyed her although she’s too polite to say so. Now, go the fuck away.”

  “Fine, let’s go Levi. Clearly Zane is threatened by our superior looks and impressive manners. It was nice to meet you, Sutton.”

  “Bye, Sutton,” Levi singsongs as he and Dylan walk away. She waves at them. I’d like to think the two of them could leave without being even more annoying, but that was wishful thinking. The two asses make kissing noises as they leave. Levi even wraps his arms around himself making it look from the back like someone is in front of him rubbing his back. He makes moaning noises as he walks. Dylan gets a look at Levi’s antics and starts cracking up.

  “I apologize for my former friends. They think they’re funny but clearly as you can see for yourself, they’re not.”

  But Sutton is smiling and laughing and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. The action lights up her whole face, her eyes sparkle with amusement. I’m lost in the sight for a moment.

  “No worries, I thought they were funny.”

  “First, don’t ever tell them that. Second, we need to do something about your sense of humor, little shark,” I tell her using the old nickname again.

  She shakes her head, “That’s twice now but sorry, that nickname no longer applies.”

  “No worries, I’ll just come up with a new one.”

  “You say that like you’re going to be needing to use one again.”

  “Won’t I?” I ask.

  She laughs again and I love it, the sound is husky yet almost lyrical. Seriously, why did I never follow through and try to find her after rehab? For a while I obsessed about it. Wondering where she was, if she was okay, why that guy that picked her up seemed like a creep. Then I started to wonder if the connection was all in my head. She clearly had no qualms about us potentially never seeing each other again that last day.

  I mean, yeah, the sex was definitely fantastic, but the feeling that there was more than that between us was not imagined. I know it.

  Part of me feels shitty for never following through on my thoughts, but at the same time I know why I ended up letting it go. It’s because I tried like hell to leave that part of my life in the past. Remembering her meant remembering a habit I’d rather forget. I disappointed Jax, put our friendship and my career at risk. I wasn’t willing then, nor am I now, to ever go back to that place again. I had to leave it all in the past for my own recovery and I guess after a while, in my mind, that included her.

  But somehow we’ve been placed in each other’s path again. Is it fate like she said it would be if we ever came face to face once more?

  I never gambled again after rehab and I have no fear of reverting back to doing so. That part of my life is over. Maybe that’s why we’ve run into each other. Because now I’m in a position where I can pursue her, where I’d be worthy enough to have her.

  “I’ve been coming here for a couple weeks now and this is the first time I’ve seen you. Do you come here often?” she cocks her head to the side with her question making her long ponytail swing over her shoulder.

  “No. Actually, today is my first time. My buddy, Jax-”

  She nods, “I remember you talking about him. He’s a really good friend of yours - has been for a long time, right?”

  “You have a good memory.” That confirms it for me. I have no doubt that the name of one of my friends is not the only thing that she remembers. Internally, I’m crowing like a goddamn rooster. I’d probably prance around with my chest thrown out in male pride if I could.

  “He, along with his brother Cole own the gym I always go to in order to train. I’m an MMA fighter.”

  “I’ve seen you on the billboard over the I-10.”

  The billboard is of me looking directly into my upcoming opponent’s face that’s standing next to me. We’ve each got our fighting shorts on and our hands wrapped up. We look like we’re ready to throw down. It’s a big fight; one of two I have coming up – God willing - and it’s being advertised like crazy. Watching it requires paying for the fight, so the marketing is insane right now. Jax, the usual headliner out of all of us, took a step back recently to focus more on the gym as a whole and his personal life. He’s pushed me to take his spot and so far, I’m doing him proud if I do say so myself.

  “Oh yeah? It’s huge isn’t it?” And by huge I mean my muscles and yeah, I hope she noticed.

  “I definitely did a double take when I saw it. I, of course, had no idea you were a fighter or that you still lived here. You were still recovering from bruises in rehab and whatnot, but we never discussed the details.”

  “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t have known.”

  “Well, it explains all the muscles,” she says gesturing to
me. I know I’m built up more than I was the last time she saw me, but I was still pretty ripped then too, I just never mentioned anything about my fighting.

  “I suppose it does.”

