Round 25 #2
Eliza wanders to the mirror and drags an elastic from her hair, running her fingers through the platinum blonde locks to smooth them out.
“You have no clue who you are or where you came from, and God knows, you might have an angry ex-boyfriend hunting you down, but I mention my brother and his hussy entourage, and you develop a sudden desire to fuck a bitch up. Cute.”
“You can’t label it yet,” Alana murmurs.
“And we all know this is far more complicated than a typical boy-meets-girl situation. But she,” she gestures to Eliza, “says she sees the way he looks at you? I’m saying I see the way you look at him.
You accepted his offer to come to his home because you trusted him.
Cliff is the sweetest, gentlest, kindest, dopey dog I’ve ever met, but when he scared you, you backed up to hide behind Ollie.
And Ollie’s no grump, but compared to Cliff?
” She laughs. “He’s basically a Rottweiler. ”
“It’s okay if you like him,” Fox says. “And it’s okay not to be sure, since this is complicated.”
“Just don’t break his heart,” Eliza finishes.
“If you decide to leave someday, in a week or a month or a year, I just ask that you do it delicately.” She stares at me through the mirror, finger-combing her hair into three sections before she re-braids the long locks.
“If you wake up someday and remember who you are, and maybe you realize you have an amazing life somewhere else, don’t just dip out and leave him hanging. Give him closure.”
“He deserves that.” Alana presses a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “He deserves peace.”
“What happened between the two of you?” I turn and rest against the sink, my eyes narrowing to curious slits. “You say things like that, like there’s something big and scary and heavy sitting in your past. And he speaks of you like you…” I shake my head. “Like he’s in love with you.”
All three of them stare. They stop moving, stop doing, and simply exist.
“It’s not romantic, because I know he loves Tommy, too. But there’s something here… something between you. He has a wall of books he bought from your shop, did you know that? And he doesn’t even read them.”
Her eyes glitter with sadness. “He doesn’t? He said he does.”
“He told me differently, and I’ve seen the wall. Those books are still brand new.”
“You should ask him what happened.” Eliza re-ties the second braid and turns, laying her hand on my arm. “And then you can remind him it wasn’t his fault.”
“We keep telling him,” Alana murmurs. “But he carries so much in his heart. So much guilt for something that was never his to carry in the first place.”
“Rose?”
I startle and swing my gaze to the door. Toward Ollie’s probing voice.
“Can I come in?”
“I don’t know where you’re up to with… this.
” Eliza gestures across the room. “But if you’re the kind of friends who hug sometimes, now would be a fantastic time to do that.
Lean on him for a second, because it’s good for you both, and he really, really likes that.
Tell him you’re okay—because you are. You’re strong.
Then once you’ve done all that, come on out to the cage and I’ll teach you how to destroy a man in three easy steps.
” She pushes away from the sink, sashaying her perfect eight-pack-abbed body to the door, then swinging it wide, she reveals her anxious brother on the other side.
“She’s okay, Doc. She just needed a minute to catch her breath. ”
His eyes, a perfect replica of Eliza’s bright blue, lock on to mine.
His chest lifts and falls, fast, rhythmic breaths expanding his lungs.
He keeps a tight hold on the million emotions passing through his body, but his gritting jaw is a tell I’m not sure he even knows he has.
The flex and release of muscle in his cheeks gives him away.
“We were just leaving.” Fox snags Alana’s hand and draws her across the room. “Take five.” She claps Ollie’s shoulder and squeezes through the gap of the door. “We’ll be waiting for you when you come out.”
“Are you okay?” He stares. Clenches his jaw. He digs his hands into his pockets, only to take them out again and ball them into fists. Release. Back into his pockets. “We can leave if—”
“You can come in, if you want.” I wrap my hands around the lip of the ceramic sink on either side of my thighs.
And because he’s just so… perfect, he does exactly as I say.
He steps in and closes the door, and crossing the not-very-pretty tile, he comes to a stop about two feet from where I stand.
“I don’t want to leave,” I rasp. I mean, I kind of do.
But it would be selfish to do so, because the man asks nothing of me except to teach me how to throw a punch.
“We should stay and let Eliza show me some moves.”
“What do you want then?” He drags his hands out of his pockets and drops them by his side. “Besides Eliza teaching you something. Tell me what you need, Rose, and I’ll—”
“A hug?” I open my arms and wait. Like a friggin’ idiot. “I could really do with one of those.”
