Sweet Spot (Summer Rush #1) (22 page)

“What are you suggesting?” He looked at Stacey. “I don’t want her past to ruin the future she could have with me. But I don’t want to be her second choice either. You know?”

“I’m not sure that it matters how Walker feels about her. I think the only thing that matters is how she feels about you. I love my brother, but he had his chance, and he blew it. It’s your turn. Yours and Stacey’s.”

He smiled as though he appreciated the sentiment. “My buddy’s a good guy too. I think he’s ready to settle down, whether he’s willing to admit it or not. He wants someone he can count on, someone who’ll love him even when he’s being an irrational hothead.” There was a beat of silence before he asked, “Do you think you can be that person?”

“I don’t know. I never expected Rowan.” She thought back to that late-night phone call that changed everything. “He’s made me feel things I haven’t felt in a long time.”

“Have you ever felt this way?” he asked. “Honestly?”

She shook her head slowly, scared to imagine what losing the only man she’d ever really cared about would feel like. “But I’m scared to hurt him. I’m not sure I can be what he needs.”

“You could try.”

“What if I fail?” she asked, meeting his intense gaze.

“There are worse things than failing, hon.”

“Like what?” At the moment, she couldn’t think of any.

“Being so shut off from the rest of the world that you never put yourself out there.”

***

Tenley woke to a man hovering over her, and she screamed loudly enough to wake the dead, or at least the neighbors.

“Sssh,” a familiar voice whispered. “Tenley, it’s me. It’s Ace. You had a nightmare, honey.” He pulled her into his arms, rubbing her damp hair as she tried to remember how to breathe.

“Stacey?” she croaked, wondering why he’d come, instead of her best friend, to comfort her.

“I told her I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“Thanks,” she murmured when he handed her the bottle of water she’d left on her nightstand. “I’m sorry I woke you guys.”

“Don’t worry about us. You okay?”

She felt terrible, but she didn’t want to worry him any more than she already had. “The nightmares are fewer and further between now,” she said, as though that somehow made the shock of waking up to a raving lunatic more palatable.

“That’s not what I asked.” He fixed the pillows behind her head and set her back to rest on them. “Are. You. Okay?” He’d turned on the hall light, presumably before he came into the room, and it cast just enough light for him to look into her eyes.

“I will be.” She took a sip of water. “I just need a few more minutes before I can fall back to sleep.”

“Was this because of what happened tonight? Your flashbacks?”

“Probably. And the stress of knowing that Justin’s messing with me again.”

“What do you mean he’s messing with you?” Ace demanded, his eyes conveying his suppressed rage. “What’s he done?”

“Nothing, really.” She was trying to downplay it, but judging by his fierce expression, it wasn’t working. “Honestly, I can’t even prove that it’s him doing these things. It just seems like quite a coincidence, since everything started after Justin got out of jail.”

“Tell me what’s happened.”

Since Rowan already knew, she didn’t see the harm of filling in his friend. “There’ve been a few hang-ups on my cell, calls here from a guy who didn’t want to leave a message, a suspicious car parked outside my building, flowers—”

“Jesus,” he said, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Isn’t your brother a cop? Can’t they do something about this?”

Brant would be all over Justin if she went to him with this, but legally, she suspected his hands were tied since they couldn’t prove Justin had done anything wrong. “He’s probably just trying to scare me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s working, isn’t it?”

It wasn’t easy for her to admit to being scared. She prided herself on being fearless, which was a crock. She had plenty of fears. Most of them circled around what her ex would do to her if he got his hands on her again.

“I’ll get through this,” she said, reaching for Ace’s hand. “Please don’t waste any more time worrying about me.”

He brushed a strand of hair off her face. “I can’t help it. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking of you as a friend, and I always look out for my friends.”

She appreciated the sentiment, but his loyalty really lay with Rowan. If she was no longer dating his friend or Ace was no longer dating Stacey, their connection would cease. Just like so many other friendships in her life had waned when the other person realized she could be distant, wasn’t into bitchfests, and rarely picked up the phone unless she had to. She was a lousy friend. She still couldn’t figure out why Stacey put up with her.

