Chapter 32
OCTOBER 06 – MONDAY 6:02 AM
R en
“Left, left, right, right, right, right. Grab the bag. Left knee, again, again, now right. Good.”
Liam stepped back, letting go of the punching bag while I leaned over, panting.
“You’re better than I thought you’d be,” he said. As I rolled my eyes up to him, I knew he was purposely trying to piss me off. Our weekend away had provided fresh insight into Liam Hicks and how he operated.
While we were alone, he was talkative, funny, and scary smart, especially at reading people. The domineering side of him was nothing like I’d been expecting, and I had to admit it was incredibly hot. Liam’s training was all I needed, and there would be no more BDSM porn or Myles and Blake shenanigans.
After keeping me up all night, we had hiked the rest of the way to the cabin. Liam and I had made breakfast and ate while we waited for Theo to bring us back to Wayward. All I could think about was passing out for a whole day while Liam had looked like he could run a damn marathon. My brain and body were so tired that I hadn’t been able to add one plus one, and I hardly remembered passing out once I got back to my room.
“I see you silently sassing me,” he said as he smirked and walked away. “And no, you won’t kill me. But I will fuck that attitude out of you if you keep it up.” An instant inferno that had nothing to do with the training erupted inside of me.
“That wasn’t sass. It was annoyance,” I said, staring at the massive bonsai tree tattooed on his back.
The highly intricate tribute to nature stretched across his shoulders all the way down to his hips. It suited his steady and calm personality. Unlike the other guys who loved their full tattoo sleeves, Liam was more reserved. Along with the tree, he had a row of symbols on his chest that I thought might be Gaelic and an ace of spades playing card on the underside of his right forearm.
Liam grabbed the water bottles off the ground and walked toward me. I cleared my throat. The look in his eyes told me he didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth.
“Are we done for the morning?”
“Yes, you had a long and arduous workout this weekend already. We need to build up your stamina,” he said. Liam’s eyes reminded me of cinnamon and held a sexy edge that had me licking my lips.
“Are we still talking about the same thing?”
He stepped in a little closer, forcing me to look up to keep eye contact with him.
“Life is one long and very hard training session, Little Rabbit,” he said, but each word was dipped in something sweet and sexual. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn’t keep my mind on anything that didn’t involve getting him naked.
“Can I take these off,” I asked, holding up my boxing glove-clad hands. I desperately wanted to change the topic before we ended up on the mats in the corner. “They feel so strange, like really thick padded mittens.”
“In a minute.” Liam put the water to my lips but didn’t let me drink.
“I’m sorry I silently cursed you out,” I said, and gave him a cheeky smile.
“You do love to push limits, don’t you, Little Rabbit?” Chuckling, he tipped the bottle up and let me take a few sips before setting it aside. “Give me your hand.” I held out the glove, and he pulled on the lace, loosening it enough that he could pull it off and drop it to the floor. I stretched out my fingers, testing it. I felt kind of badass with the black wrapping he’d put on my hand and wrist.
“This reminds me of Rocky,” I blurted out.
“What does?”
“All of this. The wraps, the gloves, the sweat. The song won’t stop playing in my head,” I said and hummed Eye of the Tiger . Liam smiled as he finished unwrapping my hand.
“I think you have a ways to go before you’re ready to start punching slaps of beef in a freezer,” he teased.
“I can get the other one,” I said, reaching for my left glove, but Liam grabbed my wrist.
“What did I tell you?”
“You’ve told me many things in the last couple days. Can we narrow it down slightly?”
“What is my job?”
The gears in my brain whirred as I thought, but when he raised an eyebrow, it clicked.
“To take care of me. You do know that I don’t need you to take care of me all the time, right? I can take off my boxing glove,” I said as he worked at undoing the lace and then tugged it off. He dropped it to the ground, and I yelped as he snagged me around the waist and hauled me against his hard, muscled body.
Even before he spoke, I melted and wiggled in his hold. But then he whispered in my ear.
“It’s not about the glove. It’s the act of caring. Do we need to have a lesson? It’s never too early to learn new things.”
I wanted to run away and drop to my knees at the same time. There was no doubt that he’d chase after me. Liam was fast and could run circles around me for days. I would be caught like a rabbit in a snare. Maybe even hung by my foot. Why did that seem so hot?
