Love On The Ropes (Ringside Romance) (30 page)

Jason would surely figure that out
and then, someday when she got her strength back, she’d give him the lecture of
a lifetime, because it had been too long since she’d told anyone how she really
felt. She’d tell him she could have forgiven him anything ... if only he’d been
honest.

For once she was going to be
honest with herself. It was time to reevaluate her career, the lack of balance
in her life, and her dysfunctional choices in men.

It was time to take care of Sandy.

“Don’t look at me like that,”
Jason said.

Curt glared at him like he wished
him dead. J couldn’t blame the guy.

“You’re a son of a bitch,” Curt
hissed.

J leafed through the file on the
table, trying to act disinterested, unaffected. Who was he kidding?

“You used my sister to help you
find a steroid dealer?” Curt accused.

“You know what that stuff does to
kids,” Jason shot back.

“And adults. But hell, you didn’t
have to use us all like that. You could have just asked for our help.”

“Not an option.”

“You drank beers with us, played
squirt gun wars, all to get information?” Curt said, his voice cracking. “You
slept with my sister!”

Jason grabbed him by the shirt
collar, lifted him and slammed him against the wall. But no words came out of
his mouth. What could he possibly say?

He swore under his breath and
released the guy. “It’s my job to find out who’s dealing steroids to high
school kids by any means possible.”

“And you think I’m the dealer?
Come on, buddy, you know me better than that. Let me hear you say you think I’m
dealing steroids to kids. Go on, say it.”

Jason clenched his jaw. He knew
damn well this guy wasn’t his perp.

“That’s what I thought.” Curt sat
down and eyed him. “I should beat the crap out of you for hurting my sister.”

Get in line, J thought. He
deserved it.

“I’ve got a job to do,” he said
instead. Meeks had forced this interrogation, but maybe some good could come of
it. “Let’s say you’re not the perp. Who do you think has the most to gain from
selling steroids to high school kids? Who’s that desperate for money?” He sat
down, taking a long, deep breath to calm his blood pressure.

“
Now
you want my help?
After you arrest me?”

“You’ve been brought in for
questioning. You’re not under arrest.”

“Whatever.” Curt stood and paced
to the other side of the room.

“The steroids are coming from
BAM,” J said.

Curt stared him down. “How do you
know that?”

“Because they’re distributed the
same days as BAM hits certain cities, most recently at your high school. Who
would do something like that? Which wrestlers?”

“The boys know how dangerous steroids
are. They wouldn’t push them on kids.”

J opened a file. “You know a kid
named Lucas Drake?”

“He’s on my wrestling team. Why?”

“He was caught selling steroid
patches.”

“No friggin’ way!” Curt pounded
his fist on the table. “He’s out, damn it, off the team!”

“Does he have any connection to
BAM?”

“No.”

This was going nowhere.

The door to the interrogation room
opened and Meek walked in with Lou, the attorney from BAM.

“This meeting is over, gentlemen,”
Lou said. “Let’s go, Curt.”

Curt got up and walked toward the
door.

“Help me.” The two words, never
before uttered from Jason’s lips, slipped out.

All three men turned. Meek wore a
pleased expression, as if he just witnessed Jason begging for his job. But J
wasn’t asking for Meek’s help.

“You may go,” Meek said to Curt
and Lou.

“No, wait a minute,” Curt said.
“You’re talking to me, aren’t you?”

Jason nodded.

“Okay, excuse us,” Curt ordered
the other two.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,”
Lou said.

“It’s fine. Go on, both of you,
get out of here.”

Lou shrugged and left. Meek stood
there.

“What are you looking at, you
pencil-necked geek?” Curt said.

The look on Meek’s face was
priceless—offended, horrified, and shamed.

“Go on, give us some privacy.”
Curt motioned Meek out of the room and faced off with Jason.

“You want my help?” Curt asked.

“Yes.”

“All you had to do was ask.”

* * *

“I wish you’d reconsider,”
Flamboyant Floyd said.

Sandy shoved the remaining
supplies into her bag and smiled over her shoulder at him. “Sorry, but it’s
time to grow up and find a real job.”

“It’s because of him, isn’t it?
The Stripper.”