“Well, I appreciate that. But you don’t have to look out for me.”

“Is that your polite way of asking me to back off and mind my own business?”

Tenley glanced at the clock and noted she had to wake up in three hours. “No, I’m telling you to go back to your girlfriend so we can all get some more sleep.”

“Okay.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “But call if you need anything, okay?”

She grabbed his hand before he could leave. Embarrassed as emotion welled up in her throat, she whispered, “Thanks for coming in to check on me.”

“Any time.”

Rowan was beating on the heavy bag in his home gym when Ace let himself in.

“What do you want?” he grunted. He was already dripping with sweat, but refused to stop. After the night he’d had with Tenley, he knew this was the only thing that would make him feel better.

“I want to know why you’re here instead of over at Tenley’s, trying to make up for what happened last night.”

He glared at his friend out of the corner of his eye, still punching the bag as though it were the enemy. “What the hell did I do? Aside from asking the girl whether she slept with some dou—”

“Why should you care who she’s slept with? You’ve been a player since the day I met you.”

Rowan couldn’t deny it, so he punched the bag even harder, adding a roundhouse kick for good measure.

“I hate this guy.” Imagining the car salesman’s face on the bag, he hit it hard enough to break the skin on his knuckles, which was stupid, given how important his hands were to his livelihood. “He’s an arrogant ass who thinks he’s better for Tenley than I am.”

“Is that what’s bothering you?” Ace asked, jumping on the treadmill. “Maybe you think that too, huh?”

“Screw you.” By the time Rowan stepped away from the bag, he was breathing so hard he had to rest his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t give a shit whether she’s slept with him or not. You’d be able to let it go.”

Rowan hated that Ace was right, so he fought back with the only ammunition he had.  The truth. “I’m not the only one who can’t let go. Don’t think I don’t know you’re scared shitless that Walker is going to decide he wants Stacey back and that’ll leave you out in the cold.”

He grabbed two water bottles from the mini-fridge and threw one at Ace. He’d hoped it would hit him, but with Ace’s reflexes and a Golden Glove to his name, he caught it instead. Figures.

“Let’s stay focused on your problems,” Ace said, pressing a button to speed up the treadmill as he broke into a jog. “I can’t believe you haven’t busted that guy’s head open by now.”

“Who’re you talking about? The car salesman?”

Ace rolled his eyes. “Man, you need to get over that shit. She doesn’t want him. She wants you. Though I have no idea why.”

Rowan glared at him as he tipped his water bottle back, draining half of it before he reached for a towel to wipe the sweat off his face before it stung his eyes.

“You need to trust her, buddy.”

He let Ace’s warning settle in while he sank against the wall, sliding down it when his legs felt too weak to support his weight. “I do trust her. I don’t trust other dudes.” Tenley was a gorgeous woman who had guys coming on to her all the time. Rowan had to figure out how to deal with that… or risk losing her. If he hadn’t already.

“The only one you shouldn’t trust is that son of a bitch who’s been messing with her mind.”

“Her ex.” He drained the rest of the bottle before throwing it against the wall. The pathetic crackle as it hit the drywall gave him no satisfaction. He wanted to break something. Preferably someone else’s bones.

“Why haven’t you tracked him down?”

Rowan had been asking himself that same question as he tried to fall asleep last night. He kept circling back to killing him with his bare hands when he thought about what he’d done to Tenley, but he assumed the part of his brain still responsible for rational thought had put the kibosh on the idea of going to see Justin before he could act on it.

“I’d probably kill him.”

Ace laughed as he slowed the treadmill so he could continue talking. “Yeah, well, I can’t let you do that. You’re too important to the team. The Skip would kill me if I let that happen. But you can put the fear of God into him so he doesn’t mess with your woman anymore.”

Rowan didn’t want to damage his relationship with Tenley any more than he already had, so he looked at his long-time friend and hoped Ace had it in him to tell the truth, no matter how much it hurt. “I’m assuming you talked to her last night, since you stayed at their place. Is she done with me or what? I want the truth, Ace.”

