Embracing the Fall (24 page)

That’s when all hell broke loose for a second time. Ziporah came rushing from the
bathrooms with the screech of a banshee, leaped into the air from a good two feet
away and took Mark down in a flying tackle. If Evan hadn’t been so worried about the
delicate frame of the other woman he loved, he would’ve been as impressed as hell
with that move. As it was, all he could think about was the fact that Mark had punched
and tried to kick Cami, so there was no telling what he would do to Ziporah.

Thankfully, Natacha was there for him to hand Cami over to. He shoved her into the
other woman’s restraining arms, because Cami had rallied and was trying with all her
might to dive back in.

When Evan turned back around, Mark and Ziporah had rolled until Mark was over her,
with his fist raised and his other hand clamped on her slender neck. It didn’t deter
her a bit, Z’s legs were scrambling and her fists were flying all the same. Before
Mark’s fist could land, Evan locked an arm around Mark’s throat and yanked him off
of his woman.

“I don’t know who the fuck raised you,” Evan snarled in the other man’s ear as he
wrenched a little tighter on that throat, cutting off the airways until he quit trying
to get away, “but I can tell you they did a piss-poor job of it. What kind of a man
would hit a woman?” Just asking the question left a sour taste in his mouth, so Evan
spat on the floor right in front of him. “A worthless one.”

With more force than was needed, because Mark must’ve realized who had a hold of him
and was trying to make nice now, Evan drug him out the door and threw him to the sidewalk.
“You’d best get your miserable ass out of here and never come back.” Evan could only
guess at what the other man saw on his face, because any angry retort or bullshit
excuse dried up pretty damn fast. He just turned and jogged away, apparently so spooked
he didn’t think walking was fast enough.

When Evan went back inside, the place was still in chaos. People were riding high
on the thrill of the fight. As he made his way to the back couch where Z and Cami
were sitting with their arms around each other, he heard the same story being told
by every cluster of people that he passed.

Evan crouched down in front of his two women and placed a hand on each of their cheeks.
“How are my sugar and my brat, huh?” He tipped forward and kissed each sweat-dampened
forehead. “Somebody wanna tell me what happened?”

“That was Mark Wahlberg,” Cami said, as though she was stating a revelation.

“Yeah, I know who he was. My company was considering a partnership with his, but that’s
not going to be happening now.” Evan saw the look come over Z’s face that was boiling
with intensity.

“Mark was the one, Evan,” she said and knocked the wind out of him. “He was the one
that raped Cami.” Evan felt his entire body readying itself for battle, and as a blanket
of rage settled upon him, he stood to his feet and headed for the door without a word.

He started out in a slow purposeful stride, but within five steps, he was running.
Running because he remembered that bastard had been jogging when he’d left, and Evan
wanted to catch him. Because when he did, he was going to kill him.

He ran full-out for about five blocks in a blind rage before the cold slapped some
sense into him. With a curse at his own stupidity, Evan turned and got his ass back
to his women. They didn’t need him landing his fool-ass in jail, or to have to clean
him up after a brawl. They needed him to be there for them, not the other way around.
The sickening fury that threatened to choke him was his own issue to deal with, and
not a priority. His women were his priority now and always, and he was an idiot for
forgetting that for even a second. By the time he was back at the couch, they had
pulled themselves together somewhat. Evan cursed himself again; he should have been
here to help them recover from the shock, not out chasing that asshole in a testosterone-fuelled
rage.

“So, since there’s no blood, I’m assuming that means I won’t have to put you in prison?”
Ziporah asked with one eyebrow raised.

“Nah, sugar.” Evan waved that away, and tried to give her a cocky grin despite the
volcanic rage still boiling within him. “I didn’t have to kill him. You and the wildcat
here took care of that for me.” Cami surprised the hell out of him when she laughed
at that. “Oh, you think that’s funny do you? You scared the bejesus out of me. I about
had a heart attack when I heard you screaming, then came around and saw you grappling
with him.” Now that he’d managed to cool down a little, he was actually very impressed.

“I wish I could tell you I was sorry,” Cami said, trying to keep a straight face and
failing, “but that felt so good. So good to finally face him and hit him the way I
wanted to for years.” At that, her cute little nose wrinkled and she pouted at him.
“It kind of sucked at the same time, too. Because I couldn’t tell if I was hitting
him or not. I couldn’t feel anything.” She held up hands that were swollen and puffy
for him to see.

“Ah, slugger, look at your poor knuckles. These are going to be hurting tomorrow,
and besides that, you broke two of your pretty nails.” Evan clucked his tongue and
kissed each swollen joint tenderly, as he cupped her sore hands in his palms. “Well
brat, you may not have felt your blows landing, but from the looks of these he sure
as hell did.” She smiled at him with a mischievous grin that warmed his heart and
turned him inside out.

“I sure did, huh?” Evan laughed and nodded, then leaned forward and kissed her smiling
lips.

“And what about your hands, sugar?” Evan turned to the other woman of his life to
inspect her for injuries. Anger surged anew when he saw bruises already forming on
her throat. “God damn him.”

“I’m sure he already has,” Z informed him in a voice that was a little rough around
the edges. “I just wish he would get on with the lightning bolts already.”