“Not really.”

“Not really, but sort of?”

“I guess.”

She hadn’t seen Jason since the
family barbeque. Curt had called her the day he’d been brought in for
questioning, not arrested, and said it was a big mix-up, but that she still needed
to keep Jason’s true identity a secret because he wasn’t done with BAM.

He was obviously done with her or
he would have called.

She decided she’d been used and
abused for the last time. At least that thought gave her comfort. She stood and
flung her pack over her shoulder.

“We need you, kid.” Floyd gave her
a hug.

“How could you?” Missy cried from
the doorway.

“Hell, Missy, put a lid on it,”
Floyd said. “Go comb your hair or something.”

Missy glared at him. “You love
her, don’t you?”

“Of course,” he said, looking into
Sandy’s eyes. “Like a sister.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that?
After everything I’ve done for you!” Missy stormed off.

Floyd sighed. “Look, kid,” he
started, then glanced at the floor and cleared his throat.

“I’ll miss you, too,” Sandy
offered.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to
interrupt,” Jason said from the doorway.

She closed her eyes. Pain arced
through her chest. She glanced up as he strode into the locker room.

“I need an Ace bandage. Go on,” J
motioned with his hand, “don’t let me interrupt your precious moment.”

And that was it: their first and
last interaction since their special time together. There was no, “I missed
you, I love you, can we talk this through?”

Selfish bastard.

His choice. She couldn’t fix him,
either.

She shot Floyd one last smile and
headed for the door. She hesitated and turned. “Jason?”

He glanced at her with cold, dark
eyes.

“I feel sorry for you,” she said.
“Not because you’re a bad stripper and a mediocre wrestler, but because you
threw away the best thing that ever happened to you. Your loss, big guy, a
really big one.”

She turned and rushed out of the
locker room, a part of her heart breaking while another part swelled with
pride.

Jason tossed his bag on the floor
and started after Sandy. They had to talk.

Floyd blocked him. “I don’t think
so.”

“This isn’t your fight,” J said.

“You’re wrong. She’s leaving BAM.
Did you know that?”

Damn, had Jason hurt her so badly
that she’d given up her career as a healer, and was abandoning her extended
family?

Floyd shoved him against the wall.

“Hey, wasn’t that Sandy?” Atomic
Bomb asked, coming into the room. “Why’s she carrying a box?”

“Because she quit,” Floyd said.

“No way.”

“Yes way, and here’s the guy who’s
responsible.” Floyd took a step back and glared at Jason.

“She’s the best damn massager we
got,” Atomic Bomb said.

“And now she’s gone,” Jason
agreed, egging them on. “I screwed her and broke her heart.”

“You son of a bitch,” Atomic Bomb said.

“What did you call me?” Jason
stepped forward, but the Bomb caught hold of him and shoved him into the metal
lockers, headfirst. J went down.

“Hey, what the hell’s with Sandy?”
Dude Law said, coming into the room.

“She quit because of this jerk,”
the Bomb said.

Good, this should get them all
worked up. J needed a little physical contact to purge the self-disgust from
his soul. Maybe they could beat it out of him.

“What did he do to her?” Dude
asked.

“It’s called a one-night stand,” J
grunted, getting to his feet. “I screwed her brains out, and she loved it. Stupid
broad, like all the rest.”

“What did you call her?” Dude
gasped.

Jason took a few steps toward him.
“A typical, stupid broad.”

Dude slugged Jason in the gut and
he went down. The wind knocked from his lungs, J still managed to get up and charge
Dude. This time he got knocked down from behind.

“The guy’s nuts,” Atomic Bomb
said.

“He’s a bastard,” Floyd added.

J got up and staggered, then
started for Floyd. Something must have snapped, because Floyd charged and put
him in a headlock. The guys with wrestling backgrounds really knew how to
maneuver. They should be recruited for his DEA team.

“Stupid bastard,” Floyd growled in
J’s ear. The pressure against his neck tightened.

“Pop the blood vessels!” one guy
said.

“Make him pass out and we’ll strip
him down and drop him at Union Station.”

