Fix You: Bash and Olivia, Book 3 (8 page)

Maybe she needed a guy to ride by her side.
A guy to slay dragons with.

I only hoped it wasn’t too late for me to be that guy.

Chapter Eight

Olivia

“How did he find you?” Bash asked.

After an hour long Q&A with the police, the two of us sat on the rear bumper of the ambulance waiting to see what the medic thought of his hand, but I already knew.

He’d broken a bone.

There was no question in my mind. Already, it was swelling like a balloon, and I wanted to scream with the unfairness of it all.

“I was at the library. He must have been following me.” I shivered at the memory. It was like something out of a horror movie. I’d been walking alone and that feeling—the sensation that someone was watching me—got so strong, I actually started sprinting. “He grabbed me from behind and pushed me into the car at knifepoint. He told me you were knocked out and tied up in the trunk. I didn’t know if he was telling the truth but I was afraid if I jumped out of the car, he’d kill you.”

Bash’s face was grim and pale as he leaned closer to me, until our shoulders brushed. “He won’t be able to hurt you anymore,” he said as we watched the police car roll away with Andy cuffed in the back of it.

The gentle-faced medic looked up and released Bash’s hand. “From the sounds of it, this could have all been a lot worse. I don’t know if you need to go to the ER, but you should definitely go to an ortho tomorrow and have it x-rayed. My guess is a boxer’s fracture, so there probably isn’t much they can do except let it heal.”

Bash nodded like that wasn’t news to him and I frowned. “There’s a name for it?”

“Yep.” He grinned at me then, and I wondered if he hadn’t hit his head during the brawl.

“What could possibly be funny right now?” I asked incredulously. “You realize this means you’re not going to be able to fight Victor
Spada, don’t you?”

“What’s funny is that when I taught you those self-defense moves, I showed you how to punch the right way, specifically to avoid this injury. And then, in the heat of the moment, I’m the one who loses my shit and now look at me.” He held up his hand. “I go and do it myself.
Rookie move.”

The medic moved away to talk to
Matty, who’d come over asking questions, and Bash scooted closer to me. It took what little strength I had left to keep from melting into him, holding him tight, and bawling my eyes out, but I held strong. There was still a wedge between us and ignoring it now would only cause more pain in the future.

I wanted to support him through this latest blow with having to pull out of the
Spada fight, and I would, but I couldn’t fall back into his arms again knowing he didn’t trust me.

“We’ve got to call Mickey. I’ll give him his money, and you just tell him what happened. That you can’t fight now and—”

“Shh. I don’t want to talk about that right now,” he said softly. “I have something way more important to say. I was wrong, Liv. I was so wrong, and I’m sorry.”

I turned to face him, my heart stuttering in my chest. His blue eyes were solemn and he threaded his uninjured fingers with mine.

“You’ve proven again and again how tough you are, from leaving Andy to sticking by me through all of the shit that came after. Every time, you rose to the occasion. Me wanting to protect the people I love is the reason I did what I did, but it’s not an excuse.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut in before I could.

“I’m not saying that I still won’t have those urges, but I swear to God, I’ll never lie to you again. We might not agree, but we can go toe-to-toe and fight it out until we do if you give me one more chance.” His voice sounded choked as he leaned in and breathed into my hair. “Give me one more chance and I promise I won’t need another.”

It was a risk. He’d gone back on his word once. But what good ever came of playing it safe? Could I settle for a guy from a great family, with a lot of money who could offer me an easy lifestyle? I could. I had. And his name was Andy. I’d rather aim for the gold and roll the dice with Bash.

I buried my face in his neck and breathed him in, blinking back fresh tears. I’d thought I was all cried out after the past few days without him, but apparently my emotions regarding this man were limitless.

“Okay,” I sniffled against his skin.
“One more chance. And you better not blow it, Bash McDaniels.”

“Are you two done weeping like a couple of schoolgirls yet?”
Matty drawled. Bash and I broke apart and I met Matty’s gaze. In spite of his teasing tone, there was no question he looked worried.

“Yeah, we’re done,” Bash said
, keeping one arm slung around my shoulder. “For now.”

“We’ve got some talking to do, bro.”
Matty’s face went serious, and Reid came up behind him to join the conversation.

