Protect & Serve(125)

It was my last sparring partner of the night… Jessup. He was six foot four with muscles like tightly wound spring. Not the kind of man you took lightly, even if he wasn’t my caliber. I unloaded on him quickly, looking to end the night on a high note. Right hook, left jab, kick to the knee, ground and pound. I’m a machine. I don’t think. I don’t worry. I don’t hesitate. I don’t let some girl throw off my flow.

I pulled back at the last second, staring down at him. All I could see was Simmons…

And beyond him, at the edge of the cage… I could almost imagine Bria standing there cheering me on.

And that’s when the fist smashed into my face.

My eyes flashing back down to his, Jessup looked almost as surprised as I was. I punished him for his hesitation. Knee to the side and a few sharp pummels and he was tapping out, but the damage was already done.

The girl had gotten into my head. Next time I saw her, I didn’t know if I’d break it off with her, or shove her up against the wall and fuck her goddamned brains out.





16





Bria





The ringing alarm felt like it was constructed for my own personal torture. My flight out of Chicago was delayed last night and I didn’t get home until after four in the morning. That didn’t change the fact that I had to be in Jones’ office with the specifics on the meeting by seven-thirty.

The one good thing was that I was able to get all my stuff organized during the delay. I had my stuff setup so well that I’d be able to roll out of bed, head to the office, and throw my manila folder with the neatly typed notes down on his stupid oak desk. It was so thorough and well-done he could take what he needed from it without asking me a single, solitary question.

I used an old school twin-bell alarm clock because I didn’t trust my phone. There were just too many ways the battery could run out or the phone could inexplicably shut off, leaving me high and dry. Kaitlyn told me I was “anal” about everything when she saw my alarm. But I thought I was just being prudent.

Today, though, I wish I could have been a little more like her. I hated that damn alarm clock and I had half a mind to throw it against the wall.

Instead, I dragged a weary arm from beneath my warm blankets and flipped the switch to the “off” position.

Somebody kill me now. I thought to myself.

By sheer force of will, I swung my legs off of the bed and sat upright. My head was filled with that miserable fuzzy feeling you get when have to wake up after far too little sleep. In retrospect, I should have grabbed a coffee on the way home and just made it an all-nighter. It would have sucked big time in a few hours, but it’s still gonna suck, anyway.

My thoughts were jumbled. I couldn’t even tell if I was making any sense and I was the only one in the room. Eyes at half mast, I made my way to the shower. While I let the water warm up I kicked out of my pajamas and took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror.

I managed to take pretty good care of myself despite the ridiculous work schedule. Mostly, I did it by eating right, though, Kaitlyn had gotten me into yoga a few months back. One thing was for certain, if I was going to keep up this relationship with Luke I would need to pick up on my exercise routine. I was still sore from our little session and that had been nearly a week ago.

Steam was rising behind the shower curtain. I jumped in and let the hot stream of water hit my face. I felt like I could fall asleep standing in the shower. It actually felt nice until my balance shifted forward and I caught myself by grabbing handle and turning the water to straight cold. It was as aggravating as it was invigorating.

Twenty minutes later and I was on the road with a gigantic cup of coffee in hand. I was steady slurping away at it when my phone started to ring. I grabbed it without looking and stuck it to my ear.

“Hello?”

There was nothing but silence.

“Hello…?”

I was just about to hang up when they finally spoke up.

“Hey. It’s me.”

Shit! Kevin.

“Oh, hey, what do you want? Because I’m almost at work.”

“Let’s get together for a few minutes.”

He sounded drunk. Not an unusual thing for Kevin to be…

“Sorry Kevin, but the answer is no.”

“Baby, c’mon, we need to talk.”

“You need to talk to me? Maybe you should have thought about that before you stuck your dick in the secretary at your office and half the girls in the city. Maybe, and just maybe, if you hadn’t done that I’d still be seeing you.”

“Oh my God, you’re still stuck on that?” he asked. “How many times do I have to tell you that was just a goddamned phase? I apologized. I can change if you just give me a chance Bria. At this point you’re just being a cunt about it.”