Fighting Hard (11 page)

Chapter Ten
Three weeks later

“I don’t know, Nick.” Mia shook her head. “I’m not sure about this.”

He took her hands. “It’s a beautiful spot, Mia. Quiet and peaceful. Jake says that lots of people have found it healing.”

“Who’s Jake?”

“We went to the same high school, played on the same football team. He was a couple of years ahead of me, but we stayed in touch. He works at a ranch and hotel.”

“Where is this place?”

“At the foot of the Rockies. Jake’s girlfriend is the owner and she’s already booked us a cabin for a week.”

“This sounds expensive.”

“You let me take care of that, babe. OK?”

She was silent.

“You’ll rest and sleep and get stronger, Mia. Maybe if you get a change of scenery, you’ll even start to write again.” He smiled. “Maybe that literary fiction novel you’ve been thinking about writing for the past four years.”

“You think so?”

“I hope so.”

“And we’ll – we’ll share a bed?”

“Only if you want to. I already told you – that happens when you’re ready.” He touched her cheek and she felt his incredible strength even in his fingertips. “Until then, I’m happy to wait.”

She took a deep breath. “OK.”

“OK? We’ll go?”

“Yeah, I’ll try it for a few days.”

He exhaled. “Alright. I’ll let Jake know we’re coming. We leave tomorrow.”

**

Mia looked through the kitchen window at Open Skies Ranch. It was the most amazing place she’d ever been.

Julie Everett, the owner, was watching Mia carefully. According to Jake, the woman had been through something recently and God knows she looked it. Mia was hurting, somewhere deep down inside, and Julie hoped that being in the middle of such calm and beauty would help.

“So,” Julie said gently. “You and Nick can do what you want. If you want to order in food from the restaurant, you just let me know, OK? I’ll arrange it for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Any questions?”

“No. I think I’m good.”

Mia looked around again and saw the vase of flowers on the living room table. She smiled. “Sunflowers…”

“Yes,” Julie said. “Nick called ahead and requested them specially.”

“He did?”

“Uh-huh. He said that they’re your favorite flowers.”

Mia’s eyes filled with tears.

“I know you don’t see this now, Mia, but you’re going to be OK.”

Mia looked at her, wishing she had Julie’s calm certainty. “How can you be sure?”

“Oh, hon… this place has seen so many hurts and troubles and it’s worked hard to heal every single one of them. It’s weird, but I get the feeling that Open Skies is near the town of Clarity for a reason.”

Mia blinked. “Clarity?”

“Yep.”

To her surprise, Mia giggled. “That’s amazing. I’ll take it as a good omen.”

“You do that, sweetie.” Julie saw how Mia’s face had already brightened just a bit. “You do that.”

**

Jake Weston looked at Nick. He was watching Mia and Julie through the window, his face hard and set. Jake knew that expression well: he was sure it had been on his face when Julie had told him about her childhood and when Vicky’s ex-husband had hurt Julie so badly. He had seen it on Phil’s face in the hospital as he waited for Vicky to come to after a beating that had damn near killed her. It was the look of a man on the edge of losing it.

“Can I give you some advice?” Jake asked.

Nick’s eyes jerked to his face. “Uh. Sure.”

“Things happen to the women in our lives. Bad things, things we have no control over, no matter how much we
want
to have some control. And when those things happen to them? It makes us furious… like completely fucking
enraged
. I get that, Nick.”

Nick nodded.

“But when we get that angry – it makes us unpredictable and volatile and hard. And it scares them, you know. It makes them think twice about being able to talk to us and lean on us. They feel like… we’re going to explode at any second and they think they may get in the way. They may be collateral damage.”

“I’d never hurt Mia.”

Except that I
did
hurt her. Badly. Not physically, but that hardly matters, does it?

“
I
know that, man. But if she looks at you and sees that much rage just sitting there, bubbling and simmering below the surface?
She’s
not going to know that.” Jake smiled gently. “And right now, she wants to look to you for something safe and steady. That’s what she needs… way more than your rage at the people who hurt her.”

Nick looked through the window again. “I know. It’s just – it’s hard to look at how badly she’s been hurt and scared over the past few weeks and
not
want to strangle someone. That guy Tom almost got her killed and he hurt all those kids… I just want to beat something to death.”

“I know, Nick. So, listen. When you feel all that anger and frustration? You come see me or you call Adam. OK? And when you feel calm and steady again, you go to her.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell, yeah.”

The door opened and the men looked up. Mia and Julie stood there, so lovely and fragile and strong, and both men smiled at them, loving them.

“So, we’re off. If you two need anything, you let me know,” Julie said. “OK?”

“OK,” Nick said. “Thanks, guys.”