He closes the two feet between us and crashes against my chest, circling his arms around my torso and burying his face against my neck. His hot breath bathes my skin, his heart pounds against mine. But Eliza was right. She was so, so right. Hugs are good for us. And a hug from him…
“Also, I feel like it’s a little late to ask now, but what the hell is up with your baby sister flattening a grown man in the ring? You didn’t think to mention that in all the time we’ve known each other?”
Chuckling, he slides his palm over my back, warming me through my hoodie. “I didn’t mention it already?”
“Absolutely not. I’m sure ‘my sister is a fighting machine obligated to register her body with the U.S. government as an actual weapon’ is something I’d remember.
Did you know she has eight abs?” I pull back and look into his eyes, but I don’t pull away.
I rest my arms on his shoulders, and he rests his hands on my hips.
“I didn’t even know regular human beings could have eight abs. ”
“They can’t. Not year-round. No one can.” He swipes his tongue across his smiling lips. “She’s gearing up for a fight soon, so she’s working harder. But when she’s in maintenance mode, eating like a normal human eats, she only has six. Sometimes four if she had pizza for dinner the night before.”
“That’s still six more than I have.” And because I’m not quite done, I lean forward and lay my head on his chest, right over his heart. “Is Cliff offended by my freak-out? Because I’ll go out there and apolo—”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” He sets his chin on the top of my head, his warm breath tickling my scalp. “He feels awful for upsetting you.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“And even knowing that, he still feels like a dick. He’s vowed to never wear that cologne ever again.”
“God.” I tuck my arms beneath his, clasping my hands together behind his back. “Such an overreaction. He doesn’t have to do that.”
“Did you remember something?” He cups my face and tilts my head back, forcing me to meet his eyes. I see him right here, right in front of me. But I see someone in the back of my mind, too, hovering in the shadows. A flickering streetlight. Puddles on the ground, and a taunting, horrifying whisper.
Rose? Come out, babe. It’s okay.
“He said I should come out now.” I swallow the painful lump in my throat. “That I didn’t have to hide anymore.”
“Who? Cliff?”
“No.” I press my face against his chest. “Liam. He was out there in the…” I breathe deep and inhale the scent of Ollie. Earth. Sawdust. Antiseptic. It’s an amalgamation that helps slow my sprinting heart. “It looked like a parking lot, I guess.”
Ollie’s body zings with adrenaline, hardening with the temper he keeps locked up tight. “Do Liam and Troop look similar, maybe? Is that why—”
“No, I don’t…” I wipe my face on his shirt. “I don’t think so. I didn’t panic when I saw him. Just when he came closer.”
“When you could smell the cologne.” He sighs.
“I don’t like what this means.” Sniffling, I reaffirm my grip around his torso. “I don’t like being the cliché woman running away from a man. It’s played out.”
He chuckles, soft and sweet and just breathy enough to bathe the top of my head.
Then he forces me back again and stares into my eyes.
“If anyone comes here looking for you, they’ll have to move through several lines of defense before they even get to say hello.
Billy and Ramone. Hospital administrators.
Janine.” His eyes sparkle, warm and comforting.
“Me. Besides, you’ve been here three weeks already.
More than that, actually. That’s a long time for someone to stay gone, especially since the news piece told them, point-blank, you don’t remember anything.
If I were a piece of shit ex desperately looking for you, and I found out you had no memory of my abuse, I’d raise my hand and claim you as my own, and I’d do it as fast as I could. Get in before your memories come back.”
“Not terrifying at all.” I sniffle and drop my gaze. “Probably should learn how to throw a punch, huh?”
“Throw a punch?” He presses a kiss to the top of my head.
I’m not sure if he intended to, or if the way his body locks up is an indication of his realization.
But all I know is how utterly good it feels.
How wholesome and warm his touch is. How unafraid I am when he’s wrapped around me.
“We’re not here only to teach you to throw a jab, Rose.
Those are fun and all, but have you ever shattered a man’s skull with a tire iron?
” He pulls back and flashes a wide, diabolical smile.
“Or clawed his eye out with a hammer?” Taking a step back, he winks, snags my hand, and tugs me toward the door.
“One hour of training, then we’re going home and cooking dinner.
Also, who was the third president of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence? ”
I stumble in his wake, snickering as he opens the door and slingshots me into the hall. “Thomas Jefferson, of course.”
“Of course. You and Franky should compete against each other on trivia night. It would be fun to see who wins.”