Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(116)
Two months after our wedding, the gym that Brandon had continued his training at when he moved to San Diego, which led to his underground fighting, started going under since the owners went bankrupt. Brandon had been getting restless trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life since he had stopped fighting. Not that we had to worry about money, but he felt like he wasn’t doing his job as a husband and father by not bringing in more money. When he’d heard about McGowan’s Gym going under, he’d rushed home and asked what I thought about it. He wouldn’t put himself in danger of getting another hit like the one from Demon, but he missed fighting so much he thought owning the gym would be perfect. I couldn’t have agreed more and the gym was his within the next month. Brandon was still on good terms with Scarecrow, since he was providing more fighters that he and Konrad helped train, and in the five months since he’d bought out the gym, they’ve more than doubled the amount of members and McGowan's had never been doing this well.
Bree and Konrad were engaged, were getting ready to move into a townhouse in the same complex where we lived and had recently started their Junior year at SDSU. They were getting married at the beginning of November and I couldn’t be more excited for them. It always made me laugh thinking about how they’d both been when we’d started college. Konrad had been much the same as Bree and Chase, and wasn’t looking for any type of relationship outside of a bed. But from the moment they first hung out, it was over for both of them. I could see that even if Bree kept him waiting on actually being his girlfriend. And now? Two years later and they were anxiously counting down the days until their wedding. Konrad worked for Brandon at McGowan’s, and Brandon paid him extremely well. We both knew Breanna would never work, unless she could shop for a living, she didn’t want to do anything that would take too much of her time, so Brandon made sure they were always taken care of. Just another one of the million reasons I loved him.
“Hey babe!” He called from the wall of punching bags. After a quick word and instruction to the guy punching and kicking it, he jogged over to us and grabbed Liam out of my arms, swinging him up above his head and pulling him back down for a loud kiss. Liam squealed and chuckled. “How’s my little man doing today?” Liam was still giggling as Brandon wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in for a long, slow kiss.
My body instantly warmed and it took Bree’s high-pitched laugh to bring me back to the gym.
“And how’s my wife?” His husky voice made my insides tighten and wish for our bed.
“I’m great.” I smiled softly, my cheeks flushed. “How’s it going today?”
Brandon’s hazel eyes hardened for a quick moment, and lost all expression as he forced a smile, “Pretty good, we got a group of guys that came in and signed up for memberships together.”
I frowned at his expression, “How many?”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven? That’s great Brandon! Why do you not seem happy about that?” There were days at a time that no new members came at all, eleven in one morning was unheard of.
“I am happy, so what brings you here?” He kissed my forehead and blew a raspberry on Liam’s belly, Liam slapped down on Brandon’s head and dissolved into a fit of giggles. We definitely had a happy baby.
“Well Bree and I have to go do some wedding stuff, but we were wondering if there’s any way we could talk you guys into lunch?”
His rugged face softened and his hand dropped to my hip, giving it a small squeeze, “I can’t leave Harper, Aaron called in this morning, so it’s just me and Konrad until a little later. He can go with you though.”
“I can go pick up some sandwiches from down the street and bring them back?” Bree volunteered.
Brandon’s gaze flickered to something behind us, then to Konrad, and his face tightened again, “I’ll go grab my card, Harper can you come wi–”
“Blaze.”
The familiar voice had my body tensing and Brandon exhaled a curse. Turning slowly, I kept my eyes on Brandon’s piercing hazel ones until I knew I needed to look ahead. Carter. My heart clenched and tears pricked my eyes. Why was I crying? Oh wait, that’s right.
“Oh Blaze, no. Don’t cry.” He stepped forward and brought his hands up, probably to wipe the tears, but I slapped his hands away.
“Don’t touch me.”
A flash of hurt crossed his face before it slipped into his signature stone face. “Can we talk?”
“Why are you here Jason?”
“He’s one of the eleven from this morning.” Brandon’s deep voice made its way through my body and helped calm me.
I leaned my back against Brandon’s stomach, and he wrapped the arm that wasn’t holding Liam around me again. “Why? Why would you drive all the way over here to come to this gym? I know for a fact you have all this on the base.”
“I’ve been out for a month Blaze, my time there ended and I decided not to re-up.”
“Then why are you still here?” I knew I was being rude, but seeing him again brought back the ache from losing his friendship, and the reason why it was lost.
“A good chunk of us were all getting out within a few months of each other. We’re renting out a few houses in San Diego.”
“What about your wife?”