Totaled (26 page)

“Goodnight, Brianne. Drive safely. I’ll call you when I get home tomorrow, okay? Maybe I’ll have caught you a fish to eat for dinner.”

“Good luck. Grouper is my favorite. You catch it, I’ll cook it.”

“That’s a deal!”

I got into my car and drove away with a permagrin on my face thinking of how happy Drew was making me. And it was only our first date. It couldn’t possibly be normal for first dates to go this well. It couldn’t possibly be commonplace for girls to feel this close to someone so fast, unless… My cell phone interrupted my thoughts when it chimed with a text message. I hoped that it was him already.

GCM: I miss you already.

Once I reached a stoplight, I responded to him.

Me: <3

GCM: What does that mean?

Laughing at how obviously inexperienced he was with flirty text messages, I replied.

Me: Turn your phone on its side. It’s a heart. :)

He texted back quickly.

GCM: <3 <3 <3

Chapter Twenty-Eight

DREW

We had a second date, and then a third, and then a tenth and so on. Only six weeks since the shrimp festival, and I was undeniably in love with Brianne Murphy. I felt certain that she felt the same way about me, although we hadn’t said it to each other.

Tonight, Bree cooked a wonderful dinner and invited me over to eat with her family. The plan was to tell her father and brother about us as a united front. The stress of trying to keep the nature of our relationship a secret was getting to both of us. Stealing kisses when no one was looking, lying about going elsewhere when we were really meeting each other in secret, acting indifferent towards one another at the gym, it was all just too much. We weren’t teenagers. We were consenting adults that cared for each other. And I wanted everyone to know she was mine, damn it! I wanted to rip the guys at the gym to shreds when I saw them staring at her, but I couldn’t. I’d finally had enough of sneaking around. There was no reason that we shouldn’t be able to pursue a relationship. Well, there were definitely reasons, but we were beyond caring about that at this point. We were both too far gone. In too deep. If Pat or Liam had a problem with it, I was prepared to tell them both exactly where they could take their opinions. She was worth the fight. She was worth everything.

Sitting at what had become my usual spot at their table, I stared across at her face. Her expression and demeanor were different than I expected them to be. She didn’t look nervous. She didn’t even look cautious. She was confident, proud, and happy. I felt like I could blow chunks at any moment.

“Smells delicious, Bree. Once again, you’ve outdone yourself. Liam and I are lucky men that you take such good care of us,” Pat said as he spooned dinner onto his plate.

“Yes, you are lucky. You guys would positively starve if it weren’t for me,” Bree answered, a light tease in her tone.

“Glad you could make it for dinner, Drew. I actually have something I need to talk to you about,” Pat revealed.

Talk to me?
I had no idea what he needed to discuss and the uncertainty propelled my mind into all sorts of possibilities. I was already nervous enough. I needed to focus on my news. Our news.

“Yes, sir,” I replied politely. “I appreciate the invitation. I, well, we, have something we need to talk to you about too.”

“We?”

“Yes, we. Bree and I.” I looked at her face for approval and she returned a reassuring smile and slightly nodded the go-ahead. “Bree and I have come to know each other better over the past few weeks. And well, we, uh…” I fumbled in my hesitation.

“Dad, we’re together. Dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend,” Bree interjected bravely as I started to stumble on my wording.

Liam and Pat both continued to take bites of their dinner as if we hadn’t even said anything. There was no reaction. No eye contact. No shouting. Not even a deep breath or sigh. I was intrigued as well as confused. And nauseous. Definitely nauseous. More so than before Bree spilled the beans. I had no idea what to think or how to feel. I braced myself for the wrath of a pissed off father, just in case.

“Sir, we didn’t mean to hide anything from anyone or lie,” I added quickly. “We just wanted to make sure that this was something before we made a big fuss about any of it. We’ve talked about it a lot and I assure you that our relationship will not interfere with my training or Bree’s job at all.”

Still nothing. I looked to Bree for help but her expression mirrored my bewilderment. She shrugged her shoulders but had nothing to say.

“Sir, please say something,” I pleaded. All this silence was making me anxious.

