“I’ll be back in Cali by then. You’ll have to fly out if you want that to happen. Bring it on, asshole.” Then the jerk snickers.
He snickers. Doesn’t he realize he actually hurt me?
He thinks I won’t? “No problem.”
Yeah, I’m going to kick his ass as soon as I can move again.
As gingerly as possible, I make my way to the outer edge of the classroom to a bench, Becklyn at my side. “Sit. Let me finish up here and we’ll go from there.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve got it, Becks,” Joe says, flopping down next to me, jostling the bench. I wince at the movement. “I’ll take care of our boy.”
“No. Get back on the bag. You’re not done working out.”
“Jesus,” Joe gripes. “Tyrant.”
“That’s right, assface.” She smiles at her brother. “Get back to work.”
And for the first time in five minutes, I smile. “Yeah, assface. Get back to work.”
* * *
“I’m really sorry, man.”
That’s about the tenth time Joe has apologized. “I know.”
“And who knew it wouldn’t work?” I hear him snort.
He’s right. It didn’t work. When class ended, she checked to see if Joe had everything under control. Of course, Joe said he did. I would’ve punched him if I could have. He did the damage so she’d take care of me, then he told herhe’dtake care of me.
Idiot.
“She must be really pissed at you,” Joe says, opening up the passenger side door of my car.
Then there’s that. “She is.” So angry with me, she couldn’t see past it to take it upon herself to nurse me back to health.
Fuck. Now all I’m thinking about is Becklyn nursing me back to health.
Nurses are sexy as fuck.
“Sorry I can’t stick around to help you out, but I promised Mom I’d stay at home my last two days.”
“I know.” And honestly, I’m ready for him to go. He’s a lot of work. “I’ll be fine.” Luckily, I only have one cracked rib. He’s damn fortunate there weren’t more, but I’m still pissed as hell at Joe.
“Maybe Becklyn will finally stop being a raging bitch and—”
“Hey,” I say angrily. “She’s not a bitch.”
“She is if she can’t get over that bullshit. I know that guy she went out with, and he’s a tool. Too many roids, man.”
He’s not wrong about the roids, but I wouldn’t call him a tool. I’d definitely call him not good enough for Becklyn, but nobody is good enough for Becklyn. Not even me.
Maybe especially not me.
No matter. She’s mine, and I’m hers. She’s just going to have to forgive me at some point, because those are the facts—no getting around that.
As soon as he’s got me settled in at my apartment, he grabs his duffle bag. I watch Joe wave as he leaves my apartment. “Take care,” he says with a smile.
