Piecing Together Sydney (A Sydney West Novel Book 3) (11 page)

“Really?” A smile made his eyes brighter. They reminded me of Jason’s when he landed a perfect trick surfing.

“Yes. Should we talk in the café?” I pointed to the coffee section of the bookstore. There were a handful of people sitting there, but they were too busy reading or looking at their laptops or phones to bother us. A table in the corner was perfect, and it had four chairs.

“Please.” He opened his arms as if to hug me and then froze. I took a step back and gave him a small smile. It was awkward, but we weren’t at the hugging stage. “Sorry. I’ll go get a table. Thank you so much, Sydney.”

I nodded and went back to grab a freaked-out Jason. “Come on. He’s getting a table. We’ll talk and hear him out. You can say whatever you wish. But please, don’t make a scene. It will do no good for any of us. Okay?”

“Yes,
Mother
,” Jason muttered. He gave me a grim smile, letting me know he was kidding. I took the book from his hands and placed it back on the shelf.

We walked across the café and sat opposite Daniel. He had his back to the rest of the store, but we could see everything going on. It gave us a break from looking at Daniel’s melancholy face.

I got out my cell to text Amelia so she knew we didn’t blow her off or have a huge fight.

Me: Got Jason 2 sit down with his father. We’ll see how it goes…

Amelia: Sending good thoughts!

Me: Not sure how long this will take. Just didn’t want u to think we ditched u & not have a way back home.

Amelia: I have ur keys! Lol U handed them 2 me when we first came in & never took them back. So don’t worry about me. U can ride back with Jason, right?

Me: Yeah! Okay, great
.


Amelia: I’m going to take Hunter out so the house will be all yours. Lylas

Me: Thanks! Lylas

Daniel cleared his throat and folded his hands on the table. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning. Your mother and I had our issues and they tore us apart in the end. I never had any ill will toward you or your sister. I loved you two dearly, but I didn’t want to bring you into a nasty divorce, nor did I want you kids jumping from house to house for holidays, summers, and whatever else. I thought you were better off with your mom and without me.”

Jason clenched his jaw and cracked his knuckles. “So you abandoned us so we didn’t get passed around to two different houses?”

His father ran a hand through his graying hair. “It sounds stupid now, I know. But I thought your mom would remarry and find someone better than me…I guess I never thought I was good father material.”

Silence dared to steal the show, and I knew it would end this rare moment. “So what brought you back?”

“Well…” Daniel looked down at his hands, at the gold ring on his left finger. A wedding band. I never noticed that before. I felt ill. “I…I got a job at a credit card company and met this woman. She was…never mind that.” His eyes were starry; he loved this mystery woman. “Anyway, we dated for a few months, and I asked her to marry me. We got hitched once the divorce was finalized.” He swallowed and looked over his shoulder at the coffee bar. “Anyone want a coffee or something?”

Jason leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his strong chest. “Nope. Go on.” He was firm and his tone sharper than a razor. Shit. This wasn’t going well. His father went and created a new family. I didn’t see this coming. I dug my nails into my thighs. This wasn’t good.

At least your father was just a druggie and didn’t get a girlfriend and start a new family…wait, he kinda did. But only because he couldn’t be alone, and she shared the addiction to meth.

I bit my bottom lip. This was a shit storm. Would I lose my sweet Jason due to this asshole? I came back from the darkest hole in myself, and I’d be damned if I lost the only man who made me see a reason to be in a relationship to something like daddy issues.

Daniel’s Adam’s apple went up and down as he nervously swallowed again. “Kat and I got pregnant about a year or so after we got married. I remembered what it was like being a dad and wanted to reach out to you and Kylie, I honestly did, but I didn’t think it was my place. Your mother told me she’d disappear if I contacted you, so I just sent child support like I was ordered to. I’d ask for current pictures, and she’d refuse. Once you both turned eighteen, she gave me a picture of your sister, and then you in your…”

He sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “…in your graduation gown. That was the only picture she gave me. The only other ones were the few I had in my wallet when I made that stupid decision to leave you kids behind.” He pulled out his wallet and opened it, laying it down on the table so we could see inside. There were small pictures, well-worn around the edges of two kids hugging each other with huge smiles on their faces. They were Kylie and Jason. He turned the page, and there were school pictures of them and one of a Christmas holiday photo with both kids and both parents. The last two were Kylie and Jason’s newborn baby pictures.