“Well, I don’t know about lightning bolts, but the way you hit him in that flying
tackle was pretty damn impressive. If a body blow like that isn’t judgment from above,
I don’t know what is. You took that rat bastard down
hard.
” She actually blushed and turned her face away with a sheepish grin.

“I love you both so damn much, I’m stupid with it.” Ziporah turned back to him with
a full-blown smile on her beautiful, flushed face. “That makes three of us.”

“Yeah,” Cami chimed in, “three of us.” Then Evan took a note from Ziporah’s playbook
and tackled them both into the couch. The laughter and affection they shared in that
moment brought hope to all of them. The shadows of the past faced and conquered. Like
the dawn breaking from a long dark night, there was only healing and light for the
three of them now, at last.

Evan checked one last time to make sure everything was ready in his office before
he hit the intercom. “Okay Tanner you can send him in.” Staying in his seat and maintaining
a calm and professional exterior was one of the hardest things Evan had ever done
in his life as Mark Wahlberg walked into his office and faced him.

“Look man,” Mark said, taking the lead by making a slashing movement with his right
hand as though to clear the slate. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I hope you don’t
think I go around hitting on random women in bars.” He held up both hands at his sides,
and scrunched his face up in a
‘what can you do’
expression.

“The sad truth is, I’ve got history with those two, and it was just a sorry turn of
events that you had to be there to witness it.” Evan nodded his head and tried to
make his expression appear sympathetic and thoughtful, as he thought to himself
keep talking, asshole, just keep talkin’
.

“Why don’t you have a seat and tell me about it?” Evan asked, while visions of strangling
the man with his bare hands danced through his mind.

“Well, it’s personal, and its old history that just came out of nowhere. So, if it’s
all the same to you, I’d like to talk business and leave the personal out of it.”

I bet you would jerk-off, but that’s not gonna happen.

“Oh, but it isn’t the same to me. You see, as I’ve told you on several occasions,
my business is personal, so before we take this further I’d like to know what happened.”
Evan watched Mark process that and sit back in his chair. He could almost see the
wheels spinning behind the other man’s eyes, as he scrambled for a way to get out
of it.

“You know how it is, back in high school and college. You remember how the girls were,
right?” Evan felt bile boil in his stomach, and managed to make a noncommittal grunt
that Mark took as agreement. “Yeah. They were all drunk on the power of brand-new
boobs, and the ability to lead a guy around by his dick. But then, after you dump
your whole paycheck on ‘em and get them alone, they pull out the scared virgin act.”
Mark was either oblivious or blind, that he failed to pick up on the rage he was enticing
out of Evan, because he leaned forward and warmed to his story, nodding his head to
emphasize his point.

“Being a wrestler, I was a pretty big deal at high school, so that happened there
a lot.” Mark rolled his eyes. “Cheerleaders, right?” Then he looked back at Evan and
shook his head as though baffled. “So there I was in college on a wrestling scholarship,
and along comes this hot little blonde. I tailed her for a month. And she liked it,
she liked the attention, she liked me. She liked me so much that on our first date,
she even let me take her out into the middle of nowhere.”

Mark was so zealous about the subject that he leaned forward and braced his elbow
on Evan’s desk and pointed a finger at him. “We get there, and the place is closed
up tight. But does she complain then? Does she ask me to take her home? No. Not once.
She follows me out into the middle of a God damn cornfield, in the middle of the God
damn night, and then tries to act like she doesn’t know what’s going to God damn happen
once we get there.”

With a flounce, Mark sat back in his seat and slapped the arms of his chair in disgust.
“Well, it was bullshit. She was all over me, and kissing me, with her tongue halfway
down my throat. She had this great rack that she was rubbing all over me, and I was
just a kid. You know how it was back then. Young, dumb and full of cum, right?” He
gave what Evan could only assume was a good old boy chuckle at that witty comment,
and then continued. “Well she got what she was asking for, and yeah, maybe it was
a little rough, but hey, it was hot and she liked it. Then, the next day the stupid
bitch cried rape.” Now the look that came over Mark’s face was a self-satisfied smile
that had Evan seeing red.

“It wasn’t. No way in hell was it. She wouldn’t let it drop, though. And took it all
the way to fucking court. There I was on a full-ride scholarship, my whole life ahead
of me, and this little piece of tail who had morning-after regrets has me up on trial.
Can you believe that shit?” As a matter of fact, Evan thought, I can’t believe this
shit at all. But Evan didn’t say a word for now, no matter that the urge to kill the
man was so strong, every muscle in his body trembled with it.

“Well, the court saw the truth and let me go. Not guilty. Because that’s what I was.
I was not guilty
. But I got punished anyway.” He whined. “I lost my scholarship and got kicked out
of school. I didn’t get to wrestle anymore, not when they found out I’d been using
steroids. I had dreams about that, about my wrestling. And because of one piece of
ass, I lost it, lost my chance at ever wrestling again. But that’s in the past, and
I let it go and never thought about it again. Until I walked into the bar and saw
her working there.”

Mark looked at Evan, and Evan could see him trying to put an earnest expression on
his face. “I didn’t start nothing with those girls. I would’ve left well enough alone
even after all they cost me. Because the dark-haired one is the blonde’s best friend
and she was pre-law so I’m sure it was her that made Cami go to the cops. But that’s
neither here nor there, I would have let them be. They were the ones that came after
me. I was just defending myself.