CHAPTER NINETEEN

James

I’ve been at the gym for about a half hour and came in the hopes that I would get a chance to catch up with Tate. As soon as I left Carly’s, even though it was close to midnight, I called him. Shockingly, though maybe not so much, it sounded like he expected my call. He answered with “Yo, man. What’s the plan?”

I know he’s a good guy now. After that split moment of stupidity resulting in my initial dislike of the man simply because he was around Carly, that is.

So, we got Will on a three-way call and formulated a plan. One I hoped we would never have to put into place but feared we would, all the same. One that I relayed to Carly, and we’ll discuss with Jack.

Problem with coming in today? It’s Tate’s day off. And because I don’t really keep tabs on him, I had no idea until I got here.

Rather than leave, I stay and decide to get my workout in. In all honesty, it’s a lot more fun when Jack is here with me, but I’m a grown-ass man and can do shit alone.

Just as I’m about to tape up my hands to start on the bags, the phone in my gym shorts sounds. The ringtone for “You’re Beautiful” pulls a smile to my face, knowing who’s on the other end.

“Hey, beautiful,” I answer when I have the phone to my ear.

“Hey there.” I love that she still has a bit of shyness around me. Because when she finally gives herself over? When those walls she’s built around herself so securely do finally crumble to the ground? It’s going to be marvelous. Ground-shaking. Earth-shattering.

“Hey there? That’s all you got?” I tease her because I absolutely can’t help myself. I can picture her pulling her bottom lip between her teeth and a slight blush creeping up her neck. Gorgeous.

“What do you prefer I call you?”

“I seem to remember Hotty McHot…”

She groans. “Don’t finish that statement, mister. I’m never living that one down, am I?”

“Never.” I promise her, and I mean it. Because I’ll never let her go. “I have a few other ideas, you know. Even though that one is pretty accurate.”

“Oh, do tell.”

“Captain is always a winner. Like Captain, my Captain,” I continue, and she groans again. “Stud, Sexy, Dashing, Dreamy… Want me to keep going?”

“Uh, no. You’ve given me plenty of options to think about.”

“Glad I could be of help.” My smile is so wide that my cheeks actually start hurting. I look toward the door as it swings open, bringing in a gust of cold wind with it. A guy walks in I’ve never seen before, looking like he’s on a mission. I nod my chin up at him, but he just sets hard eyes on me as he looks around the gym with a scowl on his face. I bunch my eyebrows together, wondering what his problem is. People don’t usually enter the gym looking pissed, but this guy doesn’t seem capable of any other facial expression.

I watch as he goes into the locker room, and I refocus my attention back onto my girl.

“James?”

“Huh?”

“Where’d you go?”

“Oh. Sorry, baby. I just… I don’t know. I’m at Tate’s. Some guy came in looking pissed off.”

“I’m sorry,” she replies oddly.

“Why you sorry, beautiful?”

I can just picture her shrugging her shoulders when she doesn’t respond.

“Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your sweet voice?”

She giggles.

So damn cute.

“Tess called.”

“Ah, hell. What’s the nosy woman want now?” I joke.

“Dinner tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. Unless… do you not want to? I know my family is a lot to take in.”

“No. Not at all! I love them. I promise.”

“Good. They love you, too,” I tell her quietly.

The door to the locker room swings open with a loud bang again, the new guy’s ominous appearance causing a chill to go down my spine.

He sets glaring eyes on me then jerks his head toward the boxing ring as he takes menacing steps through the gym.

“What is his deal?” I mutter.

“What?”

“Nothing, baby. No worries.”

I start walking to the ring, bending down to pick up my gloves as I go, assuming this guy needs to get out some aggression from whatever put him in this mood in the first place.

I’m happy to help. I have enough angry thoughts about Carly’s ex rolling around in my head.

“I gotta go, beautiful. I’ll pick you up in about an hour, okay?”

“That sounds good, Captain,” she says, laughing.

