Drunk Dial (Hard Core #1) (Hard Core Series) (22 page)

“Tell me what’s happened.”

Since York already knew, I didn’t see the harm of filling in his friend. “There’ve been a few hang-ups on my cell, calls here from a guy who didn’t want to leave a message, a suspicious car parked outside my building, flowers—”

“Jesus,” he said, raking a hand through his dark hair. “Isn’t your brother a cop? Can’t they do something about this?”

Coop would be all over Jordan if I went to him with this, but legally, I suspected his hands were tied since we couldn’t prove that Jordan had done anything wrong. “He’s probably just trying to scare me.”

“Yeah, well, it’s working, isn’t it?”

It wasn’t easy for me to admit to being scared. I prided myself on being fearless, which was a crock. I had plenty of fears. Most of them circled around what my ex would do to me if he got his hands on me again.

“I’ll get through this,” I said, reaching for Ace’s hand. “Please don’t waste any more time worrying about me.”

He brushed a strand of hair off my face. “I can’t help it. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking of you as a friend, and I always look out for my friends.”

I appreciated the sentiment, but his loyalty really lay with York. If I was no longer dating York or Ace was no longer dating Rachel, our connection would cease. Just like so many other friendships in my life had waned when the other person realized I could be distant, wasn’t into bitchfests, and rarely picked up the phone unless I had to. I was a lousy friend. I still couldn’t figure out why Rachel put up with me. “Well, I appreciate that. But you don’t have to look out for me.”

“Is that your polite way of asking me to back off and mind my own business?”

I glanced at the clock and noted I had to wake up in three hours. “No, I’m telling you to go back to your girlfriend so we can all get some more sleep.”

“Okay.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “But call if you need anything, okay?”

I grabbed his hand before he could leave. Embarrassed as emotion welled up in my throat, I whispered, “Thanks for coming in to check on me.”

“Any time.”

York

I was beating the shit out of the heavy bag in my home gym when Ace let himself in.

“What do you want?” I grunted, already dripping with sweat, but refused to stop. After the night I’d had with Lacy, this was the only thing that would make me feel better.

“I want to know why you’re here instead of over at Lacy’s, trying to make up for what happened last night.”

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye, still punching the bag as though it was the enemy. “What the fuck did I do? Aside from asking the girl whether she slept with some douche who—”

“Why should you care who she’s slept with? You’ve been a manwhore since the day I met you.”

I couldn’t deny it, so I punched the bag even harder, adding a roundhouse kick for good measure. “I hate this guy.” Imagining the car salesman’s face on the bag, I hit it hard enough to break the skin on my knuckles. “He’s an arrogant prick who thinks he’s better for Lacy than I am.”

“Is that what’s bothering you?” Ace asked, jumping on the treadmill. “Maybe you think that too, huh?”

“Fuck you.” By the time I stepped away from the bag, I was breathing so hard I had to rest my hands on my knees as I caught my breath.

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t give a shit whether she’s slept with him or not. You’d be able to let it go.”

The fucker was right. “I’m not the only one who can’t let go, asshole. Don’t think I don’t know you’re scared shitless that Ash is going to decide he wants Rachel back and that’ll leave you out in the cold.” I grabbed two water bottles from the mini-fridge and tossed one to him. I’d hoped it would hit him, but he caught it instead.

“Let’s stay focused on your problems,” he said, pressing a button to speed up the treadmill as he broke into a jog. “I can’t believe you haven’t busted that guy’s head open by now.”

“Who’re you talking about? The car salesman?”

Ace rolled his eyes. “Man, you need to get over that shit. She doesn’t want him. She wants you. Though I have no idea why.”

I glared at him as I tipped my water bottle back, draining half of it before I reached for a towel to wipe the sweat off my face before it stung my eyes.

“You need to trust her, York.”

He let his warning settle in while I sank against the wall, sliding down it when my legs felt too weak to support my weight. “I do trust her. I don’t trust other dudes.” Lacy was a gorgeous woman who had guys coming on to her all the time. I had to figure out how to deal with that… or risk losing her. If I hadn’t already.

“The only one you shouldn’t trust is that prick who’s been messing with her mind.”