“We do at that. But for right now, I’m going to go upstairs, get some ice on this hand, and spend the rest of the night with my girl. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.”

Matty leveled a frown at him. “This is serious shit, Bash. Eye on the fucking prize.”

Bash stood and drew me up to stand with him.
“So right, bro. And I already won. The rest will work out exactly how it’s supposed to.”

He led me across the parking lot and I followed behind, torn.

“I can hear your gears grinding, Liv, and you need to stop,” Bash said, giving my fingers a squeeze. “I watched a guy hold a knife to your neck tonight, and before I do another fucking thing, I need to hold you in my arms and thank God you’re still here, okay? I promise we’ll work the rest out in the morning.”

He was right. We’d gotten this far and come out on top. This was just one more hurdle to jump over, and we would do it together.

***

Bash

My hand throbbed, Liv’s lip was split, I’d likely missed out on the best fight I’d ever landed, but I’d never felt so content. My brothers had finally gone to bed, and Liv was standing in the hallway in her underwear, hip hitched against the jamb of the open door of the bathroom that acted as a frame for the world’s sexiest picture.

“Well, don’t just stand there. Your muscles have got to be sore. I’ll run you a bath.” Without another word, she disappeared into the next room.

When I met her inside, the water was already running and she was sitting near the faucet, pouring something into the stream. “This will help.”

This time when our gazes met, I was relieved to see that the last of the fear and anger had melted away into the soft glow of affection.
And something else. A pink flush painted her cheeks, and whether it was from the stream of the water or from some dirty thought in her mind, I didn’t know.

But I was dying to find out.

“You don’t have to take care of me, you know. I’m fine.” I edged toward her, boxing her in against the counter until there were only inches between us.

“I know. I want to,” she said. Her voice was husky, her lids already half-closed.

Tentatively, I pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, avoiding the cut. I kissed her the way I’d wanted to from the first moment I’d seen her. Not forcefully or filled with want, but slowly. Carefully. Cherishing her. Because this was so much more than want.

It was tenderness and love, and I fell into her kiss the same way I’d fallen into her. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. Because when I saw her, I had no other choice.

Too soon, she pulled away and murmured, “The bath will overrun.”

I turned off the water, then pulled my shirt overhead and returned to where I’d left her, pressed against the bathroom counter. That pink flush had bloomed into a bright, full red that trailed down her neck.
A sweet, cherry temptation.

“
You coming with me?” I asked, closing the space between us again.

“Always,” she breathed I kissed the length of her neck, pausing on each of her collarbones to nip at her satiny skin. Then my tongue moved lower, tracing the place where the hem of her bra dipped into her cleavage.

She moaned, and with a flick of the wrist her bra was gone and she was laid bare to me, all creamy white skin and pert pink nipples. More beautiful than anything else on earth. The blood rushed to my groin and I growled her name.

“Get into the water.” My command was soft but
firm, and she obeyed. Sitting on the edge of the tub, and then, with torturous slowness, she eased her tight black G-string off.

She made to step into the water, but I couldn’t resist. “Stop,” I said.

“What?” She was all huskiness and sex appeal.

“Turn in a circle. I want to see you.”

She smiled and did as I asked, twisting slowly for me to admire every inch of her beautiful body. Her sleek, angular hips. Her beautiful round backside. The swell of her perfect breasts.

And the gorgeous face that completed the package.

“You’re perfect,” I breathed and hoped she knew I wasn’t just talking about her body. She was the most beautiful person I had ever known, and that was true inside and out. If it took a lifetime, I would spend every day showing her I meant it.

“Now my turn.
Take it off,” she said. Her eyes shone in the soft bathroom lighting, and there was no denying her. I undid my belt and removed my jeans and underwear.

“Looks like you’re pretty perfect too.”

Her lips quirked to the side in a gentle half smile and without waiting for my cue, she stepped into the bubbly water, disappearing beneath the foam surface to her waist.

“You getting in or what?”

This time, I was the one following orders. Her knees appeared above the surface as she made way for me to climb in across from her. The ancient claw-foot tub was just big enough to fit us both, but I didn’t care one way or the other. It didn’t matter to me if water sloshed over the sides until we flooded the whole fucking apartment. I was with Olivia and nothing else mattered right then.

