Ian
“Head in the game, Hayden!” Carl says before striking me upside the head. “Come on. Is this how you plan on winning your last fight, boy?” Anger surges through me like fire and I begin to really move.
It’s been a month since the night I got Violet back. We’ve seen each other every day since then. Some days we have lunch, others she comes to the house to spend the afternoon with Ava, Nova and me.
Sometimes she spends the night.
And thank fuck for the little vixen that my woman has turned into.
We’ve become even crazier for each other. In my car, in her car, at her house, at mine, on the bed, against the wall, in the shower…you get the idea.
The woman is simply insatiable, but then again I can’t get enough of her either.
“That’s looking clean, Wolf.” I hear Mike call out. I nod, sending more jabs toward Carl. The man looks tired, but he keeps moving, taking the blows, hitting me two times harder.
“Alright. We’re done for today.” He pants. “You’re ready for Saturday.” He says as we both get out of the ring. I toss him my bottle of water. He catches it and drinks.
“I can’t believe I’m missing your last fight, man.” Mike says, tossing me another bottle. I thank him silently, taking long, refreshing drink.
“You can watch it and the important thing is you’re making it on Sunday.” I say, trying to sound optimistic, because I really don’t like that he can’t come either.
“It’s not the same. I’ve never been absent in one of the kids’ birthdays. Not one.” I give him an impatient look. “At least I’ll make it to party on Sunday.” I chuckle.
“How are you so sure I’m going to win?” I ask him. Carl scoffs, using his towel to get rid of his sweat.
“Because I trained you.” He states simply and drinks from his bottle.
“And because you’ve been undefeated for years now.” I shrug.
“Shit happens.” They both raise a hand indicating I need to stop. I raise both of mine sitting on the bench.
“Yeah. Shit happens. That’s exactly why Uncle Mike won’t make it to his nephew and niece’s eighteenth birthday.” I take a deep breath.
“Mikael, you have always been there for them and they know that, but they also know what a busy, well-known mechanic you are and they are not going to stop loving you because you weren’t there.” I hate the defeated look on his face. “Plus, tonight is your engagement party. Lighten up.” His face illuminates instantly. I roll my eyes as his twinkle.
“I’m impressed. My future daughter-in-law did plan it all pretty fast.” Carl mumbles. I shake my head.
“No, no. My woman had a lot to do with all that planning.” I defend Violet. He smirks at me and his son, who seems to be in a trance.
“You two are so hung up in your women, so love sick…Jesus” He shudders dramatically,/Up until Mike’s mother’s death he was also love sick.
I bet he still is.
“Well, let’s get to it. I am looking forward to the party and watching your last time on that ring, Wolf. We know you’ll bring back that title.” I look up at Mike and smile thankfully.
My brother.
“No other man fights like the Wolf.” Rebecca. I turn in the direction of her voice and find her smiling at me. She wears a blouse and a very tight skirt and her signature heels. Her blonde hair is up in a tight knot at the top of her head, making her high cheekbones even more striking. “Alpha Grayson. Mikael.” They nod at her. “Ian.” She purrs. I stand.
“Guess there’s a lot of pressure on you, Wolf. Let’s hope you live up to the expectations.” I know he’s kidding, but a certain blonde’s presence has dulled his good mood. “I’ll pick ‘em up. See you, blondie.” He says, giving his father a look that says ‘Let’s get out of here.’
“I want them back home by seven so they have time to get readt. And I see why you offered to drive them today.” He laughs. “You had plans.”
“Yes, I do.” He says with a smile. He looks at me, then at Becca. “Bye, now.”
“Goodbye, Mikael Angelo.” He cringes, but says no more and walks away.
“We’ll talk more later, Hayden. Take care of yourself, Rebecca.” She nods, winking at Carl.
“You do the same for me, Alpha Grayson.” He smiles at her and leaves us.
“I don’t think you can seduce him, Becca.” She laughs and comes to give me a kiss on the cheek. My body instantly rejects the gesture as if telling me those lips are foreign.
I don’t think I could ever want another woman that is not my Violet.