“That’s better,” I murmur. “I’ll see you soon, beautiful.”

I hear the guy in the ring scoff, and again I look at him with confusion, wondering what his deal is.

I walk over to the ring and start putting on my fingerless gloves.

“You wanna go?” I ask him.

He nods, not giving me much then lifts his hands to show me his own pair of gloves similar to mine.

“Alright,” I say, wondering for the umpteenth time what his problem is. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah,” he grunts. “I’m just motherfucking fine.”

I raise my eyebrows but climb into the ring anyway.

“I’m James,” I tell him, reaching out a hand to bump fists with him.

“Got it.”

Oka-a-ay, so this is how it’s gonna be.

“Yo!” I holler to Danny. Danny is another trainer here at Tate’s gym. I have a feeling it might be good to have him watching over for us.

“Yeah?”

I nod my head to the stranger and lift my hands, showing him we’re gonna bout.

“Got it,” he says, coming over next to us.

I put my mouthguard in and lift my hands in front of my face. The second I’m in my stance we start circling each other, not giving Danny a chance to even ready us. I have a feeling this guy isn’t really here for pleasantries anyway.

I’ve done bouts before. But something about this one feels a little… off. Usually neither side is in this perpetually pissed off state, but this guy’s aggression is coming off him in waves.

“You ready for this, pussy boy?” he provokes.

I briefly look over at Danny and notice he looks just as bewildered as I am.

I take on a defensive stance as we both bounce on our toes, adrenaline pumping through my body. I jut out my right arm, taking a light swing at him, testing, feeling it out. He does the same, but makes contact with my shoulder.

He smirks, making his already hostile demeanor look even more so.

I shrug off the hit — not that it really hurt — but it pisses me off he got first contact. I don’t know why, but this guy’s presence annoys the hell out of me.

He nods his head, and waves his hands at himself, taunting me, asking for me to come at him.

That’s how he wants it?

I take a step forward and swing, taking him by surprise, hitting him square in jaw. He grunts as his head jerks to the side, a little bit of blood trickling out the corner of his mouth. For some reason, a sick sense of satisfaction comes over me.

He reaches out, swinging in my direction again.

For every antagonizing swing at me, I match it.

He strikes hard, hitting me in the cheek, and I hit back, punching him square in his nose.

I lift my leg and kick, hitting his left thigh, bringing him to his knee. He glares up at me, and I shrug my shoulder, hardly apologetic to an asshole who came in here with a giant chip on his shoulder asking for a fight.

I lift my hands up, taunting him just as he did to me. He sniffs and spits out some blood onto the floor.

He grunts as if to say, “That all you got?”

It’s not. I can give this guy way more, especially with visions of Carly’s ex floating through my mind.

For the next several minutes we go at it, punching, jabbing, kicking… Each hit is met with another. I take one more left hook, hitting him hard enough to make him stumble backward. I may have never done MMA or boxing professionally, but I’ve been in the ring a time or two. Nothing he throws at me is surprising. It’s almost like he grabbed an MMA textbook and is just going through the motions. But his hostility, his anger, is palpable. I can feel it in every hit. We’re both panting, breathing heavily, gasping in whatever air we can get, but neither of us is willing to back down.

I glance over at Danny again, who’s standing in the corner watching with a curious eye, looking like he’s about ready to call the match quits. I shake my head lightly, knowing this guy… this random guy who walked into Tate’s gym less than thirty minutes ago… won’t stop. Not until he’s ready.

My brief look away from him gives him the advantage he needs, and he comes at me with his shoulder to my gut, knocking me off my feet. He starts swinging at my face the second I’m on the ground, but I hook a leg around him, spin us, and pin him to the mat. I twist and get him into an armbar hold, a move I can tell he wasn’t expecting and obviously has no clue how to get out of.

Before he can tap himself out, I push away from him and stand up. I lean against the corner post, leaving him on the ring floor, panting for air.

I spit out my mouthpiece into my hand as Danny walks over and helps me remove my gloves. “What the hell, man? Nice to meet you, too.”