Pat set his fork down, folded his arms together across his chest as he relaxed back into his chair, and looked right into my eyes. “How long?” he asked with the best poker face I’d ever seen. “How long has this been going on?”

“Um, I guess, well, since the shrimp festival,” I answered.

Silverware clinked against the glass plate as Liam threw it down. “I TOLD YOU!” Liam shouted. “Pay up! I tried to tell you! You never listen to me!”

I stared at the exchange in speechless shock. Pat and Liam were laughing hysterically at each other, as if Bree and I weren’t even in the same room. Pat leaned over in his chair to extract his wallet from his back pocket and pulled a crisp fifty dollar bill out of it, passing it over to Liam.

“All right, all right, here you go. You won fair and square. Now shut up about it,” Pat said to Liam.

“I’m sorry, what’s going on? You had a bet going?” I questioned, almost offended.

Liam answered me this time. “I knew it this whole time. I tried to tell Dad, but he doesn’t ever think I know anything. So we made a bet.”

“I knew something had changed with Bree after the shrimp festival,” Pat put in, “I just didn’t quite know what it was. She was happier, traipsing around the house humming and singing, for Christ’s sake. Liam told me that you both liked each other, but I didn’t believe it.” Pat sat there shaking his head back and forth, dumbfounded that he had just lost fifty dollars.

“So you’ve known? This whole time?” Bree inquired, looking completely surprised. Astonished, to be more specific.

“You both have been running around town like lovesick fools,” Pat teased. “This is a small town, ya know? Everyone’s talking about it.”

“Oh, they are not!” Bree belted out.

“I’m only saying that you haven’t been hiding anything. Who are you kidding?” Pat sneered.

“So you’re cool with this? With us?” Bree asked softly, with disbelief in her voice.

Pat took a sip from his drink and swallowed loudly before speaking. “Look, the heart wants what it wants. You’re my only daughter and no one is good enough for you. No one! But if it’s Drew that you want to date, well, that’s great. Drew has become like another son to me. He’s a good guy and seems to have your best interests in mind.” He turned his narrowed eyes to me. “Plus, he knows me well enough at this point to know that if he breaks your heart, I’ll kill him.”

We all started laughing; well, Liam, Bree, and I were laughing. But when I looked over at Pat, he was sitting perfectly still with a stern expression on his face, no amusement in his eyes at all. It took a few seconds for us all to catch on and stop chuckling. I looked to Pat, waiting for him to say something else.

He was looking at me and only at me and slowly and deliberately narrowed his eyes. “I don’t think you understand, son,” he said calmly. “If you hurt her, ever, even a little bit, I will fucking kill you. I will not even hesitate. And they will never find the body.”

“Dad! Enough!” Bree cried.

“No, it’s okay, Bree. I understand. Yes, sir.”

The awkwardness of Pat’s threats faded away as we finished our dinner. We joked with each other, talked about the gym, changes in our training schedule, and laughed about lighthearted things here and there. I felt like I was truly a part of the family, accepted and cared for. I hadn’t thought about my mother and father in a while, with the distraction of Bree helping bury my memories to the deep chambers of my heart, but in this moment I couldn’t help think how different things could have and should have been for me growing up. Everyone has a certain level of dysfunction in their family, of that I was sure. Even Bree’s family wasn’t perfect. But the love there, the true, unconditional love and loyalty that they all held first was something to be in awe of. My fleeting thoughts were ranging from bitterness that I had never experienced this before now to warm fuzzies when thinking about sitting across the dinner table from Bree for many years to come.

“Drew, can I have a word with you outside for a few minutes?” Pat asked, interrupting my errant thoughts.

“Sure,” I replied, and we both excused ourselves. I laid my hand over Bree’s and gave a light squeeze as I walked past her at the table. She grinned at me, as if to say thank you.

I followed Pat outside to the back deck, the heat of the night smacking into me like a wet blanket when I opened the sliding glass door. The late June Florida humidity, in combination with the anxiety I felt about this impending conversation, was enough to make me break out into a sweat.

