Awakened (The Fighter Series Book 3) Read online

  She moves to Adam and hugs his neck before her glistening green eyes land on me, and she smiles warmly. “You must be Kelsie?” Her voice is sweet and caring.

  “And you must be Paige?” I reply.

  She spreads her hands. “That’s me! I know what these two want to drink. What can I get you?”

  “Coke,” I answer and she nods, striding away with Levi’s eyes latched onto her swaying hips.

  Mere seconds later a small squeal comes from behind us. Levi’s eyes light up with humor and a dark-headed, curvy lady snakes her arms around Adam’s neck. A twinge of jealous pangs me, unsure that I might be meeting one of his “friends.”

  “It’s about time you come see me,” she says, keeping her eyes on him.

  He chuckles under his breath. “Second time I’ve been in town and you’ve not come to see me.”

  Okay, that one stung.

  She rolls her eyes and grins at me. “I’m Holly. Adam’s best half.”

  “I love you’re still dreaming about me,” Adam quips.

  I have no words.

  “Pfft. You’re the one totally fantasizing about me. Have you not seen my boyfriend?” she banters back.

  “This is Holly,” he says to me. “My number one fan. This is Kelsie.”

  She hums with a grin. “What an insult! I’m not a fan of yours. I just obsess over you through the bushes.”

  This makes me giggle.

  Paige brings our drinks and eyes Holly, bumping her with her hip. “Are you giving them a hard time?”

  Holly rolls her brown eyes. “Of course not. Kelsie and I were making a strategic plan on how to keep him straight.” She winks at me.

  “Are you keeping me straight while Matt is around?” Adam asks.

  “You didn’t know? She put a shocker around your nuts so she can be incognito about it,” Levi pipes in laughing.

  Paige slaps Levi’s shoulder.

  “I’ve got to get back to my tables. Keep him straight when I’m not around, would ya?” Holly says to me.

  “I’ll do my best,” I answer. She winks at me again and then strolls off with a ton of sway in her hips.

  Adam shakes his head. “What did you put in her coffee?”

  “If it wasn’t for her, I’d be bored out of my mind today,” Paige answers.

  Levi pulls her down onto his knee and kisses against her ear whispering something. Her eyes bulge out and she blushes brightly.

  “You’ve managed to meet the majority of my life in one day,” Adam says, gripping my knee.

  “I feel like I’m meeting your family,” I reply.

  He smiles proudly. “You are.”

  “How was your workout this morning?” I overhear Paige asking Levi.

  “Quick. Douche didn’t show up.” Levi nods toward Adam.

  Adam’s eyes shift to him. “I’m not supposed to be here for a few more days.”

  “Not a good excuse,” Levi clips.

  Adam leans back and squeezes my knee, taking a deep breath.

  “You better get used to these two bickering over everything. They’ll fight over water if you’re not careful,” Paige tells me.

  “If it’s the last water, I’m kicking his ass for it,” Levi says jokingly.

  “You’ll never catch me,” Adam retorts.

  “You won’t make it to your feet to run.”

  “See what I mean?” Paige interrupts, getting to her feet. “It’s never ending.”

  She takes our food order and then disappears into the kitchen, again with Levi’s eyes watching her move.

  He rakes his teeth over his lip and centers back on Adam. “I’ll begin a tedious regimen next week. I know how it is to work away from…” his eyes flick to me. “Anyway, I’d appreciate if you can work out something for the majority of the week. I’m not doing this without you.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Adam says.

  It’s not long before Paige brings our food back and shimmies away to her other customers. Since being here, the place has gotten busier. Adam and Levi have talked about the fight with Justin for the majority of the time. If it wasn’t about him, it was about Harvey and how he’s decided to change up parts of Levi’s training. I can tell you, Levi doesn’t like change so much. Neither does Adam.

  I sit here quietly, allowing the guys to talk. I don’t know enough about this to add my two cents in, and honestly, I don’t think I could.

