RR&R 01 Real (39 page)
The night Remy went to fight with Scorpion, Scorpion offered your sister to him instead of the championship. And Remy agreed,” Pete then tells me.
Then, I’m bowled over.
You mean he agreed to … lose?”
For Nora?
For you.
A powerful emotion zip lines through my body, settling like a burning bolt of light in my brain, illuminating me with the magnitude of something that sounds impossible, but which they have just told me to be true.
Briefly tossing my head side to side, I cling helplessly to those dark-lashed, achingly familiar blue eyes. My pulse spins with confused disbelief. A war of emotions rages within me as strange and disquieting thoughts race through my mind, clenching around my heart.
You did this for … Nora?” I breathlessly ask Remington.
Looking at me without telling me what I jerk I am for leaving him the way I did.
Feeling painfully hammered inside, which is not the optimal feeling to experience when you’re told your baby sister is, thankfully, happily, back home, I sit down on the stairs leading to my small building, knocked out by my stupor as I furiously try blinking back a well of tears threatening to fall.
Pete grabs a green duffel bag from the back of the Escalade and heads inside with Nora. “Let me take this in for you, Nora.”
I’m left with Riley, whose gaze shifts from Melanie to me like a Ping-Pong ball, and I’m also left with Remy. My Remy. The Remy I abandoned in the hospital. The one I adore. The one I am mad over. The one that got his guts torn apart and humiliated for the sake of my sister. For me.
A ball of pain gathers at my throat and I can barely stand it.
mine.
I wrap my arms around me and drop my head as the shame continues building inside me. “Why didn’t you tell me? That you threw the fight for … her?”
I can’t even say “me”—I feel awful.
But Remington says softly, “You mean you.”
Riley interrupts, “I didn’t know either, Brooke. Or Coach. Only Pete knew. He’s the one who found him that night, and he helped secure your sister while Remington delivered the win.”
My eyes shift to the face of my dreams, and my voice drops as the pain of what he did for me seeps through my pores.
How are you? Are you all right?” I look at him, and his eyes are blue and on fire with emotion as he nods. He’s angry at me. I think. I don’t know. I feel punched in the gut when I look at him, but at the same time, it’s all I want to do.
“
What does this loss mean for you now?” I ask him. Oh, god, I missed my Remington so much that when I look at him, all perfect blue eyes, beautiful face, I feel water in my eyes.
A violent and unexpected despair surges wildly through me as I stare at this surprising, unpredictable man, the ever-changing mystery of Remington Tate, and suddenly, nothing in the world has hurt me more than having had him and lost him.
The loss? Other than we’re poor?” Riley finally answers when it seems neither Remington nor I are going to speak. He chuckles a bit too loudly and rakes his hair back. “He has a couple million to get him through the year. We’re making a comeback when the new season starts. Remy’s fans demand retribution.”
“
You do have loyal fans, don’t you?” I quietly ask, directing my question to Remington as I remember all the flowers he made them bring me, and I feel queasy and excited again.
Well, time to go.” Riley slaps Remington’s back, and my insides feel pain. “Actually, Brooke, we’re also here because we’re looking for a sports rehab specialist for the upcoming new season. Good to get a head start on training,” Riley says, producing something from his back pocket. “In case you’re interested, Mr. Tate’s number, if you consider, is on the back. There’s the hotel where we’re staying too. We leave in three days.”
I look at Remington, and he looks directly back at me, and through all the emotions I see in his eyes, I can’t decide which one reels me in the most. My skin breaks in goose bumps in a silent plea of his touch—tingling in remembrance of his calluses, the way he drags his tongue over me. My dark-haired lion. Licking and claiming me.
My heart hurts me as we both stare, but neither of us is talking, even when there are a thousand things weighing on us both.
You’re looking good, Remy,” Melanie says with a sunny smile.
Melanie goes inside first, but I stay outside under the sun, just … processing.
Remy.
“
I really think he likes me!”
“
Nora!” I come into the eclectic living room—courtesy of Melanie’s free decoration skills—and squeeze my sister in a big bear hug again, where
I
get to be the bear. “Let me look at you. You okay?”