“Thank you,” Mia said softly.

They watched Julie and Jake walk away to the Big House and then looked at each other.

“You go on inside, babe.” Nick reached out slowly and touched her cheek. She closed her eyes and sighed.

“OK,” Mia said. “You’ll come in soon?”

“A few minutes. I promise.”

She nodded and went in to the cabin.

Nick looked around Open Skies, taking in the rolling beauty and huge space. He listened to the silence and felt calm and centered for the first time since he had left Mia’s place that night, running from his feelings.

He looked through the window again. She was sitting on the sofa now, staring at her hands. She looked alone and frightened and something moved in his chest. But this time, he didn’t feel the weakness of anger; he felt the strength of loving her and wanting to be there for her. He looked up at the huge sky, the blue that went on for what seemed like forever, and he took a deep breath. The mountains stood there, so close and solid and dependable, a physical reminder of what Mia needed him to be right now.

OK, Nick. Let it go; let all the anger go, at least for right now. She needs you.

Nick opened the door and went to in to the warmth and light; he went to Mia. And this time, she fully let him in.

Excerpt from ‘Fighting Strong’ (Fighting For Love #2)

Dear Reader,

I very much hope that you enjoyed meeting a new cast of characters in ‘Fighting Hard’ (Fighting For Love #1). As a thank you for your support, here is a short excerpt from the next book in the series, ‘Fighting Strong’ (Fighting For Love #2).

**

Katie Lloyd hung up the phone and stared out the window. She was seconds away from a full-blown meltdown and she fought to keep her cool. The secret to staying in control, she knew, was to break things down in to small, manageable bits.

OK. One thing at a time; one step, then another. So. I need to get there. I need to get there fast. For that, I need a car. Reena and Maggie don’t have cars. So, I need to get my car back. For that, I need to call Mia.

There was a major problem with this last part of the thought process, though, namely, that she had no idea where the hell Mia Ferris was. All Katie knew was that her boyfriend Nick Spencer had taken her away for a week somewhere quiet and calm to recover from her beating at the hands of a pimp and pedophile.

Even more than a month later, Mia was still in terrible shape and Katie had offered Nick the use of her car to avoid the hassle of public transport and the stress of crowds. On Katie’s own insistence, Mia had left her cell with Katie so that Mia could just relax and forget about the world. That was a great plan, or at least it had seemed so at the time – but now she had no way to call her friend. Worse, she knew that Nick had left his behind too, so she couldn’t call him either.

Goddammit, Katie. Think, think.

OK. If nobody knew where Mia was – and Katie was sure that their other close friends Reena Mackay and Maggie Branson also had no clue – then maybe somebody knew where Nick was. Who did Katie know in Nick’s life?

As the most obvious person occurred to her, she groaned.

Really? Dear God, anybody but
him.

The face and body of Adam Pierce popped in to her mind and she huffed in disgust. Not that Adam was disgusting to look at: huge and muscled and strong, with ice-blue eyes and dark hair and an incredibly hot number of tattoos, he was quite the opposite of hard on the eyes. But he was arrogant and annoying and pissed Katie off royally. She had taken some pictures of him at his gym and he had been nothing but dismissive of them since the word go. But he was also Nick’s business partner and so he was her best bet to find Nick and Mia.

OK, wait. Call a car rental place. Voila! Problem solved!

Except problem
not
solved, as it turned out. There was a huge real estate fair in Denver that week and every car was rented out. Her heart in her throat, she waited while they checked availability in Colorado Springs and Boulder too, but they reported back with regret that they had nothing for her. Calls to three other car rental places yielded the same dead end.

Her thoughts turned to Adam again.

Shit. OK, call the jerk.

Katie picked up her cell phone and scrolled through the phone book, looking for The Rock Fighting Club. She dialled and stared out the window some more.

“The Rock. Gavin speaking. How may I help you?”

Gavin. The Rock manager. Nice guy, she recalled.

“Hi, Gavin. This is Katie Lloyd… I don’t know if you remember me but –”

“Oh, sure I do.” His voice was warm. “The photographer.”

“Right. Listen, I’m sorry to be so rushed, but I need to speak to Adam right away, if he’s there.”

“Yeah, he is. Hang on a sec, OK?”

“Thanks.”

He put her on hold and she counted her breaths.
Come on, come on.

Gavin put down the phone and waved at Adam. His boss was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee and he came over right away.

“What’s up, Gavin?”

“Katie Lloyd is on the phone for you.”

“Oh, awesome. Tell her I’m busy, OK?”

“The thing is, she sounds kind of panicked.”

“She does?”

“Yeah. You want me to put her through to your office?”

“I guess so. Thanks.”

