Entice (The Fighter Romance Series - Book #2) (3 page)

“Great,” I grunted out. “Let me up.” I felt him
adjust his weight so that it wasn’t all down on me, but he didn’t get up.
Instead, he ran the side of his face along the side of mine. Against my will, I
shuddered. “Knock it off,” I told him. “Is this how you train with Sam?”

He let go of me and stood up. I stood as well.
“What’s up with you today, Jessie?”

“Nothing,” I said, trying to get my breathing back
under control.

“You act like you’re pissed off at me or something.
What did I do?”

“Nothing, Paul. We’re just working here. You
obviously have a big fight coming up and need the help. I don’t want people to
know I trained you and then you got your ass kicked.”

“Oh, so it’s just about what people are going to
think?”

“It’s about you getting your money’s worth. You’re
paying me to teach you technique so stop with the flirty stuff, be professional
and let’s move on.”

“No,” he said.

“No? What do you mean no?”

“Just what I said.
I’ll stop flirting, that’s fine, but I’m not doing this until you tell me
what’s wrong with you.”

“Then you lose out on a day of training,” I said,
stooping to pick up my towel. I wiped my face and went over to get a drink out
of my water bottle. He followed me.

“Is this about us having sex yesterday?”

“
Shh
!” I looked around to
make sure no one else was in there. Greg and his client had left. “No! But
let’s not announce that to the entire gym. There’s nothing—”

“Bullshit.”

“
Grr
!
Why can’t you just let it go?” I said.

He folded his arms and his biceps flexed. Damn him!
“Why not just tell me what is going on?”

Before I caught myself I heard the words come out of
my mouth, “Is Marie wanted by the police?”

CHAPTER
THREE

He looked at me like I’d grown a spare head. “What?”

“Is she wanted, for child abuse? Did she skip out on
some charges or something?”

He scratched his chin and said, “I have no idea what
the hell you’re talking about. No, she is not wanted. Why would you ask me
that?”

I had gotten myself into it now. I took another long
pull off my water and walked over and sat down on a stack of mats. Paul
followed me. He just stood there, staring down at me until I finally said,
“Mitch showed up at my apartment yesterday…just a bit after you dropped me
off.”

He dropped down next to me and said, “What the hell?
How did he know…? Shit! He must be following me. Mother fucker! Did he hurt
you?”

I looked at him. The veins in his neck were all
extended and I’d bet a million that his blood pressure was up. “No, he didn’t
hurt me. He told me that he’s a cop. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because it’s beside the point.
He thinks it gives him the right to get away with any shit he wants to pull. He
also thinks it makes him respectable. In my eyes it doesn’t do either.”

“He also said that Marie is wanted for child abuse.
He said that she’s abusing Victor.” He jumped back up to his feet and began
pacing back and forth. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides.

“That lying son of a bitch!”

“Calm down…”

“Fuck that! Do you know what it means that he found
you? He’s following me, Jessie. What if he’d shown up at the apartment while I
was out and Victor was there alone? What if he followed me to where Marie is
at? What did you tell him?”

“I told him I didn’t know anything about a sister or
a nephew; that I’d barely met you.”

“Did he buy that?”

“I don’t think so, but he eventually let it go.”

“I’m sorry,” he said with a far-away look in his
eye.

“Will he hurt her, Paul? Is that what he wants?”

“He wants his son and he won’t stop at hurting her
to get him. I’m really sorry that you got dragged into all of this, Jessie. I
have to go…”

I stood up then. “Wait! Where are you going?” He was
so angry that I was afraid he was going to do harm to Mitch. I didn’t want him
getting into trouble.

“I need to go make sure my sister is okay and Victor
is safe at school.”

“Can you call her?”

“No. She’s so worried. She only uses throwaway
phones so that she has a number for a job interview. Each time she gives it out
once, she replaces it with a new one.”

Wow, serious paranoia, seriously fucked-up life. I
wondered if it was really all that warranted, but then I thought about that
look Mitch had in his eyes.
He wanted to hurt me and probably
would have if he’d thought he could get away with it.
“Well, if Mitch is
following you then he’s probably out there waiting for you right now.”

“All the more reason for me to go
check on my sister.”

Again, without thinking, I blurted out, “I’ll go for
you. He’s already talked to me and he got nothing. He has no reason to follow
me.”

Paul looked like he was considering it and then he
said, “Maybe…but who knows with that creep?”

“I think the odds are better that he’s following
you.”

“I think you’re right, but just to be on the safe
side, we’re both going to leave. We’ll go in different directions and when
we’re sure that it’s me who’s being followed, you can go see about Marie.”

“Okay. Just tell me where to go.” We went into the
little office off the gym floor and Paul wrote down the address. “It’s an
apartment above the restaurant…
Teppen-yaki
Palace,”
he said. My old Sensei lives there. He let her and Victor stay there. She won’t
answer the door for you without our code word. It’s Fishhook.” He put his hands
in his hair and rubbed across it. He looked like he was going to explode. My
heart hurt for him, especially when he said, “We’re going to have to move them
again…shit!”

I put my hand on his arm and said, “One thing at a
time, okay? I’ll make sure she’s okay and if Mitch follows you, you can be sure
he doesn’t know where she is, right?” He nodded and then took the paper with
the address on it back and wrote down his phone number.

“Call me when you get there and let me know she’s
okay?”

“Yes, of course.” I wrote mine down for him as well.

