Ice Cold (An MMA Stepbrother Romance) (12 page)

It felt good to be back in my own gym on my own turf, but I was hitting the bags like they had threatened to kill me. That had everything to do with the long bus ride home and then the call I got from my dad shortly after we got back.

Lex hadn’t even looked at me when we got on the bus. When I tried to talk to her, she had moved seats and kept her nose buried in her laptop. After trying to get her attention several times, I could tell that the guys were on the verge of never letting me live it down. So I left her alone. She disappeared as soon as the bus rolled up to the gym. I was tempted to call her, but then I remembered. I had made an agreement with myself to leave her alone, and she clearly didn’t want anything to do with me. It was better for everyone that way.

My phone rang less than five minutes after I had unlocked the gym door and stepped inside.

“Shayne.” I wasn’t sure why my father assumed simply saying my name was any kind of greeting. I knew the tone, though. I was about to get my ass reamed.

“Calvin.” Two could play at that game.

“I saw the footage of the fight last night.”

“I got it done, didn’t I? Everybody was so worried that it was going to end like last time, but I proved you all wrong,” I said. “Even Maury was impressed.”

“It’s not the fight that concerns me. I believe you went a bit off-script with your comments after the fight.”

Shit.
It had been the heat of the moment and the rush of the victory that caused me to completely lose my head when I gave Lex the shout-out. I hadn’t expected that slip would make it to my dad’s ears. “I’m not sure what you mean.” Sometimes it was better to play dumb when it came to my dad just to suss out what direction his rant was going to go before trying to assume anything.

“Keep your hands off Alexa, Shayne. I don’t want you to ruin what I have with Maxine.”

“My hands aren’t on Alexa, Calvin, and even if they were, who gives a shit? Why would that ruin anything with my new step-monster?”

“I would appreciate you not talking about Maxine like that considering you haven’t even met her yet. For the first time since what happened with your mother, I’m happy,” my dad said. “You wouldn’t know to do with a girl of Alexa’s caliber even there was even the slightest chance that she was interested in you. She’s smart and talented. She’s got her head screwed on straight.”

“As opposed to me who has a screw loose, right?” His words hit me in the gut like a sucker punch.

“You have your choice of an endless buffet of pussy out there, Shayne.” I was shocked. I’d never heard my dad be that crude before. “Keep your hands off your future step-sister. She’s there to a do a job, not do you. I didn’t give her the job thinking that I’d have to worry about you fucking around with her.”

“Yeah, of course. Because she’s far too classy to be interested in a lowlife like me,” I growled.

“She’s a girl who is going places. You’re maximizing your five minutes of fame. It wouldn’t hurt for you to think of someone other than yourself for once.”

My dad was letting the punches fly today. And I was tired of it. I was tired of feeling second-class and second best. “I’m hanging up now, Calvin.”

“Hands off, Shayne. I mean it.”

I hung up the call and tossed my phone down on the bench in front of me in frustration. He was right, of course. Nobody knew the truth about what happened the night my mom died. My dad had done a neat job of cleaning it all up. I had a front row view of what the right amount of money and influence could do. From that moment on, he expected me to bow down and kiss his boots for protecting me. I was supposed to be grateful, but instead, I was fed up.

But no matter how much I disagreed with my dad on most things, I knew he was right about Lex. I wasn’t the kind of guy that Lex should be with, so as tempted as I was to call her, I didn’t.

Instead, I hit the bags. I tried to wipe it all away. Every memory of Lex’s body. The smell of her perfume. Every expression on her face when I said something that made her laugh or annoyed the shit out of her. I felt the sweat pouring down my body, and it spurred me on.

If it was the last thing I did, I would get Lex Carroll out of my head. We had nothing in common. We barely had a semblance of a friendship. There was no way in hell that I wanted anything else from her.

Except deep down, I knew that wasn’t the truth. Not by a long shot, and that was the part that scared me the most. Because in reality, I wanted everything from her. All of it.

I finally settled into a regular routine with my job, and time started to fly by. Mostly that was because I didn’t need to avoid Shayne. It was pretty obvious after we returned from St. Louis that Shayne was avoiding me. I guessed that his outburst must have embarrassed him. It had been the equivalent of an inside joke. A really hot, steamy, panty-melting inside joke. But then he went out and slept with someone else. So really, the joke was on me. I thought we might have had a connection, but he had gotten what he wanted from me and moved on.

I should have been fine with that. It’s what I said I wanted after all. But I grew crankier with each passing day. I’d even tried going out with Stacey a few times, but she said she wasn’t inviting me out again until I got laid because I was ruining her mojo.

The few interactions I did have with Shayne were completely professional and clean of the innuendos that I had come to expect from him. I’d reviewed the last months of receipts with him. There had been a dramatic change in his spending that would have been hard not to notice considering I was watching his finances like a hawk. Where he used to go out and drop at least a grand partying several nights a week had almost completely stopped. What had increased, though, were receipts to the liquor store down the block from his high-rise.

I sat across from him pointing at a pie chart I’d created and explained that he had crossed into a net positive on his income versus spending for the month for the first time in over twelve months. I looked at him expectantly but found that he seemed to be staring at something over my shoulder.

“Shayne? Are you listening to me?”

“Positive. Ra-ra,” he said as he leaned forward in his chair. “I gotta get back to Maury. We done here?”

I braced myself for what I was going to say next. “If you keep on this track, I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t recommend to Cal that you can handle this on your own. I’ve cleaned up all your accounts, and I’ve found some software that you can put on your phone that’ll make tracking your expenses a lot easier.”