I shake my head and take the water bottle Danny is offering.

“Dude. Who the hell are you?” Danny asks.

“None of your fucking business,” he growls.

“Alright. Well, seeing as you’re not a member here, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”

Danny stands with his arms over his chest while I wipe my face with a towel. I look over at the stranger and see he looks pretty beat-up. A sense of pride fills my chest, knowing I could take on this piece of crap.

He bends over and grabs a towel from the floor. He throws an angry look my way then walks toward the locker room.

“What the hell was that about?”

I shake my head, trying to fight off the lingering feeling that the next words out of my mouth are a lie. “No damn clue.”

“You did good.”

“Thanks. Kind of had some pent-up aggression of my own, I guess.”

“You’ve never seen that guy?”

I have an eerie feeling I know exactly who he is, but the mistake I made was not asking Carly for a picture of Vince. I’m not sure why — whether it was because I didn’t want to put a face to the name or something else. “Nope. You?”

“Me neither.”

“Kind of weird, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Might need to talk to Tate. I need to go, though. I got a girl to go see. I’m gonna clean up. Catch ya later.”

“Sounds good. Have a good one. Tell Carly hi for me.”

“Will do. See ya.”

I go into the locker room, expecting to see my opponent, but he’s not in here. I take a quick shower, inspect my face in the mirror quickly, but see there’s just a small cut on my cheek. Not too bad.

After changing, I grab my bag and head out to the parking lot. When I get there, I see the same silver car that was sitting in front of Carly’s on Christmas Day drive out of the parking lot. And in the car is none other than my lovely sparring partner. I have a huge sinking feeling that I just met Vince Taylor.

Fuck.

 

 

Ten minutes later, I’m walking up the steps to Carly’s house, looking around for that damn silver car. I knock, but no one answers. I twist the knob, not expecting it to turn. When it does, I frown, knowing Carly never leaves it unlocked, even if she’s home.

“Beautiful?” I call out as I walk into the house.

“Back here!” she yells from what sounds like her bedroom.

I walk in and see she’s standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom, doing her hair and makeup.

“Babe.”

“Hmm?” she asks, taking a clip out of her hair before she starts curling another section of hair.

“Why was your door unlocked?”

“Um, it was?”

“It was.”

“How do you know?”

I raise my eyebrows at her then spread my arms out to my sides. “Well…”

“Oh! Duh, you’re in here. Um, maybe I forgot?”

“You never forget,” I remind her, knowing this to be true.

“I don’t know? I guess I did this time?” she tells me, but I can see the wheels turning in her head.

“Hey, it’s okay. Just wondering,” I reassure her, trying not to worry myself. I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her stomach. I lean in close and bend my head to kiss her on the spot where her neck and shoulder meet. I groan. “You always smell so damn good.”

“Mmm,” she hums, leaning back against me.

I look at her through the mirror, and she meets my eyes, then her attention flits over my face. She gasps. “What happened?!”

I shrug, not wanting her to worry even though a large — very large, if I’m being honest — part of me is afraid that it’s quite a bit to worry about, considering I’m certain I just went several rounds with Vince.

“I came from the gym. You should see the other guy,” I joke, not wanting her to worry.

“Who?” she asks, her fingers delicately tracing over the small cut on my cheek.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. Just some dude at Tate’s I had a bout with.” The lie settles in my stomach like a ton of bricks.

“You’ve never met him before?”

“Nope.”

At least that’s not a lie.

“Then why did you two bout?”

“He came in looking to blow off some steam.” I need her to fully trust me, and from the way she didn’t like it that I kept it from her that I knew Vince was in the area for just a few hours, I know I should tell her, but not tonight. Tate and Will are keeping an eye on Jack, and as long as I’m with Carly, I’m not worried for her safety.

“Hmm. Let me get you cleaned up.”