  Chapter 19

  Kelsie decided to stay at the hotel this morning while I head off to the gym with Levi. She said she wanted a lazy day, one to relax and catch up on some sleep. Yeah. I did a good job on her last night. It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that our bodies finally gave out. Her sex drive is just as high as mine, and I fucking love every minute of it. There’s something about it, something I can’t really explain. There’s a dedication I want to show her, a passion that’s indescribable.

  My forearms are burning like a motherfucker. I grip the punching bag to help steady it as Levi unloads on it. Strike after strike. Kick after kick. I feel every damn jolt.

  “You really like her.” Levi bounces from toe to toe.

  I wipe my forehead on the sleeve of my t-shirt. “She’s cool.”

  “Just cool, huh?” He mocks me. “Admit it. You’re crazy about her.”

  I laugh. “You seem to have forgotten our conversations at the beginning of you and Paige.”

  He was afraid to admit anything about her, bottling it up until he exploded. She was head strong about not giving him a chance thinking she was going to be “another notch on his bed post.” Inadvertently, he fell head over heels for her and it petrified him.

  He throws a few punches and then bounds backward. “That was different.”

  “Not a bit.” I say. “You went from enjoying women to enjoying a woman. No difference.”

  He smiles. “I like her. You two look good together. You look happy.”

  “Paige has you turning into a sensitive pussy,” I tease.

  He glares at me and slams his fist into the bag, but I was braced for it. I chuckle.

  He continues his assault on the bag but my mind has wandered off, thinking about Kelsie. I was fine before he brought it up, concentrating on his stance, but just mentioning her name knocks me off kilter.

  “She has me coming unglued,” I admit quietly.

  Levi stops in his tracks and glances to me with a shit-eating grin. “That’s how it started with Paige.”

  “She had you chasing her. Kelsie isn’t running.”

  He shrugs. “Fair.”

  I puff out a laugh under my breath, shaking my head. “I told her to keep her heart out of it and I’m the one who didn’t follow the fucking rules.”

  Levi grunts. “That’s a big word for you.”

  “Didn’t say I was there.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” I tell him.

  He wipes the sweat off his forehead. “I don’t have to. You’re glowing,” he teases, raising his voice a few octaves higher.

  “Fuck off.”

  He walks over to the bench to grab his water. “Don’t fuck this up.”

  I don’t respond and lean back against the blue padded wall.

  “Don’t run off with the first jolt of the heart. Don’t tuck your tail and scamper away with the first fuzzy feelings you get. Don’t high tail it. Don’t fuck this up,” he repeats.

  “When the hell did you become a psychiatrist? And what makes you think I want to take your advice?”

  His lips stretch tight. “Because you know I’m right.”

  “Can we hold hands while we skip down the sidewalk?” I deadpan.

  “You’ll see,” he calls over his shoulder stepping back to the bag.

  “It’s because the sex is great.” I position myself behind it.

  He laughs a throaty laugh. “You say the same thing about Roxy. Haven’t seen you bring her around.”

  I glower at him. “Dickhead.”
/>
  He ignores me and resumes his strikes on the bag.

  “Roxy isn’t the ‘let’s meet everyone’ type,” I tell him.

  “You keep telling yourself that,” he grunts between strikes.

  I’m done trying to prove my point. He’s not in my head, doesn’t know my thoughts. It doesn’t matter how many years we’ve known each other. He can’t predict my feelings.

  Paige invited us to come over for dinner tonight. And as we’re about to step into her house, for some fucked up reason, my nerves are on high alert. I’m steadying my breath, quietly, as I shove open the door towing Kelsie with me.

  “Hey!” Paige calls from the kitchen.

  A spicy, herbal, mouthwatering aroma fills the house. “Something smells great,” I say stepping into the living room.

  Paige emerges from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel and handing me a beer. “Hope you like spaghetti, Kelsie.”

  “I do. Is there anything I can help you with?” Kelsie asks hiding her shyness.

