Ruined: Loving An Alpha Male: BWWM Romance (9 page)

I nodded, but first I went to the jukebox and played a few songs. The first that played was by The Script called ‘Breakeven.’

She smiled and shook her head as she began to break down the bar and started putting away the pouring spouts for the bottles of liquor, replacing them with their tops.

“Congrats on the victory today,” she told me.

“Thanks. I was actually coming to check up on you.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah, how come?”

“Uh, well… The exchange between you and Travis looked kind of heated. Then you weren’t in the stands when I came out of the waiting room. I figured he upset you somehow.”

She tried not to make eye contact with me as she worked. I tilted my head and watched her silently, waiting for her to look up at me. When she didn’t, and I saw her hand come close to me, I reached for it. That made her look up at me. I saw the emotion in her eyes, and I laced my fingers in hers.

“You want to tell me what happened with the two of you?” I asked softly.

She took a few deep breaths then nodded.

She told me, “Can you give me a few and let me clean up?”

“Of course, angel, I’ll be over there.”

I pointed to a booth by the stage, and she nodded. About forty-five minutes later, she made her way over to me. She had a drink in her hand that she shot back and then she made eye contact with me. Over the three weeks, we talked nonstop. We spent time here at The Bar and at the gym after my workouts. We even texted each other. We never had an awkward silent moment, until now.

She sighed, then finally said, “I caught Travis cheating on me.”

“When?” I asked her, clearly seeing she was still affected by it.

“The Saturday I found you playing the piano.”

I nodded my understanding.

She laughed slightly and told me, “What’s crazy is how I caught him.”

“Did you catch him in the act?”

“Urgh, did I?! Mace, I found my ex-boyfriend up against a wall getting head from a chick on her knees, and he was fingering another while holding her straddle-like in his arms.”

I smiled.

“Wow…uh…I bet that was an interesting sight.”

She shook her head.

“Why are men nasty beings? I mean, really… You’re smiling?”

I had to laugh.

“I’m sorry, Max. I’m just shocked. I didn’t expect you to say that! Where did you catch him?”

She sighed and swirled her glass of ice.

“At the gym he works out in. You know after the fight, I sat there and waited for him for an hour. When I called to see what was taking him so long, he told me he left already. I was pissed, of course. I had to study for an exam, but there I was waiting for that idiot. Anyway, he told me he was going with his brother. So I went home, you know. I studied and then tried to go to sleep. But I had this urge to talk to him. It was like I needed to desperately or something. So, I went to the gym and found a party in rare form.”

I chuckled, imagining what she must have walked through.

“I bet a lot was going on.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” She then looked at me and smiled. “No, wait a minute…You probably do.”

I nodded.

“Well, yes, I do have an idea. Did you find him right away?” I asked her, trying to get her mind off of me and back on Travis.

She shook her head.

“No, I found him in the back of the gym in some office of his brother’s. I actually almost missed him and was leaving. But I heard a female call his name, and I went back into the room I had just left.”

She shivered and shook her head, clearly remembering what she saw. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it. Her eyes met mine, and I saw the hurt resonating all through her eyes.

“I’m sorry he hurt you, Maxine.”

I brought her hand to my lips and kissed her hand softly. She followed her hand, as it reached my lips. Her eyes grew larger as I kissed her. She then squirmed slightly in her chair, which intrigued me.

Humph. That was interesting.

I cleared my throat.

“So, what did he, um, say to you today?”

I commenced to rub her knuckles slightly with my thumb. I didn’t want the connection between us to end. She squirmed a little more. Then I saw her try to concentrate on my words and not on what I was doing to her. I smiled at her knowing that I if I was able to touch more of her, I’d have her panting and screaming my name definitely. Oh, what music that would be to my ears.

“Nothing really.”

“I don’t buy that. You were physically affected by him. What did he say?”
She sighed, “He just said the same thing to me that he said that night I caught him.”

“Wait, you never told me what happened after you saw him. Did he run after you? Did he stop right then and there and talk to you? What?”

“I actually was followed by his brother, Train.”

I started to laugh hard.

“Wait, his brother’s name is Train? Is that his real name?”

She smiled, seemingly feeling more at ease.

“Yes, that’s his real name. Don’t ask me what their mother was thinking about. But anyway, he followed me out there telling me some bullshit about Trip feeling like I was cheating on him. So, I guess he felt justified to do what he did. The crazy part is Trip comes out to my car and started telling me I was being selfish, and I was wrong for yelling at his brother. He thought I was mad he was here with his brother instead of being with me.”

“So, he didn’t know you saw him?”

She shook her head.

“Nope, and I didn’t tell him. I just told him it was over, and he kindly told me we weren’t.”

“So, what he reminded you was that it wasn’t over between you and him earlier?”

I didn’t believe that made her upset the way I had seen her. She paused before she told me, and when she did, she didn’t look at me.

“No. Well, he told me to remember I was with him. And, well, he told me if he ever saw me with you again, we both were going to pay.”

I stared at her for a minute before I started to laugh. She frowned clearly not seeing the humor.

“What’s so funny?” she asked me, taking her hand from mine.

I was unable to respond. I was still laughing my head off. She then got angrier and rose from the booth and started to walk away from me. I stood and reached for her hand. I pulled her to me and wrapped her in my arms. She tried to move away from me. But when she realized she wasn’t going anywhere, she placed her hands on my arms.