I definitely don’t deny her that, soaking up any moment I can get of having her hands on me. After she has placed a small bandage on my cut, I walk to the kitchen to get a bottle of water. I take a swig and lean my arms against the counter, trying to piece together what happened in the last few hours.

I scrub a hand down my face, feeling the tension in every part of my body coiling tight. I fight against the onslaught of furious thoughts threatening to hijack my mind and take a deep breath, shaking it off, and crack my neck from side to side. No way am I allowing thoughts of Vince to get into my head, to dim the light that is Carly.

I reach into my coat pocket for my Chapstick, my lips are always dry from having my mouth guard in, but I don’t find it.

“Do you have any Chapstick?” I holler to Carly.

“Yeah, side pocket in my purse. It’s on the shelf in the closet by the garage door.”

I walk over and grab her purse from the closet and set it on the kitchen table. “All I see is that lip gloss stuff,” I say as I dig through the pocket.

“Not that, you weirdo. There’s some Burt’s Bees stuff in there.”

I grab all the tubes I can find and pull out one that says Burt’s Bees on the side. I take off the dark red cap. The color of the lip balm is almost as dark as the cap. “Uh, babe? Is this right? It looks a little funny.”

“The Burt’s Bees, right?”

“That’s what it says,” I tell her, still examining the color. It looks like lipstick. There’s no way this is right. Right?

“Then that’s the stuff. Sorry, that’s the only kind I have. I’m super addicted to it.”

“This is what you use?” I ask her, knowing that her lips always taste amazing, like cherries.

I shrug my shoulders, assuming this is the right stuff. It must be the reddish color because of the cherries, I suppose. Do they put real cherries in it? Maybe that’s why it tastes so good. I glide the balm over my lips. It doesn’t taste like cherries, which I think is a little weird since hers always do, but whatever. They feel so much better now. I felt girly enough asking for it. I’m not going to bring up the taste, too.

“Babe! You ready? I’m starving and want to get to Tess and Barrett’s!” I holler at her through her house.

“Two minutes. I promise! I’ll be ready. You can wait in the car if you want!” she hollers back.

“Alright. I’ll go warm it up for ya!”

I head out the front door into the already dark night, climb into my SUV, and start it up so it will be nice and warm when she gets in. One thing I love about Carly is when she says two minutes, that’s what she actually means. So, soon enough, she’s entering the passenger side and settling in. She buckles her seatbelt and heaves a sigh.

“See? Ready,” she says with a smile in her voice.

I snicker. “I see that. Hungry?”

“Starving.”

I reach over and grab her hand then thread our fingers together and rest our joined hands on my thigh. I rub my thumb over her knuckle then lift our hands and kiss the back of hers. She turns her head and looks over at me through the dark interior of the SUV.

“Thank you,” she says.

“For?”

“Everything.”

I smile over at her even though she probably can’t see it, and I kiss her hand once more.

It’s such a simple statement, but it hits me in my gut, and if I were standing up I have no doubt my knees would buckle.

The drive over to my sister’s house is a short one, so it’s crazy that so much was said in the few minutes. And in such a few words.

Soon we’re pulling up to Tess’s house and as hungry as I am, I also want to relish those words. But I know that Tess will know we’re here already because she’s a freak and has beyond a sixth sense, more like a twelfth sense too.

We walk up to the house hand in hand and let ourselves in the front door. Long ago we stopped knocking at each other’s homes.

I can hear the typical fury of commotion that is the Ryan’s household as we walk into the kitchen.

“Hey, everyone,” I say.

There’s a chorus of hellos, but no one seems to be too affected by our appearance.

Tess is at the stove stirring what looks to be some fried apples, Barrett is cutting up a large roast beef, and the kids are working together to set the plates. Maggie is placing a plate of twice-baked potatoes in the center of the farmhouse-style table that Barrett built for Tess years ago.

Harper looks at us first and rushes past me directly into Carly’s arms. She hugs her tightly around her stomach.

“Ms. Hanson! I missed you! Did you miss me?”

