Chapter 9
Imogen
I sit with Susan and Katia as we watch Brandon’s first training session. He’s doing incredibly well, and to be honest, I’m surprised. Though, not because Caden was able to get him to loosen up, but because in the thirty minutes Brandon’s been here, something has changed.
At the start of the session, he was crouched in on himself. His eyes were constantly cast down, afraid to connect with another’s. He would look to me or Katia for approval and he hardly said a word.
Now, over by the punching bags, he’s grunting and groaning as he attempts some combinations with Caden.
Something happened and I wish I knew what it was, though, the second this is over, I’ll be drilling Caden on it. From where I was sitting, it looked as though the kid had gone nuts and Caden was just standing there letting it happen. I was worried he was going to hurt himself. In fact, I should probably check his knuckles once he’s finished.
I nearly ran over to stop it, but Caden stopped me with a look that said I should trust him and after knowing him since I was nine years old, that one look said it all. So, I sat my curious ass back down and watched with a desperate need to know.
Brandon laid into that punching bag with an intense fire in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, though, it’s not like I’ve been working with him long, just a few weeks, but in those few weeks, I haven’t been able to get anywhere near that kind of emotion. I mean, I get close during our sessions, but it’s always when he’s occupied with something, almost as though he doesn’t realize just how much information he’s been sharing.
Brandon fell to the floor in exhaustion and my heart broke, but in that moment, he let go of something. Caden said something to him, they both stood up, and they commenced their training session as though nothing had happened. And it’s driving me fucking nuts.
I can’t help but think what Susan and Katia thought of Brandon’s recklessness with the punching bag. Hell, they probably think worse of the fact that Caden didn’t do anything to stop him, though, I had assured them that Caden is amazing and trustworthy, and they took my word for it. Thank God, otherwise, I’d have a few questions to be answered.
Caden wraps up his session with Brandon and the kid even gives him a smile before walking over to me. “How’d you go?” I question as he turns that gorgeous smile on me.
“Good, thank you,” he says as though he’s the most polite kid on the face of the earth.
“Looked like you enjoyed yourself?” I question as my eyes flick up to Caden who now stands behind him.
“I did,” he tells me. “I learned a lot.”
“Excellent. Do you want to come back next week, or is it not for you?”
He looks up at Caden before focusing back on me. “I’d like to come back if that’s ok?”
“Of course,” I smile, realizing that Caden has made some kind of positive effect on him, though, not because he was able to take a weight off his shoulder, more like a connection between two people.
Katia places a hand on Brandon’s shoulder and they go to leave with Susan following behind. It’s my cue to leave as well but I find myself waiting behind. “Can I talk to you for a sec?” I question as I look up at Caden.
“Sure,” he says. “Do you want to sit?”
I give him a smile and a nod, and before I know it, he’s leading me through the gym and to the lunch room that the boys use. I’m extremely aware of Cole and Xander across the room and I do my best to keep my eyes off Caden’s ass.
We walk into the lunch room and find Jace already there with his phone to his ear. “What do you mean you’re not coming?” he snaps into the phone as he looks up at us.
I hear a slight murmur from whoever is on the other end, and from Jace’s reaction, whatever the person said was not what he wanted to hear. “What?” he practically shrieks. “Over my dead fucking body.”
The person replies and you don’t need to be a superhero to tell that the high pitched screech coming through the phone is a woman screaming at him before the line goes dead. Jace cringes before he pulls the phone away and slams it down on the table.
“Everything alright?” I question as I walk by him and grab an apple out of the fruit bowl.
Jace grunts and is about to ignore my question when he thinks better of it. “Fucking, Cami,” he snaps. Ahhh, and it all makes sense. I stay quiet as I have a feeling he’s about to explode with a round of word vomit.
My eyes cut to Caden who’s busy preparing his lunch, but I don’t miss the amused smirk on his handsome face. Luckily for him, his back is to Jace, as if Jace saw that grin, he’d definitely lose his shit.
I look back at Jace and wait. In three. Two. One.
“She thinks she’s going on a fucking blind date tonight,” he scoffs. “But not if I have anything to do with it. I mean, what the fuck’s with that? Whoring herself around. She’s going to get herself a bad name. She’s supposed to be this ‘good girl’ and now she’s going on fucking random dates with strange men. Who knows what could happen. She’s not the blind date kind of girl. She should be with a man she knows.”
“You mean a man like you?” Caden cuts in as he turns around to fix him with a hard stare.
“What?” Jace grunts. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, it is,” he cuts in with a scoff. “What were you planning on doing this time? Stalking her all night and making sure she’s safe, or just barging in there and removing her from the entire situation?”
“Fuck off,” Jace snaps.
“No, you need to hear this,” Caden says. “Either date her yourself or let her be, but if you keep treating her this way, you’re going to lose her altogether.”
“It’s not like that with us,” Jace defends.
“It is,” I say, adding my two cents. “You’re crazy about her and you’re a fool if you can’t see that she feels the same way. One of these days, one of you are going to have to grow a pair of balls and make the move, and I dare say that one needs to be you.”
There’s a knowing look in his eyes and it’s clear what I’m saying is no secret. “I’m not having this conversation again,” he says before grabbing his phone off the table and storming out of the lunchroom. I watch as he walks in front of the glass wall, angrily typing away on his phone. If I was Cami right now, I’d be leaving my phone at home.
“Far out,” Caden chuckles as he sits at the table with his lunch. “Those two give me fucking whiplash.”
“I know,” I say. “I hear it from Cami’s side all the time. She’s so in love with him, it’s ridiculous that he refuses to start anything with her.”
“He’s terrified of hurting her,” Caden explains. “He’s so used to fucking around that he’s certain he’ll do something that will crush her, and she’s not the kind of girl who’d risk getting her heart broken a second time. Hell, I don’t even know if she’d survive getting it broken the first time.”