“You think? He’s the only Alpha left for me to seduce and convince to make me one. But oh well, being Mike’s stepmother doesn’t appeal to me.” My eyes meet her dark ones.
“It wouldn’t appeal to him either, I’m sure.” She smirks. “I will take a quick shower. Wait for me.” She reaches out, taking my arm as I begin to walk away. My body doesn’t welcome the touch and I move my arm away.
“Ian, Manuel is sending messages…calling. Warning you to stay away from his daughter saying he will find out who our spies are. Things are getting ugly and I am afraid we might lose people.” I look around and glare at her.
“Is this the time or place, Becca?” She shakes her head submissively. I take a deep breath to keep from being irritated with her.
“No, but he has one of us. A woman, he says. I don’t know who she is. I’m trying to communicate with all of our agents, but they’re unavailable. I can’t seem to make a single call. I only receive calls from Manuel.” I take a few steps toward her and I know I look like I’m about to kill her by the fear in her eyes.
“How long has this been going on for and why am I just being told about it?” She smiles bitterly. It looks more like a snarl.
“Because you’ve had your head so far up Violet’s ass that you have ignored my calls. Do you not remember forbidding me to go to your house?” I wake a step toward her and hold her neck, so that our faces are right in front of each other.
“You ever speak about my woman like that again and we will have serious fucking problems.” I warn, watching the way her eyes narrow with anger.
“And that will solve our current problem? No, Ian! Snap out of it. You are going crazy over a younger pussy and our project is going to shit!” I let go of her neck and pace.
Fuck.
I have been completely evading her for the last month, forgetting my job and what brought me to Violet in the first place.
“I was told by Alpha Suarez that the best way to proceed to go out ourselves. I have a possible location: Mexico. We need to move. The only three agents not out there are us and Mike, of course.” I nod, pinching the bridge of my nose to ease the headache threating to attack me.
“We leave on Monday.” I decide. She looks startled, as if she expected me to say no. “I’ll spend my kids’ birthday with them, my fight and then I’ll go. This shit needs to be over sooner rather than later.” She nods in agreement. “I will send you what we’ll need, detailed. I expect you to deliver.” She nods again.
“Yes, of course.” She whispers. She seems to want to say something.
“Say what you need to say. I have to go.” I say impatiently. She breathes, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Why her? So many other women, easy, more beautiful…from good families and you choose her.” I shrug.
“That’s the thing: I didn’t…choose her. She’s not a decision in my life, she’s a necessity. Violet is not a decision I made, she’s a gift to me. She’s everything I’ve always wanted and needed.” Her eyes shine with tears and I suddenly have the urge to comfort her. I never promised her anything. We just had sex. It was scratching an itch. “We all have a person destined to us, a person we need. Our person. Some people never find theirs, others do. I was lucky enough to find my person. I hope you will to.” A tear slides down her cheek and I catch it, and then hug her to me. She stiffens, because I am still drenched in sweat.
“No matter how much it may hurt me, I’m still happy for you.” She whispers as I pull away from her. “I’m happy for you, Ian.” She repeats. She reaches up and catches me off guard by kissing my lips once. Chastely and subtlety.
I let her get her closure, even though the small kiss feels wrong.
She then turns around and walks away.
I drive, anxious to get to Violet because I need to see her already…and because I have to tell her about Becca’s kiss.
“You look tense, Tito.” Ava says from the passesnger seat of the Range Rover. Nova ‘mhm’s to agree with his sister.
“Just a bit anxious.” I admit. She looks very beautiful tonight. She wears a light pink dress that flares out at the waist with champagne colored heels. She looks…like a woman. I don’t like it at all.
“Tell us about anxiety. Violet’s class is driving me crazy.” I chuckle. Nova scoffs dramatically.
“You can’t complain, okay? Yours is easy enough! And you have a dancer helping you!” He argues. I roll my eyes at these two.
Violet gives her groups an assignment every year that costs 30% of their grade. She puts three buckets in front of her students; one with songs, the other with a theme and the next with a dance style. She then grabs a fourth one and picks out the names of the students randomly and pairs them.
“Daniel is only dancing with me. I have come up with the entire routine by myself. He won’t even talk at rehearsals. Violet is there watching like a hawk.” Ava says, her tone frantic. I smirk.
