An Act of Obsession (Acts of Honor Book 3) (14 page)

No. I can’t believe that. Not when he held me and touched me the way he did. Strong and commanding, yet gentle and caring. I may not have much experience with guys, but I know what happened with Kolan that night is something I will never again experience with anyone else.

The only thing I regret was not getting to touch him, too. It’s all I’ve thought about. As nervous as I am, I want to see what he looks like when he loses control. I have a feeling he never has before. Maybe in
his
way, but not in the sense where he gives himself freely to someone else.

My thoughts come to a screeching halt when I reach the gym and see the windows have been boarded up.

What the heck?

I swing open the door and enter to see Kolan storming out of the office, looking furious.

“What happened?” I ask, pointing at the boarded windows.

“What does it look like?”

I stiffen, his harsh reply catching me off guard. “It looks like your windows were broken.”

“There you go. That’s what happened,” he responds, not even bothering to look at me.

“Do you know who did it?” I ask quietly, hurt by his cold reception.

“I have a pretty good fucking idea since my truck was smashed in, too.”

“Oh god, Kolan. I’m sorry.”

He shrugs. “It’s not your fault.”

“I know but—”

“Look, let’s just warm up and get on with the lesson. I have shit to do.”

I grind my teeth to ward off the pain pricking at my heart and swallow back my hurt feelings. “We can cancel, if you need.”

“It’s fine,” he grumbles, turning his back on me.

It clearly isn’t ‘
fine,’
but I don’t have a chance to argue because he’s already over in the warm-up area, waiting for me. I reluctantly join him, even though every instinct I have is screaming for me to leave.

Our warm up is silent and filled with angry tension. I’ve never seen him so cold and distant. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to be here right now and quite frankly, neither do I. Being with him like this just feels…wrong. If I didn’t know better, I would think he’s angry with me, but I have no idea why. I think about asking but then decide against it. I just want to get this over with and leave.

We head over to the mats to work on different holds. When he moves up behind me to wrap an arm around my chest, his hand gets caught on my scarf. A heated curse flees him. “Would you just fucking get rid of this already?” He tries yanking his hand free, almost bringing my scarf with it.

“Stop it!” I grab the material, wrapping it back in place, then spin around to face him. “What the hell is your problem?” I yell, choking back the sob wanting to break free.

“Me? You’re the one with the fucking problem, hiding behind that goddamn scarf. I told you it’s a safety hazard but you refuse to take it off!”

I gape at him, not even recognizing the man I’m staring back at. His furious eyes such a contradiction to the warm ones I’m used to seeing. He stares back at me like he hates me.

“You know what, fuck you. I’m out of here. I don’t need this shit.” I rush out of the gym without bothering to grab my water bottle, not wanting him to see the burning tears slipping down my cheeks.

My heart shatters into a million pieces as I walk home, wondering how I could be so wrong about someone. I made that mistake once before and after this, I’ll never make it again.

Kolan

“F
uck!” I slam my fist into the heavy bag, relishing in the pain that shoots up my arm, but it does nothing to clench the fire in my chest. My jaw locks as I think about her eyes that were filled with tears before she ran out of here.

I’m the biggest asshole and I know it. I’m pissed about my truck, pissed about the gym, but even more pissed for letting her own me. That night I spent holding her, touching her, listening to the sounds of her pleasure, I completely lost myself to her. Something I’ve always sworn to never do. Every day that passed without talking to her wreaked fucking havoc on me. I took my bad mood out on her when what I really wanted to do was kiss the hell out of her the moment she walked into the gym, and that just pissed me off even more. But now, I don’t feel anger, only guilt.

“Shit.” I go grab my keys from the office, hoping I can catch her in time, but know it’s not likely since she doesn’t live far. She’s probably already home.

After locking up the gym behind me, I climb into my rental truck, fury igniting in my veins all over again at the reminder of what happened to mine. Yesterday morning, I had walked out of my house to find my SUV destroyed, then found out the gym was in similar condition, every window smashed in. Cops think it was kids but I know better. It was personal, and I have no doubt that it was fucking Cortez.