“I don’t know,” I muse. “Cami’s stronger than she looks.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he says. “I don’t really know her that well. I just wish they’d sort it out already. He’s having a hard time with Luke being deployed and it’s making him a fucking nightmare to deal with.”
“I bet,” I grin as I lean against the wall and cross a leg over the other. “Have you guys heard from Luke?” I ask.
He gives me a regretful smile. “Not as much as I’d like,” he admits. “We get the occasional email which is usually very undescriptive. Jace interprets that as it being much worse than he’s letting on so he doesn’t worry us.”
“Luke can handle himself. He’ll be alright,” I tell him, though there’s no conviction in my tone. Caden and I both know I’m just saying that to make us feel better about the situation. After all, Luke is in a fucking war zone, anything could happen. Anything could go wrong and what sucks is that it could take a lifetime for us to be notified if it does.
Shit, I mustn’t think like that. Luke is going to be fine, though, my mind can’t help but take me back to Luke and Jace’s last deployment where they nearly didn’t come back.
Caden nods. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?” he questions, changing the topic and not wanting to dwell on Luke’s situation any longer.
“Oh, um…” I think as I try to wrack my brain for the reason I’m here. “Right. Brandon. What the hell was going on at the beginning? He looked like he was possessed by the devil. I was worried about your punching bag for a moment.”
Caden chuckles to himself. “I was wondering how long it would take you to ask about that.”
“Well then, you better hurry up and answer the question,” I scold.
His chuckles quickly fade away and are replaced by a cringe as he looks up at me. “I sort of told him to think about his parents and go nuts.”
“What?” I shriek. “Tell me you didn’t? Do you have any idea how bad that is for his mental health?”
“See… I disagree,” he argues. “Yeah, it might have looked bad, but he let go of all the rage and was able to be a real kid after that.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “No matter who your parents are, picturing beating the living shit out of them is not doing any favors.”
“You didn’t see his eyes,” he tells me. “He was haunted at the beginning. When he was annihilating the punching bag, I could see all that pent-up anger fading away. He looked as though he’d been given a second chance and it felt pretty damn good that I was able to do that for him. Besides, I told him if he ever pictured another person after that, our deal was off.”
My heart swells hearing how proud he is of his achievement that I decide to let it go. While I don’t condone thinking about beating the shit out of your parents, I will support the fact that just this one time, this method was able to help.
“Deal?” I question.
“I’m training him to be an MMA fighter,” he explains.
“Huh?” I grunt. “I thought you were just teaching him a few things to help him gain his confidence and self-worth?”
“That was the plan until I saw the way he was watching Xander and Cole training. He wants it bad, he just didn’t have the confidence to voice it, so I did it for him.”
“Wow, ok,” I smile, feeling a profound joy come over me knowing Brandon now has something to look forward to and keep him motivated. Hell, just something to keep his mind off the bad things. “Thanks,” I say with my heart on my sleeve.
His beautiful eyes soften and his head drops in the smallest nod. “No problem,” he tells me. “I think when he’s not so jumpy, I’ll get Xander to do a session with him.”
The look in his eyes has my heart leaping out of my chest and I do my best not to run across the room and crush my lips to his. Shit, why does he have to have this effect on me? I’m supposed to be the strong girl who doesn’t get distracted by the smoldering man in front of me.
I’m about to tell him what a great idea a session with Xander would be when a familiar voice steals my attention. “What are you still doing here?” Cole questions from the doorway before he barges in and takes the uneaten apple out of my hands and bites into it. “Aren’t you supposed to be at your office?”
“Nope,” I say. “My last appointment rescheduled for tomorrow. All I have to do is write up my notes from today, but I can do that at home.”
“Cool,” he says before turning towards Caden. “How’d it go?”
“Good,” he grunts before launching into his spiel about the session.
“Alright, I’m going to get out of here,” I say, cutting them off before they get too far into the conversation. I step up to Caden and bend down to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks again for today,” I say. “I have a feeling this is going to be all he will talk about at our next session.”
“Well, I’m quite a remarkable person,” he teases, making me roll my eyes while Cole lets out an amused scoff.
“See you later,” I laugh before walking out of the room.
As I exit the gym, I walk past the main office with Jace sulking behind the desk with his fingers still madly typing out text messages. Watching the way the jealousy wraps around him, I have no doubt he’s really letting Cami have it.
Knowing she must be feeling pretty shit right about now, I pull out my phone and dial her number, hoping I can somehow cheer her up. “Hello,” she says as she answers my call.
“Hey Cam,” I say as I push through the door for Rebels Advocate. “I heard you have a date. Tell me all about it.”
She instantly perks up and launches into her story about how a guy who works at The Dark Room with her is setting her up with his brother. She’s nervous but excited at the same time.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m pulling up at her place and barging through the door so I can help her chose out an outfit and make sure Jace doesn’t show up to ruin it for her.
God, he’s a fool. Cami is an incredible woman and I think he’s making the biggest mistake of his life by keeping her at arm’s length. She may appear fragile on the outside, but on the inside, she can handle just about anything the world wants to throw at her.
I help to loosen her up with a glass of wine before sending her on her way, looking like an absolute goddess in a red halter dress and black killer pumps that I’m going to have to accidentally steal the next time I’m here.
Cami and I walk out of her place and she locks up her house behind us. “Thanks for coming,” she says. “Jace was an ass and I can’t believe I was actually considering not going.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I say as I walk over to my stupid rental car and unlock it. “Have a great night,” I tell her. “I expect to hear all the juicy details in the morning.”
She gives me a beaming smile. “You bet,” she says before ducking down into her car and driving away.