That was it.

He missed their entire childhood. Their graduation from high school. He was soon to miss college graduations, weddings, babies, and…wait.

Jason pulled the pictures closer to him, studying the images.

I placed my hand on his thigh and squeezed, letting him know I was with him. “So,” I said to Daniel. “You saw our wedding announcement and thought you should stop missing out on your other kids’ lives?”

His mouth closed, and his eyes went over to Jason. “I wanted to see my daughter and son again. In the flesh. I found them on Facespace and would see more than ever before, but…it wasn’t enough. Plus…” He let out a deep breath. “I wanted Jared to meet his older siblings…”

“Jared?” Jason said his name like it was vinegar in his mouth.

“Yeah. He’s a teenager now, and I thought maybe—”

Jason stood and flicked his father’s wallet back to him. He caught it before it fell off the table. “Sorry, I have other shit I need to do now. I gave you more than five minutes. Come on, Syd.”

I gave Daniel a nervous smile and got to my feet. “Bye.”

“Son, please!” Daniel shot up and pocketed his wallet. “I want—”

Jason held his hand up. “I’m done.” His face twisted into something almost evil. “Has Kylie met this Jared?” Each word dripped with venom.

“No…I haven’t told her. She knows about Kat, but we…I…it’s complicated.”

“Of course it is.” Jason grabbed my arm, pulling me closer to him. He held onto me like I was his rock, his comfort, his everything. “You don’t want her to toss you away when she learns you replaced us with a new family.”

“Jason, I know it looks bad, but that wasn’t my intention. Really. I just—”

“I need time to think about all this. You’ve come at a horrible time, or did you want to rain on Sydney and mine’s joy of wedded bliss?”

“No, I didn’t want to do that. I simply wanted to be a part of—”

His hold on my arm became too much, it would be a bruise probably, but I couldn’t blame him. I had no idea how I’d feel if my lowlife father told me he’d created another life with someone other than my mom. It would’ve been mind-blowing for me being an only child, but it still had to be world-changing for Jason to have a sister
and
a brother. He wasn’t the youngest by his father, but the middle child. This was going to land

him in therapy. Good thing I’m going to be licensed in a couple years.

“I just can’t right now. Good-bye.” Jason towed me out of the store.

“Shh…” I kissed his forehead and sat him down on a bench in front of a nearby clothing store.

His whole body trembled and I wasn’t sure if it was from shock, anger, or a mixture of both.

“Do you wanna go home?”

“Yeah, but what about—”

I helped Jason up and let him lean on me. “Amelia took my car home. Where did you park? We just need to go to bed.” I held my hand open for his keys.

Jason placed his car keys in my palm. “Okay, but we should shower first.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

At least his spirit was still alive. Jason wasn’t going to be gone from me like I feared. He’d have some more scars to deal with, but so did I. My father didn’t leave on good terms. He died in the hospital as we slept nearby. Maybe not died, but he was heading that direction.

As we walked out of the mall and toward Jason’s Jeep, I knew we’d be able to survive anything after this. I mean, we had such a horrible start in life, yet we found each other. He was my light in the darkest of days. I wasn’t sure what I was to Jason…his rock, perhaps. I was today, anyway. But I knew he needed me like I needed him. We belonged to each other.