She squeezes my hands and nods emphatically, lacing her cool fingers happily through mine.
Nora was telling me how Remington fought Scorpion for her.” Melanie widens her eyes at me and nods meaningfully. “She thinks Remington is way
hot
because of the way he fought Scorpion for her.”
Nora has seen him for the past four weeks, maybe, and the thought of any woman enjoying his smiles and his voice, while I’ve been denying myself of it, makes me a little sick.
Brooke, you should have seen him,” Nora bursts out, oblivious to my inner torture chamber called a “heart.”
“
He just barged into our rental rooms and knocked out two of the men, and then he went straight to pound Benny’s face, nonstop. He rammed a pencil into his tattoo so deep he completely deformed it.”
“
Wait! Who the hell is Benny?” Melanie asks.
“
Scorpion!” Nora explains, her smile eager with delight. Seriously, I’m still staring at her in awe because she looks like another person compared to the drugged, fiery-haired girl with a scorpion tattoo at the Japanese restaurant. The wonders a month of rehab can do.
And my dark-haired fighter…
“
Oh! Benny is Scorpion, got it!” Mel says, rolling her eyes.
“
Remington was like a devil unleashed from hell, nonstop hitting. Benny couldn’t stop him as he kept shouting about staying away from his girl, that he wasn’t leaving without what his girl wanted, and tons of bad words, and then Benny scrambled to stop him and offered me. He said if he stopped that he would set me free in exchange for the championship as well. Then, Remy looked at me and asked me if I was your sister. And I nodded. And so he agreed. He didn’t even hesitate. He wanted me out of there that same night, but Benny said I was to be on lockdown until Remington delivered the championship, so Remy called Pete to get me. Pete took me to a rehab place in Connecticut and Remy paid for my entire stay, and then, he sent Pete back for me.”
I fall into a chair and just can’t hold myself upright, my eyes a mess. After all the tears I’ve cried, I feel like I could still cry another great lake. For Remington Tate. And for myself. And for underestimating someone who I believed would do something wrong, and instead, did the best and most incredible thing for me. Remy, when he goes black, has done a lot of bad things, or so they say. But boy, oh boy, did he make it right with Nora. For me. I know, despite Nora’s romantic side, it is for
me
he fought. For me he threw the fight. For me, and for who I love, that he promised to protect as his the night he tossed the entire hotel restaurant over.
I remember how proud he was during the fight, taking every blow. How it must have hurt him not to fight back! That’s all Remy
knows
to do. He’s a fighter at heart. Even in his eyes I could see his fierceness. He can barely control himself when provoked, and to think of him holding back when he was being hurt this way, only for me. For my sister.
Your name,” he growls, panting, his eyes wild on mine.
“
Uh, Brooke.”
“
Brooke what?” he snaps out, his nostrils flaring.
Brooke Dumas.” He just fucked my name right in front of me, and right in front of Mel. He steps forward, and his damp hand slides into the nape of my neck. “Brooke,” he growls softly, meaningfully, against my lips, as he draws back with a smile. “I’m Remington.”
I. Love. This. Man.
Yes, he is a man who will be difficult, and bipolar to boot.
He’s strong, and he’s proud, and I don’t expect him to beg me.
But even though he probably won’t beg me to come back, he’s at least not asking me to beg forgiveness for being a chicken shit and dumping him while tubed in a hospital, either.
I glance down at the hotel address written on the card, and my insides move in anticipation.
And suddenly, this is all I can think of.
Suddenly, my bad knee is all that’s stopping me from running after him.
I want the job he can offer.
I want to be with my big, crazy, sexy beast of a man, and I won’t apologize to anyone for it. He’s bipolar, and I’m crazy about him.
He never said he loved me. But he came back for me. He gave me my sister. He lost his wealth, his fight, and lay unconscious in a hospital bed. Because of me.
Nora, I’m going to call Mom and Dad so you can spend some time with them, would you like that?”
“
Yes, Brooke, I thought about what you said, and I
do
want to finish college.”
Plopping down next to Nora, I tell her, “The thing is, I may not be around for a while. My new job will require I travel.”