  And just like that, Paige stole my date and left me with Levi and the sports on TV. I crack open the beer and watch Levi watch me take a long pull from it.

  “Need a beer?” I joke knowing the answer I’ll get.

  His left brow stretches high. “Last time I drank I about fucked up my life. No thanks to you.”

  I laugh under my breath. We’ve had this conversation many times. “Wasn’t my fault. How was I to know you’d make a fucked up move like that?”

  He cuts his eyes at me. “You shouldn’t have left.”

  “I’m not your babysitter,” I retort.

  “I’ll add that to your job description. You set me up,” he banters.

  “Right. ‘Cause your demise is exactly what I dream about.”

  He laughs loudly, dropping his head to the back of the couch. Long story short, he doesn’t do well with liquor, and he apparently had a flashback to his olden days with his fallback chick. Things didn’t get too far, but it destroyed him to know he broke one of his biggest promises to Paige, and he called things off. I had no words for him and sat for weeks watching him drown in his own guilt.

  We were at his house one night when he decided he was too miserable without her, that his life wasn’t nearly as complete as he thought. He called her and set up a meeting. I don’t know what he said to her, what kind of magic spell he put on her, but after a little persistence, she took him back. They’ve been quite inseparable since.

  The door swings wide and Blain strides in with Lacy right behind him.

  His face lights up when he sees me. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How’ve you been?”

  I stand giving him a bro-hug. “Busy,” I answer and then slide my arm around Lacy’s shoulder. “How are you, girl?”

  Her sweet hazel eyes look up to me and her dimples shine. “I’m good.”

  Paige and Kelsie stick their heads out from the kitchen.

  Blain hugs Paige and then introduces himself to Kelsie. I watch Paige and Blain exchange a look.

  “She with you?” Lacy asks and I nod.

  I sit back down on the couch when Kelsie makes her way to me. She slides in beside me and grabs my beer taking a long draw from it.

  I suppress my laugh. “I’m sure there’s more in the fridge if you want one.”

  Her eyes glint and she shrugs it off.

  Blain comes and drops into the corner of “his” couch. Yes, his. Not only did he buy it, but he’s claimed it. Sometimes I wondered if he’s pissed on it to mark it.

  “How’s the vetting stuff?” I ask.

  “Good, man. Dr. Aisner left me in charge last week. Everything went pretty smoothly.”

  Blain’s a conflicting creature. From the stories he and Paige have told us, he could’ve been a pro-football player, but instead he chose animals—becoming a vet to be exact. My outtake of it—a few years in the pros and he wouldn’t have had to work his whole life. His outtake—bumps and bruises, concussions, and injuries.

  I would’ve taken my chances.

  Kelsie grabs my beer again.

  “You want your own?” I ask again.

  “No. I’ll enjoy drinking yours,” she chirps with her pink lips pulled tightly.

  “What do you do for a living, Kelsie?” Levi asks and I know he’s inconspicuously interrogating her.

  That’s how he works. Every woman he’s ever met from me, whether some random chick in the club or…well, some random chick in the club, he starts getting inside their heads and trying to see every nook and cranny. We may be dumb when it comes to the woman’s language, but we’re not complete idiots. Hints and clues are left in the valleys, and if we dig deeply enough, we’ll find all the information we need.

  Levi will navigate the crooks and divots to feel someone out. He’s a master at body language and pays superior attention to it. I’ve learned my fair share of body language from working beside him. It’s best to keep a close eye on everything.

  “I’m an accounting assistant.” Her tone is impassive.

  Levi looks to me impressively and my ego inflates. “A smart firecracker. Aren’t you lucky?”

  I arch a brow, proud as fucking hell, and take a swig of my beer.

  Kelsie pulls her vibrating phone out of her back pocket, glowers at it, and then places it on my leg.

  Nick.

  “I don’t want to answer it,” she whispers.

  “Then don’t.” And with that, I slide my finger across the screen sending him to voicemail.

  “What made you get involved with a douchebag like Nick?” I cringe at Levi’s question.

