Priest (A Standalone Bad Boy Romance Love Story) (75 page)

With a sigh he said, “Because it’s not
quite that simple. The tapes aren’t stored here. They use a security company.
We’re waiting for them to stream over the video. It really is okay if you go
home. If he gets released, we’ll let him call you…”

He was trying to get rid of me. Too bad.
“I’m not leaving until he can go with me.” The officer looked overjoyed at the
prospect of me leaving.

I started to head back out to the parking
lot when I heard the clerk say, “Here you go.” I turned and watched the annoyed
cop’s face as he watched the tape. He rewound it a few times and then he used
his radio to ask his partners to come inside. They brushed past me, giving me
the same looks that the other officer did. They all seemed to wonder why I was
still here. Is it unheard of to wait and see if your boyfriend was going to get
arrested or not? The only one who seemed to believe me about Mitch was the
first one who took my statement. He may have had a history of his own with
Mitch, because he’d acted like he didn’t like him right off the bat. He’d
gotten called away and left us in the hands of these guys who seemed more
intent on protecting the thin blue line than us.

They all watched the video, a couple of
them pointing at it here and there. Then the clerk burned them a copy and when
the one who had been so short with me turned around he said, “We’re going to
let your boyfriend go now.”

I literally bit the tip of my tongue.
Telling him that was a brilliant deduction after shoving Paul’s face into the
hot pavement and making him sit in handcuffs in the back of a police car for an
hour and a half for nothing probably wasn’t a good idea. It was hard to stop
myself though. I took a deep breath and instead, I smiled as sweetly as I could
and said, “Thanks.”

I watched as they pulled Paul out of the
back of the car. One of the officers was talking to him as the other one took
off his cuffs. I saw Paul shake his head “No” more than once. I wondered what
they were asking him. I could see from six feet away that he looked like he was
in pain. As soon as they released him, we needed to get him to the hospital.

Finally they let him go and when he came
towards me I finally lost my hold on the tears. I wrapped my arms around him
and let them flow. I was so relieved that they’d let him go I forgot for a
second how much pain he had to be in. I suddenly realized how stiff he felt in
my arms and I let him go.

“Shit! I’m sorry, Paul. I’m just so happy
they let you go. Let’s get you to the hospital…”

“No. Let’s go home,” he said.

“Paul, you just got beat with a tire
iron…”

He grinned, “Yeah, I was there. It’s not
something I’d ever like to do again, but I’m okay. I want to go home.”

I followed him over to the car and tried
to get in the driver’s seat. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and said,
“Huh uh. I don’t trust you. I’m driving.”

“What do you mean you don’t trust me?”

“You’ll drive to the hospital. I’m fine
Jessie, really.”

That was exactly what I had planned, but I
wasn’t going to tell him that. For his benefit, I rolled my eyes. “Okay. No
hospital. But let me drive please. You could have a concussion or something.”
He finally relented and handed me the keys. I got in the driver’s seat and when
Paul climbed in on the passenger side I watched him wince and suck in a breath.
I bit my tongue again and started the car. When we pulled out onto the main
road he said, “If you drive to the hospital, I’m not getting out of the car.”

“What? I was going to flip a U.”

“Right. Home Jessie, please take me home.”

“You just look like you’re in so much
pain…”

“It hurts…like a son of a bitch. But
everything’s moving like it’s supposed to be. I’m just going to be sore for a
while. All the hospital will do is give me some pain pills after they make us
wait for three hours. I already have some muscle relaxers I can take and I
think I have a few pain pills left from when I tweaked my back.”

“I have some pain pills left over too,
but…are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” he said. He wasn’t leaving me
any room for argument. I made the U turn and headed for his apartment. I
noticed Paul was holding his seatbelt out away from his body especially when I
slowed down or came to a stop. The seatbelt hurt mine really badly after Mitch
beat me up. I hoped that his aren’t broken.

“Are your ribs okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, sounding breathless.
“Just sore, nothing I can’t handle. I’ve been hurt worse than this after a cage
fight. Fucking Mitch though, chicken-shit bastard couldn’t fight with his hands
like a man…”

“Unless he’s fighting a woman,” I said.
Paul reached over and grabbed my hand. We drove the rest of the way in silence.
When we got to his apartment I tried to help him out of the car.

“I can do it, Jessie,” he said. He was
getting like the cops now, annoyed with me. It was so hard for me to watch him
move though. It had nearly killed me to watch Mitch beat on him with that tire
iron and now to watch him try and move around in pain was killing me all over
again.

Once inside I went to the refrigerator and
got out a bottle of water for him. I followed him into his room and sat down on
the bed as he dug out the pain pills and muscle relaxers. He took one of each
and gulped down half the bottle of water. He sat down too and after a few
seconds he put his arm around my waist and lay back. I lay back with him,
careful not to lean against his ribs.

“You think they arrested him?”

“Yeah, I’m sure they did,” Paul said.
“Hopefully they’ll get a clue and keep him this time.”

“In general population,” I said.

Paul chuckled and then winced. “Don’t say
anything funny for at least a week, okay?”

“I’ll try,” I told him, “But I’m naturally
a funny girl. It will be hard.” He smiled and pulled my head over onto his
shoulder.

Kissing me on top of it he said, “I hope a
week is all it takes. I don’t have much time before the fight with Trent. I
can’t be worried about protecting sore ribs. I have to win.”

I didn’t say anything. I was pretty sure
there was nothing I could say at this point to convince him to go to the
hospital and I doubted he was going to be pain free in time to fight. That
wasn’t what he wanted or needed to hear right now though, so I kept quiet.

CHAPTER
TWO

I was able to convince Paul to take it
easy for that one day. The day after I left him sleeping and went back to my
apartment to get ready for work. I was just about to leave when he called.

