Chapter 5
Sawyer
A large fist slams into my jaw, and pain radiates up through the side of my face. I fall backward, hitting the ground with such force that it knocks the wind from my lungs. Still, the hit is nothing compared to the one I took from Anastasia this morning.
The pain on her face isn’t something I’ll forget anytime soon. The brokenness in her expression as she uttered that single word: please. I’d wished for more of the fire. The anger. Because those are so much easier to deal with than her pain.
Had she loved Jack that much? Did the idiot seriously walk away just because she wasn’t ready to be married? How is that fair? Not everyone moves at the same speed. And Anastasia is worth the wait.
“Sawyer! Dude, come on!” Ryker, freshly back from his bodyguard assignment for Knight Security out of Maine, crosses the mat quickly and kneels at my side. “You have to at least try to block the hits.”
I spit my mouth guard out, breathing ragged from the sharp pain shooting through the side of my face. “Distracted.”
“Clearly.” He straightens, then reaches down and tugs me to my feet. “Was it really that bad?” The fact that he’s already heard about it shouldn’t surprise me. Garrison probably had him and Weston on a group call the moment he and Katelyn left dinner.
But that doesn’t mean I have to take the bait so easily.
“What do you mean?” I ask, feigning innocence.
He eyes me, annoyed, as he takes a drink from his water bottle.
“Fine. The idiot just walked away from her. Can you believe it? He pulled out of the driveway late last night and hasn’t been back since.”
“Can’t say I blame him,” Zane adds from the sidelines.
“How can you say that? She’s your sister!”
“She is. I don’t like that she’s hurting, but I saw the little moment of eye contact you two had after he proposed. What guy would want to compete with that?”
I stiffen. Surely that brief moment didn’t carry the weight he’s suggesting.
Even as I try to shove it aside, though, there’s a flicker of hope that grows in my chest. “You’re telling me that, if it was you and Tessa, you would have just let her walk away?”
“No,” he replies. “But I wouldn’t have waited over half a decade to say something.”
Ryker chuckles. “Man, Cap. I may have been the one who clocked him, but you’re coming in with the hard hits.”
“Like he said, she’s my sister. I want what’s best for her. Are you what’s best?”
I truly wish I had an answer for him, but I’m not sure.
We come from two completely different worlds.
I have no idea who my dad was, and my mom gave me up when I was five.
I barely remember her, but I do remember not being enough.
I spent more time in juvenile detention centers than I did in foster homes, and have a record with more stains on it than I care to admit.
Is that why I haven’t moved forward with Anastasia? Because secretly, I don’t think I’m what’s best? Jack would have been. From what he said about his family, they were a good group. He has a steady job.
I have my shop.
On paper, he’s the far better choice. So why does the thought of her actually saying yes make my chest ache? Who knows, maybe they’re just taking a quick break so she can think it over.
Maybe he’ll be back. And she’ll be sporting a diamond ring and a new last name before the end of the year.
“Don’t spend too much time thinking on it this time, Cable Guy.” Zane taps the ropes separating us. “All right, I’m headed to go get my wife for the festival. See you guys there?”
“Not a chance,” Ryker replies.
“Maybe. Ed dropped off his carburetor, so I’m going to take a look at it.”
“Anastasia will be in her booth,” he says, dangling that truth out there like a carrot on a stick.
I glare at him. “Like I said, I have a carburetor to look at.” But I’ll be there, and he knows it.
Zane shakes his head with a grin on his face. “All right. See you.”
“See you.”
As Zane walks out, I gather my gym bag and head for the weights. Ryker follows me, and for once, I’m grateful for his typical silence. The only one of our group with less to say is Weston, and he’s currently busy on the ranch. So, Tank’s company it is.
“Have you talked to her since?” Ryker questions as he stands at my head to spot me.
“Here I was, just appreciating your silence.” With a grunt, I press the bar up, then lower it down. Once, twice, three times. I continue pressing out reps until my muscles begin to fail.
Then, when I can’t do any more, Ryker helps me re-rack it, and I get up so we can swap. Of course, he adds plates to each side because—as his nickname suggests—dude is built like a tank.
“I tried this morning. She kicked me out of her coffee shop.”
