Stand of Redemption (19 page)

“I’m glad she wasn’t hurt.”

Nick nodded his head while his eyes searched hers. “I see you started your new job.”

She nodded, raising her hand to her temple.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I’m just getting a headache.” Ria moved away, going through the sliding doors.

“Where’s your car?”

“It’s
at work. I’m going to call Lacey and catch a ride with her.” She grimaced in pain.

“I’ll drive you. I was leaving anyway.”

Ria started to refuse, but her head was killing her, and she was upset about Carrie.

“Come on, Ria. Let me help.”

The pain forced her to give in. “All right.” She thought she was going to humiliate herself and vomit.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

It didn’t take long before he was helping her inside his car. The cool interior provided some relief. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the headrest.

“You
’re too sick to drive; I can take you home.”

Ria hated to admit it
, but her head was hurting too badly for driving. So she relented, and just gave him the address to her new home.

“I know where you live. I’ve driven by a couple of times. I never could work my courage up to actually knocking on your door, though.”

That didn’t sound like him. Nicholas was never uncertain of himself. He was always cocky and self-assured.

Despite the pain, she turned her head to look at him. He had changed, seeming more se
ttled, peaceful, as if his demons weren’t driving him anymore.

When they reached her apartment, he got out, opening her door and taking her arm. She let him.

“Can I come in? I’ll leave when you want me to.”

Ria couldn’t resist. Hating herself, she nodded, opening her door. Inside, she sank down weakly onto her couch.

“I’ll get you something to drink? Got any painkillers?”

“Medicine cabinet in my bedroom.”

She was in too much pain to be embarrassed about him seeing her personal items.

When he handed her a glass of ice water and the tablets, she took them, hoping she would be able to keep them down. A tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t know what was worse: the pain in her head or the one in her heart at being near him again.

She opened her eyes when he lifted her into his arms, carrying her to the bedroom where he laid her down gently on the bed. Then he took off his shoes and shirt and climbed into the bed with her. She didn’t protest as he turned her until she was facing away from him. He pulled her back toward his warm chest and wrapped his arm around her stomach. His head rested on top of hers and he slowly started running his fingers along her body. His hands were soothing, and she felt the tension start to drain from her body. Once the tension loosened, however, the tears started flowing. He didn’t say anything or ask any questions; he simply let her cry as he continued to stroke her body with his hand.

She felt like she must have cried for at least half an hour, and Nicholas never said a word. It was as if he knew she was fighting her own demons, and he wasn’t putting any pressure on her to talk. He was merely there for her. He became her rock, and his presence finally eased that ache inside of her since she had walked away from him.

After a few final shudders from her crying episode, she started breathing normally. She scooted back, trying to get closer, and he wrapped his arm around her tighter, giving her the closeness she was craving.

“Better?” he asked gently.

Ria nodded her head and squeezed his arm. “Thank you,” she whispered.

They lay there for a while longer, neither one feeling any need to say anything, afraid to break the moment. As exhausted as she was, she couldn’t fall asleep. She knew Nicholas was awake, as well.

“We tried to save a young girl yesterday. She was out with friends on a boat. She slipped, hit her head, and fell in the water.” Ria finally felt like talking.

“She didn’t survive?” Nicholas asked softly.

“We were able to resuscitate her, but she was unresponsive. They rushed her in with the doctor. When we got to the ER today, I found out she died.” Ria heard her voice breaking up again.

“I’m sorry. That had to be difficult when you’d worked hard to save her.”

“It’s awful, Nicholas. I like being a paramedic, but I hate it when we lose them.”

“You’re very soft-hearted, which makes it worse for you.” His hands kept soothing her until she began to drift.
“Go to sleep, sweetheart.”

Ria went asleep, held in his arms. Yet, when she woke the next morning, he was gone.

Chapter 25

Nicholas walked into the gym, going back to his father’s office. Jeff would be there in about an hour, and Nicholas wanted to warm up before he arrived so they could get straight to work.

He went into his father’s office without knocking to find his father
slumped over the desk.

“Dad!” he yelled and rushed to shake him. Nicholas felt the panic rise as memories of his mother flooded through him.

He lifted his father up and his dad opened his eyes slowly. Nicholas could smell the stench of whiskey on his father’s breath. As Nick grunted in disgust and let go, Rex’s head dropped and hit the desk.