The bastard sealed his fate.

When I turn down main street, something catches my eye in one of the store windows. Impulsively, I make a hard right, cutting off the guy behind me, then screech to a stop as I park in front of the shop. I exit the truck just as the store clerk flips the open sign to closed.

“No, wait!” My feet pound the concrete as I charge up to the door, but the old lady quickly switches the lock in place, her eyes wide with fear. I take a nonthreatening step back and point at the window. “I need to buy that.”

She glances at the item then back to me, her gaze shifting nervously as she tries to see if there is anyone else out here with me. There isn’t.

“Please, it’s for a friend.” When all she does is stare at me, I try another tactic. “I’ll pay you triple for it.”

Her eyes narrow suspiciously. “How do I know you’re not gonna rob me?”

I refrain from rolling my eyes like a fucking chick.

What robber asks to buy something?

“I don’t want to rob you, lady. I just want to buy what’s in the window.”

It’s clear she doesn’t believe me and isn’t going to. With a frustrated breath, I head back to my truck when I hear the lock unlatch. I spin around but she slams the door closed and points at me through the glass. “I’m warning you, mister, I have a gun and know how to use it. Try anything funny and I’ll blow you to smithereens, got it?”

In other circumstances the threat would amuse me, but right now there’s nothing funny about my situation. I just want to get to Lia. “How about I pass you my credit card and wait here? You can ring it up and bring it back for me to sign.”

She thinks about it but ends up shaking her head and opens the door. “No, it’s all right, you can come in.”

I make sure to enter slowly and keep my distance from her as she grabs the item from the window. The last thing I want to do is cause her to have a heart attack. With my fucking luck it would happen. I don’t come any closer until I need to hand her my credit card. She stares down at my name for a long moment before swiping it.

“Sorry about earlier. I’m fairly new here and don’t know many people. You’re also a big fella and a little intimidating.”

It’s a good thing she doesn’t know who I am, because then she really wouldn’t have opened the door.

“It’s fine. You’re right to be cautious.”

“That’s what my grandson always tells me.” She slowly begins wrapping the gift in pink paper. I glance down at my watch, wishing she would move a little faster. “For someone special?”

“Yeah…” Lia is so much more than that, but I don’t think there are any words to describe how special she is.

“Well, it’s a good choice. A beautiful color for summer,” she comments, putting the gift in a bag. “I was actually just telling my grandson the other day about this one and told him he should buy it for his girlfriend. She loves scarves,” she adds with a smile.

I nod, not really giving a shit but don’t want to be rude.

When she finally hands me the bag, I try to take it but she doesn’t let go. “Now, tell her to wash it in cold water and hang to dry.”

“Okay, thanks.” I turn to leave but her fingers keep a tight grip.

“And maybe tell her to add a wee bit of baking soda. It’s something my mother always taught me. It helps keep the color bright and rich.”

With a nod, I try to leave again. Only she still won’t fucking let go.

“And tell her if she likes this, we have more colors coming in next week. Even a beautiful sunshine yellow and…”

I reach for patience as she rambles, trying to figure out how to get the hell out of here without being an asshole. When she finishes telling me about all the fucking colors coming in, I pull a little harder, prying the gift from her fingers and move for the door in a hurry. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome, young man, come back anytime,” she calls out.

Probably not, but I give her a brief wave as I head out of the store. When I reach Lia’s place a few minutes later, I walk up her front steps, feeling my palms sweat like a goddamn teenager. After a few raps on the door, I wait for her to answer and hear the light sound of footsteps then…nothing.

“Lia, open up.”

“Go away, Kolan.”

My guilt escalates at the sadness in her voice. “Please open the door. I need to see you.”

“Well, I don’t want to see you.”

“Just give me a minute. That’s all I’m asking for. Then I promise to leave if that’s what you want.”

There’s a long stretch of silence before she unlocks the door and swings it open. Pain infiltrates my chest at the sight of her red puffy eyes and wounded expression. I get the urge to pull her against me but know it won’t be welcomed.

