Hammer's Fall (The Breakers' Bad Boys) (16 page)

She loved the way his dark eyes lit up when he saw her and he smiled that arrogant smirk of his that heated her blood. He always gave her that little smile after they made love, and it reminded her of how it felt to have him inside her. That smile faded as he took a good look at her.

“What’s wrong?”

Damn, he read her so well it was scary.

“Oh, just ran into two women in the bathroom that were talking about you.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chantal and Suzie leaving the bathroom. “The blonde thinks she can get you in bed tonight. I had to dissuade her of that erroneous notion.”

“Damn straight,” he said pulling her against him. “Why the hell would I want her when I have you?”

“Damn straight,” she said, mimicking him.

He chuckled as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. “I love that my naughty little fairy defended my honor, though. Come on, let’s get this dinner over with so I can dance with my girl.”

Taking her hand, he led her into the reception hall where the dinner would be served. Kalista looked around the room and barely held back a wince. The room had been decorated with an abundance of white, purple, and light green, making it look like Paris had exploded all over the place. She knew that Bethany would go overboard, but this was ridiculous. Large vases of flowers sat in the middle of every table, and the walls of the room had been draped with fabric in Bethany’s chosen colors. Over on a side table was a wedding cake made up of several towers that was too ostentatious to be called elegant.

He looked around the room at a loss for what to say. “This is…”

“Revolting?” She offered the word with a smile.

“I was going to say scary, but revolting works, too.”

They walked over to the table that held all of the place cards, and Kalista frowned when she saw they were seated at the same table as her parents.

“Fuck that. We aren’t sitting with them.”

Because she agreed with him, she let him lead her over to the bar where they could grab drinks and wait for people to take their seats. When the majority of people were seated she and Jared walked over to a table of people around their age with a few empty chairs.

“Are these seats taken?”

“No, please join us,” one of the women said with a flirtatious smile.

Hammer politely smiled at the woman, then held out the seat beside the woman for Kali to sit down. Kali shot him a smirk and he pressed a kiss to her forehead before his sat down next to her, safely out of range from the woman who had tried to flirt with him.

When they introduced themselves to the group, the men openly gaped at Hammer. “Man, I saw you fight in Vegas two years ago. You were awesome!” one of the men said.

“Thanks. I’m retired now. I opened a gym in Breakers, and now I spend my time running things there and keeping my girlfriend here out of trouble.” He laughed when Kali’s elbow made contact with his side.

“So, how do you know the wedding party?” another woman asked.

“Bethany is my cousin,” Kalista said, “But we’re sitting over here because we are avoiding my parents.”

“They don’t like me,” Hammer added cheerfully. “Don’t think I’m good enough for her or something.” He winked at Kali, loving how the pretty blush spread over her cheeks.

The woman who had tried to flirt with him now cast a sympathetic glance at Kali. “Bethany is…an interesting woman.”

“She’s a raging bitch, if you ask me,” one of the men said with a laugh. “We all work with Aeron, which is why we are stuck over here in the corner. I don’t mind, though. I can’t stand your cousin, sorry.”

Kali just smiled before taking a sip of her glass of wine. Hammer leaned back as he took a pull from the bottle of beer he had ordered from the bar. He was glad that Kali seemed to relax as she spoke to the friendly people at the table. The meal was more enjoyable than he had thought it was going to be. Three of the men asked him questions about his time fighting, while Kali spoke to the two women at the table. He was pleased when Kali had simply laughed when the woman sitting next to his woman apologized for admiring him.

“Trust me, I know every woman looks at him like that,” Kalista had whispered back.

Hammer took that as a sign that she was more confident in their relationship now that he had told her he loved her. Hell, he felt the same way now that he knew she loved him and that she was truly his. Knowing that she loved him as much as he loved her set them on equal footing, and there was no way he was going to fuck this up. Still, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t punch out one of the guys at their table if the prick didn’t stop peeking at Kali’s cleavage every time she fucking moved.

“Kalista, how nice to see you,” David said as he walked up to their table with his date. The woman on his arm was a tall brunette who eyed Hammer like he was her favorite treat. He was used to women eye-fucking him. He usually ignored it, but in this case it was pretty damn funny that David’s new girlfriend seemed to prefer him just like Kali did.

“Hi, I’m Melissa,” David’s new girlfriend purred.

Hammer felt Kali tense as the beautiful brunette held out her hand to him, waiting for him to kiss it or something. Fuck that, she could keep waiting. Ignoring her outstretched hand, he put his arm around Kali’s shoulders, pulling her into him. Melissa looked stunned for a second, then glared at Kali as she put her arm back down. He noticed the way David’s eyes seemed to roam over Kali, and Hammer realized that even if he was confident that she loved him, he really didn’t like other men looking at his woman. Especially this man.

“David,” Kali said in a flat tone.

Hammer watched with satisfaction as David seemed to focus on his hand gently trailing up and down her arm. Wes, one of the men at the table, seemed to enjoy the byplay. “Hammer was just telling us about his gym in your hometown. Do you work out there?”

“No, I work out at a real gym.”

Hammer’s smile turned fierce. “Just as well. I have a policy against letting assholes become members of my gym.” He heard the muffled laughter coming from their dinner companions as David’s spine seemed to stiffen.

Seeing that he was getting nowhere with Hammer, David turned his ire towards Kali. “It’s nice to see that your neighbor was kind enough to be your date after I dumped you,” David said with a smile as fake as his date’s breasts.

Hammer laughed, then placed another kiss on the top of Kali’s head, never taking his eyes off her ex. “It was easy enough since she’s practically living with me now.”