“Fuck! What the hell is wrong with you?” Rex slurred to Nick as he moaned in pain.

“Me? What the hell is wrong with you?” He rarely saw his father drink; therefore, seeing him drunk at work was shocking.

Rex didn’t answer. He closed his eyes.

Nick had no sympathy for his condition.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Nick yelled at his father again. They had the gym to themselves today, so Nick didn’t have to worry about anyone hearing them.

He checked the clock. He still had about fifty minutes before Jeff showed up.

“Yesterday was her birthday. Couldn’t stay at the house,” his father mumbled. Nick saw the tears running from his eyes.

Nick sunk down into the chair near the desk. He and Melanie had gone out to dinner last night to remember their mother’s birthday. They hadn’t invited their father because of his behavior toward Melanie. Furthermore, to be honest, Nicholas was still angry at him for holding control of his money over him. He blamed it on himself for leaving his financial affairs in his father’s hands for so long. He just hadn’t cared about the money enough to bother. Like he hadn’t cared about a lot of things until Ria.

He stood up and approached his father.
“Let’s go. I’m taking you home.” Nick hauled him out of the chair.

“Why didn’t I save her?” his dad moaned. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let her work there. I didn’t try hard enough.”

Nick hadn’t seen his father cry since the day of the funeral. He was shocked at just how deep the pain was after all these years. Nick felt the same pain and remorse just as deeply. He understood his sense of guilt.

Nick held his father up from under his arm as he stumbled out the door, almost tripping over a mat as they walked out.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry,” his dad kept repeating as they walked to the car.

Nick helped his father into the car and quickly shut the door. He would take his father home and then come back to the gym to train. It was too late to cancel, even though Nick wanted to stay with his father. He was going to have to call Melanie.

“I should be the one dead, not her,” Rex continued his rambling on the drive home. “Now Melanie’s going to get hurt. Your mother always told me if anything happened to her, to protect you two, and I can’t even do that right.”

Nick looked sharply at his father. He had finally admitted out loud why he didn’t approve of Melanie fighting.

“I’m trying to stop her, Nick. I’ve done what I can, but she won’t listen, just like your mother wouldn’t listen. I’m failing again.” Rex’s head fell back on the headrest. Nick watched him close his eyes as the tears continued to run down his cheeks.

His father and he had a lot in common—accepting the
guilt without talking about it with the family. They could have helped each other through the tragedy.

Nick was starting to understand some of his father’s erratic behavior, even though he didn’t agree with it. However,
his own behavior was nothing to brag about. If Emiliano hadn’t stopped him, he would have used and tossed Ria aside without thought.

Nick pulled into the driveway of the house he grew up in. It brought back such bittersweet memories. He had no idea how his father managed to live in the large home alone, surrounded by memories.

He got out of the car and shook his father awake. His father was slow, but was finally quiet and walked carefully into the house. Nick followed, unlocking the door as his father stood unsteadily waiting. He took his arm, helping him inside to his bedroom.

“I’m fine. Go back to work,” he mumbled.

Nick nodded his head, leaving the bedroom to go out to the living room to call Melanie.

“Hey, what’s up, bro?”

“I’m at Dad’s house. I found him passed out at the gym this morning. He’s in bed, but I don’t want to leave him alone. I have a training session, but I could cancel if you don’t—”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Melanie hung up on him.

It didn’t take long for her to show up; she only lived about fifteen minutes away.

“He okay?” she asked as soon as she walked in the door.

“I think so. He’s pretty out of it.” Nick picked his keys up from the table.

“When he wakes up, you two need to talk. He feels guilty he’s not protecting you the way Mom would have wanted and for not making her quit her job.”

“I’ll talk to him.” Melanie gave him a quick hug. “Maybe he’ll still be drunk enough to listen.”

“If not,
there some whiskey in the kitchen,” Nick told her on the way out.

Nick drove back to the gym, checking the time. It would be close, but he should be there in time to mee
t Jeff.

He got there, quickly changed, and started going throu
gh some warm up drills until Jeff arrived.

“Hey, Jeff
. Thanks for coming.” Nick walked to shake Jeff’s hand.

