Part 13 (1/2)
”Sure,” I said brightly, slipping around Liam, and making my getaway. ”I'm on it.”
”So, gorgeous,” Ciarn purred when I had the flat-screen on his treadmill switched on and set up. ”Do you have any plans for tonight?” he asked, hitting full speed on the machine before warming up.
”Not a one,” I replied, stepping out of his reach. ”I'm going to have a nice quiet night in with my book.” I forced a smile and said, ”let me know if I can get you anything else,” before walking away.
”A b.l.o.w. .j.o.b would be great,” he chuckled under his breath and I froze.
Swinging around, I marched back to the treadmill and slammed my hand down on the emergency b.u.t.ton. It came to a complete stop, causing Ciarn to trip over his own feet and land awkwardly on the belt.
”What the f.u.c.k did you do that for?” he snarled, red-faced, as pulled himself up with the help of the side rails.
”Because you're a member, I'm going to let what you said go this one time,” I seethed, pointing my finger in his face. ”But if you ever s.e.xually hara.s.s me in my own gym again I will cut you.”
”Look what you've done, you stupid b.i.t.c.h,” he roared, pointing to his ankle. ”I have a match on Sunday.”
Folding my arms across my chest, I rolled my eyes and smirked. ”And that matters to me because?”
”What's going on here?” I heard Liam demand seconds before he arrived at my side. ”Teagan?” he asked, looking down at me. ”What happened?”
”I'll tell you what happened. That f.u.c.king psychopath just cost me the county final.” Ciarn snarled. Hobbling off the treadmill, he tested his weight on his ankle and flinched. ”I'm out, Liam. Sorry, man, but I'd rather train in a place that actually wants us.”
”Good,” I shot back.
”Shut up Teagan,” Liam hissed, poking me in the side with his elbow.
Holding his hands up, he turned to Ciarn and tried to defuse the situation. ”I'm sure this is just a big misunderstanding,” he placated. ”Teagan didn't mean any harm.”
”Yes I did,” I piped up, causing Liam to groan. I knew I needed to shut the h.e.l.l up, but I couldn't back down. It wasn't in my nature. If Ciarn wanted to take me on, I wasn't holding anything back.
Ciarn's face turned purple. ”Honest to G.o.d, Liam, I don't know why you waste so much time on her.” he roared. Limping towards me, he leaned down in my face and spat, ”The guy should go and get himself a real woman. Not a f.u.c.king ice-queen with a cardboard p.u.s.s.y.”
”You would say that,” I snapped, losing all tact and grace. ”When the only moisture you've ever drawn from a woman's body was when you bored her to tears.”
”You're finished,” he roared. ”No one within a twenty mile radius will touch this place when I'm through.”
”Thanks a lot, Teagan,” Liam muttered before chasing after Ciarn who was making his way out of the gym.
I WAS ON MY HANDS AND KNEES, wiping down the treadmill more like disinfecting it from that pervert's touch when Liam eventually returned. The angry expression he wore on his face told me all I needed to know about how it had gone with Ciarn.
Not well.
”Are you proud of yourself?” he demanded when he reached me.
”Yes,” I shot back, climbing to my feet. ”But I'm thoroughly disgusted with you.”
My retort caught Liam off guard and whatever he was about to say fell out of his head as his brows furrowed in confusion.
”That man has been tormenting me for months,” I reminded him. ”And you did nothing. So don't get all p.i.s.sy with me for taking matters into my own hands.”
”We need his business, Teagan,” Liam said, enunciating each word, as if that was supposed to make it all okay. ”The gym is going under. What don't you get about that?”
”So I'm supposed to be okay with being touched and degraded because business is slow?”
When Liam didn't respond I shook my head in complete and utter disgust.
”You wanted to know why I won't consider being with you? It's because if you had any real feelings towards me, you wouldn't allow those men to talk to me and talk about me the way they do.” Tossing my cleaning rag on the floor, I turned my back on him and headed into the office for my stuff.
”It's banter,” Liam called out, following me into the office.
”It's s.e.xual hara.s.sment,” I corrected, stuffing my phone and the keys of my apartment into my bag. ”And if Noah were here...” I cut myself off quickly. ”Forget it.”
”No. Please go right ahead,” Liam, clearly hurt, told me. ”Tell me what the infamous ex boyfriend turned jailbird would do. Is he still in prison?” he taunted. ”How many years did he get again?”
”Fine,” I snapped, furious. ”If Noah were here, he would rip that p.r.i.c.k's head off.” Slipping my arms into the straps of my bag, I pulled it onto my back. ”He wouldn't let them get away with it, and he sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't make me feel like I was wrong for sticking up for myself.”
”Finally,” Liam sneered, having the good sense to step aside and let me pa.s.s. ”We're getting down to it. Your precious Noah.”
”Don't go there, Liam.” I warned him in a shaky voice as I marched through the gym, regretting ever confiding in him. ”This has nothing to do with him.”
Liam knew I had an ex boyfriend called Noah, but what he didn't realize was that he had tickets to go see said ex boyfriend in action later on this evening. If he did, I think Liam would have a very different outlook.
”It has everything to do with him,” Liam shot back heatedly. ”Go on and deny it, Teagan. Tell me he isn't the reason you're holding back from me.”
I left the gym without answering Liam for two reasons.
The first reason being he didn't deserve my answer he had acted like a complete tool.
And the second reason was I didn't want to lie.
”HOW YOU DOING, MAN?” I heard my trainer ask seconds before he landed in the booth beside me. Tugging a sweet little brunette onto his lap, Quincy pressed a kiss to her neck before raising his beer bottle and clicking it against mine. ”How are the knuckles?”
”Still functioning, Q,” I told him before taking a swig of my beer. I was sore as s.h.i.+t, but the adrenalin that was still coursing through me numbed the aching.
Quincy was celebrating tonight. So was the brunette on his lap, and the other forty or so people crammed up in the private room of the Krash bar.
I'd done it. Finally. After eighteen months of blood, sweat and f.u.c.king tears I had proved to all the doubters that I deserved to be here. I had f.u.c.king earned my t.i.tle shot.
I buried Davy Bishop in the second round tonight, knocked his a.s.s out with a superman. Poor f.u.c.ker was out cold the second he hit the mat. I could have put him away in the first round, but I allowed him a little more time with it being on his home turf and all.
The venue was a h.e.l.luva lot smaller than what I was used to, but the victory had the same taste about it as all the others. The taste of more. I was hungry for that t.i.tle. It meant a lot to me. I wanted it to prove a point.
To myself and every motherf.u.c.ker who ever doubted me.
”Smell that, champ?” Quincy chuckled, bleary-eyed and three sheets to the wind. ”That, my man, is the smell of success of freedom.”
Champ, Quincy called me.
Not yet, but I would be...
I was twenty-five years old and had spent the majority of my adult life behind bars, paying for a liar's mistakes. The irony that I was now at the top of the very same game that had gotten me thrown behind bars didn't go unnoticed.