“Of course! I always miss you when we’re not at school.”

“I kind of figured that,” Harper says, making all of us laugh.

“Need any help?” I ask.

Barrett looks over his shoulder and does a double-take. “Nah, we got— What the hell?”

“What?”

“What the hell are you wearing?”

I look down at my clothes, wondering what he’s talking about, and look over at Carly in question. She busts out laughing, causing the rest of the family to stare at me, apparently wondering what’s so funny.

Grady speaks up first. “Uncle James, is there some other news you needed to tell us?”

“I’m so confused. What are you talking about?” I’m wearing a pair of dark jeans, brown boots, and a long-sleeve navy blue Henley. Not to brag, but thinking I’m looking pretty damn good.

“Oh my gosh, what did you put on?”

Still.

Confused.

“What? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I ask, gesturing to my clothes.

“Nah, brother. Not your clothes. I didn’t realize you were easing yourself into makeup.”

“Huh?”

I scratch my head, looking around the room. Tess and Carly are leaning on each other, laughing so hard they’re holding their stomachs. Harper and Maggie are sitting on the floor hooting. Grady and Barrett are being idiots and making kissing faces while they wipe tears from their eyes.

“Would someone like to fill me in here?”

“Oh babe. What type of lip balm did you use?”

How many kinds of lip balm does she have? “The Burt’s Bees stuff! Like you said! Why?”

“Uh, I didn’t mean to use the lip tint, you idiot!”

“You said it was the right stuff!”

“Didn’t you notice it was red?”

“Well, yeah. I thought that was how you got the cherry flavor! Carly. Do I have lipstick on right now?”

“Not exactly.” Well, that doesn’t make me feel better.

“Carly.”

“Lip. Tint. Lip tint, James. It’s different. I promise.”

“Different as in…”

“Well, it won’t last as long… I don’t think.”

“You don’t think.”

“Well, no, it doesn’t last as long for me.”

“Okay, so how do you get the cherry flavor?” I’m not really sure why I’m so stuck on the cherry flavor, but I really am baffled by that.

“I use the black-cherry-flavored lip balm.”

“And that’s not what I used?”

She shakes her head, still giggling.

I walk over to her, lift up her left hand, and look at the back of it. Sure enough, there’s two lip prints from where I kissed her. I figure, why not add more? So I kiss her all over her face. “Is it gone?”

She’s wiping at her face and smiling as she shakes her head no.

I smear my lips back and forth over her cheek. She starts giggling and trying to push me away, but my arms are wrapped tightly around her.

“James!” she says, laughing as I pull away. She instantly continues trying to wipe away the remnants of the lip tint with her hand.

“That’s what you get,” I say, smiling.

“You’re so annoying,” she feigns, the twinkle of happiness still in her eyes.

“You love it,” I tell her to which she rolls her eyes.

I give her one more kiss, this time much deeper.

“Dude!” I hear Grady exclaim and turn my head to see him covering Harper’s eyes with his palm, his other hand in front of his own.

Tess and Barrett are staring at us, a soft smile on my sister’s face and a cheesy grin on Barrett’s.

Maggie is watching us closely, a wistful look on her face.

“You guys kiss a lot,” is all Harper says.

“Get used to it, baby girl,” I tell her, and she starts fake gagging. I grab hold of her and squeeze her close while starting to tickle her.

“Uncle James! Stop! Oh please… ahh… stop!” she squeals through hysterics.

“Keep going?”

“No-o-o!!! Ahh! Uncle James!”

“Who’s your favorite uncle ever in the whole wide world and universe including Pluto?”

“Umm…” the little turd draws out.

I start tickling her more.

“You! You are!”

“I’m… what?”

“You’re my favorite uncle ever in the whole wide world and universe including Pluto!”

“Of course I am.” I smile and release her.

“But you still wore makeup tonight,” the smartass says.

“I’m never living this down, am I?”

“Not a chance,” Barrett says. “Now, who’s hungry?”