Fix You: Bash and Olivia, Book 3 (7 page)

Chapter Seven

Bash

Three days and three nights.
I hadn’t seen or heard from Liv since the morning she’d walked out my door.

“
You going out tonight?” Reid asked, taking two quick jabs at his own face in the floor-length mirror.

“Stop doing that,”
Matty said, barely looking up from behind the desk where he sat reading the sports section of the newspaper. “You’re a terrible boxer. Stick to what you know.”

“What I know is, if I took a year out to practice, I could kick both of y’all’s asses in the boxing ring if push came to shove. But the ladies prefer martial arts, so I’m going to stick with that.”

Matty snorted and the light in Reid’s dark eyes paired with that cocksure smile almost made me smile back at him, which was clearly the goal.

And then I remembered everything still sucked, and
Liv was never coming back to me. I punched the heavy bag with all my might, wincing when the force of the blow sent a stinger up my arm.

Reid turned away from the mirror and came to stand next to me.

“Enough is enough, bro. You’ve been at it for days now, nonstop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Kid’s right, Bash.
Six weeks until fight night, and the last thing you need is another injury. That eye is looking good. If we can keep you healthy, you got a real shot. Eye on the prize.”

Reid murmured an “amen to that,” but I wasn’t interested in talking about the fight or the prize. For the first time, when I pictured myself winning, all I felt was…nothing. Hollow. Like what the fuck did it matter if I didn’t have
Liv to share it with?

I punched the bag again with a grunt. “
Butchie will be here soon. We’ll let him decide if I’m pushing too hard.”

I knew he’d say I was. Hell, he was old but he wasn’t blind. Maybe I was punishing myself for being stupid enough to let
Liv get away. Or maybe I was punishing myself for not being good enough for her in the first place. Guess it didn’t matter which. All I knew is that I was fucking miserable.

“You ready to talk about it yet?”
Matty asked. He’d laid his newspaper down and was eyeing me in that way he had. Like a psychologist probing into my brain, and it freaked me out.

“Nope.”
Not now, not ever.

“I know you pretty
good, so I’m going to take a stab at it,” Matty said, kicking back until he could swing his sneakered feet onto the desk. “You fucked it up with her and now you don’t know how to fix it. Am I close?”

His cocky drawl made me wish he were fifty feet closer so I could pop him one in the gut.

“Maybe it wasn’t his fault,” Reid said, bouncing on his toes before executing a neat roundhouse kick toward the mirror. “Maybe she did something wrong.”

Matty
grinned and shook his head slowly. “Oh, grasshopper, how green you are.” He folded his hands behind his head, warming to his role of grand master and making me want to punch him even more. “She is crazy about him and he’s crazy about her. Lesson one: a good woman like Liv who loves her man doesn’t walk away without a fight. If she screwed up, she’d already be here apologizing. Nope, I’m guessing it’s our blockhead brother who was in the wrong here, and he just hasn’t found his way around to it yet.”

Fuck the distance.

I wheeled around and charged toward the desk, intent on wiping that stupid grin off Matty’s face. With less than a yard to cover, Reid jumped in front of me and grabbed my shoulder.

“This isn’t going to help, guys.
Matty,” he called over his shoulder. “Stop being a prick. And you.” He locked his gaze with mine and frowned. “Get your head out of your ass. How bad can it be? After all we’ve weathered, how bad could it really be? You’ll find a way to fix this, man.”

Weird, having Reid
be the voice of reason. As much as I loved him, he was always a pain in the ass. Needling me just to get a reaction. Now all of a sudden, at nineteen, he was the most mature guy in the room.

The thought made me feel like a heel and I backed up, holding my hands aloft in a sign of peace.

“Okay. You’re right. I messed things up with Liv.” Only I couldn’t tell them how, because Matty still didn’t know I was fighting tomorrow night and when he found out, he was going to flip his shit.

He’d forgive me. He had to. But
Liv didn’t and I had no clue how to get her to. Backing out of the fight might have bought me another chance, but I couldn’t even do that. Making a deal with Mickey was like making a deal with the devil. We’d learned the hard way already; there was no turning back.

She was right, though. I should’ve told her. I guess I didn’t because I knew she’d talk me out of it. She’d been ready and willing to throw her whole future away for me, and that, I couldn’t take. So I went the old “ask for forgiveness instead of ask for permission” route and it had bitten me in the ass and now I was stuck.

“So call her,” Reid said. “It’s Friday night. I still have a little of the money from my last fight. Take a hundred bucks, tell her to put on a pretty dress, and bust your ass getting her to take you back.”

I swallowed a bitter laugh. He was trying to help, but he had no clue how much I’d hurt her. Even now, remembering the look on her face made my guts churn. “If only it was that easy.”

Maybe after the fight, when she saw that I was okay and that everything was going to be all right, she’d be willing to talk to me. And this time, if I made a promise, I would keep it.

An hour later, Reid and
Matty headed up to the apartment for pizza and I stayed behind to lock up for the night. My muscles were limp with fatigue after the intense workout, and I hoped that would translate into a decent night’s sleep. It would be the first in days, and with the warehouse fight tomorrow, I needed it bad.

Just as I turned the dead bolt on the front door, my cell buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and my pulse clamored when I saw the screen.

Liv.

I swallowed hard and held the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey asshole,” a low male voice muttered. “Your girlfriend wants to say hi.”

I strained to hear more clearly as sounds of a struggle came over the line.

“Don’t come outside, Bash. Please.”
Liv’s breathy, panicked voice filled my head and I doubled over, heart hammering. “He’s drunk and acting crazy but I don’t think he’ll—” I heard the sound of fist on flesh and Liv gasped.