**

Adam Pierce sighed as he walked to his office. The thought that Katie Lloyd – that amazingly difficult personality – was on the other end of the phone line was not a welcome one.

OK, admittedly he and Katie had managed to call a semi-truce in light of Mia. Katie had come to him, hat-in-hand, begging for his help to get Nick to talk to Mia when she had been in such a bad way. But that was a few weeks ago now, and all that he and Katie had done since then was fight about his photos. He wanted Katie to reshoot in better light, she refused.

Why is she calling me? Another fight about the fucking pictures? OK. Be nice now… at least until she gives you reason not to be.

He picked up the phone and spoke in what he hoped was a friendly tone. “Hi, Katie.”

“Hi, Adam.” She sounded harassed and pissed off and he almost threw the phone across the room. “Listen, have you got any way to get a hold of Nick?”

‘Well, hello Adam. How are you? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine too. So, listen – can I ask you something please?’ This woman’s self-importance is always dialled up to ‘high’, isn’t it? Jesus.

With great effort, he kept his tone now merely neutral. “No, I don’t. As you know, he left his cell with me here and I don’t know where he took Mia.”

“Damn.”

The silence on the other end went on for long enough that he had the urge to say, “Well! So nice talking to you!” and then hang up. But he hung on for a few seconds longer.

“Would – would anyone else know where they are, maybe?” she asked.

“No, for sure not. I mean, if you don’t and I don’t, then who’s left, really?”

“True.”

More silence. Only then did it occur to him that something might be wrong.

“Katie, is everything OK?”

“Ummm. No. Not really.”

He sat down. She sounded uncertain and tentative and something else.

Scared?

“What’s wrong? Can I help?”

Katie blinked at the phone in her hand.
What – Mr. So-Important is deigning to offer assistance?

“Uh. Well. I’m not sure.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Someone in my family is sick,” she said reluctantly. “I need to get back there in a hurry and I wanted to call Nick and Mia and collect my car from them.”

“Where do you have to go? Where’s home?”

“Aurora, in Illinois.”

“So – why don’t you fly?”

“I don’t fly… I hate it.”

He rolled his eyes.
Princess.

“Yeah, OK,” he said. “I get that having to take your shoes off at the airport is a hassle and flights are all tense, but this is an emergency. I mean, drink some wine and do some deep breathing and you’ll be there in no time at all.”

She was silent.

“Katie? Hello?”

“No. I really can’t. I – I was in a plane crash as a kid. I just can’t fly.”

He felt like an absolute asshole. “God, Katie. I’m sorry. Maybe… the train? Bus?”

“No, it’ll take too long. My brother says that he probably won’t last more than two days. I have to get in the car and just drive, Adam.”

“Who’s ‘he’? Your Dad?”

Katie pretended not to hear him. “So that’s why I need my car back.”

“So rent a car.”

“I already tried that. Nothing’s available.” She now sounded panicked and desperate and teary.

Adam scratched his chin.
Something about this whole thing feels very weird
. Aloud, he said, “Well, I don’t know what to do to help you – if I knew where Nick and Mia were, I’d tell you. But I really don’t.”

“Right.” She took a shaky breath. “OK, well. Thanks anyway… I’ll let you…”

Her voice broke and suddenly Adam was on high alert. “OK, hold on. This is really important to you, huh?”

“Yes. Adam, yes. You have no idea.”

She sounded so completely broken and vulnerable, so unlike the usual hard-as-nails Katie, that something in Adam just responded.

“OK, Katie. Listen, I am suggesting this against my better judgment, but maybe… maybe I can take you.”

“What? You?”

“Yes. Me. I have a car, I can take a few days off, Gavin is more than capable of running things here with me and Nick away. I can take you, if you want.”

Katie almost fell off her chair in shock.

That is the worst fucking idea I have ever heard… trapped in a car with Adam Pierce for hours and hours on end! I bet he’ll talk about nothing but reshooting his goddamned pictures. I’d have to throw myself in front of the wheels just to make the torture end, I swear to Christ.

Then again, it was the best offer – the
only
offer – on the table. She didn’t see that she had much of a choice.

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“I’d – I’d be very grateful, Adam. Thank you.”

“So… yes?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, please.”

“You have Nick’s cell number?”

“I do.”

“OK, text me your address on his phone. I’ll be there in two hours.”

“Thank you, Adam.”

“You’re welcome.”

They both hung up the phone, already regretting it, already dreading the next few days.

**

Dear Reader,
‘Fighting Strong’ (Fighting For Love #2) will be published on August 10th. If you want to know when it is available for purchase, please check on one of my social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, and my blog). I will be announcing its release in all of these places, and posting some teaser excerpts in advance.
Thank you for reading!