“Her ex.” I drained the rest of the bottle before throwing it against the wall. The pathetic crackle as it hit the drywall gave me no satisfaction. I wanted to break something. Preferably some asshole’s bones.

“Why haven’t you tracked him down?”

I’d been asking myself that same question as I tried to fall asleep last night. I kept circling back to killing him with my bare hands when I thought about what he’d done to Lacy, but I assumed the part of my brain still responsible for rational thought had put the kibosh on the idea of going to see him before I could act on it. “I’d probably kill him.”

Ace laughed as he slowed the treadmill so he could continue talking. “Yeah, well, I can’t let you do that. But you can put the fear of God into him so he doesn’t mess with your woman anymore.”

I didn’t want to damage my relationship with Lacy any more than I already had, so I looked at my long-time friend and hoped he had it in him to tell me the truth, no matter how much it hurt. “I’m assuming you talked to her last night, since you stayed at their place. Is she done with me or what? I want the fucking truth, Ace.”

“The truth? What happened last night wasn’t even about you, man.” He jumped off the treadmill and headed for the elliptical, but not before wrapping a clean white towel around his neck. “It was about her ex. Flashbacks.”

Flashbacks? Fuck. It killed me to think I’d reminded her of him in any way.

“Apparently her ex had been accusing her of sleeping with some dude when he lost it and decided she didn’t deserve to live anymore.”

I got a cramp in my stomach that I knew had nothing to do with how hard I’d trained. “Shit.”

“Yeah. I think she’d been trapped in a car with him at the time too.”

That made sense, since Lacy said he’d taken her to some abandoned warehouse. I dropped my head into my hands, cursing myself for being such an insensitive ass. Ace was right. It didn’t matter who the hell she’d slept with before she met me. The only thing that mattered was making sure I was the last man to share her bed.

“You can fix this, you know,” Ace said, watching me. “Let this asshole know that you’re not messing around, that you’ll tear him apart if he goes near her again.” Ace smirked. “I’ll go along, just to make sure you don’t actually do it.”

My buddy was right. I should have paid this guy a visit as soon as I found out what he’d done to Lacy. I reached for my phone and fired off a text to Coop. “Her brother must know where we can find the guy. He’s been keeping an eye on him.”

“You think he’ll tell you?” Ace asked, raising an eyebrow. “He is a cop, right?”

“He’s Lacy’s brother first,” I said, confident he would give me the information I needed. “A cop second.” I tossed my sweat-stained, bloody towel at Ace before peeling the tape off my bleeding hands. “You should take your own advice. Forget about Ash and just focus on what you have with Rachel.”

“I was thinking about that on the way over here,” Ace admitted. “I think you’re right.”

“I’m always right, dumbass.”

“Not always,” he said, rolling his eyes. “When it comes to women, you’re as thick as a brick. You were running around in circles for that cheating little golddigger for months, then you finally get a shot with a girl like Lace and you manage to fuck everything up… twice.” He held up two fingers before rapping his knuckles against his temple. “Over the same goddamn guy who doesn’t mean anything to her.”

“You sure about that?” I asked, still trying to quash the uneasy feeling that lingered whenever I thought about Lacy and the guy who’d come before me.

“A hundred and ten percent.”

I nodded, knowing I could count on Ace’s word. My cell phone chimed with an address. I chuckled as I read Coop’s warning to Ace:
Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to arrest you.

“So what are we waiting for?” Ace asked. “Let’s make sure this bastard knows he messed with the wrong girl.”

***

I stood outside the dingy motel room, my hand raised to knock on the door when Coop pulled up in a non-descript black truck.

“Hey,” he said, jumping out. “Glad I caught you before you went in there.”

I wandered over and introduced him to Ace before I asked, “What’re you doing here? You didn’t trust me to keep it together?”

“No, I didn’t.” He gripped my shoulder. “Look, York, I think you’re a good guy. And I also happen to think you’re good for my sister. But the last thing she needs is more drama in her life.”

“Meaning?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow. I’d come here for a fight, but not with Coop. So I sure as hell hoped he didn’t plan to get in my way. ‘Cause one way or another, I was going to teach Lacy’s piece-of-shit ex a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.

