Hard Bastard(213)

It was hard to believe that my dad was retired. I still imagined him as the serious businessman running meetings and making important decisions. Now, though, he was all about playing golf and spending as much time with Cindy as he could.

That was even harder to believe, actually. Even after the scandal had broke about Cole and me, Cindy and Dad had stayed together. They weathered the storm, and although Dad was forced to go into retirement to save the company, Cindy and he seemed better than ever.

I felt horrible about that. I hated that my decisions forced my father to retire when he didn’t really want to. I knew kissing Cole that night was selfish and stupid and impulsive, but I didn’t think about the consequences. There was only Cole and how badly I wanted him.

We got slammed in the media. The relationship between stepsiblings was bad enough, but it was quickly unearthed that the two of us were married. Needless to say, it was a huge deal. Dad was pissed, and Cindy gave us the cold shoulder. But slowly they began to accept our relationship and the ice began to thaw.

It wasn’t easy for anyone. The press had a freakin’ field day with the whole thing. My favorite headline was “Tech Kids Shack Up For Months of Sweet Fornication,” and that wasn’t even the worst one. I was called some pretty nasty things in the tabloids, but I tried my best to ignore it.

Cole had wanted to go out and fight every single reporter that said a bad word about me. He didn’t, of course, but his frustration was palpable.

It all blew over eventually. The weeks turned into months and people pretty much forgot about us. I went back to school and graduated with decent grades. I kept my nose in the books and pined for my fighter boyfriend pretty much every night. I spent time with Lacey when I could, but she was much more social than I was. Meanwhile, Cole’s fighting career began to take off as he fought and won some pretty high-profile opponents, all because of his win over Trent. For his part, Trent did honor the contract, though he didn’t really need to at that point.

“That sounds amazing, honey,” Dad said as I finished telling him about my first day at the news station.

“I know. I never really saw myself working for a news program, but here I am.”

“It’s really great. Honestly. And Chicago is an amazing city.”

“Cold though,” I complained.

I was used to the ideal California weather. I hadn’t known what real snow was like until we moved to Chicago.

“You’ll get used to it.”

Suddenly, the door rattled and pushed open. I watched as something that looked like a giant plant stumbled in through the door, kicking it shut behind him.

“Cole?” I said, laughing.

“Drowning here,” he grunted.

Dad got up and helped. Cole grinned boyishly as they placed the flowers and cake box down onto the kitchen counter. It looked like he had bought an entire florist.

“You didn’t need to do this,” I said.

“What, not celebrate my wife’s big day?”

He threw his arms around me and gave me a quick kiss. I wanted much more than that, but I figured it was the best I’d get with my dad hovering over us.

It felt weird to still be married. We sometimes talked about signing the divorce papers, but we just never got around to it. We had meant to at first, but life quickly got in the way. It was easy to forget about when we were together all the time, basically like we were married anyway. Even when we were long distance when I was in school, it didn’t matter at all.

We were in love. I was head over fucking heels for him, despite everything.

Maybe one day. Or maybe one day we’d have a real wedding, not some fake one that we didn’t even know was real.

“Well, what did you get me?”

He showed me the flowers and the cake. They had spelled my name wrong. “How do you misspelled ‘Alexa’?” Dad grumbled, but it was still incredible.

Cole had no problem moving out to Chicago with me. Even though the center of his fighting life had been California, he was able to work in any major city because of his growing popularity. He was working on an undefeated record of 15-0, and we were more than comfortable financially because of it.

My job was more of a dream. I never knew what I had wanted to do up until I found the posting on a job site, and I just had to have it then and there. Cole wrote me an uncharacteristically sincere recommendation letter and supported me through the whole process.

Not to mention he uprooted his life and followed me out to an entirely new city.

“Well, let’s celebrate,” Cole said, popping open a champagne bottle.

“Here’s to Alexa,” Dad said. “And to you, Cole. May you guys have as much happiness as you both deserve.”