“Have a seat,” he instructed, gesturing to one of the patio chairs. “And take a breath, for God’s sake. I’m not gonna crucify you.”

“Yes, sir.”
He was totally going to crucify me.

“I really am fine with you and Bree,” he said right off, meeting my eyes. “Supportive, actually. I think you’re a good match for each other. But tread lightly. She’s my only daughter. And she’s innocent. To my knowledge, she’s never dated and I’ve never pushed her to for obvious reasons. I don’t know how experienced you are with women, but you need to be careful with her. She’s naïve, and loves fiercely, with her whole heart. She’s an adult now and can make her own decisions, and I trust that she’ll make the right ones. Just please be careful with her.”

“Yes, sir. I will. I really do care about her. I will never hurt her, at least not intentionally. I promise.”

“Good. Now that we have that settled, there’s something else I need to talk with you about.”

“Okay.”
Good news, I hoped.

“I’ve been trying to get you a fight. A real fight, I mean. I have put calls in to all of my contacts within the UFC community. I got the word today. You’re in.”

“What? You mean—is this for real?”

“Very real, son. In nine days, you will fight Stefan Purifoy in an opening match in Atlanta. His opponent tested positive for performance enhancing drugs on his last blood draw. He’s out. You’re in.”

“Oh my God. Nine days. Am I ready?”
Shit, did I say that all out loud?
“I mean, thank you. I want this more than anything, sir, but do you think I’m ready?”

“Drew, you’re gifted,” he said simply, reaching over to clap me on the back. “You’ve been preparing for this moment for years. You’ve been blowing through every amateur match that’s been thrown your way like it’s easier than taking candy from a baby. You don’t get opportunities like this but once. I’ve been on the phone with people non-stop and sending video footage of your amateur fights to my contacts since the first day I saw you spar with Liam. I’ve never known a fighter with such natural talent. You train harder than anyone else, you’re focused, you want to be better and do whatever it takes to get there. You’re ready. This is it.”

“This is it. Holy shit.” My heart was racing. I felt like I was on fire. I was seriously about to get to fight in a national spotlight octagon for the UFC. My brain was firing away at what I was going to need to do in the next nine days. Making weight wouldn’t be a problem. I needed to crack down on my diet though and eat cleaner. I needed to train fiercely but with caution. No injuries. No mistakes.

Pat interrupted my thoughts. “Bree doesn’t know yet. I’ll leave that up to you.”

“Thank you, Pat,” I said as I stood up and went in for the man hug. I couldn’t wait to tell her and see the look on her face.

“You’re welcome. Now don’t let me down.”

“I won’t. You’ll see. You won’t regret this.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

BREE

As if I could sense him, feeling him before seeing him, he was there, behind me. With my hands covered in soapy bubbles of dishwashing liquid as I cleaned the dishes from our dinner, I couldn’t move when he came behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He nuzzled his nose against my ear and whispered, “Let’s get out of here” in between soft kisses.

I dried my hands and turned to him with a smile. “Okay, but lay off on the PDA around here. It’s weird for me.”

“They’re both watching TV. They can’t see us. Not even this,” he said as he brought his right hand up to my breast and grazed his thumb over my nipple, kissing my neck at the same time.

I was taken aback by the boldness of his action when my father and brother were just in the next room, but the physicality of our relationship had progressed a ways since the festival. He was rounding second base and moving aggressively towards third, but he kept having to turn back when I would chicken out. I didn’t mean to be a tease and every particle of my being wanted to go all the way with him, but I was so scared. I could feel my resolve crumbling the second that everything was out in the open with my family. There was no reason to hold back from what felt so right in my heart.

Shocked and incredibly turned on, I swatted his hand down, giggling. “Come on then,” I said to him, walking out of the kitchen and heading straight for the front door. “Drew and I are going out for a while. Don’t wait up!” I called bravely. We didn’t wait around for a response.

The ten minute drive to his house seemed like it took an hour. The excitement that I was feeling barely overpowered the relief I felt that everything was out in the open now. No more sneaking around. No more hiding. I could just be with him, freely, like a normal couple. It felt refreshing.