I won’t tell you how good she felt in my arms because we’d be here for a very long time if I were to give details of what she was doing to me. So I’ll just tell you that I caressed her cheek with my finger. I traveled from the side of her cheek to her chin, tempting myself to touch her bottom lip. She kept my gaze as I touched her, trying to let me know in her own way what I was doing to her.

I finally said to her, “While I appreciate you being worried, you don’t have to be. There isn’t anything Travis could do to me. And, hell, if he went so far as to touch you; well…” I left that in the air.

We heard someone clear their throat, and I looked up as Max shyly stepped back from me.

“Uhhh … H
HHHhhhlhl
ello, Reap,” Michelle said to me.

I rolled my eyes at what she called me and the fact she interrupted what was sure to end with her lips on mine.

“Hey, Michelle,” I said simply.

She smiled at both of us, as if she knew exactly what she interrupted.

“Hey, girl. Your chariot awaits.”

I frowned.

“You should have told me you needed a ride home. I would’ve taken you.”

I was a little hurt and didn’t have a problem showing it.

Max nodded, and then looked up at me and smiled, “I know you would have. She was already almost here when I finally saw you…I guess I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” I told her, and I watched her leave out the back door.

When I got home, I did my usual: took a cold shower and tried my best not to dream of her. Sunday came, and I lounged around my apartment. I live on Walnut Street in these new apartments close to Penn’s Landing. I bought one of the penthouses as an investment opportunity. I didn’t have plans on living here forever, but when I saw the place I fell in love. Too bad I couldn’t get anything like this in Dallas. When you walked into my apartment, it’s a complete open floor plan with a 270-degree panoramic view of the Delaware River. You first get to a seating area that welcomes you. On the right, there’s an open kitchen with black cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and white granite counter tops. An island separates the dining room from the kitchen, and an open fireplace separates the living area from the dining room. Each corner of the floor plan on the first floor has an outside lounging area. The upstairs is what sold me completely. I know this place will be great in the summer. First there’s an elevator that takes you upstairs. A wet bar and both bedrooms are upstairs. The master bedroom is the best I had seen in a long time. The room has an entire wall of windows that slides open up to a terrace, heated pool, outdoor kitchen, patio, and flat screen TV.

I know it sounds like too much, and it probably is, but I couldn’t resist. Alex shook his head when he first saw it. But now that he’s used to it, I can’t get him to leave sometimes. The place cost me an arm and leg and other body parts. But, as I said before, it’s an investment. I’m sure when I’m gone Alex will try and claim this place as his own in order to impress every chick he’s banging.

I went for a run in the building’s gym for about an hour before I started my day, which consisted of shit. Marc called me in the afternoon, giving me the shit for not making it home yet.

“Bro, what the fuck are you doing?” he asked me.

He was staring at me through my 60-inch smart TV hanging on my living room wall. I slouched on my cream leather couch with just a pair of basketball shorts and sleeveless tee and stared up at the mirror image of me.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Why are you giving me shit?”

“You know why. We have a business to run, and you’ve been gone for what? Almost ten fucking years? It’s time to face life, little bro.”

He was sitting in his “man cave,” as he called it, watching me on the same type of TV. He also wore the same clothes, which meant he just finished working out too.

“So are you saying I’ve been slacking this whole time?”

We always have this argument every time we talk on the phone. I saw him sigh.

“No, you dickwad. I’m just saying you’ve been in the states for what? Two months? When are you coming home?”

I shrugged. “I’m just not ready to come home, Marc. I don’t know how else to explain that to you any more than I already have. I have some shit to work through, or I won’t be the loving, caring brother you know and love.”

I heard a feminine laugh in the distance.

“Shut up, Marie. You know it’s true.”

Marie appeared on the screen and sat next to her husband. Marie and my brother have been married for eight years now. He got married two years after I enlisted. They spawned three adorable kids that I love and miss terribly.

“Your nieces and nephew miss you,” she told me.

One weakness I have that people could exploit would be my nieces—Alexis and Alicia, twin girls who are seven years old and are beautiful—and my man—Marcus Jr., who is five years old. They have hair like my brother and me—thick, blonde locks—but they have their mom’s beautiful green eyes.

Marie was a beautiful woman with curves all in the right places. My brother fell for her the instant he saw her the first day of college. She has long, thick, black hair with these beautiful emerald-green eyes. When I met her, before I left for the Navy, I knew she was a perfect match for my brother. She matched us both wit-for-wit, which is a complete turn-on. You have to be a remarkable woman to handle us as individuals, let alone together.

“That’s a low blow, Marie. Low blow bringing the kids in the conversation. Where are they, by the way?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“You know damn well where they are.” He frowned.

I started to laugh. My brother was a stickler about not allowing his kids, or his wife for that matter, in his man cave. It was his sanctuary away from his family.

My phone started to ring, and I grabbed it and saw Max’s face pop up—a picture, by the way, that I took without her knowledge.

Stalker move, I know.

I grinned, forgetting about both my brother and sister-in-law.

“Uh oh! Marie, did you see that shit-eating grin?” my brother announced.

I looked up at him and frowned. Marie started to smile and nodded.

“Yup, I sure did. Who is she, Mace?”

“She’s just a friend,” I told them.

I answered my phone, not wanting her to hang up.

“Hey Max.”

I tried not to smile or let my brother see it. But I heard him making noises, and I knew I wasn’t hiding anything. I gave him the finger and listened to the sound of the voice that definitely drives me insane.