“The truth? What happened last night wasn’t even about you, man.” He jumped off the treadmill and headed for the elliptical, but not before wrapping a clean white towel around his neck. “It was about her ex. Flashbacks.”

Flashbacks? It killed Rowan to think he’d reminded her of
him
in any way.

“Apparently, her ex had been accusing her of sleeping with some dude when he lost it and decided she didn’t deserve to live anymore.”

Rowan got a cramp in his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with how hard he’d trained. “Shit.”

“Yeah. I think she’d been trapped in a car with him at the time too.”

That made sense since Tenley said he’d taken her to some abandoned warehouse. Rowan dropped his head into his hands, cursing himself for being such an insensitive ass. Ace was right. It didn’t matter who the hell she’d slept with before they met. The only thing that mattered was making sure he was the last man to share her bed.

“You can fix this, you know,” Ace said, watching Rowan. “Let this coward know that you’re not messing around, that you’ll tear him apart if he goes near her again.” Ace smirked. “I’ll go along, just to make sure you don’t actually do it.”

He knew his buddy was right. He should have paid this guy a visit as soon as he found out what he’d done to Tenley. He reached for his phone and fired off a text to Brant. “Her brother must know where we can find the guy. He’s been keeping an eye on him.”

“You think he’ll tell you?” Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. “He is a cop, right?”

“He’s Tenley’s brother first,” Rowan said, confident he would give him the information he needed. “A cop second.” He tossed his sweat-stained, bloody towel at Ace before peeling the tape off his bleeding hands. “You should take your own advice. Forget about Walker and just focus on what you have with Stacey.”

“I was thinking about that on the way over here,” Ace admitted. “I think you’re right.”

“I’m always right, dumbass.”

“Not always,” he said, rolling his eyes. “When it comes to women, you’re as thick as a brick. You were running around in circles for that cheating little golddigger for months, then you finally get a shot with a girl like Tenley and you manage to screw everything up… twice.” He held up two fingers before rapping his knuckles against his temple. “Over the same goddamn guy who doesn’t mean a thing to her.”

“You sure about that?” Rowan asked, still trying to quash the uneasy feeling that lingered whenever he thought about Tenley and the guy who’d come before him.

“A hundred and ten percent.”

Rowan nodded, knowing he could count on Ace’s word. His cell phone chimed with an address. He chuckled as he read Brant’s warning to Ace:
Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to arrest you.

“So what are we waiting for?” Ace asked. “Let’s make sure this clown knows he messed with the wrong girl.”

***

Rowan stood outside the dingy motel room, his hand raised to knock on the door when Brant pulled up in a non-descript black truck.

“Hey,” he said, jumping out. “Glad I caught you before you went in there.”

Rowan wandered over and introduced Brant to Ace before he asked, “What’re you doing here? You didn’t trust me to keep it together?”

“No, I didn’t.” He gripped Rowan’s shoulder. “Look, man, I think you’re a good guy. And I also happen to think you’re good for my sister. But the last thing she needs is more drama in her life.”

“Meaning?” Rowan asked, quirking an eyebrow.

He’d come here for a fight, but not with Brant. So he sure as hell hoped he didn’t plan to get in his way. ’Cause one way or another, he was going to teach Tenley’s piece-of-shit ex a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.

“I know dirtbags like this,” Brant said, gesturing toward room 709. “Deal with them all the time. They talk tough, but when push comes to shove, they cower like pussies. Then they call us when somebody gets sick of their shit and beats the hell out of them.”

Rowan heard his warning loud and clear. If he laid a hand on this guy, he’d press charges. Which would put his career, not to mention his relationship with Tenley, in serious jeopardy. He wasn’t even sure where they stood. He’d texted her to check in, hoping he’d get the chance to apologize face to face, but she had yet to respond.

“I hear what you’re saying.”

“Do you?” Brant put his arm around Rowan as he led him away from the building. Only a few cars were in the lot, but when a middle-aged guy wearing stained jeans and a wife-beater shirt stepped outside to have a smoke, Brant clearly wanted to widen the gap. “I get how you feel. Believe me, when this all went down, it took everything in me not to blow his brains out.”