Reese (9 page)

()

             
I met Maddox at the gym and we entered together. As soon as Stone spotted me he had me wrapped up in his arms. I squealed and hugged his neck tight as he spun me around and around. I giggled, probably his intention. When I was on my feet again he kissed me, this time with just a little more force than his normal gentle kisses, but welcomed all the same.

             
“I missed you.” He breathed at my ear, making me shiver deliciously.

             
“Me too.” I whispered and watched those steel gray eyes turn to gun metal with desire. His hold on me tightened for a second, but then the voices of his crew introducing themselves to Maddox forced him to release me, and I reluctantly stepped back.

             
“So this is your
instruct
or
?” Stone shook Maddox’s hand. “You have trained her well. She can really handle herself. If the thought of it didn’t turn my stomach so much I would say she had the potential to join the women’s division.”

             
“No worries there.” I assured him
with a smile
. “I have never had such expectations. Besides, kicking Gage and Simon’s asses yesterday was thrill
ing
enough for me.”

             
Gage mutt
ered something under his breath but one look from Stone had him all smiles and respectful
ly
nodding in my direction. Apparently someone was a sore loser, especially when it came to losing to a girl. I sent him a grin and a wink, which had him smiling a little more naturally at me.

             
When it was time for me to leave for work Maddox, Mason and Stone were deep in
to
practicing some of the mo
ves that Maddox was showing them. I felt a little lost when Stone just waved at me when I said I was leaving, but I knew that what he was doing was important and pushed my hurt feelings down.

             
Jake walked me out. “Don’t mind Kieran. He gets a little one tracked when it comes to this stuff. He’s obsessed. In an hour he will realize that he brushed you off and feel like shit. It happens all the time.”

             
I stiffened, not because Jake scared me—because he didn’t anymore. But because his words made me feel the green monster of jealousy. I had never been jealous a day in my life…Yet I had never had Kieran Stone in my life before, either. “This happens all the time?”

             
Jake shrugged and opened the door for me. “He usually finds one groupie and invites them out to watch us spar…Never let them spar
with
us before, but still.” He gave me a knowing grin. “And he always gets deep into practice, forgets about his girl…Then feels like crap and goes groveling.”

             
I stood there staring at him for what felt like forever, but was really only a few seconds. I couldn’
t stop
his words from echoing around in my head.
My heart felt like it had lead weighing it down and nausea churned
hard in
my stomach. I forced a smile to my lips. “Yeah, that’s me. His Phoenix groupie. See you around, Jake.”

             
I turned without another word and walked to work in a trance.

             
Once at Safe Haven I put on my makeup
, braided my hair and put on my wig
before going about my usual routine,
opening the bar on auto pilot. I had been so trusting, so open, so…Everything that I just
normally
wasn’t
,
with Kieran Stone. And I was only his ‘groupie’. New city, new girlfriend. Nothing special….Just nothing!

             
When he had another fight in a few months there would be someone new…Someone not me.

             
I swallowed down the lump in my throat and forced all the intense feelings that were eating me up inside down. I put up the walls that I had let Stone tear down and was determined that he, nor anyone else would ever get close enough to touch them
again
.
             

             
()

             
“What’s wrong?”

             
I turned to find Mel seated at the bar. She was dressed up
:
A pretty sundress that really showed off the fact that she still had a smoking body.
Her makeup was done and her hair was styled, both things that I had only seen her do a handful of times she had gone on a date. “Wow. Hot!” I gave her a small smile that felt tight and unnatural.

             
“Thanks.” Mel was giving me an intense appraisal. “Something’s wrong. Are you alright?”

             
I shrugged. “I just realized that everything that I had already known still st
ands
. I can’t trust anyone but you.” To my surprise and horror my bottom lip trembled and I turned away to straighten a few liquor bottles that were already in perfect order.

             
A warm hand grasped my wrist and tugged me around. Mel pulled me into a comforting hug and I nearly lost what little hold I had on my emotions. “What happened?” She murmured.

             
“Nothing.” I pulled back and forced a smile for her. “I just found out that Stone was like every other man in the world. I’m just his Phoenix groupie. When his fight is over I will be yesterday’s news and he will move on to the next city; the next groupie.”

             
Mel’s concerned expression turned dark. “I’m sorry, Reese. I should never have encouraged him. He seemed different. I thought he was a good guy.”

             
“Yeah, well I guess he is a good guy.” I found myself defending him, because if anything Stone had been a nice guy. “He is just a player. But I’m not about to be played.” Even if I had already been half way there.

             
“Do you have a date?” I asked after a minute, changing the subject.
Anything to get my mind off of Kieran Stone.

             
Mel actually blushed. “Maybe. I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

             
I frowned. “Why would you need to talk to me first?” Since when did she need my permission?

             
“Okay, here it is…I called Greg Daventry to tell him that I was going to bring you with me to the MMA fight.
W
e got to talking. Before I knew it he was asking me out to dinner…” She trailed off when she noticed my
wide eyed
expression. “What do you think?”