I never knew what it was like to be in a romantic relationship, but it wasn’t that hard to learn. I just needed to open my eyes and see what love was. It was about communication and being there for each other no matter what. Just like Henry Ford said.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

The goal now was to keep an open mind. I wasn’t going to put up a wall between Jason and me, and I prayed Jason wouldn’t put one up between us either. We needed to be real with each other. Through happy times and grief. Soon, we’d look back at this summer and talk about his father coming back. We’d discuss the chaos of wedding planning and kiss on our anniversary every year forever. No more summer albums full of parties I didn’t remember that well. Just albums of us, and we’d come up with a new tradition. I didn’t want to be cliché and go by New Year’s or birthdays. I lived by summers, and they made me who I was today.

Honestly, I couldn’t wait until we could look back at this summer. The stress of the wedding would be nothing but memories. Amelia would have a kid, and that would be so weird to get used to. My mom would be a lovely hostess to our new family every year like she always wished for. I’d be done with school finally and doing a job I loved. Damn, the future was bright. Nothing could dull my shine.

I sat behind the wheel of Jason’s Jeep and discovered I had never driven his vehicle before. We were up higher than I was used to driving, but it wasn’t too hard to back out of the parking spot and leave the lot. As we hit the road, I side-eyed my future husband. He wrung his hands in his lap and stared out the windshield, but it didn’t seem like he was seeing the passing cars and buildings. It was more like he was lost in thought. I wanted to try to read his expression, but in LA we had crazy traffic and extremely stupid drivers.

At a red light, I dared to turn my head and touch Jason on the knee. He was silent the entire way; his lips moved, but no words came out. He did…nothing. It was scary. That anger he had bottled up needed to be released.

“Talk to me, baby. I don’t like this quiet anger you have going on. What’s going on in that head of yours?” I ran my hand through his lush hair and then put it back on the wheel.

He sighed. “I hate that man, Syd. I mean more than I thought I could after learning…learning…fuck, I don’t even want to say it.”

I chewed on my bottom lip, switching my foot over to the gas as soon at the light turned green. “I know…”

What could help Jason let this anger and hurt out? He needed to hit something and just be pissed. Let it all pour out of his system. Then it hit me like a rogue wave. We could go to a boxing gym. They had all kinds of things to punch and kick. You could spar with a partner or just hit a bag over and over again.

“I know what to do. We’ll go home and change, then we’ll hit the road again.” I put my foot down a little more on the gas. We were still an hour from home.

“Damn, Syd. Is your goal to make me worry about you killing us so I don’t dwell on my father issues?” He sounded like he was half kidding.

“No, that’s not my plan.” I swerved to miss a silver car who braked in the middle of the lane like a moron. The light turned yellow, not red. “You need to talk about your father. I could be the poster child for never talking, and look where that landed me.”

He huffed. “With me!”

I laughed and smacked his arm. “That’s not what I meant. You know how I was last year. It was parties and drinking. My cure was wine and looking for the next place to get lost so I could avoid reality for months, and then I’d bury myself in college work so I never thought of my personal issues. I can’t believe how unhealthy that was, and I never even thought about it. I mean, being a psych major, you’d think—”

“Very ironic if you ask me. But I guess you finally started listening to your professors.”

I cackled. “I always listen. It just doesn’t stay in my head sometimes.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Let’s listen to some music.” I turned on the radio and blasted Alice Cooper to get off the subject of me and my problems.

***

Jason thought I had lost my mind when I told him to put on workout clothes. I never went to a boxing gym before, so I had to do some Googling to find one that was close and didn’t cost an arm and leg to get in. We didn’t want to be members, just needed to let off some steam.

Dave’s Boxing was only a few miles away by the beach. They had a free day trial that I was so going to take advantage of. I got Jason into my Charger. Amelia and Hunter had to be away somewhere in his truck like she said they would. Jason studied my face, but I gave him nothing but a wink as I started the engine.

I went a bit faster in my car because I knew it well, and I could do sharper turns knowing we weren’t going to flip.

“My God, Sydney,” Jason screamed as he held onto the handle above the window as I did a tight left turn. “You're secretly a street racer, aren't you?”

