Let Go (10 page)

“Pace, ready
to build up that strength? I saw some pussy moves back there,
better put more into it or you’ll be flat on your back like my
momma was five times.”

Greylan
chuckles at his humor. Jackson is definitely one of a kind.

Early
afternoon, Greylan makes it back to the rental he calls home at the
moment and collapses. He has exactly two hours until he needs to be
at Juno’s. He dozes off oblivious to any noises that might have
woken him.

His phone
beeps alerting him that it’s time to get up. In just that short
time, his muscles have had a chance to react to the training
Jackson put him through. After the repeated rope climbing, he
endured more punching and kicking practice. Jackson wasn’t kidding
when he told Greylan he was relentless. But every muscle that
aches, he tells himself is one step closer to where he needs to
be.

He practically
crawls to the shower and savors the water whatever temperature it
is. He fits the t-shirt with Juno’s logo over his head and runs his
hand through his hair leaving it messy.

When he walks
through the door today Christina starts in on him.

“Hey Rookie,
whatcha up to?”

She continues
in her onslaught, “Whoa, you don’t look so good. Did we kick your
ass last night? I know, you’re too old for this job. Maybe a
nursing home is the place for you.”

He chuckles as
he stocks the coolers to get ready for the horde of people to
come.

They finish
ten minutes early so he slides into a bar chair resting his head in
his hands. She frowns, coming up beside him, “Hey, I didn’t hurt
your feelings did I? Because you can’t be sensitive and work
here.”

He looks up
and crosses his arms across his chest, meeting her stare.

“No, you
didn’t hurt my feelings. Come on, what else you got? Fire
away.”

She looks to
the ceiling and places her hand on her forehead as if thinking.
When her eyes meet his they are playful.

“Okay, you
suck at pouring and if you keep over pouring, Juno won’t be able to
keep this bar open. Your people skills are crappy. People come here
to talk, get shit off their chest. You can’t just stand there
silently not even acknowledging them or their problems. And don’t
think you’re gonna walk away with anything tonight. I’m not
splitting with you if you can’t keep up.”

Greylan
frowns, “I thought I did a good job last night. I kept up with you.
No one went thirsty.”

She throws her
hands up in exasperation and rolls her eyes.

He gets up
flinching as his muscles respond to the movement. He is definitely
not in the best of shape. Juno walks up to the bar and asks,
“Greylan are you alright? Are you in pain?”

“Um, no I’m
fine.” He looks over to Christina who is ignoring them and busying
herself with fixing up some bottles that are already straight.

Juno smiles
and tells him quietly so Christina can’t hear, “Don’t mind her. She
worries too much.”

Christina
moves to open the door for the first customer of the night. Greylan
glances at her and back to Juno asking, “Did I miss something? She
doesn’t seem worried about anything. Maybe a control freak but not
concerned about anything.”

Juno leans in,
“I’ll let you in on a little secret. Christina is my niece. Her
parents died in a car accident when she was eight. I’ve been her
guardian since then. Unfortunately this is the only life I’ve ever
known so she was raised in an environment not very conducive to a
child. The bar is hers as much as mine now. If things aren’t going
so well with it, she wears her worry. Don’t take it personally, she
means well.”

Greylan nods
as Christina makes her way back down the bar. She looks to Juno and
back to Greylan.

“Shit Juno,
you told him, didn’t you? I asked you not to. I don’t need anyone’s
pity.”

Juno looks
thoughtful for a moment before responding, “Christina, I think you
might find that you and Greylan have more in common than you think.
It might be good for you.”

Before
Christina can say anything, Juno walks back toward her office.
Christina turns to Greylan and warns, “No pity party in my honor.
If you so much as look at me wrong, I’ll kick your ass.”

He smiles at
her. An ass kicking by this chick might be exactly what he
needs.

As the weeks
pass Greylan falls into a familiar routine with training and
working at Juno’s. Jackson has decided already to feed him to the
sharks but he’s feeling good about it. Tomorrow he will fight in
his first amateur match since being out of prison. His reluctance
to put all of his force into it is slowly seeping away. He knows
that the accident was just that, an accident but it’s taken some
time for him to come to terms with it. He didn’t want to put forth
all of his strength in his practice matches for fear of hurting
someone else. But Jackson was persuasive in his commitment.

He was matched
with another fighter for practice who is also trying to break into
the amateur circuit, Brandon Davis. Jackson said that if Jonesy is
the bottom, Brandon is close to the middle. Greylan is looking
forward to finding out who is at the top.

Brandon almost
had him though. He had him in a triangle leg lock. Brandon’s legs
were clenching his neck and he almost tapped out. He ended up
reaching out and hammering a punch into Brandon’s side loosening
the grip on his neck. He was able to fall back out of the hold and
manage a guillotine hold forcing Brandon to tap out. It was lucky
but he won. He didn’t notice during the fight but Jackson walked
away throwing his hands up in frustration. He went after him to
find Jackson pissed off beyond belief throwing junk around his
office. He threatened to drop Greylan and kick him out of the gym
if he didn’t start fighting like he meant it.

That was
enough to convince Greylan to put it all in not only at the gym but
elsewhere in his life. He had every intention of convincing
Christina to go out with him. He’s never had to try with women
before but this girl confounds him, in an odd sort of way.

He decided he
would ask her tonight, after the bar slows down. A cheerleader in
the crowd at his first fight would be nice. But when he walks into
the bar he is confronted with an unexpected sight. Trinity sits
perched atop one of the bar chairs giggling with Christina on the
other side of the counter. He frowns at the sound. He’s never heard
Christina giggle before. She looks up causing Trinity to turn
around. A wide smile spreads across her lips as she leaps out of
the chair and hurries over to him. He pulls her into a tight hug.
His eyes meet Christina’s over her shoulder and he knows Trinity
spilled the beans. He pushes her away averting his eyes from
Christina’s sympathetic ones.