  “So, if you usually go to Jax’s gym, why are you and your friends here?”

  “Jax had… other things… going on at the gym today that prevented us from getting our work outs in so we all decided to check out this place. Dylan heard good things.”

  “Well, wow, guess it was fate that we ran into each other,” she laughs and rolls her eyes.

  “I remember you saying once that if we ever saw one another again that it would be.”

  She smiles a little, “You remember that?”

  Is that her suggesting that she does? “I remember everything, doll.”

  I watch her and hope to see a look on her face or a fire in her eyes that tells me she remembers everything too. Instead I’m surprised when she says, with attitude, “Doll? No. Try again.”

  I laugh at her snarky reply.

  “Well it was good to see you. I’ve got to get going.”

  Not surprised I feel disappointed, I cover it by nodding, “Yeah, me too.”

  “I’m glad things are going so well for you, Zane.”

  “Are you sure you can’t go grab dinner or something?” I blurt and I can feel my eyes widen. I’m surprised at myself, didn’t see me blurting out that question.

  Her face falls and I wish instantly I could take my question back, “I wish I could. Really. But tonight doesn’t work for me.”

  “Tomorrow night then? Or another night this week?” I ask her and almost curse. What the hell is wrong with my mouth? It’s like there’s no filter between my brain and my lips.

  “I’m not sure… can I take a rain check?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  Is she blowing me off? Is this real life? I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t do this shit. I’m ‘Insane’ Zane Moreno. I don’t ask or beg chicks to pay attention to me. Ever. I don’t date – I fuck. So what the hell am I doing?

  “I’ll have to check my schedule. See if I have a clear evening.”

  “Are you giving me the brush off?” I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms over my chest.

  “No, not at all. I swear. My job is a bit demanding and I have other obligations. I don’t want to commit to something and then have to cancel.” She looks around, “Hold on.” She walks to the front desk and I see her talk to one of the employees. She takes a pen and writes something down before returning to me.

  “Here,” she holds out a business card for the gym. I turn it over and see a phone number written in black. I lift a brow. “It’s my number. Text me, then I’ll have yours and we can arrange something that way.”

  “Alright. That works.” I clench the card in my hand like I’m afraid it’s going to disappear.

  “I hope I hear from you soon,” she smiles and then to my astonishment she gets on her toes and kisses me on the cheek. I catch the familiar scent of mint and lavender and find myself inhaling. She smiles timidly as she pulls away and steps around me to head toward the locker room.

  “Don’t worry, you will, angel.”

  Her nose scrunches, “Um, no, try again. I’m no angel.”

  As she turns around my eyes fall to her ass and I almost tell her that I disagree. I’m feeling quite spiritual right now. Instead I call out, “Sweet cheeks?”

  She laughs and the sound runs over me again giving me chills and making me shiver.

  “I don’t think so. Try again!” she says over her shoulder before she disappears.

  Hot damn. That woman is mine. She just doesn’t know it yet.

  My head spins from surprise, worry, excitement and frankly lust as I move through the motions of showering, changing and walking to my car. I can’t keep myself from looking around the parking lot to see if I’ll get a glimpse of Zane leaving as well. When he’s nowhere to be seen my shoulders drop in disappointment.

  I can’t believe I ran into him. I can’t believe how damn fine he looks. I can’t believe how many times I thought about licking him.

  This is bad. This whole thing is bad. This is not a good time for him to reappear in my life. I mean, maybe I’ll never see him again after today. Maybe he’ll never text me. Maybe I’ll never go back to the gym or reply if he does text me.

  But, I know I’m lying to myself.

  I knew the second I wrote down my number for him that I’d give almost anything to see him again. My heart hasn’t beat like that and my stomach hasn’t fluttered so hard since the last time I saw him all those years ago.

  The time I spent with him… I hadn’t wanted it to end. I thought my life was over when I was sent to rehab, but instead it ended up changing my life forever - for many different reasons.

  He’s all I can think about as I make my way home, which isn’t too far from the gym. The sun is just about to slip away from the horizon casting the sky in shades of oranges, purples and pinks. It’s gorgeous and at a stoplight I snap a picture with my phone.