J struggled, but not that hard. He
deserved this, deserved everything he got, and then some. Stars floated across
his vision; his head grew light. Other than not wanting to turn Floyd into a
murderer, Jason kind of wished he’d die right here.

“What the hell are you doing?” a
male voice asked. Jason recognized the voice—Curt.

“He’s nuts,” Floyd said.

“He’s unconscious,” Curt argued.

“Don’t think so. If I let him go,
he’s gonna freak out again and attack us.”

“Bullshit. Let him go,” Curt
ordered.

Floyd ripped his arm from J’s neck
and he collapsed on the cement floor. Trying to see past the stars blurring his
vision, he sucked in a few shallow breaths and got to his feet.

Curt hovered close by with a
questioning look on his face.

“Your sister quit,” Dude Law said.

“Yeah, I know,” Curt responded.

“Did you know I seduced her,
screwed her all night long and she still begged for more?” Jason taunted.

Dude and the Bomb charged him. All
three of them hit the ground with a thud. A fist to J’s gut stole his breath
once, twice. After that he didn’t care what happened.

“Enough!”

Curt pulled the two wrestlers off
of him. The warmth of blood oozed from his split lip, and he suspected he’d
cracked a rib or two. Not enough.

“Everyone out,” Curt ordered.

“You’re in trouble now, asshole,”
Floyd laughed, looking down at J. “This guy knows moves that cause chronic pain
and leave no marks. Come on, let’s let big brother set things right.”

J leaned against the lockers. His
right eye started to swell and his lip felt twice its normal size.

Curt studied him. “I asked around
at the school and got some leads on the steroids.”

Jason grunted, wiped blood from
his mouth.

“You’re a stupid son of a bitch,”
Curt said.

“So I’ve been told.”

Curt’s eyes suddenly grew wide.
“Holy shit. You love her, don’t you?”

J glanced at his bloodied hand.
“Yeah, so what?”

“You picked a fight because you
felt guilty about hurting her. Why don’t you just tell her the truth?”

“The truth never works that good
for me.”

Curt shook his head. “Maybe it’s
time you try again. I don’t know what happened to you, but you’ve gotta believe
it’s safe to trust people, especially my family. We’re like Labrador
retrievers: loyal as hell to our friends.”

“After everything I’ve done?” J
argued.

“Just like Labs, we’re very
forgiving.”

J touched his lip. “Whatever. I’ve
got a case to solve.”

Curt nodded. “Good, solve this
thing so you and my sister can get on with your lives.”

“It’s too late.”

“Yeah?” Curt extended his hand and
pulled J to his feet. “Maybe you’re right. If there’s one thing my sister
hates, it’s a quitter.”

* * *

Sandy couldn’t believe it. He
loved her. In his own warped way, Jason McBain loved her.

She stood outside the door,
listening, hoping to hear enough so she could walk away from him for good.
Fingering her rose quartz charm, she heard him admit to using her.

She heard the scuffling, the
punches and crashes, and fought the urge to break it up.

It sounded like J was picking the
fights, yet not hitting back. He’d told her about his military training. She
knew he could defend himself against four men.

Then Curt forced the truth out of
him—Jason loved her.

She closed her eyes. He took those
beatings because he was punishing himself. If he’d only been honest…

She understood his problems with
trusting people, yet she couldn’t fix that for him. She couldn’t make Jason
trust her, and she couldn’t make him follow his heart. He had to do that all by
himself.

Curt and Jason’s voices grew
louder, and she realized they were walking toward the door. She rushed down the
hall and ducked into the closest room, the costume room. A smile curled her
lips. She couldn’t help it. He loved her.

“You bitch!” a woman cried.

Sandy turned in time to see a
shelving unit falling in her direction. She dropped her box and jumped out of
the way, slamming against the cement floor.

“What the hell?” she said, dazed.

“What’s going on in there?” Curt
called through the door.

“We’re all fine,” Missy called
out.

Sandy started to cry out, but
Missy climbed on top of her and shoved a scarf into her mouth.

“You sure?” Curt called.

“We’re fine!” Missy sang back. “Me
and Floyd are having a little fun!”

Sandy’s eyes burned. Damn it, what
the hell was going on?

Missy listened for a few minutes,
then got up and locked the door.