Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off #1)(48)
It didn’t take long to figure out where the dressing rooms were for the guys. All I had to do was follow the trail of skanky women. Bree was nowhere to be found because she was probably already in the room with Cole, cheering him up. I could only imagine how she planned on doing that. He had to be bummed about losing the fight to Paxton.
There were so many people walking down the hall, women and fighters alike, I couldn’t figure out which room was Tyler’s. There were no signs on the doors. Pulling out my phone, I texted both Bree and Tyler and told them I was at the arena and I didn’t know where to go. Patiently, I waited on one of them to text me back, but then someone caught my eye. Down the hall, I saw Gabriella, dressed in a white sundress with her long, dark hair pulled high into a ponytail.
What the f*ck? Tell me she’s not knocking on Tyler’s door.
My stomach coiled into knots and I held my breath as I waited on whoever was behind the door to answer. Please don’t let it be Tyler. Slowly, the door opened just a crack and when I saw who was there I gritted my teeth tight, the pain exploding into my head. It was Tyler, wearing only a white towel around his waist. Blood boiling, I watched as he opened the door and she walked in, kissing him on the cheek as she passed.
Frozen in place, I clenched my hands into tight fists and felt the anger boil through my veins. Before Tyler shut the door, he stopped and slowly directed his attention to me. Immediately, he glanced into his room and then back at me, wide-eyed and shaking his head. “Kacey, no,” he shouted. “It’s not what you think.”
Turning on my heel, I glared at him one more time over my shoulder before taking off down the hall.
“Kacey, stop! Please, beautiful . . .”
I didn’t stop, I kept going. The last thing I wanted was to be made a fool of in front of everyone—possibly people who knew my brother and who could recognize me. Instead, I kept running in hopes of getting as far away as I could, away from Tyler’s voice screaming my name.
Looking back, I didn’t see him behind me, but when I turned around, I ran right into a set of arms that closed tightly around my waist.
“Kacey, what the hell are you doing here?”
Immediately, I froze and glanced up into the same set of sea green eyes I used to look at almost every day of my life. “Paxton,” I breathed.
Tyler shouted my name and Paxton instinctively held me tighter, protectively. “What’s going on?” he demanded, glaring down at me.
He looked like he was about to leave anyway since he was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans with his bag slung over his shoulder. Quickly, I pushed him toward one of the doors. “I can explain, but first, I need you to get me out of here.”
“Is that Rushing calling after you?”
“Yes, now let’s go!”
Keeping his arm around me, he rushed me toward the door and out into the heat-filled night. What the hell was I going to do now?
“KACEY!”
Everyone stared at me as I raced down the hallway in just a towel. At this moment, I believed I had the shittiest luck of anyone in the world. Out of all of the times Kacey could’ve seen me, it had to be the moment I let Gabriella walk into my room, with only a towel around my waist.
By the time I turned the corner at the end of the hall, she was gone. “Goddammit,” I hissed, running my hands angrily through my wet hair. I had hoped to be out of the shower and dressed by the time Gabriella showed up, but unluckily, that didn’t happen.
“Tyler, what’s going on?” she asked, placing a hand on my bare shoulder.
Instead of answering, I slid away from her touch and rushed back down the hall to my room. Quickly, I grabbed my bag and pulled out a plain gray T-shirt, my jeans, and a pair of boxers. I have to get the hell out of here.
“It’s Kacey,” I snapped impatiently, throwing on my clothes. “She saw you come in here and I can only imagine what the f*ck is going through her mind.” It also didn’t help that Gabriella was provocatively dressed either.
“So she knows about us?” she asked.
“Yes, and seeing you come in here didn’t help matters any. I’ve tried to tell her nothing is going on between us, but obviously I’m not giving her any reasons to believe me. I left her behind at the hotel to get better, and then I invite you into my room. How would that look to you?”
After sliding on my shoes and grabbing my bag, swinging it angrily over my shoulder, I was ready to go. Gabriella crossed her arms over her chest and stood in front of the door, her green eyes weary when she looked up at me. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Sighing, I reached for the door handle and nodded. We had a history together and had been friends for a while, but sometimes good things have to come to an end—our friendship being one of them. “I’m afraid so, Gabby. I can’t be around you without causing problems with her. She means too much to me. From now on, we have to keep our distance.”
Sadly, she smiled and stepped out of the way so I could open the door. I rushed out, but she stopped me before I could take another step. “Do you love her?”
Over my shoulder, I looked back at her standing in the doorway. She had changed so much in the last couple of years, turning into a woman and a fighter. She was my past, and now I needed my future. “Yes,” I answered in all seriousness. “I’m in love with her.”