  As I pull into the apartment complex, I smile. It’s been a while now, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the happiness and freedom I feel at having my own place. It may be a mirage in many ways, but I’ll gladly allow myself to fully enjoy the idea anyway.

  There’s something about nesting in my own space, surrounded by my own things. I love this place – everything from the gated entrance, to the swimming pools and the lush lawn they maintain which is an anomaly in Arizona.

  As I grab my gym bag and purse to make my way to the elevator that will deposit me on the top floor, I do my best to push thoughts of Zane from my head. It’s laughable how difficult that is to do, but I try anyway.

  “Hi, I’m home,” I call out after unlocking the door and letting myself in.

  I hear the smacking of small feet on the floor and immediately grin ear to ear.

  “Mommy!”

  My little guy, the love of my life runs around the corner and when I see his smile and the happiness on his face at seeing me, the stress I was holding onto manages to slip away.

  “Hi baby, how are you?”

  “Mommy, I told you. I’m not a baby, I’m a big boy.”

  “I know you did tell me, but sorry sweetheart, you’ll always be my baby no matter how big you get.”

  He rolls his eyes and sighs and I have to smother a smile. “Fine, I guess. Now come with me, I want to show you what I made.”

  “Alright,” I reply and place my things on the floor before I smile at Theresa his babysitter and hold up a finger in a silent gesture asking her to wait a moment. She smiles and nods and not for the first time I’m grateful for her.

  The things she’s seen, the conversations she’s heard, she’s never said a word about them. I know she technically works for Nico, as he’s the one that hired her, but I don’t doubt her loyalty to Ryan and me.

  Ryan grabs my hand and tugs me into his bedroom – one of my favorite rooms in our apartment. Various toys litter the floor along with a couple coloring books and all of his crayons. His ‘big boy bed’ is unmade, his blue and white blanket thrown back revealing the sheets with trucks on them underneath. Various books lay in disarray and the airplanes we hung from the ceiling sway gently in the air.

  Looking again at the smiling boy before me, it’s clear Theresa let him pick out his clothes because as usual they don’t match. He’s wearing red, brown and white plaid shorts with a blue, green and yellow-checkered button down shirt. Initially, when he insisted picking out his own clothes, I cringed a little worried what other people would think. I get strange looks sometimes when people see him when we’re out and about but I just smile and ignore them. My cute mismatched son delights in picking out his own clothes and dressing himself and that overrides anything people could possibly think or say. And I just dare them to say something.

  “See?” He spreads his arms wide like he’s giving a presentation. Below me I see a large tower with various Lego men stuck to i
t.

  “Wow. That’s amazing! Are you sure you did that all by yourself?”

  He nods, “Of course I did.”

  “Really? I mean, it looks like a seven-year-old did that, not someone your age.”

  “It was me, mommy! It was me!”

  “Well wow. I am really impressed, little man.”

  “Do you love it?” he asks staring at my face intently.

  “I absolutely love it.” He smiles happily and not for the first time I realize the kid has me totally wrapped around his finger. “Alright, I’m going to go say good-bye to Theresa and then change my clothes, okay? While I do that can you please pick up your coloring books and put your crayons back in the box? Then go wash your hands for dinner.”

  “What are we going to eat, mommy? I’m hungry.”

  “We’re just keeping it simple with grilled cheese and some fruit, maybe a few potato chips. How does that sound?”

  He nods excitedly like I knew he would because grilled cheese and potato chips are his favorites.

  With a smile I kiss the top of his head then return to Theresa, “He was good today?”

  “Just like always. That boy is an angel. I’m not going to know what to do with myself when he starts kindergarten next year.”

  “You and me both,” my heart aches a little at the thought. “Did he put up a fight over nap time today?” He hates naps. Usually protests them vehemently. I still insist on them because they’re good for him and because sometimes Mommy needs a nap too.

  “He must have been tired today because he didn’t put up a fuss whatsoever.”

  “Wow, that’s impressive.”

  She chuckles as she picks up her purse, “I know.”

  “Thank you, as always. I have a late start tomorrow because I’m heading to the children’s home for my shift instead of the office for the day.” I tell her the time and with a nod of her head and a smile she leaves.