Page 53 of Pulse
Chapter 17
Ash
After our long ass conversation in the lounge, Ren and I decided to go back to the gym and go a few more rounds.
Emotional exhaustion didn’t sit well with me and I needed the physical burn to balance it out.
I’d learned a lot about myself the past few weeks, but I’d learned a lot more about Ren. All the little things she thought were so important really were just that. No matter how mundane, they were all things that made her up as a person and I found myself wanting to know them all. If it was attached to Ren Miller, I wanted to know it.
I knew I loved her, or it was something I thought was supposed to be love. I’d never felt it before so I wasn’t sure if it was real. If I was going to say those words to her, I better fucking mean it.
I watched as she attacked a speedball with perfect timing, mesmerized by the motion of her upper body. Naturally, my gaze settled on her tits and I instantly thought about sucking on them.
“Eyes on the prize, huh?” she declared, not even breaking rhythm.
A grin tugged at my lips. “You don’t miss much.”
“Nope.”
I watched her as she moved and wondered what she wanted to do next. I wouldn’t be stuck in here forever, even though it felt like it some days, and she wouldn’t have to come back to be with me all the time. The thought of having to share her with the world again kind of alarmed me, but whatever she wanted, I’d give it to her.
“You’ve got that look on your face again,” she declared, swapping tofavorher left hand. “Out with it Maverick.”
I grinned like a stupid fool when she called me that. I remembered the day she’d pulled me back from the edge of thatragerat Beat; the moment she said I’d gone Hulk on her. She’d sat on the mat with me like some kind of motherfucking beast whisperer and called me Maverick. I had no idea what she meant until later, but she could’ve called me a dickhead and I would’ve reacted the same way. Totally under her spell.
“What do you want to do?” I asked. “If you’re not going to go pro, then what…” I shrugged.
“I dunno,” she replied. “What about you?”
I grimaced. “Ditto.”
“You don’t have to hit the big time to be happy,” she said, stopping her onslaught on the speedball. “You don’t need money and fame to be content in life.”
Fuck. She amazed me every day.
“What?” she asked, giving me a look. I must be staring like a slack-jawed hick.
I reached out for her and she leaned against my chest. Breathing in, she smelt like sweat and flowers. She smelt like my Spitfire.
“What do you need, then?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her.
She shrugged. “People, I guess. Simplicity. Being at the top isn’t always as great as it’s made out to be.”
I could relate to that.
“One day at a time,” she breathed.
Fuck me. Ren Miller was my match in every way and she was becoming mine again. I was never letting her go again. Hell and back had a nice ring to it, because that’s how far I’d go to give her everything she ever wanted.
And me? I was always hers, so she never even had to try.