“Hey, why’d you leave without me?”

“You were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake
you. I have to go to work.”

“I know. I want to go with you.”

“To the gym? No way!”

“Really…Mom?”

“Come on, I laid next to you most of the
day yesterday and all night last night. Every time you move, you wince.
Breathing looks painful. The last thing you need to do is work out.”

“No it’s the first thing I need to do. You
think I can lie around for a week and then beat a champion? You’re a trainer,
you know better than that.”

“You can’t beat him if you don’t take care
of yourself…”

“I’ll just see you there…”

“Oh stop it! I’ll be right there, but I
want it on the record that I object.”

“Objection overruled,” he said. I hung up
shaking my head. He was hot, sexy, kind, gentle…and stubborn as hell.

He was waiting outside for me when I got
to his apartment. He got into the car without making a face or sucking air, but
I knew he was concentrating on being stoic just to get me off his back. As we
drove to the gym I said, “Did you take your pain pills?”

“Yeah. I didn’t take the muscle relaxants.
I don’t want to fall asleep in the ring.”

“Probably a good idea. Who are you working
out with today?”

“Sam…and you?”

I was afraid he was going to say that. I
usually didn’t mind helping him at all but I wasn’t sure how I was going to be
able to handle watching him in pain. I didn’t say that though, he knew how I
felt. “Okay,” I said. “What are you working on?”

“Kick-boxing,” he said.

“Seriously?”

“Yes,” he told me as we pulled into the
lot in front of the gym. “Trent’s game is all wrestling. He won National
division wrestling tournaments before he started cage fighting. I do not want
to take this fight to the ground until it’s because he’s unconscious.”

“Great,” I said, forcing a smile that we
both knew was fake. We walked in together and as he headed for the back I said,
“Go ahead and get started with Sam, I’m going to clock in and take care of some
paperwork I’m behind on first.” He winked at me and in spite of myself I felt
that twinge of lust in my nether regions. He was just so damned hot. I walked
over to the counter and said, “Hi Victoria.”

“Hey there,” she said. She glanced in
Paul’s direction and said, “You two look cozy.”

I could feel myself blush. “We’re doing
alright.” It killed them all that I wouldn’t talk about my personal stuff like
everyone else around here.

She made a face and said, “Greg told me
about that creep Mitch attacking Paul yesterday. I can’t believe what he did to
you wasn’t enough to keep him in jail. Paul looks okay though, that’s good.”

“Yeah, he looks good. He wouldn’t go to
the hospital though so who knows?
 
As far
as the cops go, I don’t know why they don’t want to admit there could be a bad
seed in their midst. I think they want to keep trying to give him the benefit
of the doubt because he’s a cop. It’s ridiculous. Hopefully they’ll keep him
this time.”

“I hope so too,” she said. I went into the
back office and took care of some billing I needed to do for my private
clients. I was really appreciative of my amazing bosses lately. The drama of my
life…or Mom’s and Paul’s lives had gotten in the way of work a lot. When I
finished, I left the invoices for Greg to sign and then I headed for the back
where Paul and Sam were. Sam had him on the bag instead of in the ring. That
made me feel better. The bag wasn’t going to fight back and accidentally kick
him in the sore ribs. I stood back and watched for a minute. As I walked in he
was moving his right leg around in a roundhouse. His form was off a little…I
thought it had to be because of the pain. When he connected with the bag I saw
him wince and heard a little “Oomph!”

I went over closer and said, “Hey, are you
doing okay?”

He was sweating more than usual for what
would normally be a light work-out for him, but he said, “Yep, I’m fine.” I
didn’t say anything; I just stood back and watched him and Sam for a few
minutes. After the kick he dropped to his feet with another strangled sound but
he kept moving. He moved in close to the bag and pulled back his right arm for
a roundhouse punch.

“Tuck your chin,” Sam told him. Paul did
and then he unleashed a flurry of roundhouse punches onto the bag. His form was
good, but every time his fist connected with the bag, he would suck in a breath
between his teeth. He was in a lot of pain whether he would admit it or not.
“Arc it!” Sam told him. “Fist to shoulder, make it hard for him to block.”

“Watch the other hand too,” I told
him.
 
“Use it to block your junk because
he’s coming in with a front kick after a few of those punches connect.”

He snorted and in a breathless voice he
said, “You weren’t supposed to be funny.”

“I was dead serious,” I told him.

“My junk?”

“We’re in mixed company, what should I
call it…your package?”

He laughed out loud that time and then
said, “Shit! Stop Jess, it hurts.”

“Why don’t you take a break,” I told him.

“I’m alright,” he said. “I want to
practice the spinning-back kick, Sam.”

“Okay, slow motion one the first time.
Step forward…you’re too far back; close in on your target. Now spin backwards
so you’re facing away from him. At the same time look over your shoulder at
your target, now lift your knee to your chest…yeah that’s it…higher….”

“Fuck,” I heard Paul breathe out almost
silently. Sweat was dripping off his forehead now. I started to tell him again
that he should take a break, but he gave me a look that said it was a moot
point. “Okay Sam, here it goes.”

He repeated the steps and after he lifted
his leg Sam told him, “Now drive the heel of your foot back into him. You want
to aim for his gut.”

Paul landed the kick in the center of the
bag. He was thrown forward slightly and this time his strangled cry was an
all-out cry. I winced and so did Sam.

“Damn it Paul, take a break.”

Through his still gritted teeth he said,
“No.”

I looked at Sam, rolled my eyes and said,
“Good luck, I can’t watch this.”

I grabbed my water and went out front. The
gym was crowded and I needed some air so I went outside. I paced back and
forth, frustrated. I wanted to kick Paul’s ass for being so damned stubborn. He
should have gone to the hospital and he shouldn’t be here today. But hell if
he’ll listen to me.