“What the fuck is going on?” I bit out, squeezing my eyes closed, trying to connect the dots.
Was this Mickey and his boys making sure I showed tomorrow night? If they hurt her—

Heavy breathing was followed by the male voice again. “Come on out, motherfucker— unless you’re too
chickenshit to fight me when my hands are free, that is.”

Andy.

He’d always claimed it had been a sucker punch that knocked him out. Probably because his hands were too busy choking Liv to defend himself.

And now he had her. And he’d hurt her.

Fury swamped me, and I straightened. “Are you here already?” I asked, moving to the window and peering out through the blinds.

Andy stood outside his car with
Liv in front of him. He had a knife to her neck. My mind reeled as I tried to decide on a course of action. Every instinct was on fire, telling me to go outside and murder him where he stood, but if I didn’t call the police and things went bad…what if Liv got seriously hurt?

Andy took the choice out of my hands a moment later when he spoke. “I’m here, all right. No cops. Come out alone and I won’t cut her throat.”

He disconnected and I briefly considered calling for Reid and Matty, but I couldn’t risk it. They might promise to stay out of sight unless Liv was hurt, but if they saw me go down, there was no way they’d keep that promise. I had to do this alone.

I slid my phone back into my pocket and unbolted the door. All I had to do was get him away from
Liv. Get that knife off her neck so she had a chance to run and get help. I could live with whatever happened after that.

I stepped outside into the cool night air and took a steadying breath to quiet the rush of hot blood flooding my ears. Running up and smashing
him to pieces wasn’t an option. I had to move cautiously.

I walked down the stairs, refusing to look at
Liv, knowing it would send me over the edge; I kept my gaze locked on Andy’s face. She was right. He looked crazed. Even from twenty yards away I could see his wild-eyed expression, lips wet with saliva. She’d said he was drunk, but it looked more like meth or something to me. He was twitchy, but not weaving or unsteady on his feet, and that was bad. One false move could send him to do something rash, and the way his eyes were shifting around, paranoia could do the same.

I held up both hands and moved slowly toward them. “I’m here. Let her go and we can work this out like men.”

Liv’s whimper as he tightened his arm around her waist broke my concentration and I looked her right in the face. It was a mistake. Her lip was swollen and blood streaked her cheek. It took everything I had not to charge him. My legs trembled with the effort of holding back as I continued inching forward, one step at a time.

“He took away my trust fund, you know,” Andy spat. “He said until I show some maturity and self-control, he wasn’t going to throw his hard-earned money away on me. Doesn’t he know the only reason he’s still alive is that money? Now he’s worth more to me dead,” he said with a brittle laugh.

I’d had him pegged as a sociopath early on, but now I wasn’t so sure. Whether it was whatever he was on or if he’d just snapped, the Andy in front of me had none of the icy, calculating control I’d seen in the past. This Andy was stone-cold fucking crazy and that made him even more dangerous than before.

“I’m sorry that happened, but we can work it out. Put down the knife,” I said, keeping my voice as level as I could manage. I was only five yards away now, but until he let
Liv go, I was hamstrung.

“We aren’t working shit out. I’m going to teach you a fucking lesson and then when I’m done with you, I’m going to teach this whore a lesson.” Almost as if the gods had heard my prayer, Andy lifted his knife-wielding hand and waved it at me.
Liv didn’t hesitate. She chopped at his hand with her forearm, hitting the pressure point dead to rights, and the knife clattered to the pavement.

Andy shoved her to the ground and lunged for the blade, but I was on him. I hit him with a full-body tackle, taking him down hard. Andy had clearly done some wrestling and tied my legs up with his own as we
grappled, both struggling for purchase. He was a big rugby boy but he wasn’t in the kind of shape I was, and I broke his hold.

“Now you see this one coming, motherfucker.”

His eyes went wide as I cranked back my fist and unloaded on him, the terror I’d felt seeing Liv at knifepoint pouring out of me with each vicious blow.

“Bash, it’s okay. We got him now.
Stop!”

Liv’s
voice was muffled by shouting behind me. I could barely make any of it out through the adrenaline buzzing in my ears.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard my brother’s voice in my ear. “Get off him, bro. The cops are on the way. We got you now. We got you,”
Matty muttered as he pulled at my arm, stilling me.

Harsh breath sawed in and out of my lungs as Andy stared up at me through his battered face, and I let
Matty pull me off him. Reid came in fast and dragged Andy to his feet, wrenching his arms behind his back as Liv bent to pick up the knife.

I shook
Matty off and went to her, pulse stuttering as I saw her lip again. I touched it gingerly with my thumb and nearly wheeled around to go back and whale on Andy some more, but she grabbed my wrist.

“Your hand,” she whispered.

She examined my knuckles, probing them gently and wincing when I flinched.

“Something’s not right, Bash.”

Sirens wailed in the distance and I brushed her off, taking her face in my hands. “It’s fine. Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”

She’d broken up with me, and maybe tomorrow I’d try to accept that, but if she didn’t want me to kiss her right then, she was
shit out of luck. I’d almost lost her for real tonight, and I was so grateful I could barely see straight.

I bent and pressed my lips to the uninjured corner of her mouth.

“I’m so sorry he did this to you.”

She stepped back and touched a finger to her lip, leveling me with a stare so stark it took my breath away. “You hurt me worse, Bash.”

That one was going to leave a mark. I chewed the inside of my cheek as a procession of emergency response vehicles pulled into the lot. We’d have to talk about it later, but I could wait to tell her how proud I was of her. She’d done well tonight. Hell, if she hadn’t disarmed Andy, who knew what could’ve happened? She might not be standing in front of me right now. I wanted so much to protect her, but maybe she was right. Maybe she didn’t need a guy to fix her. Some knight in shining armor to make everything right.