Fighting Solitude (On The Ropes #3)(75)

Me: You have two seconds to tell me the truth.

Quarry: About what? And for the record, you call me a f*cking liar again, I’m turning my goddamn phone off.

Yeah, that just infuriated me even more. He was lying to me. He didn’t get to make the threats.

Me: Wow! Wouldn’t that be convenient for you? You know, FOR THE RECORD, you jump out of bed with me, lie to me about where you are, and then threaten to turn your phone off…a girl can get certain ideas.

Quarry: Oh yeah, Rocky? What the f*ck kinda ideas you getting?

Me: Tell me where you are?

Quarry: No, I’d really rather hear about these ideas. Because it sounds a hell of a lot like you’re accusing me of something.

Me: Where are you?

Quarry: I was supposed to be getting into the ring, but now I’m standing here fighting with my girl like a *-whipped punk.

My hands were shaking, and I was fighting back tears. Quarry and I didn’t fight. We bickered. We made fun of each other. I rolled my eyes at him. I made fun of him. He laughed at me. This entire exchange was not how we communicated. It was different, and not in a good way.

Me: Look at us. You promised me we wouldn’t change. You PROMISED me.

I was typing another message to tell him that I was at On The Ropes when his incoming FaceTime lit my phone up.

“What’s going on?” he asked before the picture came into view. His voice was stilted, but not angry.

I turned the phone to the On The Ropes sign as my answer.

When I looked back at the screen, he was sporting an endearing grin. “Ah, well, I’m not at that gym, Rocky.” He lifted his phone and did a quick spin, showing a small gym barely big enough to hold a ring and a few hanging bags.

“I can see that,” I signed with one hand.

He chuckled. “I need you to trust me right now.”

I used the corner of my T-shirt to wipe under my eyes. “I’m trying!” I exclaimed.

He read my lips. “Well, try harder.”

I rolled my eyes. If he only knew.

“Now, stop freaking out. Hang up. I’m gonna send you an address. Come straight here. And I’m gonna warn you: You’re probably going to freak when you get here, but take a deep breath and do it anyway.” He smiled teasingly. “Stop crying, crazy. We’re good.” His dimple danced on the screen, easing my nerves.

I nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry.”

“Hurry up. I have an * to kill in two months. I actually do need to work out today.” He laughed before ending the call.

I was still trying to collect myself when my phone pinged with an address.

I recognized it immediately.

Quarry had been wrong; I didn’t even need to arrive before I started freaking out again.





IT WAS COLD AS BALLS, but I was sitting on the front steps when her car pulled through the security gate I’d left open. The last few weeks had been a crazy roller coaster of emotions, and this moment right here was either going to be the highest of highs or yet another terrifying low. Who the hell knew with Liv though? She’d been all over the place recently. I never would have guessed that she would have flipped out the way she had when she’d realized I wasn’t at On The Ropes. The jealous bit was usually my thing. And that was the only reason I’d calmed down while we had been texting. I hated the way she’d reacted. But I f*cking loved the idea of Liv getting all cavewoman possessive over me. I would have acted way worse if I’d thought she was lying to me, so I had to cut her some slack.

Plus, it’d damn near broken me when she’d called me out on the nothing-changes-between-us promise I’d made her. I refused to fail on the very first test, even if it meant spilling a secret I’d been hiding for several years.

When she cut the engine, I stood up and walked over to her. Pulling her door open, I found her just as I’d expected—scared as f*ck. It made me an *, but I laughed.

“Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that,” I said. Taking her hand, I helped her from the car.

“This isn’t the gym,” she said, craning her head back to look into my eyes.

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, I curled her into my side and strolled up the front steps. “Nope.”

Her shoulders sagged in relief until I pushed the front door open.

Then she got all kinds of stiff.

Her hands flew to her mouth, and she gasped my name.

The house was a f*cking mess. My shit was everywhere. Boxes upon boxes of products my sponsors had sent over sat unopened in the massive foyer. One side of the split staircase was lined with my shoes that no longer fit in my closet at our apartment. The other side served as a filing cabinet for all the paperwork, news clippings, and fan mail I didn’t know what to do with. I had a cleaning lady who came in every two weeks, but even she didn’t know how to organize a virtually empty six-point-four-million-dollar house that was being used as nothing more than a glorified storage unit.

“Soooo.” I scratched the back of my neck. “I was kinda hoping to get things cleaned up before showing you this place.”

Her face had paled. “Did…did you buy this?”

Pressing a kiss to the top of her hair, I mumbled nervously, “I did. You still like it?”

She quickly stepped out from under my arm, heading directly to the huge living room that ran the length of the house, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the large backyard nestled against a private lagoon. It was the room she couldn’t stop talking about when we’d first looked at the place years earlier. I swear she and the realtor had fully decorated that room before we’d even stepped foot into the rest of the place.