“Trinity, what
did you tell her? I don’t fucking need anyone feeling bad for me. I
earned everything I got.”

She shakes her
head, “No Grey, you didn’t. You need to realize that there are
people who care about you.”

He walks past
her and moves behind the bar. Christina grabs his hand and
squeezes. He pulls his fingers away. He doesn’t need this crap
which is why he didn’t tell her.

Trinity
situates herself back in the chair and asks, “So are you gonna tell
me about your fight?”

He snaps his
neck around glaring at her, “What? How do you know about my
fight?”

“Grey, come
on, I want to support you in
any
way I can. If you won’t
come see me then I have to come to you. Besides Parker is keeping
up with how your fighting is going.”

The mention of
Parker’s name builds Greylan’s anger and the fact that he is
checking up on him pisses him off even more. He slams a glass down
causing it to shatter in his hand. Christina flinches and grabs his
hand as it starts to bleed from a shallow cut. She looks to Trinity
and states, “Maybe it’s me but I get the feeling Parker is not a
good subject.”

Trinity sighs,
her whole body making it that much more exaggerated and admits,
“No, he’s my fiancé and he’s a fighter just like Greylan.” She eyes
Greylan glaring for a moment before adding, “I think where he is
right now is where Greylan is supposed to be if everything wouldn’t
have happened.”

Greylan’s
shoulders sink and he asks ignoring his sister, “Do you have a
first aid kit. The bar is going to fill up soon.”

“Yeah, place
pressure on the paper towel and I’ll be right back.”

Christina
hurries to the hallway toward the office. Trinity takes a sip of
her beer and tells him, “Grey, I love you. I don’t want anything
bad to happen to you. Please don’t be mad at me. I told you that
Parker is it for me. You can’t ask me to choose.”

He is kicking
himself for ever telling his sister to come to Juno’s. This whole
thing cannot possibly end well. He can quit fighting and let Parker
have his day. But he would resent him even more. He moves around
the bar and sinks into the chair beside her. After a few moments
meeting her stare he resolves, “I’ll try Trin, I can’t make any
promises but I will try.”

She nods
satisfied with his attempt and grabs his hand. He winces at her
grasp and looks up when Christina lugs a case up onto the bar. He
smirks at the girl’s lack of strength. At one point she was
threatening to kick his ass. He doubts she could hurt a fly.

His mishap
with the glass caused him to slack off a bit during the rush but
Christina picked up the slack. Trinity left an hour after they
opened claiming she wanted to be there when Parker came home. But
she committed to making it to the fight the following night. He
smiled at her solemnity. He knows as well as she does that she
won’t actually watch the fight. Unless of course that’s one more
thing that has changed since she has been with Parker.

As the night
drags on and the last customer leaves, Christina locks the door and
turns seemingly nervous leaning back into it. Greylan doesn’t
notice. His attention directed on restocking the glasses. She has
been nervous about this all night. When his sister knocked on the
window earlier, she was ready to ignore her but something made her
open it. Now she’s glad she did. Since the day he walked in she has
been curious about his story. Every one of us has one, some are
more interesting than others but each thing points us in a specific
direction. Sometimes we have detours and she found out that his was
a big one. Christina was shocked to find out he had been to prison.
She always imagined that someone from prison would be hard and
rough. But Greylan Pace is anything but that. She can see he has
many different layers and only a couple he’ll allow anyone to
see.

Trinity gave a
lot of insight into who he is though. A fighter, yeah, she can see
that. Unflinching in his pursuit which makes her very apprehensive
with what she is about to do.

She takes a
deep breath and maneuvers around the bar. As she nears him he looks
up. His wide chocolate eyes pierce through her. Something about him
she can’t get out of her mind. The last thing she wants is a
relationship. But there is some sort of unmistakable connection
between them. She steps up to him and gently grabs his injured
hand. She asks, “How is your hand?”

He blinks a
few times as he sees a change in her. His eyes squint down at her
trying to gauge the change in her tone. She seems nervous and
concerned. He’s never seen her like this.

“Sore but
fine.”

He leans down
pausing for a moment to see what she’ll do. She doesn’t move, her
breath mingling with his momentarily before he lowers his lips to
gently graze hers. Her eyes close as her hands move around his neck
pulling him further to her level, encouraging him. His hands move
along her sides causing her insides to tingle. As his tongue pushes
further exploring her mouth he thinks about how he wanted to do
this but had decided against it because of his sister. A smile
spreads at the thought. She pulls away and asks, “What’s so funny,
do I kiss like a seal or something?”

He smile
sliding his hands up to her shoulders, “No definitely not a seal,
maybe a lion.” She smacks him in his shoulder causing him to
flinch.

“Christina, I
was going to approach you tonight but I thought the visit from
Trinity squashed my chances. Then, here you are pouncing; maybe
Trinity had the opposite effect than I thought.”

She laughs at
his comparison, “Rookie, you are something else.”

He nods
meeting her lips again. Her hands make their way to his hair
causing a slight moan from his throat. He disengages from her for a
moment and asks, “Would you like to get out of here? I’m not sure
Juno would be happy that I am seducing her niece.”

She nods and
grabs her keys leading him out the door. She pulls him to her car
parked out front, a black, sixty-eight Mustang in mint condition.
He eyes the car and asks, “Is this yours?”