15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LUKE
April
The magazine coverwithhimas the sexiest man alive was bad enough, but the spread of pictures ofthemas a couple inside are enough to make me a homicidal maniac. Jealousy eats me alive inside to the point that some days I can barely function. I can’t get my mind off of Andi no matter what I do.
My relationship, for lack of a better word, with Syndi had been difficult to manage. The day I got Andi’s ring and necklace in the mail, I really lost my shit. As in off the fucking reservation lost it. When I got Syndi back to my room, the drive for revenge and the need to push Andi as far from my mind as possible resulted in a night of sex.
Followed by a month and a half of feeling guilt and regret over it.
The next day in the gym, Joe gave me the best directive I never thought I’d be glad to hear. My fight was one month away. To build up my testosterone, my frustration, and keep me solely focused on fighting, sex was totally off the menu.
Thank God for small favors.
I’ve been able to use this excuse to keep Syndi at bay. After that one and only night together, she became annoying and clingy. When Joe banned her from stepping foot into the gym, I had suspicions that he was on to me, but I never asked and he never volunteered the information. Fine by me—the less I know, the less I have to lie about it. If I ever find out for sure, I’ll have to buy him a nice thank-you gift. Like a new house.
“Luke,” Syndi whines my name. “How would Joe know if you had sex?”
We’ve only covered this every day since he laid down the law to me. “Men know, Syndi. For most men, including me, sex is a stress-reliever. It calms us and makes us all cuddly and shit. Going without sex is frustrating as hell. There’s no release, nowhere for all this testosterone to go, and it makes me mean and cranky.”
“Like now?” she quips.
“Exactly. Now stop asking me and reminding me of what I can’t have.”
“But I’d let you have me,” she purrs seductively.
“If you can’t support my goals, you’ll have to leave,” I snap.
To be fair, if Andi were here asking me for sex, I wouldn’t have the willpower to tell her no. Fight be damned. But sex with Andi always revved my engines up even more, made me crave her more, and made me more of a beast.
This train of thought makes me feel bad because I realize I’m constantly comparing Syndi to Andi, and Syndi loses this battle every time. I’ve tried to tell her multiple times over the past month that our one night together was a mistake and it won’t happen again.
When I say I tried, I mean, I bluntly told her. The problem is, she doesn’t give up. She won’t stop pursuing me regardless of how I explain it to her, what words I use, or how I say it was a mistake to start something I can’t finish. I’m not over Andi in the least bit. I lied to my heart the night I thought I could forget her by sleeping with Syndi.
“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologizes. “I know it must be hard for you.”
Just when I think her words are sincere, again I catch the glint in her eyes and the smirk on her face. Her last sentence was another pathetic attempt to entice me. This is one of those moments when I can see the wreck happening in slow motion, but I can’t do anything about it. The aftermath may be similar to an atom bomb exploding.
“That’s it!” I yell. “Get out of my room right now. I’ve had enough of your bullshit. I’ve tried being nice, I’ve tried being blunt, and now I’m just going to be fucking mean.
“Our one night of fucking was amistake. A huge one. I had no business starting anything with you, and on some level I think you know that. We both took advantage of it, but now that’s over. Even if I were allowed to have sex right this very second, it wouldn’t be with you.”
“Wow,” she says, her face registering her total shock at my words. “That no-sex rule really does make you cranky.”
There’s no way this girl is that fucking dense. No way. I walk off, shaking my head, and close the bedroom door behind me. Taking a step away from the door, I quickly move back and lock it immediately before she tries to open it.
“Time for you to leave, Syndi,” I call through the door. My anger and frustration are still seething through every pore of my body.
“Okay, get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning,” she calls back sweetly. Like I didn’t just tell her to fuck off and leave me alone.
Walking into the bathroom, I growl loudly and look for something to punch. There’s nothing here that I can take my frustrations out on. I have to let them fester, build up to epic proportions, and release them all at once while I’m in the ring. At this rate, I will utterly obliterate my opponent next month.
Pacing in one direction, stopping to jump up and down on the balls of my feet, then turning to pace in the opposite direction, I do this over and over to try to release this pent-up anger. When my phone rings, I nearly rip the denim off the front of my jeans as I snatch it out of my pocket.
“Woods,” I bark into the phone.