“Ava, don’t complain. I got tango, with the topic tragic and the song Take me to church. Do. Not. Complain.” She laughs bitterly.
“Well, I have hip hop and waltz and I’m supposed to dance sexy to it. I have no idea how to do that.” Good, I think, but keep quiet.
“Please stop arguing over things you can’t solve. You got what you got. Is complaining about it going to change it?” I ask them.
“No.” They say in unison. I nod.
“Well, then. Suck it up and surprise Violet. She’s too much of a perfectionist.” The murmur in agreement.
“Is this the place? I’m tired of sitting and wearing a suit is definitely not my thing. I’ll marry at the beach, shirtless.” Nova says, fidgeting.
“Maybe your fiancée will be a Lina and she’ll want a huge wedding.” I see him shake his head through the rear-view mirror.
“I’m going to marry Pocahontas someday.” I laugh.
“I think she prefers John Smith.” He ignores me, but Ava giggles.
“She might think she hates me, but she’ll carry my babies. She is very simple. She’ll want a small wedding, I’m sure. She wears t-shirts and jeans every day…and still manages to look like a wet,” Ava turns and punches her brother.
“Avalon Rose.” The warning in my tone makes her sit the way she should again. She looks angry.
“It’s just so inappropriate. I don’t like to hear if he thinks girls look like wet dreams.” Nova laughs.
“Oh, calm your ti,” I clear my throat. “Just calm down, Ava girl. I was just expressing these deep feelings for Pocahontas.” It’s her turn to scoff.
“Yeah, sure. How deep are these feelings? I bet they’re depth is the same size as your,”
“What is wrong with you two?” I yell, surprised at their behavior and most of all the language they are using with each other today. We stop at a red light and I take the opportunity to close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I want to know why you are talking to each other like that.” They’re quiet. Ava looks down at her lap and fidgets with her fingernails. “Now.” I say, low enough for it to sound like a warning.
The light turns green and I drive.
“Nova is going out with Kelly…the one girl I have always hated at school.” Ava whispers. “And it might be selfish of me, but I don’t care. I hate her and I can’t believe he would do that to me.” I nod, waiting to hear Nova’s side.
“She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t do girlfriends. I have just been with her a few times, but she’s not my girlfriend. I didn’t do anything to you and you know I always defend you when she does those things.” Ava looks up and stares at the road.
“Which makes you a hypocrite. You think she’s a bitch, you defend me from her and somehow in your head it’s okay that you’re also fu…sleeping with her.” I’ll lecture her about that language later. She is genuinely hurt by her favorite person in the world and I want them to fix this.
“Ava, I didn’t mean to hurt you…I just,” She laughs.
“You just can’t keep it in your pants? I don’t believe it, Nova. Tell me what’s really going on. And that you would let her friends publicly announce it like that? No. I just don’t believe it.” Silence. I hope like hell she’s right.
But Nova seems off too.
“Kelly is pregnant.” Ava goes as stiff as a board against her seat. It’s not mine, don’t have a heart attack. She just had a…situation. I just wanted to be there for her and I’ve been seeing her to help her. Her friends saw us together and you heard whatever rumors they could make up.” He explains in a soft voice, but there’s a bit of hurt in it. I drive into the parking.
“Nova, I,” Ava tries, but he interrupts her.
“Don’t.” He says, tightly. I slide into a parking space and turn the key. Nova gets out first and rushes into the facility. Ava wipes at her face and I get out of the car and rush to her side. I open her door and wipe the tears from her face.
“He’s just a bit mad. He’s going to get over it.” I say, softly. “You worked hard on your makeup, you really want to ruin it?” She shakes her head, as I wipe more of her tears away. She looks into the car’s mirror and fixes her face.
“Let’s go.” She says and I help her out of the car. I close the door and walk inside with her arm draped over mine.
Violet
I stand when I see Nova come in. He wears a suit, with a white shirt and a black tie. He spots me and smile before kissing my cheek.
“What’s wrong?” I know him well enough to know when he fakes a smile.