While Paul got his things from the locker room, I
found Greg and let him know I was taking off for a while. Since I didn’t have
any clients that day it didn’t really matter, but I was diligent that way. I
left out the front and got in my car before Paul came out. I looked around, but
the street the gym sat on was just off a busy one and the parking was usually
always congested. I had no idea what kind of car I was looking for, but I didn’t
see anyone that looked like Mitch. I put the key in the ignition and my phone
chirped.

I looked at it and saw a text from Paul that said,
“I’m really sorry for all this. Thank you
for your help.”

“You’re
welcome. Do you see Mitch?”

“Yeah,
I’m pulling out now. He’s behind me.”

“Be
careful.”

I pulled out too and drove the six blocks to the
freeway. I headed north and when I did, I realized that my hands hurt. I looked
down at them. I was clutching the wheel so tightly that my knuckles were white.
I loosened them up and when I did, they started to shake. My stomach felt sick
again. I had no idea why I felt compelled to go around “helping” people all the
time. Why me? Why couldn’t I just say, “Wow that
sucks,
good luck?” And walk away like a normal person. I was headed to a place I’d
never been to talk to a woman I didn’t know about two men I’d barely met…and
all of her private business. Sometimes, I thought I needed medication.

I exited off the freeway onto Mendocino Blvd. and
found the address I was looking for. I had to park four blocks away, but that
was good. The stroll to the restaurant in the fresh air cleared my head a
little bit. I walked up to the door of the restaurant and that was when I saw a
set of stairs off to the right. I looked up and saw a cute little potted plant
at the top of the landing and a small mailbox hanging next to a red door. That
had to be the apartment. I walked up the stairs and when I reached the door I
took a deep breath to calm myself down before I knocked.

“Who is it?” It was a female voice and she sounded
afraid. I felt bad.

“Hi, Marie…Um, my name is Jessie…Paul sent me.”

“I don’t know any Paul. Go away.” She was good,
convincing.

“Oh! Um, Fishhook,” I said. I felt silly saying it,
but as Paul had said it would, it worked. I heard the lock disengage and she
opened the door. She was the woman that I’d seen at the MMA match hugging Paul.
She was a petite little woman, but she had Paul’s face and eyes. “Hi,” I said.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, closing the door behind me and locking
it right away.

Then she turned to me and said, “Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s fine.”

“Then why are you here?”

“He wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“Why didn’t he come himself? What’s wrong?” The
worry in her eyes looked genuine. I was becoming more and more convinced that
Mitch was the liar.

“Mitch came to my apartment yesterday. We think he’s
following Paul.”

“Damn him!” She fished a phone out of her purse.

“Um, Paul said you didn’t use a cell phone. Is that
okay?”

“It’s a throwaway,” she said. She punched in a
number and after a beat she said, “Hello, this is Marie Newman. My son Victor
is in fifth grade in Mr. Glover’s room. I just need to make sure that you
understand absolutely no one is to pick him up other than myself or my brother
Paul
Delport
…” She was quiet, listening, and then she
said, “Okay. Yes, I appreciate that so much. Thank you.” She hung up the phone
and for the first time, she really looked at me. I hoped that the really
freaked-out by all of this way that I was feeling wasn’t showing on my face.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “What did you say your name was?”

“It’s Jessie,” I said. “I need to call Paul.” I took
out my phone and she gestured for me to have a seat. Paul answered after a
couple of rings and I said, “Hey! I’m here. Marie is fine. She called the
school and Victor is too.”

“Great. Thank you so much, Jessie. Tell her I’ll be
by later tonight. I have to get rid of this asshole on my tail first.”

“Paul, don’t do anything—”

“Stupid? Don’t worry. Mitch is the fool here, not
me.”

I hung up and turned to Marie who had sat down next
to me. I managed a nervous smile and she said, “I’ve seen you before, I think.
You were at the fight the other night?”

“Yeah, I was.”

“And you must be the “Pretty lady with the long red
hair” that Victor told me about. You met him at Paul’s house. It’s rare for
Paul to have a “friend” that he introduces us to.”

I smiled genuinely then. “Aw, that’s sweet. Yes,
that was me. Your son is a really cute, polite kid.”

“Are you Paul’s girlfriend?”

“No!” I said that a little too forcefully. Marie
looked amused and said,

“I might be a little biased, but most women would be
happier than that about being my brother’s girlfriend, I think.”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m sure. I didn’t mean
that in a bad way. Paul and I actually just met. The morning that Victor saw me
he’d driven me home from the sports bar because I had a little too much to
drink. I work at the gym where he trains.”

“So you’re a trainer?”

“Yes.”

“Very cool.
I’m sorry that you had to get mixed up in my mess.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “It’s not your fault.”

“How did you and Paul figure out that Mitch was
following him?”

“Mitch showed up on my doorstep. He forced his way
into my apartment.”

“Oh my God!
He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Mitch must’ve really been something since everyone
kept asking me that with genuine concern. “He didn’t hurt me,” I told her. “He
told me that he’s a detective and he told me that he was after you for child
abuse charges.”

Marie stood up off the couch. I could tell that she
was angry now too. “He’s lying. Jessie, I swear…I’d die before I hurt my son.
I’ve changed my whole life to keep him safe.” Her eyes looked so sincere; it
was hard to doubt her. I didn’t know her, she could’ve been lying. At that
point though, I wanted to believe her and Paul over Mitch.

“I don’t believe him. He’s not given me any reason
to trust him. I want to believe you…and Paul.”

Marie smiled and said, “You like my brother, I can
see it in your eyes.” I wasn’t sure what she saw there, but at the moment all I
was feeling was extreme stress and a little bit of confusion. “He’s a good guy.
He’s overcome a lot and he’s so determined to be the best…If my problems didn’t
keep getting in his way. He can’t stop living to protect us.”