Ryker lies down and starts laughing. “As in—”
“As in she threw me out. Tessa and Katelyn were there, too. I’m sure they had a great laugh about it afterward. It’ll probably be in the Stormwatch Press first thing tomorrow. Front page. LOCAL MECHANIC GETS BOOTED OUT OF TOWN SWEETHEART’S COFFEE SHOP FOR BEING A TOTAL DIRTBAG.”
He laughs. “I doubt that. They’re rooting for you, too. We all are.”
“There’s no rooting for anyone,” I insist as I prep to spot.
He pushes the bar up, hissing through clenched teeth as he does. “Sure there is.” He continues to crank them out, then replaces the bar.
“How so?”
“You’re a good guy, Sawyer. But you’ve always had one massive flaw.”
“What’s that, Sensei?” I ask, sarcasm dripping from my tone.
Ryker chuckles and stands, then removes the extra weight so I can do another set. “You see the best in everyone…except yourself.”
“Gee, thanks. You know, if the bodyguard business with Knight Security dries up, you should write Hallmark cards for sad people.”
Ryker shrugs, completely unbothered by the slight. “Denying it won’t change the facts. Now, are we going to keep gossiping, or can we finish these sets? I want to get out of town before the roads close for the festival.”
The guy doesn’t do crowds—at all. His small cabin on the edge of a wildlife sanctuary is definitely proof of that.
He’ll be there all weekend, not even venturing in to go to the gym or join us for dinner at the diner.
Until the festival is over, Ryker Granger will be in complete self-inflicted isolation.
“Yeah, yeah. Fine. You’re the one who brought it up, though.” But even as I try to push my body to failure…Anastasia’s face this morning remains at the forefront of my thoughts.
And those two broken words…please leave.
Stormwatch Landing’s Shrimp and Grits Festival has always been one of my favorite times of year.
Not because I particularly care for shrimp or grits—truthfully, I can’t stand either—but because of the life.
The town positively radiates with it as tourists and locals alike gather together for food, games, and music.
The sun has started its descent below the horizon, but that won’t dull the fun. Typically, there will be celebrating until ten tonight when the band finally calls it quits. Then again, last year, it was almost midnight before things finally shut down.
I walk down Main Street, smiling when a little girl raises a comically large hammer and drops it on a red plate. A bell dings, and she cheers, her father lifting her and spinning her in a circle before she chooses her prize.
Family. The one thing I never thought I would want.
After my upbringing, being a father was the last thing I desired.
It’s not like I had any good examples. My own dad wasn’t around, and every foster dad I had was a dirtbag in one way or another.
I just wasn’t lucky when it came to placement.
Probably because of the record I had. Can’t really blame decent people for not wanting to take on a problem child with sticky fingers.
Wallets, watches, phones—I would steal them all just for the rush of getting chased. It makes me sick to think about it now.
Mood darkening, I keep walking, waving to people I know and even some I don’t. With every passing moment, my mood grows darker.
I really should just go home.
But then the crowd in front of me parts, and I see Anastasia standing behind a table in the booth she set up just outside the church. A large banner with her logo—a cartoon version of her drinking a cup of hot coffee—hangs behind her, and she’s smiling at the woman ordering in front of her.
With her focus on the woman, she doesn’t see me yet, which gives me the rare opportunity to study her. Both eyes are rimmed with red, and her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. She’s hurting. Did they not fix things? Is that why she booted me out of the shop this morning?
The woman waves at her, so Anastasia turns away and scans the crowd. Drawn together, her gaze finds mine even across the crowd. Unsure what else to do, I raise my hand in a partial wave.
She doesn’t even spare me a smile before returning her attention to the table she’s working. What I wouldn’t give to talk to you. To see you smile. To love you like you deserve.
“Just go already. You’ve wasted enough time, haven’t you, boy?”
I nearly jump at the woman’s voice, which of course gives Linda’s best friend, Marlene, even more of a reason to mess with me. “What?”
“You’re standing here and staring at her like that when you should just go over and talk to her.
Unless, oh, wait! I have someone I want you to meet.
” She rushes off into the crowd, and I immediately start toward Anastasia.
Which, as I think about it, might actually have been Marlene’s goal all along.
Though, I won’t risk being wrong on that one. Marlene’s blind dates are legendary in this town…for being horrible. The absolute last thing I want is her taking any opportunity at all to set me up. I’d rather jump off the pier and swim to California.
Anastasia spares me a glance as I approach her table. “If you want coffee, I’m all out.” Her tone is bitter.
“Just trying to hide from Marlene.”
“Hmm.”