“The Kelly thing.” I nod in understanding. The doors open and Ian walks in with Ava on his arm. He looks tense and she looks like she’s been crying. The fiancées are at their table, lost in each other and I am glad they don’t notice anything.
“Oh, Ava. You look gorgeous.” I say, kissing her cheek. She smiles.
“Thank you.” She whispers. Her brother takes one look at her face, curses and takes her arm from Ian’s. They sit at the table where I sat. They both greet Daniel, who sits there as well.
“Knight.” I say suddenly breathless. I will never get tired of seeing him in suits. He licks his lips.
“My duchess, once again there are no words to describe just how magnificent you look.” He says, taking in my body in this dress. I wear a long, lacy white dress. It’s see through and splits at my right thigh.
“I could say the same to you.” I reply, ready to take him to my bed, or his.
“Kiss me.” He demands. I happily oblige. I give him a short kiss. He hums.
“This place is packed, but where is the happy couple?” I gesture at the small table they occupy.
“Right there.” The happy couple is making out, heavily. Ian chuckles.
The party is great. We dance and have a few drinks. The married-couple-to-be say beautiful things to each other and it’s over sooner than we all thought.
Ian is weird tonight. Tense, as if something had happened and he is keeping it from me. Maybe he wants to tell me, but doesn’t know how to.
“Come home with me tonight.” Ian whispers in my ear. I nod.
“Okay. I’ll be right back.” I say, needing to go to the bathroom. Nova, who is dancing with some girl I’ve never seen before, winks at me. I smile.
I make my way to the bathroom and open the door. I gasp and my eyes widen in disbelief.
“WHAT THE FUCK?” Hysterical is a nice way to put how I’m feeling at the moment.
Daniel curses, leaning away from Ava and freeing her hands from his grip and lowering them from the top of her head. Ava looks like she might cry. They were kissing. Not just kissing, but groping each other, pulling at their clothes. It was not an innocent kiss.
“Violet, please don’t tell Tito. Please!” Ava begs, walking closer to me. I raise my hands to make her stop.
“Both of you…just get out of my face. Actually, Daniel stay. Go, Ava.” She wants to protest. “Go, Ava. Just go.” She bolts from the bathroom.
“Violet, I,” I stop his words with a slap. I slap him hard across the face, then backhand the other cheek. The sting is welcome in my hand, even though my eyes water.
“I trusted you. I’ve trusted you with my students for years. What the fuck are you doing with her?” He doesn’t bother straightening his face to look into my eyes. “LOOK AT ME, GODDAMN IT! LOOK AT ME, DANIEL!” He does, the marks of my assault beginning to appear on his face.
“I am so sorry, Violet.” His accent is thick and it’s hard to understand. “I truly am, but I have had feelings for Ava for two years now…she’s not a child and I could not help it. I…fuck. Please forgive me.” I shake my head.
“You’ve had feelings for her? YOU HAVE HAD FEELINGS FOR HER?” I spit. I will myself to calm down before I speak again. “You will not see her again, not like this after this weekend. If we didn’t need you to keep Ian calm during the fight, I wouldn’t let you come this weekend either.” I say, anger and deception exploding inside me. “Get out. I can’t even look at you.”
I look into the mirror and blink back tears. He looks at me with regret.
“I can only apologize for hurting you this way, not for what I did. I have true feelings for her, Violet. I truly do. I just hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me.” I shake my head, still looking at myself in the mirror, wanting him gone.
“Leave me.” He walks toward the door and opens it.
“Le soleil se lèvara à nouveau dans la matinèe.” The sun shall rise again in the morning. He then walks out and leaves me alone.
The rest of the night is spent by us faking to be having a great time. Everyone is clearly miserable, but we all enjoy those little moments where Mike and Lina do something cute together.
They really are a beautiful couple.
I bolt from my chair before Ian can even think of asking me to spend the night with me.
There is too much on my mind. I rush home and get into bed.
But I don’t sleep. I wait patiently until sunrise ignoring the way my phone goes off.
What a fucking mess!
And somehow I know that things will get worse because happiness has never lasted for me.
I laugh bitterly thinking that I never have been and I never will be.
Because I know that telling and keeping it from Ian will have the same result: Ian and I will be over.