Blindsided (The Fighter Series Book 1) (33 page)
I scrunch my face as he slides the door closed and turning without saying a word. I’m not sure what I should say.
I’m dressed and sitting on the bed when he exits the bathroom with one of my hot pink towels wrapped around his waist.
Clutching my hand, he pulls me up. “You obscure my every thought. I can’t keep going back and forth. If you want to be with me then be with me. If not, you have to let me know. I can’t continue to feel what you leave me with. It’s a pretty dreadful laceration. You have to quit running away, Paige. I won’t continue to chase you.”
“I do want to be with you, but you have to figure a way to trust me. Treat me as someone you love, not something you own.”
“It’s my job to protect you,” he says.
“Levi, I’m not a damsel in distress. You weren’t always in my life and I did just fine.”
“That was before I brought you into my world. You didn’t have to worry about vengeful people.”
“We can deal with that when it comes, but just as you’ve asked me, I’m now asking you. Please, give me the benefit of the doubt here. I trust you to teach me and if I can’t handle something, it’s your arms I’m running to.”
He sighs, closing his eyes and placing his forehead against mine. “I’d stop breathing for you.”
I smile. “You also said you’d run off and marry me.”
Oh yes…that didn’t fall on deaf ears. I heard that very loud and clear.
He half grins, but doesn’t move.
I run the backs of my fingers along his cheek. “I’m sorry I left. I was so hurt.”
He shakes his head, finally opening his eyes to see me, his forehead still to mine. “It’s in the past. Are you going to be my future now?”
“I love you,” I whisper, then place a kiss to his lips.
I know we’ll learn how to handle each other and pull together when times get tough. It’s a learning experience we get to discover together. He knows my answer, and regardless of how badly I fight it, I know I belong in his arms.
No matter the fight, win or lose, I’ll proudly be on his side, happy to have stolen his heart.
Epilogue
“Oh my god, would you please answer your phone,” I say half-asleep elbowing Levi’s ribs, listening to the loud ringtone. “How in the world has it not woke you up?”
“If that pointy little elbow hits me again in between my ribs, I’m going to sleep at my hotel for the next week,” he jests stretching out.
I laugh. “You couldn’t handle it,” I say, then I jab him again.
Swiftly he grabs my arm and pulls me on top of him. “I’d sleep like this if I’d knew you wouldn’t drool all over me.”
“I do not drool!” I squeal.
He chuckles, kissing my jawline. “Every time you see me.”
“You wish.” I roll my eyes slapping him on the arm.
“You wish I didn’t see it. You need a bib,” he jokes.
“It’s you who needs a bib, butthole!”
“You damn right I do,” he growls biting my neck gently.
I shriek, pushing off him, but he wraps his hefty arms around my torso holding me in place. I try squirming, but it’s pointless, so I do the next best thing…I kiss him and we melt against each other. Thankfully, my plan worked as his grip eases and I yank up rocking back on my legs, straddling him.
“Oh, you’re evil,” he says beaming ear to ear.
“Got away didn’t I?” I tease.
He grabs my thighs and squeezes causing me to yelp and buckle back to his chest, laughing at the tickle.
“Did you?”
“Sometimes I hate you,” I giggle into the crook of his neck.
“I’ve always heard there’s a fine line between love and hate,” he says.
“Well, I’m on the other side now.”
He tickles my side and I buck rolling off him in a hysterical fit. “Then why are you laughing?” he chuckles.
He rolls on top of me and my knees fall open letting him press his erection against me and instantly our laughs fall silent into deep breaths. He twists his fingers through my hair, pulling softly, and rocks, gliding his dick across my panties. Grabbing ahold of his biceps, I scrape my nails, and he groans nipping at my bottom lip.
Annndd…his phone rings again.
He drops his forehead to my shoulder as my arms fall to the side. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he moans.
“It’s been all ringing all morning,” I inform him.
He gives me a quick kiss and rolls, grabbing it from my nightstand.
“It’s Cory,” he says dropping back to the pillow and answering.
“Yeah, man?”… “Do what?”
I watch as his eyes scan the ceiling, then quickly he throws his legs over the bed sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck.
“What’s that going to do to my career? Will it mess up my chance at the championship?”
He goes from rubbing his neck, to running his hand through his hair, to sitting up straight and crossing one arm across his chest. He’s tense but excited listening to whatever Cory is telling him. I sit up and pull my legs to my chest, staring at him intently, trying to hear what’s being said on the other side.
“For how long?” he asks and there’s another pause.
“And I still get my chance, right?”…“Moved to when?”
Again another long pause.
I’m dying to know what the hell is going on. I’m chewing my nails and eyeing him down.
“Ah, the interesting part. How much?”
There’s worry in his eyes when he glances to me. I have an aching feeling I’m not going to like this.
“Alright. Starting when and where?”
Another long pause.
