Page 10 of Takedown

She nods curtly but won’t look at me.

“Alex, your mocktail,” Mel says. She hands Alex a pink drink. “And something else for the rest of us.” She gives everyone else a glass. Then she pours another and hands it to me. I take a sip. Whatever it is, it’s much too sweet for my taste, but I manage to finish it. Everyone else files out of the kitchen to go wait for the ball to drop.

“What are you doing here?” Her words slur, and for the first time tonight, she looks at me. She’s beautiful like always. Unlike every other time, she’s not wearing makeup tonight. Her hair is down, framing her long face. She licks her plump lips, and I will myself not to moan.

“Didn’t want to ring in the New Year alone.” I move closer, reach around her, and grab the corkscrew. Once I open my bottle of champagne, I pour each of us a glass.

“Five more minutes until the ball drops!” someone shouts from the other room. Music is turned on, and I can no longer hear what they are saying.

“Where’s your family? I know you spent Christmas with your mother,” she says. I look down and notice she’s in a black jumpsuit with a sheer long top. If she were mine, I’d pull her close and never let her go.

“Ma went to a neighbor’s house.” She nods and slowly sips her champagne. I lift my glass and we clink. I stand next to her, my body touching hers. I don’t know if it’s the lulling effects of the alcohol, but she puts her head on my shoulder. When we finish, I pour each of us another glass.

When everyone starts to countdown, I face her. Our eyes remain locked while we count down to one. Before she can say happy New Year, I lean down and capture her lips in a kiss. She doesn’t fight me or pull away like I thought she would. She slides a hand into my hair and kisses me as if she’s been craving me for years. She tastes better than I thought, and her warm lips are pliant under mine. I put my hands on her waist and lift her on the island. She wraps her long legs around me and deepens the kiss.

Her hands slide underneath my shirt, and she strokes the muscles in my back, moaning into my mouth, and I pull close enough to grind my erection on her. She moans again and grabs my ass, pressing me closer.

“I’ve been waiting forever to do that. It’s better than I ever imagined. Come upstairs with me,” I whisper against her mouth.

She pulls away, and the haunted look in her eyes guts me.

“I’m not the one-night-stand type.” She lets out a humorless laugh.

“You should know better than that. I want all the nights with you, not just one.”

“Right. Of course, you do.” She rolls her eyes heavenward and lets out a strained laugh. “Until I give you what you want, right?” I look into her brown eyes and push a piece of hair off her forehead. She doesn’t look away like she always does. When I lay my forehead against hers, she wraps an arm around me. “If only, Adam. If only I could believe this would last.”

I pull away and note the empty look in her eyes. It almost breaks me. Someone in the other room laughs, and Mel sighs. “I’m surrounded by people in love all the time.”

“What can I do to prove to you that I want you, and not just for one night.”

“I can’t get hurt.”

“I would never hurt you.”

“You would unless I come up with a way to keep you. How can you want me when—”

“When what, love?” I caress her cheeks and wait for her to speak, but all she does is breathe. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Don’t put ideas in my head, Adam.”

“Bend your knees, Dunbar!” Chad Brown, owner of Combat, a small gym on the south side of Boston yells, pulling me out of my daydream. We’re in the middle of the boxing ring, and Dunbar is doing his best to knock me out. The problem is, I can anticipate all his moves. He jabs, I move a fraction, and he misses.

We’ve been doing this song and dance for way too long, but the sparring is the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. All the calls to my wife today have gone to voicemail and my texts have been ignored, even though I can see she’s read them.

I’ve been a tight coil of emotion all day. The teachers at the school didn’t know what to do with me. I’ve never been so short tempered with them before. Hell, I haven’t lost my temper since the lawyer’s visit after my father’s death, but here I am, so angry that I’m about to erupt.

Mel’s denial of our marriage last night comes to mind, and I lose focus. Dunbar manages to land a jab to my ribs. Having had enough of him, I take a few steps back, then I walk forward, jab him in the same spot three times and surprise the fuck out of him with a left hook. He lands flat on his back, and I don’t bother to check on him. I yank off the gloves and climb out of the ring.

“What the fuck, Flynn?” Chad asks, but I walk away without so much as a backwards glance.

I’ve had enough of this fucking day. The instant I get in the locker room, I check my phone.

Alex – Come downstairs now!!!

I let out a string of curses when I see the text Alex sent over thirty minutes ago. The time got away from me, and instead of going home two hours ago like I intended, I stayed at the gym, hoping the physical activity would take my mind off my personal problems. It didn’t.

Boxing has always been my escape. It’s what saved me as a troubled teenager, until a fractured elbow ended my hopes of going professional. Well, that and my mother crying and begging me to stop the madness. If there’s one thing I can’t take, it’s a crying woman. Especially one I love.

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