I had to laugh. “Damn it, now you know everything about me.” The place was just ahead. I cut off a white van and gave them the bird. They honked as they drove past. I rolled my eyes and turned into the parking lot. “People these days,” I muttered.

Jason unclicked his seatbelt and looked at the building. “Thank God we lived.”

I gave him a death glare.

“I mean…hey…why did you bring us here?”

“Hmm…” I took my seatbelt off and opened the door. “We’re here to beat the crap out of punching bags and maybe a volunteer boxing partner. We shall see.”

We had to walk around the building to enter the front doors. As soon as we went inside, the scent of sweat and salt hit my nose.

Jason looked around. “Do we have to—”

“Welcome!” a big man made out of muscle said. He looked more like a bodyguard for a famous singer than someone working at a boxing place.

“Hello.” I offered my right hand to the mountain. He shook my hand, and I thought my arm was going to fall out of its socket. He was too strong.

“I’m Dave. What brings you to my place?” he asked, moving on to shake Jason’s hand.

“I saw on your site you let newbies in, and we’d like to check this place out and punch something.” I gave him a confident grin like I was going to be the next best woman boxer.

“You came to the right place.” He turned around and motioned to the ring and all the things around it. “Newbies are allowed one free visit, but we will need some info from you before you get started. Everything is free to use but the ring. If you want to box with someone, you’ll have to pay, but you get a discount.”

“Okay, makes sense,” I said.

“Follow me.” He walked toward the front desk and dug around from some paper. “Just fill this out and let me know when you’re done.” He left to go talk to a guy who totally looked like the Rock.

The paperwork was basic. We couldn’t sue him if we got hurt on his property and we needed insurance.

After about ten minutes of paperwork, we were walked over to the work-out section where there were three body-sized bags to beat. Jason took the one on the left and I took the one in the middle.

“Now just picture the bag as what has you pissed off and just beat the fuck out of it. Okay?”

Jason nodded. “Can I yell or would that be weird?”

I shrugged. “I guess you can some, but remember they can probably hear you.”

“Right. This is for my sister, Kylie.” Jason punched the bag and then grabbed it, making it stop swinging.

“What’s wrong?” His forehead wrinkled as if he was doing a huge math problem in his head. His thoughts were probably all over the place.

He dug his fingers into the bag and glared at it. “I just don’t know…”

“Beat the bag, Jason. Come on. Like this.” I took my stance. “This is for picking drugs over my mom and me.” I hit my bag with a sharp left hook. “This is for having a party when I was eight and my mom was in the hospital.” I kicked the bag, making it swing and then come back. “This is for failing to protect me.” I punched it again over and over until I had no more breath.

Jason touched my shoulders. “Okay, Syd. Don’t lose it though. You’re kinda scary.”

I laughed, flipping my hair over my shoulder. “I’ve always been scary. It’s the bitch in me.”

He chuckled for half a second and went back to his bag. “This is for failing to teach me things a father should teach his son.” He hit the bag, it moved a bit. “This is for making me be the man of the house when I was in elementary school.” He kicked it hard. “This is for not giving my sister a role model to look up to.” He punched the bag. “This is for starting a new fucking family and forgetting us!” He whaled on that bag until I swore it was going to fall from the chain and burst with whatever was inside it. He just kept hitting it and muttering things. His face turned bright red and he kept at it. No matter how out of breath, no matter how hard he was using those knuckles. He was feeling the pain and grief. It was coming out, and he finally said those painful words. How Daniel started a new family, and how that must burn on the inside.

Dave came over to check on us and whistled as he watched Jason pound that bag like it was his worst enemy. “Damn, he has a lot of rage.”

I nodded. “Just letting out steam. Family issues and such.”

He walked a wide circle around Jason and stood next to me again. “Hmm. I think he needs to go in the ring. I have someone who needs to train with a wild man like that.”

Jason kicked the bag karate style. I didn’t know how much of a sexy fighter he was. “How much is it?”

