Page 37 of Boxer Next Door

He gaped up at me, one hand going to where I’d punched him. Before I could gloat some more, we both heard a gasp that had us turning around. It was Lydia coming out of the house. I pursed my lips, worried she’d be angry with me, but not regretting what I did. She came over to where I stood, and I hurried over so she wouldn’t get too close to that bastard.

“Lydia, was this man bothering you?” I asked, holding onto her shoulder and stopping her from going further. She trembled under my hand, and I frowned in slight concern. “Is something wrong? I can get rid of him for you, if you’d like?”

She shot him a look that was part angry, part uncertain. Instead of answering, she latched onto my arm and tugged me behind her.

“Just... come on, come inside with me.”

I was reluctant, throwing a glare at the guy that was just picking himself up off the ground, but I let her tug me behind her.

“I’ll be back, Lydia,” the man called, making both of us stop. “And next time, I’ll bring the law with me, so think carefully, alright?”

I was about to go back to beat the bastard black and blue, but Lydia didn’t let go of the hold she had on my arm. Instead, she kept dragging me inside, then closed the door behind us and leaned back against it. She had her eyes closed, and she took in a deep breath that she let out slowly, before opening her eyes to look up at me. I was still expecting her to blow up at me for what I did, but she smiled instead.

“Thanks for that,” she said, looking impressed. “I didn’t think that idiot would show up here. Thanks for warning him off.” She grimaced. “Now, if only he’d stay gone.”

“I thought you’d be mad at me for it,” I admitted sheepishly, running a hand through my hair.

Her eyes widened as they followed my hand, and she grabbed it as I went to drop it down. I saw what the problem was when I noticed the mess my knuckles were. I grimaced.

“He had a hard jaw,” I explained. “I hit him with full force. I forgot I didn’t have boxing gloves on.”

Lydia gave me an amused look before fretting over my hand.

“Come on,” she said, leading me again, this time up the stairs and to her bedroom.

She directed me to sit on the bed, then went looking for something.

“I’m sure I have a first aid kit around here somewhere,” she muttered.

“You don’t have to treat it. I can just wash it with cold water, maybe put some ice on it. It’ll be just fine after that.”

She shot me a frown. “You sit there and wait for me. Don’t complain. You did something for me, so let me do the same for you, okay?”

When she said it like that, I couldn’t refuse.

“So, who was that guy, anyway?” I asked, curious and still annoyed.

Lydia sighed as she came back to the bed with the first aid kit in hand, dragging a seat to her vanity table and setting it down in front of me. She didn’t take my hand immediately, just sat there staring down at the box in her lap, holding onto its sides tightly. She looked miserable as she finally looked up at me.

“That man,” she said, “was my husband. Ex-husband,” she corrected. “He came to tell me that he wants his son back.”

My jaw dropped, eyes growing wide as her statement sunk in. No fucking way. The same man Adam and I thought was dead? Adam suspected it more than I did, since he was a cop and he went according to evidence. I’d refused to think Lydia could have done anything like that, even if I’d been a little distant because I couldn’t help but worry about it silently. All my walls crumbled, because now I was certain she hadn't done it.

The bastard was alive and well. Before I punched him in the face, anyway. And he was even back and causing problems for my…

I paused as I tried to find the right word. I’d thought of her as my Lydia. What exactly was she to me? A girlfriend? Lover? I’d called her mine before, even if it was only in my thoughts, but I felt awkward now because I wasn’t sure I deserved to call her that. We hadn't talked about what we were to each other yet, just how close we were…

And now, with her ex-husband back and looking for rights to the kid, I regretted not thinking about this before.

I sighed as she cleaned my knuckles for me. She was about to wrap them up when I held my hand up to stall her.

“It’s just bruised, Lydia,” I reassured her. “I can handle this much. It’ll go away in a few days.”

She pouted.

“Besides,” I continued, “I want to have a shower, and it’ll only get in the way. I’d have to take them off right away, so what’s the point?”

She gave me a curious look. “Busy day at work?”