“Hi, Nick. I’m looking forward to helping you get your title back. I’ve been watching your tapes, and
I have some ideas to help,” Jeff responded with enthusiasm.

“Great. That’s why you’re here.” Nick was hoping the additional coaching would give him the edge he needed.

They spent the next several hours working on various moves. In all honesty, Nick was so used to winning he had believed it wouldn’t be difficult to move up a weight class, but it didn’t take long for him to realize how wrong he had been. Jeff was able to pick out Nick’s weakness easily, and with him being at a slight weight disadvantage, Nick would have to make up for it with much faster movements.

He was exhausted when the
session was over. He thanked Jeff and told him he would see him tomorrow. Nick was going to be working with him daily until the fight next week.

He showered, trying not to think of Ria now that he couldn’t shift his attention to his trai
ning. He almost called her, but didn’t want to place any pressure on her. Maybe he should wait and see if she called him.

God,
he felt like he was a kid again, not knowing how to approach a girl. Finally deciding to leave it up to her, he dressed.

His mind should be on the fight next week, but the championship wasn’t the ultimate prize. Ria was. Without her, none of it mattered.

*  *  *

Ria
went by her mother’s house to drop some groceries off the next day after work. Her mother had never gotten her driver’s license, and she was actually taking lessons now. She was proud of her mother for wanting to take charge of her life after so many years.

Ria ate dinner, watching as her mother put away the groceries.

“How do you like your new job?”

“A lot. I’m actually going to start school again next semester and
finish my chemistry degree.”

“That would make me so happy. Neither one of your brothers did well in school.”

Ria was shocked her mother had brought them up.

“Are you still seeing the same man you were before I left?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It didn’t work out,” Ria mumbled, not wanting to talk about Nicholas. She felt guilty for sleeping with the man who’d killed Matthew and could have stopped Alejandro’s murder.

Her mother sighed, coming to sit down at the table.
“What’s wrong, Ariel? Why is my baby so unhappy?”

“I know how Matthew died and who killed him,” Ria broke and told her mother.

“And how do you know this?” she asked.

“The man I was dating did it,” Ria said, ashamed. “He told me.”

“I didn’t know you were seeing Nicholas Brooks.” Her mother sighed softly. “I wish you would talk to me more about your life, Ariel. I want to be a part of it now that I’m feeling better.”

“What? How did you know it was Nicholas?” Ria sputtered.

“Matthew killed his mother.”

“Did you know all along?” Ria was in complete disbelief.

“No, I didn’t know. A young man came to visit me a couple of months ago. He came to apologize and explained what happened all those years ago. He said he would do what was needed to give me peace of mind and would not try to deny his actions,” her mother explained. “He offered to turn himself in to the police.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ria asked.

“I didn’t want to take away the fond memories you had of your brothers,” her mother said. “Truthfully, neither one were good men.”

“Why didn’t you turn him in?” Ria had not been able to bring herself to turn Nicholas in, yet she was curious at her mother’s silence.

“As painful as his death is to me, I know Nicholas is not a cold-blooded killer. He didn’t try to justify his actions; he stated them plainly for me to form my own judgment. I told him I forgave him. I do not want to live a life of anger and bitterness. Matthew took that woman’s life, and if it hadn’t been her, it would have been Emiliano. He was turning into his father and brother. I don’t know if he could have been saved or not, but I can’t bring him back, so I choose to forgive.” Her mother closed her eyes.

Ria felt the room starting to spin at her mother’s words. She tried to process what she was hearing. She missed Nick so much, but she was still angry with him for not telling her the truth. Deep down, she wanted him to fight for her and make her understand
; but instead, she had heard nothing from him before she had accidently ran into him at the hospital.

Ria nodded her head and looked back to her mother who was watching her. She had a lot to think about. She hadn’t realized it was Emiliano whose life Nicholas’s mother had saved.

She helped her mother do the dishes then said her goodbyes.

“Ria, Nicholas must have told me because of you. It had to be a hard thing for him to admit it to the mother of the man he had killed. The truth is, we should ask him for our forgiveness. He doesn’t have his mother nor does his sister and father.”

She brushed her lips against Ria’s cheek. “He is very handsome, that man of yours, isn’t he?”

“Yes, Mama, he is.”