“I thought as much. Are you staying?”
“If he’ll have me.”
She lifts a brow. “Not going to lie, he came home a lot harder to get along with.”
Guilt mars me, and she shakes her head. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters. I’m just about to start supper. Why don’t you go say hi?”
“Okay.” I swallow again, hesitation clear in my posture.
“I knew it the first time I saw him look at you. It doesn’t solve everything, but it helps. Go on, go get him, baby.” Jeannie heads toward the house and glances back at me with a comforting smile. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too.”
“Give him hell,” she says just before she closes the door.
Shaking all fear away, I take a deep breath. It’s time to fight, for me, for him, for us, for what we both want.
Mind made up, I make my way toward the barn, guard down, and gloves up.
Lance
“Shit, twelve. You’ve only landed twelve,” Trevor snaps off at the mouth just as Tony lands a right that has me dizzy. I see the pleasure in his eyes when he stuns me. Pissed, I come at him with a right hook that jars him.
“Now it’s a fight,” he mumbles around his mouthpiece, his eyes alight with satisfaction. Channeling the beast, I swing again, and he dodges it far too easily.
“Sixteen landed, thirty seconds left,” Rip shouts from my corner.
Pissed, I do my best to corner Tony and run a combo on him just before time is called.
“Holy shit, you just got schooled,” Trevor says with awe in his voice.
Tony pulls off his gloves and glares at me. “If you think I’m happy about this, think again. Your speed is shit. You’ve regressed.”
I spit out my guard. “I don’t give a shit what you’re happy about.”
Tony shakes his head. “You need to get right, kid. Head and heart. You need to shake it off and concentrate.”
“And what is it you think I’m doing?”
“Brawling, not boxing. It’s a sport, not a street fight. Lately, you’ve forgotten your form, and now you’re just bloodthirsty.”
“You know what, man,” I shake my head my temper flaring, “you think—”
“I’ll take a crack at him. One glove.”
The sound of her voice has me reeling where I stand. I turn to see Harper at the foot of the ring in an oversized Giants hoodie and matching beanie. She looks beautiful and completely foreign standing here in my space. With as many times as I pictured her there, it does no justice to the real thing, which only angers me.
I stare down at her, incredulous as to how she got so close without me noticing her. All eyes on her, she stands with clear confrontation on her features, her hands on her hips. “Since when are you such an egomaniac that you get in your own way?”
Trying to mask the kick to my heart, I give her a listless stare. “What the hell do you know about it?”
“I know what I just witnessed, isn’t you.”
“That right?” I walk over to the side of the ring, crossing my gloves on the rope as I peer down at her. “Sweetheart, you haven’t been around for two years, and what’s it been now, six weeks? So again, what in the hell do you know?”
“I know enough.” She’s acting full-on pissed with no right to be. At the moment, I just want to pull her to me and smash the smartass off her lips before savoring it off her tongue. She’s a much-needed fresh breath of air for my collapsed lungs, but I refuse to inhale because I know the cost.
I’m a man standing in the wake of lost love, bitterness in my heart, and singed beyond anything I can control. I was supposed to have left her there, in that apartment, in that city, but she’s been with me the whole time, and her sudden appearance is only worsening the fact—I can’t get over this damned woman.
But I’m determined to. And I refuse to let her fuck with what’s left in my chest.
“Harper, what are you doing here?”
“I was invited by someone, right now, I don’t think you would recognize him.”
“Consider yourself un-invited. Surprised you found your way here. When you leave, go back the same way you came.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Trevor spouts before making his way to Harper. “Hey, you. Good to see you.”
She gives him a grin with his greeting of “Hey, you,” and he pulls her into a hug, lifting her off her feet. This lights me up as I feed on the animosity in the barn and the irritation at her sudden appearance. He doesn’t know her. Not like I do. He’s only met her once. But she’s done nothing but wreak havoc on my life since the minute I fell for her. She can’t be here, invading my space, burning more of herself into my memory. She has no right to weasel her way in with any sort of opinion or air of authority. I can feel my pulse thundering at my neck as Trevor hugs her a lot longer than appropriate. “Looking good, girl.”
“Thanks. And look at you, all grown up.”
“Yeah?” His grin is full of pride. “You’d be surprised how much I’ve gro—”
“Happy for the both of you,” I snap, “and your reunion and all, but we’re in the middle of something here.”
Tony chooses that moment to make me hate him. “Actually, she’s just in time. I’m done embarrassing your sorry ass today. Might as well let her take a crack at you.”
She looks past my brother’s shoulder, lifting her brown eyes to mine in challenge. “What can it hurt?”
“This is ridiculous.” I hold out my gloves. “Rip, take these off. Harper, thanks for stopping by.”
“I’m staying for dinner, your mother invited me,” she taunts.
“There’s a McDonald’s thirty minutes down the highway.”
“What the hell, Lance?” Trevor says, glowering at me.
“I’m not fighting her,” I’m unable to keep the bitter edge from my voice. “And she’s got a real problem with making decisions. Not sure Mom’s pot roast is enough. She might need variety.”
Harper holds out her fist. “Just one glove, please, Trevor.”
“Coming right up, my lady.”
“You aren’t serious,” I scoff. “What the fuck are you going to do with that? It will feel like a mosquito bite.”
“I’ve got speed,” she says, winking at Tony. “Which is what you’re lacking, right? What are you afraid of?”
That if I look at her any longer, my heart will stop beating and fall out of my chest. “You can’t just come here—”
“Oh, I can’t, huh? But you did,” she says, entering the ring with her one glove, the scent of her invading my nostrils. Rip chuckles, eyeing Harper, fully amused. He likes her, I can tell. Tony pulls her in for a hug, and they exchange whispers before she smiles and turns to me. “But you can come to New York, right? You can just barge into my life,” she says, jumping back and forth on her Nikes in an impressive show before ripping off her sweatshirt.
Catcalls come from all sides as she dances around me in nothing but leggings and a sports bra, her perfect tits pressed together in a way I refuse to indulge in.