Tyler's Undoing (Gloves Off #1)(68)

Bree choked on her wine and coughed, glaring at me with wide eyes. “Does Tyler know you’re doing this?”

Tilting my glass, I drank the rest of my wine and sighed. “Yes, he knows. He’s not happy about it, but until Saturday night, I have to do what I have to do.”

Bree shook her head and poured me another glass of wine. “I swear, your life is never boring.”

Before I could lift my glass to my lips, a text came through on my phone.

“Please tell me that’s not your brother,” Bree groaned.

When I opened it up, I smiled.

Tyler: I left a surprise in your suitcase. I figured it was time for you to start thinking about your future. I was planning on giving it to you on Saturday as kind of a peace offering. Don’t worry though, I’ll make you work for it. See you in two days, beautiful. I love you.

“It must be something good for you to be smiling like that,” Bree chimed.

Jumping off the counter, I rushed to my bedroom and turned on the light. Immediately, I grabbed my suitcase and dropped it onto my bed. I fumbled with the zipper and hastily opened the suitcase, my heart beating rapidly.

Inside, there was a large envelope with my name on it in Tyler’s hand writing.

“What’s in it?” Bree asked curiously, taking a seat on my bed.

I opened up the envelope and pulled out the stack of papers enclosed. On top, there was a letter with a check attached to it . . . a ten thousand dollar check. Holy shit!

Bree’s eyes went wide and she screamed, “Oh my God, that’s ten thousand dollars! What the hell did you do, go all Pretty Woman on his ass?”

“No,” I shrieked. “Let me read the letter and see what’s going on.”



Kacey,

Let me start off by saying, you better not rip up the f*cking check. I know how stubborn you are and I know you want to work for your money, but I’m ready to see you achieve your goals. I’m impatient and I know you’ve worked hard for what you have. With that being said, I AM going to make you work off the money, but at least now I know you have enough to get your restaurant opened and running. I have faith in you and in your abilities to do this.

Attached, you’ll find vacant properties in the Vegas area, all in good locations. Bree should be there with you, so I want you to look at the different places and decide which ones would be best. By this time next week I want to see you achieving your dreams. I’m going to be there with you every step of the way, for as long as you can put up with me. I love you.

Tyler



Speechless, I passed the letter to Bree and rummaged through the papers.

“Holy shit, is he for real? This is insane,” she exclaimed. I handed her some of the ads and we both curled up on the bed and inspected every single one.

“I think it’s time, Bree. I know we’re still young and we didn’t expect this to happen so soon, but I think we can do it. Are you ready to take the leap?”

“You better f*cking believe it.”





Fight Night




INSTEAD OF COMING on Friday, Paxton missed his flight and decided to head up early Saturday morning, instead of waiting at the airport for a later flight. It made Tyler happy that I didn’t have Paxton sleeping in the same house as me.

I couldn’t wait to see Tyler and tell him the good news—Bree and I were ready to put in a bid for the restaurant. As soon as he won the fight tonight and I had him home, I was going to show him the place.

Paxton: I just got my luggage. I’ll be out in five.

I hadn’t been waiting for long before the text came through. It was closing in on three o’clock in the afternoon, so we didn’t have much time before he needed to be at the arena. Once the five minutes was up, I drove around to the pickup lane and there he was in a pair of jeans and gray T-shirt, his black hair covered by a navy blue baseball cap.

I pulled up beside him and unlocked the doors.

“Thanks for picking me up,” he said, putting his bags in the back and getting in, reaching over to give me a hug.

“You’re welcome. I am your girlfriend for the evening, remember? It wouldn’t be very loving of me to leave you at the airport, now would it?” I teased.

“No, it wouldn’t. Have you talked to your brother today?”

As soon as the driving lane cleared up, I slid out and started on our way to the arena. Shaking my head, I turned to him and replied, “No, why? Have you?”

Pursing his lips, he sat back in the seat and furrowed his brows, looking worried. “No, I haven’t. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried calling one of us.”

“You don’t think he suspects something, do you?”

“How can he? We’ve been super careful.” Pax’s words were confident, but his face looked worried.

Have we been careful enough? My brother was an expert on finding things out. He always had a way of being in the right place at the right time. It’s like he had his own private camera in every place imaginable. Maybe he should’ve been a private detective.

“If I call him, it’ll definitely look weird. I never do unless I’m pissed at him. I’m assuming we should just continue on with our plan. What time do we absolutely have to be at the MGM?”

Sighing, Paxton shrugged his shoulders. “I would say in another hour and a half at the latest.”