He shook his head and rubbed his chin. “With that kind of rage, it will be on the house. Nathan hasn’t had someone mean to fight against, so he has a big head.”

“Jason!” I tried to get through to whatever storm was going on inside his brain.

“What?” he yelled back, out of breath. He bent down, resting his hands on his knees.

I nodded to Dave who was leaving to get his boxer. “The owner wants to put you in the ring to fight his boxer. Says he likes your rage, and it will be free.”

“Do you think I should?” He looked over at the bag, which was still swinging. If it was a person, it would be covered in blood.

“Yeah. I’m more worried about the other guy to be honest. I had no idea you were that pissed.”

He wiped his nose and put a sweaty arm around my shoulders. “I didn’t know either. It just came out like a dam bursting.”

“I saw that. Do you feel any better?”

Jason paused and closed his eyes for a heartbeat. “I think I do a little bit, yeah. This was a good idea, Syd. Thanks.”

Dave came back. “Okay, do you know how to box with someone?” He looked Jason up and down, seeming hopeful yet a little worried since there was an edge in his voice.

“Seen it on TV, but never in real life.”

He nodded and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, I have something for you to change into, and I’ll give you a run down on what you can and can’t do.”

Dave took Jason into the back where the locker room was. I sat down on a wooden bench and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

“Water?” the guy who looked like the Rock asked.

“Sure, thanks.” I took the bottle and opened it, taking a swig.

“That your boyfriend?” He looked over to where Jason and Dave disappeared.

“He’s my fiancé,” I replied between sips.

“Aw.” He wiped his face on a white towel. “When’s the big day?”

“July twenty-second.”

“Coming up. Are you ready?”

I put the cap back on my water. “Kinda. It’s scary, but I guess that’s how everyone feels. Are you married?”

He held up his left hand, showing me his silver band. “Yup, thirty years. She’s the best woman I ever met. We have three amazing kids. Couldn’t ask the good Lord for anything better.”

I smiled. For some reason he made me feel better about the future. “I’m glad.” I looked him up and down. “Are you the boxer Dave wants Jason to face?” It was hard to keep the worry out of my voice. This guy could crush my skull with one hand and little effort.

He had a deep laugh and shook his head.

Thank God!

“No. He’ll face Nathan. He’s over there.” He pointed to a tall guy who had the same build as Jason, so it wouldn’t be as scary. At least that was what I hoped.

Jason came out and entered the ring. He ran around inside and moved foot to foot like boxers do on TV. Nathan got up and entered the ring too.

Dave stood outside and clapped his hands. “Remember no hitting the face or below the waist. This is practice.”

Jason and Nathan both agreed and hit mitts. The bell rang, and the guys went at it. Jason jumped to miss a jab to the ribs. He came back and hit Nathan in the chest over and over as if he was the bag. Nathan was pinned against the ring and Jason swept his feet out from under him. He then pinned him to the mat, and three seconds later, Jason won.

It went so fast I didn’t even know what happened.

Dave hit Jason on the back. “Damn, boy, if you ever want to go pro, you call me up.”

Jason chuckled and took his mitts off. “Thanks, man.”

Dave then turned his attention onto Nathan, who stayed down on the mat. That guy got a serious reality check.

The man who won my heart climbed out of the ring and walked over to me. “Wanna get outta here? Get some ice cream and catch a movie?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Sure, but you’re taking a shower as soon as we get home.”

A few guys snapped their sweat towels at Jason and laughed. Jason waved them off. I guess in guy lingo that meant he was whipped. It was fun to see Jason happy and acting like his old self again.

This didn’t cure Jason’s broken heart, I knew that. It did help him find a way to deal with it though. Maybe he could be a member here and just hit that bag or some boxer in training to keep that anger from eating him up.

All I knew was boxing was a better outlet then what I used to do. It was exercise and no risk of hooking up with the wrong people. Just in danger of getting a fat lip or a black eye. Nothing’s perfect.