Undeniable
Authors: C. A. Harms
Tags: #Romance, #New Adult & College, #Sports, #Western, #Westerns
Undeniable
The Key West Series Book Four
By C. A. Harms
Undeniable
Copyright © 2015 by C.A. Harms. All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: December 2015
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-404-2
ISBN-10: 1-68058-404-9
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
Sometimes the little things in life mean more than any other gesture. Remember to make every moment count.
Table of Contents
Jude
After pulling into the parking lot at Mason’s, the bar I fought at often, I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat, causing the shopping bag holding Zoey’s brand-new doll to fall to the floorboard. I had left early, after getting everyone to bed, so I’d have enough time to grab her a replacement. Matthew had ruined more than one of her dolls; that boy had a destructive side.
Zoey knew she had me wrapped around her little finger. That was obvious. All she had to do was shed a few tears and I was instantly doing whatever it took to bring back her toothless smile. That was actually how I felt about the both of them; they had shed enough tears in their short lives. I grabbed the handle on the Wal-Mart bag and replaced it on the center of the seat, smiling like a fool as I allowed myself to imagine her squeals of joy tomorrow when she opened her new doll.
But my phone ringing in the darkened car brought me back to reality and the fact that I had a fight to attend.
Pushing open the door to my old, beat-up Impala, I put on my game face. No longer could I think of dolls and my sweet five-year-old niece or how cute Matty was when he was pretending to be a superhero. It was time to become fierce and untouchable, and it was time to win.
Walking up the dark alley, I tucked my phone in my bag and pulled the strap securely over my head to place it on my shoulder. The only illumination was a distant streetlight that was swallowed up by the taller building on each side of Mason’s place.
The back door of the building looked as rundown as it always did as I approached it. When I reached out to take the handle, something hard struck me on the back of the head. I staggered to the side, then fell against the door as white flashes exploded through my head and my vision blurred. A wave of dizziness hit me. Doing my best to get my bearings, I pushed off the door and turned to face my assaulter.
Drake smirked back at me in satisfaction. I always knew the fucker played dirty, and this attack had truly confirmed it. Anger shot through me as I launched myself at him, only to take yet another hard blow to the left side of my head. The impact made me stumble again.
When I heard cocky laughter, I realized Drake wasn’t alone. There were at least three assholes with him, maybe more. Drake was a sick sonofabitch. He didn’t care about being deemed the winner of a fight, just the thrill of being in control. He fed off the weaknesses of others.
“What’s wrong, Jude? I thought you were better than this.” Drake chuckled, and the others joined him.
“Better than you,” I snarled. “Sorry piece of shit. Too bad you need an army of piss-stain fuckers to take me down.” I was bluffing a little here. I was still dizzy as hell from the blows, and the nausea was hard to fight down.
Before I could brace myself, they came at me from all directions. I tried to fight back, but they were on me too thick. The blows fell hard and fast, giving me no time to prepare for the impact or ward off the punches. All I could do was wait for the end.
The last thing I remembered was my cheek hitting the pavement hard before I took yet another kick to the head. Then everything went black.
Callie
I stood in the doorway of the hospital room staring at Jude. His appearance made my stomach ache. The rest of our friends stood around whispering, but I couldn’t focus on their words. All I could see was him.
White bandages were wrapped tightly around his head, and the bruising that covered his face was heartbreaking. He looked so weak, and I knew if he was alert enough, being so vulnerable would only piss him off. Jude had to have control. Anyone that knew him understood that, and we’d all learned to stop questioning why he lived that way, because he never shared his reasons.
A strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me against a strong body. I turned my head and looked up to find Jett staring at me with concern. “How ya doing, Cal?”
“I’m okay,” I said as I looked back toward the hospital bed.
“Quinn and Harper are gonna head over to Jude’s place. Avery has to finish her shift here, though, so she can’t go with them,” he explained, and I closed my eyes tightly to fight off the tears as images of those sweet little kids filled my mind. Until two hours ago, I had no idea they even existed or that he had a sister who relied so heavily on him. They were all alone now. “You feel like heading over there? Or would you rather stay here?”
I was torn between my head and my heart. On the one hand, my heart needed to know he was okay. But I knew he would be angry about his current state when he woke up, and the words he’d choose might hurt me. On the other hand, I could go to his place and help take care of the people who meant the most to him.
I turned to face Jett. “I think I’ll go with the girls, but you’ll call to update me, right?” He nodded, and I forced a smile. “What about the restaurant?”
“I got it covered,” he assured me. “I already called Marco, and I’ve got a few extra girls coming in to cover for you. Don’t worry about the restaurant. Jude’s family, and if that means we have to close, we will.”
I looked past Jett’s shoulder and found Harper and Quinn standing back, waiting for me. Jett stepped to the side for me.
“He’s gonna be okay,” he said as I walked past. I paused and looked up at him as my lower lip trembled uncontrollably. “And we both know he’s gonna fight us all on this. He isn’t one to accept help without a battle. He’ll say hurtful things he doesn’t truly mean out of embarrassment and anger, but Callie, you know he cares about you, right?”