“Answer me, Little Rabbit. Do you need a lesson?”
“No, Sir,” I whispered.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind teaching.”
“Yes, I’m sure, Sir,” I said, and he slid his hand down my back until it rested just above my ass, the heat spiking my already raised heart rate.
“You’re breathing hard, Little Rabbit. Is something wrong?” Liam growled, and I wanted to touch him. But as soon as my hands came into contact with his chest, I knew that I was in trouble.
“You tricked me,” I breathed, and he chuckled. His no-touching-unless-invited rule was going to be hard to follow. Liam touching me whenever he wanted seemed slightly unfair if you asked me.
“It’s not a trick when you know the rule. It just means you broke it with knowledge and couldn’t control yourself.” Stepping back, he ran his finger along the edge of my chin and tilted my head up to look directly at him. “But…I’m going to overlook it because you caught your mistake. Next time…you’ll be screaming the gym down.”
Again, like everything else he said, his words caused a conflicting jumble of feelings. My brain was stuck on my need to avoid being pushed around. My body, however, was ready to submit as all my muscles quaked, and I felt instant excitement between my thighs.
“Do you need something, Nash,” Liam asked, yet he never looked in his direction, and I hadn’t even noticed him. Smirking, Liam released my chin, and just like that, he was back to normal. He flowed in and out of the different sides of his personality so smoothly that it was hard to keep up.
“I’ll go,” I said.
“Actually, Princess. I’m here to talk to you.”
Swiping my gloves off the floor, I marched for my bag and began unwrapping my left wrist.
“We already had this discussion, Nash. Nothing has changed.”
“Liam, give us a few minutes,” Nash said.
“No, that’s not necessary,” I said, but Liam had already grabbed his stuff and was walking to the door. Shit, no matter what, Liam was Nash’s number two. Without even thinking about it, I’d put him in the middle of our fight.
Liam looked at me. “I’m going to hit the showers.”
His eyes quietly asked me to hear Nash out while promising a punishment for what I’d done. I nodded. Now that I knew him better, it felt good to understand how Liam and Theo could stare at one another and then just agree. I swore he was telepathic.
The silence in the gym was deafening.
“You wanted to talk, so talk,” I said, my voice echoing in the cavernous space.
“I need to speak to you about something important. But before I do, I want to apologize again.”
“You say you want to apologize, but do I want to listen? No, I don’t. I’m not ready.”
The remorseful look on his face and what Liam had told me about Mya weakened my resistance to his charms. I hated how he affected me. My heart just wasn’t ready for the next battle with Nash Collier. I stuffed my gloves and towel in my bag and marched for the door, but Nash blocked my path.
“Get out of my way, Nash.”
“No, you need to hear this.”
He blocked me again when I tried to step around him and it felt like last year all over again. Nash had made me feel beaten down. That was what I hated. I’d always gotten back up from a knockdown. It was who I was, but he made me want to hide. Under a blanket, away from the world and all the bad people in it, just like I hid from monsters when I was a little girl.
“Nash,” I growled with frustration. He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around, pushing my back up against the wall. “I hate you. I swear, I hate you so much.”
“Then hate me. But my father knows who you are, and he’s made it very clear that he’s after you,” Nash said.
My mind went blank, and I shuddered like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on my head.
“Did you tell him?”
“Fuck no,” he said. “I’d never do that to you.”
“I don’t get you. You’re here, then there.” I pointed like he was actually moving. “You like me, then hate me. You want to fuck me, then you order me out of the room. You care, then I’m a mistake the next second. I can’t do this. You’re giving me emotional whiplash. I wish I’d never gone with you to Seattle.”
“I’m glad you did,” he said, and I pushed his hands off my arms.
“Sorry if I don’t believe you. And as far as your father goes…so what? I knew he would be after me at some point. Maybe not for who I am, but your father is an asshole. You didn’t see the way he looked at me the night of your birthday party. If all those guests weren’t in the house…well, let’s just say I have experience with that look.”
Nash’s jaw twitched, and I had to look away before I caved.
“The way he ordered me away from all of you was weird. I knew he was up to something, this just makes sense. I assume he wants me to marry him, but he can forget it. It’s never happening. I’ll kill him first or die trying.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. He’s still going to try and he’s not just going to get down on a knee and hope you say yes.”
