“He said you’re a lot more trouble than you’re actually worth.”
Carter gasped. Sawyer leapt off the couch so fast, he actually choked.
“If he would’ve said anything else, I would’ve hit him,” promised Bodie. “I would’ve buried him right there, in his home gym.”
“Yeah, and all the other fighters in that gym would’ve buried you in the same hole,” I promised. “Cole’s their hero. It’s lucky you didn’t scrap with him.”
“Either way,” said Bodie, tilting his bottle back, “he seems to be finished with you. Which I guess is good news.”
“It is good news,” affirmed Carter. “Right?”
They were all looking at me now, but my mind was too busy processing what happened. Cole, giving up? Just moving right along, after all the trouble he’d caused?
“I— I guess so, yeah.”
I uttered the words, but I was just going through the motions, really. The whole thing didn’t make sense. Not after what he’d put us through. Not after the things he’d said and promised.
Not after his history of handling breakups.
“You probably surprised him,” offered Sawyer. “Caught him off guard, in the last place he expected you.”
“Or he was afraid to confront you,” I reasoned. “Physically, anyway, in front of his peers. He’s still atoning for what happened in his last professional fight.”
Carter frowned. He stepped between the three of us, like a referee.
“Hey, this is what we wanted, right?” he pointed out. “For him to leave you alone?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. Sure.”
“I’m not saying anyone should let their guard down,” he added quickly. “But maybe let’s just take it for what it is?”
What it is…
It could be anything, I knew. Or it could be nothing. Or it could be the calm before the rage storm. The eye of the Cole ‘The Hammer’ Hurricane, that would eventually blow our way.
I stopped to look around for a moment. I had a warm fire on a frigid night. A soft couch. A cold beer, still in my hand, and the whole evening ahead of me.
And of course I had three super sexy boyfriends, all vying to sleep with me. To the point where they were about to make up some sort of schedule; to share my bed.
“You’re right,” I smiled at Carter. “This is exactly what we wanted.” Turning, I batted my eyes at Bodie. “And thank you for confronting him. I would’ve tried to stop you, if I’d known you were going… but I guess it worked out for the best.”
Was I convinced Cole had turned over a new leaf? Not fully, no. But as they closed in on me, to take turns kissing me one by one, there was one thing I was definitely sure of:
None of these men would ever let anything happen to me, for as long as they drew breath.
~ 51 ~
HAYDEN
“Yo! Sexy!”
I was halfway through the parking lot, almost to my car. The voice made me smile immediately, though.
“Who, me?”
I whirled, and spread my fingers across my chest dramatically.
“Yeah, you,” he barked. “Do you see any other drop-dead gorgeous women around here?”