“Great. Well, I’ll be there,” he says and hangs up.
He shifts in the bed facing me then clears his throat. “That was Cory.”
I nod. “Yeah, you said that already.”
He’s hesitant. This isn’t good. “He just picked up another fighter and wants me to train her. He said she has good potential but hasn’t had the backing of good trainers.”
Well, this wasn’t what I expected. My face falls. “Um, ok.”
He grasps my hand dragging his thumb across my knuckles. “I’ll be flying into Florida Wednesday to get started.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“It’s hard to tell. If she catches on fast then it won’t be long. She’ll end up getting her own trainers after a while.”
“What about your championship?”
“He said it’s been moved out a few more months. He didn’t give me details why, but said training her won’t interfere with it anyway. If anything, it helps me stay dynamic. Paige, I know this sounds scary, but don’t freak out, please.”
I force a smile. “I’m happy for you,” I lie. “It’s a good thing for her to have the best training available, and you get to start early yourself.”
“Yeah, I guess. I’ll have to talk to Adam. He may not be down with heading there.”
“Pfftt…please. He’s your best friend. You know he’s going.”
I’m desperately trying not to sound heartbroken. Splinters have exploded in my chest. He reaches and grabs the back of my head, pulling me into his lips.
“It’s going to be ok. I’ll be with you every chance I get. We’ll figure something out. If it gets too much, I’ll quit and get back to my girl.”
I squeeze him and kiss his cheek. Pulling myself out of the bed, I head to the shower, emotions clashing against my skull. I don’t know how I feel about all this. Empty, broken, saddened, excited, hopeful…all these thoughts and I have to go to work in just a few hours. I only have one more day with him until we’re dropped into the abyss of uncertainty…and go figure, I have to pull doubles both days.
He’ll have my support. I’ll cheer him on because I’m his biggest cheerleader and because I love him. But I can’t lie and say this doesn’t hurt. I knew one day I’d be without him, but the unpredictability…
I sigh. This is going to be a rough ride. I already miss him.
Thank you for reading
Blindsided
.
New independent author, TC Matson, loves to let her characters voices be heard. With a head full of stories, she puts her keyboard through a beating daily. Regularly she visits the solidity of her writing cave, whether it be on the couch, at her desk, or wherever the four year old can’t reach the laptop.
She is an avid reader and is known to devour books within hours. As a romance junkie, Matson sets her sights to try to find stories that are relatable and real. She’s not a fan of vampires, fairies, or any other out of this world fiction stories. And understanding that love isn’t always instant and full of flowers…her writing mirrors it.
Matson resides in the peaceful Piedmont area of North Carolina with her husband and three boys where she stays hopped up on caffeine and chasing children. She has a relatively normal life managing her home, or as she calls it, her loony bin. Chaos is indefinite and a sense of humor is absolutely a must.
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Here’s a sneak peek into Harper Bentley’s Gable (The Powers That Be Series-Book 1)
Summer, two weeks before class:
You know that feeling you get when you meet someone and feel as if you’ve known them for a lifetime? As if you’re just connected in some way?
Yeah, that didn’t happen the first time I met Gable Powers. Matter of fact, I didn’t like him one bit.
Oh, I know about all the Powers boys now. I actually knew about them by the first day of school since it seemed as if every woman on campus couldn’t stop talking about how each brother was just as gorgeous as the next, and things like, “Omigod! The Powers brothers are
so
hot!” or “Aren’t they just
the
cutest you’ve ever seen?” were proclaimed almost everywhere I went the entire first week of school. From listening in on these chicks wax rhapsodic over these brothers, if they were anything less than Nick Bateman clones, well, then I’d be highly disappointed. But from their conversations, I learned the Powers were from Seattle, all of them went to Hallervan, Zeke was a senior who played on the football team, Lochlan was a freshman who was some kind of computer genius, Ryker was a sophomore wrestler and Gable was a junior. I had yet to figure out what his superpower was, but I can honestly say that when I first met him, I couldn’t have cared less.
My up-close-and-personal with Gable Powers left me less than thrilled, and when I finally figured out who he was and said something later about it to my new roommate, I got a stare of disbelief which made me roll my eyes.
So here’s how it all went down.
I’d answered an ad in the
Seattle Times
for a roommate. On my way to meet Amy (fellow sophomore who’d eventually become my new roomie), I’d had a flat tire and had to pull over in an area of the city I was unfamiliar with—hell I was unfamiliar with the entire friggin’ place—and, of course, it’d been raining. As a farm girl, I knew how to change a tire, had no problem changing a tire, but per Dad’s instructions, I called AAA and stayed in my car waiting for someone to show up, kind of feeling like a wuss for doing so. I knew I could’ve done it and been on my way in no time but I decided to let Dad parent me for a change. Not that he wasn’t a good father; it’s just that I was majorly independent.