Nash had a point. Treating Lawrence like an annoying fly was a mistake. But him wanting me and getting me to sign a contract were two different things. Unless….
“Shit, he’ll hurt someone I care about. One of you, my dad, or my friends back home, won’t he?”
Nash sucked in a deep breath. “Yes.”
I closed my eyes, and Nash cupped my cheek, but I smacked his hand way.
“Stop doing that. I don’t even understand why you care.”
“Because I fucking care, okay? I don’t want to see him hurt you,” he growled, grabbing my upper arms again like he just couldn’t stop touching me.
He held me firmly in place to keep me from pulling away.
“Don’t make me kick you in the balls. I’ll do it. Let me go, Nash.”
“Fuck!” He roared and slammed his bare fist against the cinder block wall. “I’m sorry. I’m…I fucked up. I care and I don’t know how to say sorry in a way that you’ll believe me.”
“Nash…you slept with me while you were contracted to someone else. There is nothing you can say that will ever make that better. I believe that you’re sorry. I can feel that you are, but what you don’t get is that I lo—. Fuck you, Nash, just fuck you.”
I’d managed to suck back the word before I said it, but the shocked expression told me he knew what had almost slipped out. I looked away, needing to get away from him.
“Princess, there’s so much more going on,” he said, his hands loosening as the rage in him began to calm.
“Then trust me enough to tell me. You want to prove that you didn’t just take advantage of me, then tell me what the hell is happening?”
His jaw twitched, and his brows pulled down in a dark frown.
“I can’t…yet, but…I haven’t even told the guys. I can’t for safety’s sake, but as soon as I can, I will.”
“So you say. I don’t know what to believe anymore, Nash,” I said, wanting to take a hot shower and get to class. I needed a normal day, whatever the hell that even meant now.
“It’s the truth. Look in my eyes. I would tell you if I could, but I can’t until all the pieces are set.”
“Am I one of the pieces on your chess board, Nash?” He ran his thumbs over my cheeks, but I gripped his arms, and he stopped.
Sadness coated him just like violence floated around him. “Everyone is a piece on the board, but it doesn’t mean that I want to use you or purposely hurt you.”
“I’ll think about it, but Nash…fuck,” I swore as the tear I promised myself would never fall slid down my cheek. “I don’t know if I can ever really trust you again.”
He placed his forehead against mine, and I just wanted to pretend he’d never said all those hurtful things, and my heart broke all over again.
“Tell me what I can do, Princess. Name it, other than telling you everything because I can’t. I won’t put you or the guys at that much risk. Whether you understand or agree with it doesn’t change the fact that I couldn’t live with myself if something happened.”
“Then I don’t know. This whole Vicky thing…I don’t know if you could’ve hurt me more. You made me look like an idiot, but worse, you turned me into an adulterer. You made me the other woman. I deserve better.”
Nash dropped his hands, and I stepped away from the temptation of his touch.
“Didn’t Theo make you the other woman to him and Liam without talking to Liam first? Isn’t that the same thing?”
“That’s not fair, and you know it.”
He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Feels like you’re holding me to a higher standard than everyone else, Princess.”
“Maybe I am.” He locked eyes with me, and I shrugged. “You’re the king of the Kings. You should be holding yourself to a higher standard.”
Nash looked away, and the same uncomfortable silence fell like a thick blanket between us.
“What about my grand opening,” he asked.
“I don’t think I can go with you.
“You gave me your word.”
“That’s low.”
Nash shrugged. “I have the information you want, and you gave me your word. I don’t always play fair to get what I want, and I want you to come with me. Not Vicky, you.”
I crossed my arms so I didn’t beat him to death with my bag.
“Fine, I’ll still go with you, but not because I want to. Let me make that clear. Now, you said you learned something about Lizzy?”
“She’s moving to Toronto. I think her father is there,” he said.
“Toronto? But…that doesn’t make sense. She loves Alberta. Are you sure?” He nodded. “Okay, but why move, drop out of school, and lie to me? Something is missing.”
“You may want to sit down for this next part,” Nash said, and the look in his eyes had me walking over to the closest bench and sitting down.
“What? What’s happened?”
The terror of what could’ve happened was choking me. Every horrible thing, all the way to her dying, was crossing my mind, and I gripped the strap on my bag tighter.
“Your friend is pregnant.”