“I know dirtbags like this,” Coop said, gesturing toward room 709. “Deal with them all the time. They talk tough, but when push comes to shove, they cower like pussies. Then they call us when somebody gets sick of their shit and beats the hell out of them.”

I heard his warning loud and clear. If I laid a hand on this guy, he’d press charges. Which would put my career, not to mention my relationship with Lacy, in serious jeopardy. I wasn’t even sure where she and I stood. I’d texted her to check in, hoping I’d get the chance to apologize face to face, but she had yet to respond. “I hear what you’re saying.”

“Do you?” Coop put his arm around me as he led me away from the building. Only a few cars were in the lot, but when a middle-aged guy wearing stained jeans and a wife-beater shirt stepped outside to have a smoke, Coop clearly wanted to widen the gap. “I get how you feel. Believe me, when this all went down, it took everything in me not to blow his brains out.”

I took a deep breath, trying to imagine if I would have had the same restraint had I been a part of Lacy’s life back then.

“But I didn’t. You know why?”

“You didn’t want to lose your job?” I knew cops weren’t well received in prison. Even a tough guy like Coop would have a rough time surviving on the inside.

“I didn’t want to lose my sister.” When I frowned, rubbing my forehead as I tried to make sense of what he was saying, Cooper explained, “She’d already been through enough. Seeing me go away would have done her in. I have no doubt about that.”

“She’s stronger now,” I said, praying that was true. After last night, I didn’t know what she was thinking or feeling, and that uncertainty was killing me.

“Yeah, but she needs stability to continue to heal from this.” He gripped my shoulder, looking me in the eye. “She needs a man she can count on to be there for her. Not a hothead who’s gonna go off at the slightest provocation.”

My eyes drifted to my best friend, and I knew Ace was thinking about what had gone down between Lacy and me last night. Coop’s warning almost made me wonder whether he’d talked to his sister about last night’s fiasco. Or maybe the cop who drove her home had filled him in. Either way, he seemed to know things I wasn’t proud to admit. Even to myself.

Everything he said made perfect sense. I was a master at controlling myself inside the cage, practicing patience until I could capitalize on my opponent’s weakness. But with Lacy, I was the one feeling weak and vulnerable, and I hated that.

“I hear you,” I said.

“Do you?” Coop stepped back, folding his arms as he gave me a hardened look that I was sure made his suspects cower in fear during interrogations. “I’m telling you that it would break my sister’s heart to see you get led away in handcuffs for putting this guy down. No matter how much he might deserve it.”

I inhaled deeply, trying to find an ounce of the control I was so famous for.

“I’m not suggesting you back off.” Coop pointed at the window of Jordan’s room. “Tell him you’ll break both of his legs if he comes near Lacy again. Just don’t make good on that threat today.”

I nodded slowly, considering my options. “Yeah, okay.”

“I mean it, York,” Coop said, thrusting a finger in my face. “You hurt her, and you’ll answer to me. I’ve been watching her go through the motions for seven years, pretending she was fine when I knew she wasn’t. It killed me to know she was living half a life because some asshole robbed her of the ability to trust someone.” When I would have said something, Coop raised his hand. “But I saw her with you, and it was like she’d come alive again. And I can’t tell what that does for me.” He flattened his hand against his chest, the movement pulling his black jacket back enough to reveal the piece strapped to his waist. “I feel like I’m finally getting my little sister back, thanks to you.”

Ace, who was standing behind Cooper, gave me a half-smile to let me know he was there for me if I needed him.

“But I’m not going to lie to you. Life with Lace won’t be easy,” Coop said. “Especially in the beginning. There will be setbacks while she tries to figure out how to let someone back into her heart and her life. It’s been a long time since she’s done that, and given how it turned out, I don’t think you can blame her for being scared.”

“You talked to her, didn’t you?” Everything he said led me to believe he knew what happened last night.

“I just came from her place. She was miserable because of the fight you guys had. She’s beating herself up, questioning whether she’s ready to be in a relationship at all. She thinks she’s too messed up and you’d be better off without her.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I know that, but I’m not the one you have to convince. She is.” He nodded toward the motel room. “Don’t waste too much time on this loser. Say what you’ve got to say, then focus on what really matters—making things right with my sister.”