Her chin lifts stubbornly, arms crossing over her chest. “What do you want?”

“To tell you how sorry I am.”

“You should be. You were an asshole.”

“I know.”

She presses her lips together, trying to rein in her emotions but a tear manages to slip free. Unable to hold back a second longer, I pull her against me, engulfing her slender body in my arms.

“You really hurt me,” she cries.

Jesus, I didn’t think I could feel worse than I already did, but I was so wrong. “I know, and you’ll never know how sorry I am for it. It’s been a shitty few days, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Eventually, she returns my embrace, giving me a spark of hope that she might accept my apology.

Cupping her face, I bring her sad eyes to mine. “Do you forgive me?”

She nods. “Yeah. Just don’t do that to me again.”

“Never. I promise.” I repress the urge to drop a kiss on her pretty lips, and decide now would be a good time to give her the gift. “Here.”

She wipes the remainder of her tears before accepting it. “What’s this for?”

“It was my backup plan if you didn’t accept my apology.”

I’m rewarded with a small smile. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

“Do you want to come in for a little while?” she asks, shifting nervously on her feet. “I was just about to have my evening tea.”

“Yeah, sure.”

She closes the door then leads me into the small living room. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“No thanks, I’m good.” I take a seat on the couch and wait for her to join me. She ends up sitting on the other end, much too far away for my liking.

Silence fills the air as she pulls the gift from the bag and begins opening the pink paper, unveiling the aqua blue scarf. The soft material drapes in her hands as she stares down at it. “It’s beautiful.”

“Only because you’ll be wearing it.” She remains quiet, and I know it’s because she doesn’t believe me, not after what I said. “Look, Lia, I didn’t mean what I said back at the gym. With the scarf or without—you’re perfect.”

“But you were right, I am hiding,” she chokes out, tears flooding her eyes again. “I have to or he’ll kill me.”

Those terrified words put me in motion. Grabbing ahold of her shoulders, I search her gaze. “Who? Who is
he
?”

She lets go of a broken sob, shredding my fucking insides.

“Tell me, Lia, so I can help you.”

“Sophie,” she whispers.

My brows draw in confusion, thinking I misheard her. “What?”

“My name is Sophie Parish, not Lia Kay.”

Shock slams into me, her admission rocking me to my core. I knew she was hiding shit, but her name? Her identity?

“Please don’t be angry with me,” she pleads.

I shake my head, reeling from the information. “I’m not angry, baby. I’m just trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.”

“I’ll tell you everything if you want to know. But be prepared, it’s a long story. An ugly one at that.”

“I have all night. I’m not going anywhere.”

Taking a breath, she sinks back into the couch with her body turned toward me. “His name is Daniel Wheeler,” she starts quietly. “I met him the first week of my senior year in high school. He had just transferred from San Francisco and became the kid everyone ridiculed. I stepped in one day to help him when he was being bullied by a few of the football guys, and it turned out to be the biggest mistake I would ever make.”

By the fear in her words, I realize this is going to be worse than any scenario I’ve conjured up until this point.

“It started with anonymous love poems being left in my locker then escalated to flowers and gifts. I knew it was Daniel, and I felt bad that I didn’t return his feelings, especially when I knew he was having a hard time fitting in. So, at first I ignored them, because I didn’t want to embarrass him or make him feel bad. But it only got worse and the gifts became more elaborate, so I had no choice but to confront him. I was as kind as I could be about it and told him that we could be friends but that was it. His reaction was…odd, to say the least. He never said a word the entire time. Never denied or confirmed it was him. He just stared at me with this distant look in his eyes.”

She pauses, lost in the memory.

“Everything stopped, even his smiles and waves, so I thought that was the end of it. But then he began showing up wherever I went. Whether it was the grocery store with my mom or the movies with my friends, he was always there—watching me. He never approached me or said anything, but I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. There were even times I could have sworn I felt him watching me, but I couldn’t see him. I thought I was going crazy.”