His eyes found my face for the first time since he’d sat down. The corner of his mouth turned downward in a frown. “You ready to ditch me for a corner office with my dad now?”

I wasn’t sure what I had expected. When I started working with him six weeks ago, he’d been eager to get rid of me. “This is what you wanted, and what you asked me to do when I first started. I thought you’d be happy about this.”

“I’ve got a fight in less than a week. I don’t have time to keep track of any of this,” he snapped. “That’s why you’re here, and now you’re ready to go just when things start turning around, and my dad is finally off my ass for once? That’s fine. You know what? You should probably pack up your shit and go now.”

Stunned by his words, I felt the anger rise in the back of my mind. “My contract is for another two months. I’m not ditching you. I’m just letting you know that since we implemented the things we’ve talked about, you’re showing a lot of progress.”

“Progress,” Shayne scoffed. He glared at me. “Yeah, I’m showing progress. Like I’m all grown up and finally able to take care of myself. Thank God. Everyone must be so relieved. Like I said. Sounds like we’re done here. Get your shit and get out.” He turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him as he exited the room.

I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes as I stood up and started to stuff my things in my bag. I thought that I was starting to see something different in Shayne. I wanted to help him. Now, I was getting thrown out with the rudest of dismissals. As if turning around and sleeping with another woman the night after sleeping with me wasn’t rude enough.

“Fuck him,” I said as I tried to gulp small bits of air into my lungs. I wasn’t going to cry. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing that he had upset me. If he wanted me gone, I was going to leave. I didn’t need the aggravation. Cal knew how difficult Shayne was. I could at least show that I’d done a portion of the job he’d sent me to do. Maybe he could find another assignment for me earlier than expected.

I grabbed my jacket and my bag and looked around the small office that had become my second home over the last six weeks. I felt a wave of nostalgia, but I batted it down. That kind of thinking wouldn’t do me any good. I opened the door and kept my back straight as I walked through the gym for the last time. I heard the murmurs of voices following me. The slamming door would have been a good indication that something bad had gone down between me and Shayne, but I wasn’t going to let them see me rattled.

Shayne was in the main ring with Maury. He appeared to be trying to beat the shit of Maury’s padded body. I didn’t care about that anymore. If he thought that I was going to spend even an iota of time being upset about him firing me, he was wrong.

I realized as I stepped outside the gym that I had forgotten to leave my passcard to the front door on my desk. I wasn’t going to need it anymore. I found Marcus standing outside waiting for a delivery for Shayne. So in addition to all his other duties, it seemed that Marcus was also Shayne’s package delivery service. Packages. Women. Whatever Shayne needed. I let out a mirthless laugh before shoving my passcard into Marcus’s hands.

“Make sure that gets back to Mr. Malone since I won’t need it anymore.” I didn’t wait for Marcus’s response as I started walking down the street.

My path was aimless. I knew I should get a cab, but I needed the fresh air. I should be happy that Shayne was letting me out of my contract early. I was going to get to go back to Connecticut and my new car and forget all about him.

But that thought made me want to kick and wail in the middle of the sidewalk like a toddler. I didn’t want to go back to New Haven, and the idea that I wouldn’t see Shayne again until our parents wedding made me want to throw up. Crap. Whatever it was that I felt for him, it was bad. Bad for my sanity. Bad for my life. But that didn’t stop me from wanting it just as badly.

I was an idiot for not just asking him if he had screwed that girl in St. Louis. He’d tried to talk to me several times on the bus, but I kept moving away from him like a twelve-year-old. I had never been in an adult relationship before if that was even what this was.

Shayne and I had sex twice, and now we barely spoke to each other. That wasn’t even close to a relationship.

Because I was so wrapped up in my own little world, I missed the dark van that scooted up beside me on the street. I looked around to figure out where I was. I was at least four blocks off my normal route if I was planning to walk back home. But then I looked down at my shoes. Those heels weren’t made for walking. I stepped closer to the curb and started to scan for a taxi.

It happened so fast that I barely had time to process it. The door of the van slid open, and a man in a ski mask jumped out. His hand came up, and I opened my mouth to scream. I have no idea if any noise actually made it out of my mouth before a blow landed hard on the side of my head, and the world went black.

There was a throbbing in my head as I felt around the edges of my consciousness. It hurt to even think about opening my eyes. But then I remembered the last few moments I could recall, and my eyes shot open. I regretted it immediately as the pounding in my head increased by a factor of ten.

I groaned and moved to touch my head when I realized that I couldn’t move my arms. I couldn’t move my legs either. I managed to squint looking down at my body. I was sitting upright in a chair. My arms were bound behind me, and judging by the sticky sensation I felt around my wrists, they were bound by duct tape. The same kind of tape that I felt across the lower half of my face covering my mouth.

Blinking rapidly and trying to clear my head, I scanned the area around me. I was in a room that appeared to part of a small studio apartment. There was a dirty mattress on the floor a few feet away from my chair. Off to my right, there was a small galley style kitchen. Dirty dishes overflowed in the sink. A small table was wedged in the corner with two metal chairs around it. There was a heavy smell of dust and neglect. There was no sign of anyone else in the apartment with me.

I tried to move my legs again, but they appeared to be bound to the legs of my chair. I started to whimper. Someone had abducted me off the sidewalk. I had no idea who had done it or what they wanted with me. It appeared that I was in a slovenly apartment, and I was alone. At least for now.

Trying to keep my cool, I started to explore the bindings on my wrists. If I could get them free, then I could get out of the chair. Although I was terrified out of my mind, I focused on that one thought. Get my wrists free. One step at a time. It was the only thing keeping me from a full-blown panic attack.

One thing at a time.