  Kelsie’s eyes widen and she looks to me.

  “He knows him too,” I tell her. But it doesn’t do anything to relax her. Her whole body is rigid.

  “I-um…” she starts. She’s wringing her fingers a nervous wreck. “I was young and stupid, and apparently, blind as hell.”

  I’m just about to change the subject for her when Paige steps around the kitchen island. “We all make mistakes. Learning from them is important.” She narrows her eyes at Levi. “Dinner’s ready.”

  I sigh with relief. Knowing Levi, he was going to undoubtedly add more unknown items into her already stocked up pile. She doesn’t need to hear any more.

  The display of her phone lights up again, and I reach for it. She snatches my wrists with pleading eyes.

  “Don’t. He’s only going to piss one of us of,” she tells me softly.

  With her hand on mine, I stand us both up. “Can’t promise I’ll keep my cool if he doesn’t quit calling.”

  “He’s ruined enough of me. I’d rather him not ruin this.”

  Her words soak me to my bones. There was such emotion—an ardent hope—I just about stumble.

  What the fuck was that?

  Dinner is good. We’re all eating around the table, tossing our two cents in about Levi’s next fight. Blain is enthralled with the “pro-version” of Levi that’s about to bust out in force onto the mat soon. He feels there will be a different side, a different hunger pour from Levi. I’m in agreement. Every fight he’s fought was to climb the ladder. Now, he’s got even more to prove. Justin will soon see Levi is a fucking force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to watch it happen.

  Kelsie hasn’t said anything. Instead, she’s either eaten or listened intently to all being said around her. She’s doesn’t know the ropes yet.

  I’ll get to that soon.

  I glance around the table. Levi and Paige. Blain and Lacy. Kelsie beside me. It’s a jovial feeling settling in my gut. Satisfaction. Happiness. The feeling of being complete—one big family.

  Now, what the fuck is this?

  Chapter 20

  “You’ve never seen Adam work out?” Paige asks me surprised at my admittance while we head into the gym.

  She showed up at the hotel with coffee in hand and a pretty smile and basically told me we were having a girl’s day. “You’re not going to be bored alone and no one to hang out with,” she
told me. I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. With all the times I had been around her, I definitely wanted to get to know her more. She seemed like my type of friend—super sweet with a great personality and sarcastic wit—we’ll get along just fine.

  “No,” I say. “He works out while I’m at work.”

  “Let’s sneak in and not let them see us. That way they can’t show off.” She pulls the door open and points for me to step off to the left.

  The place smells like what I imagine a boy’s locker room in high school after a big game and being sprayed with disinfectant spray for an hour would smell like. It’s stale with a thick odor of sweat. There’s an area with blue padding on the floor and walls. The opposite has mirrors on the wall. Six red and black long punching bags hang to our right, a boxing ring to our left, and in front of us is the padded area.

  I’ve been to several gyms in weak attempts to get myself in shape, but I’ve never seen one like this, except on television of course. Most gyms have rows beyond rows of treadmills and ellipticals. This one only has two or three. It’s hard to tell since I can only see the top of them on the other side of the ring.

  We sit quietly on a wooden bench against the far back wall. Adam’s back is toward me, leaning on the corner of the ring watching Levi wrestling with a man almost his size. I jump when a white-haired man yells out of the silence for Levi to “look for the opening.” There’s another man, a younger one, with a shaved head and much larger than the older man saying something as well. Levi grumbles and Paige snickers.

  “He says they think he’s Gumby and able to stretch into positions he can only dream of,” she whispers. “That’s Harvey, Levi’s head coach.” She points to the white-haired man. “And that’s Perry, his everything else coach. His skills are too long to list.” Her finger moves to the bald man.

  Levi and his opponent get back to their feet and trade a few punches before Levi lunges and slams the guy’s back on the ground.

  “Get his other leg! You’re only in half guard,” Adam calls out.

  There are grunts and gasps while they wrestle a little longer.