             
I blinked, trying to get my head around everything that she had just said in just a few sentences. She had spoken to my grandfather, apparently he was in Phoenix, and now she was going out on a date with him…If I said it was alright? I sucked in a few quick breaths. “Is he coming here?”
I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to see him now. Greg Daventry on top of everything else that was going on inside of me at the moment…Yeah, I would be close to a melt down and it would not be pretty!

             
She shook her head. “No. I told him I would meet him
there
…I figured that you weren’t ready to see him yet.”

             
“You figured right.” I sighed. “Go Mel. Have a good time…If that is possible.” The thought of Mel and Greg together disturbed me
more than
a little. But only in that Mel was a great person. Greg…Well I didn’t really know him well enough to
judge
what he was like. But I had this fear
, a premonition perhaps,
that he was going to hurt her. “Just don’t take him at face value, Mel.”

             
She rolled her
pale green
eyes at that. “Sweetheart, I have seen it all in my life. Your grandfather isn’t going to be able to
feed me a bunch of bull easily.” She gave me a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

             
After she left the bar got busy. Wednesdays were hit or miss on the degree of how busy things got. Tonight was a big hit and I was kept pretty busy starting at eight thirty. Bubba came in and took up his usual place at the end of the bar. College kids came and went, Emo and a few Goths came in to drink and play pool. Biker One sat down beside of Bubba and ordered a beer, but I just gave him a nod as I placed his Irish brew in front of him.

             
“Hey hotness.” I glanced up from setting a fresh beer in front of Bubba to find Jake, Maddox, Mason and the brothers seated at the
other end of the bar
bar. The group that had been seated there just a few moments
earlier
where now seated in the back where Corbin and Stone stood talking to the obvious fans.
Stone was grinning and shaking hands while the men seemed in awe of the beast that was actually a man.

             
As if sensing my gaze, Stone turned his head and gave me a smile. I ignored it and him as I
went over to the rest of the crew. “What’s your poison?” I asked.

             
Maddox gave me a strange look. “You look tense. Everything going alright this evening? Anyone been getting out of hand?”

             
“Nope. How about a beer?” I offered, wanting to serve them and move on.

             
“How about a few shots?” Jake suggested. “We just had a very successful afternoon and we need to celebrate.”

             
I lined up five shots of Patron and then put a beer in front of each of them. “Let me know if you need anything else.” I told them and moved back down to the end of the bar where Bubba was talking to Biker One.

             
“I apologize.”

             
I frowned. Biker One had spoken as soon as I returned to his end of the bar. “Excuse me?”

             
He blew out a long breath, which was
not
pleasant smelling in the least. “I apologize for the way I behaved over the weekend.”

             
I shrugged. “Okay.”

             
“Okay? That’s it? No lectures? No making me grovel or some such bullshit?” He seemed shocked and that made me smile, a little.

             
“Yes. No lectures. No
grudges
. I’m the bartender
:
the law, the judge
,
and
the
jury here. But I am not your mother, wife, or whatever. You get out of line, I kick your ass, and you don’t get out of line again. It is just that simple. Ask Bubba.”
I nodded my head in the other biker’s direction.

             
“Don’t mess with Goth Girl.” He saluted me with his beer and took a long pull from the long neck. “Only I forget sometimes…But she is kind enough to remind me.” He chuckled. “And she is why I don’t go anywhere but to Safe Haven.”

             
“Good answer, Bubba.” I put a fresh beer in front of him. “This one is on me.”

             
Ten minutes after Stone and his crew arrived with Maddox I ventured back over to their end of the bar. They had been drinking their beers and having a good time.
B
ut I had mostly ignored them.
Even when they had tried to call me over to talk them, I had started up a conversation with Biker One and Bubba instead.

             
Now their beers were all gone and I had no choice but to get them fresh ones. I set five beers down, without really looking at them.
It wasn’t that I was angry with them. I was just self-conscious. Apparently to them I was just some girl that their boss and friend was having a good time with until he moved on to the next city. I didn’t like nor want that label: Groupie.
“Anything else?” I asked.

             
“Are you mad at us?” Mason asked, looking concerned.
I was not angry at him, Jake or any of the others. They had nothing to do with what was going on between me and Stone. I just couldn’t bring myself to be a part of their little group hurting the way I was.

             
“No.”

             
“Then what’s with the cold shoulder, hotness?” Jake asked, his tattooed head wrinkled
with
his frown. “Don’t you want to play with us anymore?”
He gave me a little pout that I was sure other females would have found extremely sexy.

             
“No.” I told him honestly. “Not really. Do you need anything else?” I asked again.

             
“Hey baby.” Stone leaned against the bar between Jake and Maddox
, having left Corbin to the fans at the ta
bl
e
in the back
. He gave me that smile of his again. That ‘I’m a nice guy, I’ll never break your heart’ smile.