Our legs tangled together as I leaned into her one inch at a time until I was a breath away, savoring the heat of the water as it was replaced with the heat of her skin.

“You are so stuck with me now,
Liv,” I whispered into her mouth.

“Sounds like you have a deal.”

She pulled me to nestle between her thighs, her long fingers cupping my neck and sending droplets of water running down my back, but I hardly felt it as our hips met.

“Please,” she whispered, and that was all I needed.

I pulled back and then guided myself into her. In that instant, my head nearly exploded. She was the best kind of warm, the most amazing kind of tight. Being inside of her was enough to make a man lose his mind.

Then she rocked against me, grinding her hips into mine like a woman on a mission. I fell into her rhythm, matching her breaths, her thrusts, until the blood hummed in my head and her soft gasps threatened to drag me over the edge. We rocked faster until water spilled over the sides and splashed to the floor. She clutched at the sides of the tub as I nibbled a line from her ear to her collarbone, pausing every so often to nuzzle the hollow of her throat.

“Oh, God,” she cried.

“That’s it,
Liv. Take it.” The need was raw now, and we were both on a mission to satisfy it.

She arched into me, letting me still deeper inside, and her nails scratched down my back. It was like one last stand before the final surrender, and I knew what to do to get her there.

“Come for me.” I whispered the words in her ear, thrusting long and slow and deep, then sliding my hand between us and working her swollen clit. My vision was already starting to blur but I pushed through it and the grinding pressure building at the base of my groin. I had to work through it. Had to watch Olivia come completely undone in my arms.

And then she did.

Scrabbling at the ceramic sides, she threw her head back and arched into me, her walls spasming, then contracting to grip me like a fist as her low moan rang in my ears, pushing me over the edge.

My heart was still jackhammering when she pulled away from me, her beautiful breasts exposed above the surface, and she whispered, “I love you.”

This.
Here and now with Liv. This was the prize.

Epilogue

Olivia

“Have a great summer everyone, and don’t forget the sunscreen.” There was an audible sigh of relief as Professor Totman gestured toward the door.

It was over. Class dismissed.
Whoot!

I snatched up my books and briefly considered pitching them straight into the trashcan on the way out. The school store would probably give me seventy cents for all three of I tried to sell them back, which made no frigging sense since they would charge the next person a hundred and fifty bucks, but whatever. Bash and I were pinching every penny these days, so I held onto them as I scurried down the hallway.

It was a fight to keep the idiotic smile off my face as I waved to a few of my classmates, shoved open the exit doors, and stepped out into the mid-May sunshine. My feet barely touched the ground as I walked across campus, breathing in the scent of magnolia trees.

It was move-in day.

Who would have thought a couple months ago that I was going to fall in love and wind up living with a Boston boy above his boxing gym with his two brothers?

Not me, that was for damned sure.

But when I reached the street and saw Bash parked by the curb waiting for me, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I went to slide into the passenger’s seat and noticed a small box in the way. It was about a foot square, wrapped in crisp, white paper and topped off with a cheery red bow.

My heart gave a little squeeze. “What’s this?” I asked, scooping it up and sliding into the car.

“It’s a happy end of semester gift,” Bash said, turning to plant a kiss on my nose as I settled into my seat.

His blue eyes were lit with banked excitement, which thrilled me. Now that Matty had found a way to take out a legitimate loan to pay back Mickey, Bash seemed like a new man. Amped to find a fight to replace the one he’d had to back out on due to his injury, but hopeful for the future.

We’d been going strong, pedal to the metal, and neither one of us were backing off. It was like, now that the path was cleared for us, we couldn’t wait to start our lives together.

“Open it now,” Bash urged, tipping his chin toward the box in my hand.

He didn’t have to ask me twice. I tore at the paper like a kid at Christmas, heart pounding. In reality, it didn’t matter what it was. Extravagant gifts were off the table, and I couldn’t care less. Just the idea Bash was thinking of me when I wasn’t around and had taken the time to plan a little surprise for me made my day.

I tossed the paper onto the console between us and pulled the top off the white box. Inside was an envelope, and next to it sat the high school class ring my parents had bought for me. The same ring I’d had to pawn to make bail money for Bash a month before.

I gasped and clapped my hand over my mouth, tears welling in my eyes.

