Fighting for Love (Second Chances #4)(15)

Luckily, traffic wasn’t bad heading home. When I walked through the door, I took a deep breath and was about to holler Jace’s name when I saw him lying at the bottom of the steps, panting and drenched in sweat.

“Jace,” I gasped, rushing over to him and falling onto the floor beside him. “Are you okay? Did you fall down the stairs?”

I didn’t know if I should try to help him up or call an ambulance. If I recalled correctly, I was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to move them. I think. When Jace looked up at me he burst out laughing and playfully smacked me on the thigh.

“Yes, I’m okay. I was doing some inverted pushups on the stairs, and I tried to do as many as I could. I was just too tired to get up.” He slowly sat up and wiped the sweat off his face with the bottom of his shirt.

“That’s it?” I grumbled with a roll of my eyes. “Well, at least you’re all right.”

At least one of us was, I thought to myself. Sighing, I sat down on the bottom step and nervously licked my lips. If there was one person who didn’t like Matt, it was Jace.

“I found out who I’m writing my article about today,” I said matter-of-factly.

Excited, Jace’s eyes went wide. He loved hearing stories about the athletes I met and what they were really like.

“Really? Who is it this time?” he asked. “Since you wrote about a tennis player last month, I’m thinking maybe basketball this time.”

“Nope, it actually happens to be an MMA fighter. Can you guess who it is?” I asked sarcastically.

Immediately, his smile disappeared and he snarled in disgust, “You have got to be kidding me. What are you going to do? Does Matt know it’s you doing the article?”

Lowering my head, I blew out a shaky breath and nodded. “He knows. I saw him today.”

Jace was silent, staring at nothing but me, until I lifted my gaze to his. Whatever he saw in my eyes, he didn’t like it and he groaned. “Oh no, Shelby. I know that look. Please tell me you’re not getting back together with him.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I looked at him and answered as honestly as I could, “I don’t know. When we were together today it felt as if nothing had changed, and when he kissed me—”

“You kissed him already?” Jace exclaimed, cutting me off. “What about Caleb? I don’t even know the guy, but I’m pretty sure he’s much better for you than Matt. You may have a clouded memory, but I sure as hell don’t. I saw the look on your face and held you when you cried after you saw Matt with those other women. Is that really what you want to go back to?”

No, but I couldn’t deny what my heart was telling me. “I have to go with what feels right,” I whispered. “As much as I try to fight it, being with Matt is what feels right to me.”

Jace scoffed and got to his feet. “Look, I know you’re going to do what you want, but if you and Matt pick up where you left off, the past is going to eat away at you unless you tell him why you left. You are planning on telling him, aren’t you?”

Yes, eventually … maybe. I knew I needed to, but I couldn’t risk the thought of losing him just yet.

When I didn’t answer, Jace stormed off, mumbling angrily, “Fuck, this is going to be a disaster. Don’t come crying to me when it blows up in your face.”

It was going to be a disaster … even more so by the time I talked to Caleb. Closing myself in my room, I had my phone ready and my fingers over the buttons to call him. However, I couldn’t bring myself to do it over the phone. In two days we had our date … I would tell him then. At least it would end before it really ever got started.

Hopefully, he would understand.





THE WHOLE NIGHT I TOSSED and turned with visions of Shelby running across my mind. For ten years I spent my time trying to make myself better, to not be the poor bastard who grew up in the slums of Sacramento. Shelby was the reason I strived so hard to succeed, and when she left it was the anger and determination to prove everyone wrong that pushed me over the edge. I didn’t want to blame her for my choices in life, or for all the women I had sex with, but it was so hard not to. If she’d stayed, none of those things would’ve happened.

By the time I arrived at her house to pick her up for the photo shoot I was thirty minutes early, which was unusual for me. I was notorious for being late, except I didn’t want to waste another moment that could be spent with her. Gazing up at the three story Victorian structure, I couldn’t help but smile. It was exactly what I imagined her living in. Before, she always talked about us moving to San Francisco and I should’ve known she’d one day find her way there.

The outer door was unlocked when I tried it, so I opened it and moved into the entryway where another set of doors stood. After pressing the doorbell and hearing it ring, I stepped back and waited on Shelby to answer. Imagine my surprise when it wasn’t her that came to the door. It was her friend Jace, wearing only a pair of royal blue running shorts and an impatient scowl.

What the f*ck?

Opening the door wide, he stepped aside and grumbled, “Shelby’s not ready yet, but she told me to let you in when you got here. I’m Jace, by the way.”

“Matt,” I said, strolling past him into what looked like the living room. Off to the left was the kitchen, and I couldn’t help but notice that the furniture was too masculine to be something Shelby would pick out. Surely they don’t live together, I thought to myself. Or do they?