I shook my head and tried to step away only to be stopped again by Jett gripping my forearm. “There is a lot of shit going on in his life. I may know some of it, but I don’t know it all. I can guarantee you, though, that he has feelings for you. I don’t know why he fights them. I don’t understand it. But I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”
“Jett,” I whispered as I hung my head.
“It’s gonna get real hard before it gets better. Just remember that.” I knew exactly what he was saying. Jude wouldn’t take our help without resistance. To him, accepting help made him weak. And weak was something Jude would never allow himself to be.
***
The ride over to Jude’s was quiet as I stared out the side window of Quinn’s Land Rover. When we drove onto the cul de sac and pulled up in front of the building Jude lived in, I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. It was a rundown apartment complex in the less wealthy part of town. There were a total of six units, and each had their own small porch. The railings were falling off some of them, and the steps were crooked and breaking away. The building and the landscape looked like they hadn’t been maintained in years.
We got out of the car and stared ahead, and I knew we were all thinking the same things—worry about Jude and his family living here, and guilt that we hadn’t known. A sick feeling ran through my veins as I thought back to last night when I dropped close to five hundred dollars on shoes and a new matching purse. I swallowed past the lump in my throat, and my vision blurred with unshed tears.
“Callie, don’t do that to yourself.” Quinn reached out and rubbed my shoulder. “None of us knew. He hid things so well. But now he can’t hide any longer. We won’t let him.”
All I could do was nod, because the burn in my throat made words impossible right now. I followed behind Quinn and Harper, each step making it harder to hold back the tears.
We approached the apartment near the end—Jett said it was unit five—and Quinn lightly tapped on the door. It was just after eight in the morning, and the sound of laughter behind the closed door made me smile. Still, I hated the idea that we were about to bring them bad news.
The door opened, and an older woman looked back at us and smiled pleasantly. “Can I help you girls?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re actually friends of Jude. We were looking for Katelynn,” Quinn said.
“Well, if you’re friends of Jude’s, maybe you could tell me where he is.” The older woman placed her hand on her hip as annoyance flashed across her features.
“Well, with all due respect, ma’am, the whereabouts of Jude should be told directly to his sister,” Harper chimed in, making me cringe. She had a real problem with sugarcoating anything. The woman’s eyes widened, but Harper continued before she could respond. “So if you don’t mind, we would like to speak to Katelynn. But I can assure you that Jude is not passed out on someone’s couch after a night of partying. I think we both know that if he isn’t here taking care of the three people that need him most, he has a damn good reason for it.”
I fisted my hands and prayed the woman wouldn’t slam the door in our faces or start yelling at Harper.
“Well, aren’t you a feisty one,” the older woman said with a chuckle. I let out a calming breath as I looked up and saw her humored expression. “But you are right,” she said as she stepped to the side. “Come on in, ladies.”
When we stepped inside, the sick feeling hit me all over again. The apartment was tiny, and all the medical equipment inside only made it appear smaller. The tears rolled over my cheeks then, and I found it hard to fight them. Jude always came off as this strong, confident man who overpowered a room the moment he entered it. I thought back to the times I thought he was the biggest ass I had ever met, but in reality he was a selfless man who fought daily and without complaining to provide for those he loved. I was always angry at him for thinking he was too good to date me, and now I just felt like such a bitch. None of us took the time to really see what was going on, and that made me sick to my stomach.
“Is my brother okay?” A sweet, soft whisper caught my attention.
I turned around to see Quinn approaching a frail woman in a wheelchair sitting only ten feet away, hidden in the center of all the furniture and equipment. She looked so much like Jude that it was obvious they were related. She had to be his sister.
Quinn sat down in the chair at Katelynn’s side, and she looked back at Quinn with fear in her eyes. “Please tell me he’s okay.” Her eyes filled with tears, and I had to look down, because seeing her pain was just too much.
The sounds of squeals came from the hallway as two little children ran into the room and headed in our direction. The little boy ran in first, wearing only a pair of underwear and a red cape flowing behind him. The little girl, who appeared to be around five or six, chasing after him was yelling something about her Barbie. His mischievous smile told me he had a little bit of devil in him. I fought my own impending smile as she tackled him to the floor. She straddled his tiny body, holding his arms out to his sides and glaring at him with all the diva she could muster up.
“Okay, you two,” the older woman said as she separated them. “Your mommy has some company, so let’s go back to the bedroom and handle this.”
That’s when they noticed they had an audience. The little girl stood up and straightened her dress. Placing her hands on her hips, she looked at all of us and narrowed her eyes. “He pulled off my Barbie’s head,” she said as her eyes widened with aggravation.
“And Warrior ate it,” the little boy announced with pride as he danced around waving his hands above his head. “Gobble-gobble, yum,” he said in his best imitation of a deep voice followed by a loud roar.
“Matthew.” We were all surprised by the tone in Katelynn’s voice. It was stern and laced with irritation. “Do not tell me that you flushed Zoey’s Barbie’s head down the toilet.”
Harper laughed and quickly covered her mouth to hide it, shaking her head. I flashed her a look of annoyance, which in turn only made her laugh even harder. She was hopeless. When she and Easton finally had children, I knew Easton would have to be the enforcer. I was also more than positive he would be handing out punishment to Harper just as much as he would to their children. She was such a troublemaker.