Ryley's Revenge (Gloves Off #2)(24)
I saw Megan at the fight so I knew what she looked like. Carter was short and bulky with shaved gray hair. I had seen him before because he used to be Matt Reynolds’ coach. He gave up coaching when Matt retired.
When Megan saw us approach, she smiled and waved. “Hey, you two. I see things finally worked out.” She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Thank God, too. Don’t let him fool you, he was miserable.”
“I don’t even want to know what you just said,” he grumbled. “Anyway, Megan meet Ashleigh. Ashleigh this is Megan. So what did you want to talk about?”
Sadly, she smiled. “I’m moving to Las Vegas.”
“Really? When did you decide that? You’ve never talked about it before.”
“I know. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here and I wouldn’t have been able to get my life back on track without you. It’s just, I kind of want a new change of scenery now that Alex is in jail. Besides, I have family in Vegas.”
“Well, damn, I don’t know what to say,” Ryley replied.
Sheepishly, Megan shrugged and bit her lip. “Maybe say that you’ll miss me? Because I’m sure as hell going to miss all of you guys here.” Ryley chuckled and I let go of his hand so he could give her a hug. A tear escaped the corner of her eye, but she brushed it away.
“Hell yeah, I’m going to miss you. Make sure you hit Tyler up when you get there. I’ll let him know you’re coming his way. Now that Kacey’s starting up her restaurant, she’s not working at his gym anymore. Maybe you could get a job there.”
“That would be great, I might just do that. I don’t leave for another week, but I’m probably going to be scarce while I pack up. I’ll be in Vegas though for the title fight. You know I can’t miss that.” She kissed him on the cheek and then wrapped her arms around my neck. I returned the hug even though I barely knew her. Quietly, she murmured in my ear, “I’m sorry we didn’t get time to get to know each other. Whatever you do, don’t leave him again. He wasn’t the same when you left.”
“I won’t. He’s got me for life.” Letting me go, she laughed away her tears and waved at us before walking out the door. I glanced up at Ryley, his expression melancholy. “I take it you two became good friends.”
Carter patted Ryley on the shoulder and smiled at me before trudging off toward the exercising machines.
Ryley put his arm around me and held me close. “We did. She was kind of like a second Gabby to me. I confided in her about things.”
“Like what, me?”
He smirked. “Yeah, you and how much I hated you. She knew it was all a lie and constantly badgered me about it. Hell, I couldn’t even fool myself.”
Neither could I. “So what are we going to do? Are you done training for the day?”
Nodding, he reached down and grabbed our bags. “Yep, and now we’re leaving. I need to run to my place and get some things. Do you mind if I stay with you tonight? I don’t want you anywhere near my place with Camden there. Not until I can assure he’s going to leave us alone.”
I didn’t want to be around him either. However, thoughts of Colin came to mind. It was Monday and he was supposed to come over. “What about Colin?” I inquired. “He wants to see me today.”
Ryley snorted. “The sooner he realizes it’s over, the better. I’m not going to tell you who you can and can’t see, but if the roles were reversed? How would you feel if I was hanging out with one of my ex’s?”
Groaning, I followed him out to the parking lot and to my car. “I would hate it. And to answer your question, yes, you can stay with me tonight. You can stay however many nights you want. Just don’t start a fight with Colin if he drops by. That’s the last thing we need.”
Ryley winked and opened my car door for me. “Oh, I’ll behave, as long as he keeps his hands to himself. You might want to give him a friendly warning about that.” He leaned in and kissed me, parting my lips with his tongue. I moaned into his mouth and melted. “Because these,” he said, running his tongue over my lips, “are mine. I’m not going to share them with anyone.”
When he pulled back, I glanced down at his. “The same goes for yours.”
He winked at me again and started off toward his car. As much as I didn’t want to hurt Colin, I had no choice. Ryley was right. The sooner he realized it was over, the better. It was still early in the day so at least I had time to get home, take a shower, and possibly take a nap. Regrettably, that didn’t happen when a text came through, squashing my plans.
Colin: On my way over. Be there in fifteen.
I never thought the day would come when I didn’t want him around. Today happened to be one of those days.
MY BROTHER HAD pissed me off one too many times and if he didn’t watch it, I was seriously going to kick his ass. He spent the whole morning being a dick and even more so when Ashleigh walked into the gym. Deep down I knew the problem didn’t fully revolve around Ashleigh, but she was the spark.
Tension was already running high between us since the title fight was coming up in less than two weeks. Even Danny had mentioned today that it might be a good idea to split up practices so we could have our own space. Out of all of the years of training together, it was finally at the point where we had to fend for ourselves; we were divided.