Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off #1)(29)

Gazing down at the urn, she nodded and smiled. “I’m surprised you remember that. I didn’t think you were paying attention.” She talked a lot in the past week and I made sure to listen to every detail.

“So what, us fighters don’t have compassion now?” I asked, opening the car door. “Don’t you think it’s time you put those preconceived notions out of your head? I’m not completely worthless you know.” I winked at her to let her know I was kidding, but she’d been around me enough this week to start feeling more comfortable.

“Oh, I know you’re not worthless,” she teased. “I think it’s a good idea to go ahead and get this over with. It’ll finally be the end. She would want me to move on and concentrate on myself.”

“And by concentrating on yourself, I hope you mean to let me take you out on a real date. I’m still waiting for that third date.”

Elbowing me in the side, she chuckled. “Yes, I promise. I know you’ve been patient with me on all fronts, but after today it’ll all be different. You’ll see.”

I couldn’t wait.





While Kacey scattered her grandmother’s ashes through the Grand Canyon, we all sat in silence until every last trace of her grandmother fluttered out into the wind. I honestly thought she would break down and cry, but she never did. In fact, she surprised me when she wanted to see more of the canyons. For over an hour, Larry flew us around in his helicopter.

“That was so amazing,” Kacey exclaimed, jumping up and down on the tarmac. “Not exactly the part about spreading my grandmother’s ashes, but the rest was simply breathtaking. Can we go up again sometime?”

Larry smiled at her and then to me. “Certainly, I’d be happy to take you both up again. Just let me know when.”

Larry Briggs was a retired military general and also a good friend of my father. His white hair was shaved down close to his scalp, but he made sure to keep a scruffy white beard on his face. When I was younger I used to think he was Santa Claus, just a skinny one.

“Will do,” I replied, shaking his outstretched hand.

Instead of shaking his hand, Kacey wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you for doing this for me. I really appreciate it and I know my grandmother would too. She loved the Grand Canyon.”

Larry’s face was red when Kacey let him go. “It was my pleasure, darling. Don’t be a stranger now, okay?”

“I won’t.”

Kacey started toward the truck while I stayed behind with Larry. As soon as she was out of earshot, he whistled and slapped me on the shoulder. “How in the hell did you manage to get that one?”

I turned to look at her as she got in my truck. “Lucky, I guess. I don’t deserve her at all.”

“That’s not true, Tyler. You’re a good guy. You’ve just let success go to your head a little bit. I know your father’s been worried about you.”

“More like pissed,” I grumbled. “The man doesn’t know how to give me a break. Everything I do isn’t good enough.”

“He only wants the best for you, son. Since he never won a title in his boxing days, I think he has a lot of regret weighing him down. Take it easy on the old man.”

“I have to keep him on his toes,” I chuckled, heading back to Kacey. “He wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t.” I waved over my head and got in the truck.

Larry waved at us as I slowly backed us out of the parking space.

“I take it you and your dad have a couple issues?” Kacey asked.

I turned to look at her with my eyebrows raised.

Sheepishly, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “I heard. The window was down—it was kind of hard not to.”

“It’s not that we have issues per se, it’s just that he likes to ride me hard. Nothing I do is ever good enough. I could win a fight and all he’d do is bitch about what I did wrong.”

“He’s your coach,” she murmured. “I’m sure he only wants the best for you, especially if he never won a title himself. Imagine how he must feel after fighting for so long and never making it to the top? You are so close to winning the Heavyweight title, and if you win it’ll make your father’s dreams come true, for him and you. My father was the same way.”

“What could he have possibly gotten on you about?” I asked curiously. She was smart and a hard worker. There was nothing for her parents to be disappointed about.

Turning her head, she gazed out the window. “It wasn’t me. Unfortunately, I have a brother who is very good at disappointing people.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother. Why didn’t you mention it when I asked about your family?”

She shrugged and looked down at her hands fiddling in her lap. I could tell she was uncomfortable talking about it. “I guess because I don’t consider him family anymore. The same goes for my mom. I try not to talk about them.”

“Do they know about your grandmother?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “No, I haven’t called them. It’s not like they care anyway. They wanted to put her in a nursing home and leave her there. My father wouldn’t have allowed that to happen.”

“I’m sorry, Kacey. Here I am, complaining about my dad, when I know you miss your father.” Other than her grandmother, her father was the only other person she talked highly about.