“I bought it back from the Mad Money Max for you.” He plucked the ring out of the box and motioned for me to give him my hand. “I wanted to get the rest of the jewelry back too, but…”

I cleared my throat to quell the ache there, and met his gaze. “But instead you realized that it’s just stuff, and we don’t have the money for that. This, though? This was important to me.”

I stared at the ring on my finger through tear-blurred eyes. My mother had filed for divorce from my father the week before, and things back home were rough. This ring was a remnant of a happier time in my family. Something my parents had given me together, and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until Bash slid it back onto my finger.

“I’m really happy to have it back. Thank you, Bash.” I leaned in and curled my arms around his neck, tugging him close for a quick kiss before pulling away to look into his eyes. “I have to know, though. We’re a team now. Are you sure we have the money for this?”

He smiled and settled back into the driver’s seat. “That’s an interesting story, actually. I got a phone call yesterday from Butchie.”

Butchie
was Bash’s trainer. I’d yet to meet him because Bash’s hand was a couple weeks away from being healed, so training was at a minimum, but from what I could tell, all three McDaniels brothers were very fond of him.

“He got a call from a guy in Victor
Spada’s camp. Apparently, his management team has another fighter with a bout scheduled in September that fell through due to doping concerns. They’re looking for someone to fill the slot. They even got the promoter to wire me five thousand dollar advance to lock up the date.” His dark brows shot up and he shrugged. “It was like a gift from the gods or something. This a big fight, Liv. Maybe bigger than the Spada match up.”

I ignored the sizzle of nerves that went through me every time I thought about him getting in the ring and launched myself at him. “Holy shit, that’s so awesome!” I peppered his face with little kisses and he chuckled before pulling away.

“I didn’t want to tell you until I had the money and the contract in hand.” He gestured to the envelope still sitting, unopened in the box on my lap. “Check it out.”

I grabbed the envelope and tore it open. Inside was a five page contract, which I skimmed until I got to the bottom line.

“Sixty thousand dollars?” I squeaked. “Holy crap!”

“Not bad, right?”

“It’s awesome.”

And it couldn’t have come at a better time. I’d taken on a summer job at the library and was in to process of securing some student loans for my last year of school, but Bash’s broken hand had kept him from finding work. He’d been relying on what little money his stake in the gym provided. This fight and the promised purse would definitely give him some piece of mind.

“If I win, I’ll get a bonus.” His gaze went dark and intense. “I’m going to win, Liv. And then we’ll be able to pay cash for your classes.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut. Today was perfect. No reason to spoil that. When the time came, we’d decide together what to do with the money. And I had no doubt that he’d win. He’d been fighting his whole life and, no matter how hard-won the battle was, he always wound up coming out on top.

“I love you,” I said, running my hand over his sexy, stubbled cheek.

“Love you too,
Liv. Always.”

The End

Sort of…

Three weeks earlier…

Matty

“Look, kid, your brother had fans after only one fight here at the warehouse. Him, I’d pay the big bucks for. You?” Mickey eyed me up and down, and shrugged. “You’re an unknown here. It’s not an even trade off. I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head and not looking one fucking bit sorry. “But if Bash can’t make it tonight like he agreed, then me and you still got a five thousand dollar problem, and me and him got a whole new problem. He made a commitment, and I was counting on him.”

I wanted to dive over his shitty desk and pop him in his stupid mug, but I kept it together because I had no other options. With Bash’s hand broken and the
Spada fight off the table, things were looking grim for him already. There was no way I was letting this bottom feeder get his claws into him again on top of it.

Enough was enough.

“From this point forward, all your problems are with me. I want my brother out of it. You tell me what I need to do to make this right for him, and I’ll do it.”

Mickey’s snake-like eyes lit up. We both knew he had me on the ropes, and he was going to make me pay. I vowed then and there that, someday, I’d be on the other side of things. And when I was?

I clenched my fist tight at my sides and waited.

“Funny you should say that, Matthias.
Because I’ve been thinking. This is great,” he twirled his finger around in a circle, motioning to his shitty little office and the warehouse surrounding it. “But I’ve been wanting to go legit. Build this into a legacy that I can pass down to my children someday.”

I felt a stab of pity for his kids, but managed to mask my distaste at the idea that he even had them.
Barely.

Time to play nice,
Matty,
I reminded myself.

“Legit sounds like a good plan, long term,” I said with a nod. “So what do you need from me?”

“I was thinking you could be my guy.”

I paused, and frowned at him.
“Your guy?”

“My guy,” he said with a grin. “I want to start an MMA crew. Manage a few fighters, mix it up with the big boys and make a name for myself. I had my sources checking into you, now that we seem to be doing so much business together lately. They say you’re hot shit and that, once your brothers get their rhythm with their own careers and you focus on your own, you got the goods to be the next big thing. That true?”

Was it?

Who fucking knew
anymore. What I did know was that being “Mickey’s guy” sounded about as appetizing as an open-faced cock and balls sandwich, no gravy.

“I’m a good fighter,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “But I’m not really looking for management right now. There’s got to be something else-”

“Nope.” Mickey shook his head slowly and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the worn desk in front of him. “There is nothing else you have that I want, kid.”

Something in his satisfied smirk made me wonder if there never was anything else he’d wanted. Like this had always been the goal.

I wanted to argue. To tell him to stick his deal up his thieving ass and then walk out, but I had a family to think of. For the first time since our father died, my brother had a chance at happiness.

Time to make a deal yet another deal with the devil.
I promised myself this would be the last. “I want a fight for Bash. A good one.”

Mickey cocked his head and looked at me for a long moment before nodding. “I have some connections. I think I can do that for you. And in return for that and letting him off the hook for tonight, and forgiving the money you owe me, I want you for eighteen months. You fight when I say, where I say and who I say.” He ticked off a finger with each new condition of the deal. “You’ll get paid a flat fee of ten grand per fight until or unless we land something prime time or pay per view. If you don’t perform the way I know you can, the whole thing is off.”

Apparently, being Mickey’s guy was a form of indentured servitude, but I was hamstrung. My guts rocked and then rolled as all the ways this could go bad ran through my head. All the ways he’d have me bent over a barrel.

And then I thought of my brother.

Bash, in kindergarten, coming home with finger paintings no one but me gave a rat’s ass about.

Bash on the floor at the age of ten, back mapped with welts from my mother’s belt, jaw shaking as he held back tears.

Bash as a grown man, being driven away in the back of a police car and almost losing it all.

“Secure the fight for my brother,” I bit out. “If it’s a legit, lucrative match, equal the one he had lined up with
Spada, I’ll do it.”

Mickey slapped the desk and stood, beaming. “Consider it done.”

I turned to go, knowing if I didn’t get the fuck out of there I was going to explode.

“And
Matty?”

I tossed a glance over my shoulder at him, brows raised in question.

“Don’t think about trying to leave town. It won’t go well for any of you boys if you do.”

I stormed out the office door and down the hall, quaking with anger and desperate for some air to breathe that wasn’t tainted by that little fucker. He was the gum on the bottom of my shoe, and until I scraped him off, I was stuck with him. By the time I made it down a series of hallways to the back exit, I’d calmed down enough to start contemplating how I was going to get unstuck.

Distracted, I wasn’t looking where I was going and ran straight into a person a full head shorter than me.

“Jesus Christ!” A female voice snarled. I rubbed my smarting chin and looked down to see a red-haired girl glaring up at me, massaging her forehead with one hand and shoving the phone she’d been holding into her pocket with the other. “What’s your jaw made of,
adamantium?”

Her sherry brown eyes shot gold fire at me and I held up a hand in apology. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Well, you nearly took my head off, so watch it next time.”

She was a fit little package, and the tight white tank top she wore hugged her curves in a way that, on any other day, would’ve made my dick stand up and take note. Today, though, I didn’t have the patience for a mouthy redhead, no matter how hot she was.

“Look, I said I was sorry. You’re fine, I’m fine, let’s just move on with our day.” I moved to push past her through the heavy metal door but she stood her ground, perching her hands on her jeans’ clad hips.

“You
Matty McDaniels?” she asked, eyeballing me from head to toe.

I closed my eyes and blew out a sigh. What now? “I am.”

Her full lips tightened into a thin line. “Well, I guess we might as well get used to butting heads, then.” She stuck out a hand grudgingly. “I’m Kayla James. And, according to Mickey, I’m your new manager.”