David lost his smile. “I knew you were whoring around on me.”

“How dare you—”

Hammer cut off whatever Kali was going to say by squeezing her shoulder. “You’re going to want to be very careful how you speak to my woman.”

“Your woman,” David spat. “She was mine first.”

“David, come on. Let’s go,” Melissa said pulling at David’s arm. David shook her off, his anger making him too stupid to understand the danger he was in.

David glared down at Kali. “You were always panting after him like a bitch in heat. Just wait until he gets bored with you. That will serve you right.”

Hammer slowly stood up so he was towering over the other man. He could see the fear suddenly gleaming in David’s eyes, and he was glad when the smaller man took a step back. Hammer wanted to strike out at him, but the feeling of Kali’s gentle hand on his arm had him looking down into her worried eyes. “Don’t worry, baby. I won’t hurt the bastard.”

He felt his tension ease a little as her beautiful lips curved into a smile. “One hit and he’d be done anyway. There’s no fun in that.”

Hammer found himself laughing, and he looked back to see David’s face was red with anger now. Taking a step forward, he was pleased when David scuttled back from him. “Let me make this clear,” Hammer said in voice that was dangerously soft. “I know where you work and where you live. If I even catch you looking at Kali with anything less than respect I will tear you apart into bloody pieces, then boot your head so far up your stupid ass you’ll pray to God, wishing I had just killed you. In fact, don’t even look at her. If you see her in the same room as you, you’ll fucking leave, because I won’t tolerate you or anyone else upsetting her. Now get the fuck out of here before I have to disappoint her and beat the shit out of you right now.”

David turned and ran, leaving his girlfriend to follow him teetering on her high heels as Hammer sat back down at the table. Their dinner companions all stared at him, their expressions a mixture of shock and awe. He glanced at Kali, bracing himself to face her anger but found her smiling that special smile that she reserved just for him. Unable to help himself he kissed her hard before smiling at the rest of the table as if he hadn’t just made such an ominous threat against a man.

“So, do you think they’ll be cutting the cake soon?”

****

Two days later, Hammer stood in the completed fenced in area outside the gym and wiped the sweat from his brow. It felt damn good building something with his own hands, but he hadn’t had to build it alone. He’d been surprised by the number of his friends that had come to help, along with several of the members that workout out in the gym. Because of the extra hands, what would have taken him a couple days to do had been finished in the matter of a few hours.

“Looks good,” Sheriff Storm Wyatt said as he handed a bottle of water over to Hammer.

“It does. Thanks for coming by to help.”

Storm shrugged. “I had the day off. I was coming in for a workout anyway.”

Hammer eyed his friend. Storm had the dark coloring that spoke to his half Native American heritage, but his usually tanned skin seemed pale and his obsidian eyes were heavy with buried anger and fatigue. He’d seen that look before. Hammer and Storm had served in the same unit while they had been in the Rangers, and they had been like brothers ever since. “Long weekend?”

“Longer than you’d believe. Late Saturday night I got a call out to the county border. Turns out those fucking Moxie boys took some girls drinking with them at that shit-hole honky tonk, the Dunk Tank, and then crashed into a tree on their way home.”

“Shit,” Hammer said. “Was everyone okay?”

“Nope. One of the girls ended up in the hospital, and one of the boys had to have surgery. The other girl died on impact. We spent hours trying to pry those kids out of that damn car. It was crushed like a fucking can. The driver was the only one who wasn’t really hurt. He was so drunk he couldn’t even see straight, but somehow he got thrown clear.”

“You telling Hammer about what happened Saturday?” Hammer’s step-brother Hunter asked as he joined them. “I’m glad those little Moxie shits are sitting in jail. Why does it always seem the drunk driver always walks away from an accident despite all the lives he ruins?”

“Yeah,” Storm said, shaking his head in disgust. “Those girls were underage, too. To top it, one of their daddies showed up on scene while we were working to get the kids out. He had been out looking for his girl when we made the calls. The idiot pulled out a shotgun and started shooting at the driver.”

“Well, hell…” Hammer winced, but he couldn’t really blame the father. He would have killed those boys if it was his daughter, too.

“What Storm didn’t tell you was that he was in the process of cuffing Ralph Moxie when the father started shooting,” Dante added as he joined them.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Hammer looked at Storm, then grinned, trying to ease the memory of dealing with such a horrible situation. “You don’t seem to have any new holes in you.”

“He missed me, asshole,” Storm growled in response, irritation bubbling to the surface again at the reminder. “It was just one big clusterfuck of a night. That’s why I took today off. I needed to relax, or I knew I’d hurt someone today with the way I’m feeling.”

“I bet. You should go hit the bags now that we’re done here.”

“I just might,” Storm said. “Maybe I’ll drag Dante into the ring with me.”

“We can do that. I’m thought I’d stick around and work with the kid when he gets off of school. Nate’s got some moves. He’s young yet, but I think he might have a future if he wants it.”

“I agree,” Hammer said. He’d been training Nate a few times a week, and the kid had natural talent for picking up martial arts. With dedication and persistence, the kid could make a career at fighting.

Hunter looked around the fenced in yard with his hands on his hips, admiring what they had built together. “This is a good area. Ranger is going to be very happy here.” At Storm’s questioning look, Hunter grinned. “The pit bull puppy Kali picked out is named Ranger. The little guy lights up when she’s around.”

Storm laughed, the fatigue fading as mirth took its place. “Well, I’ll be damned. So now Kali has two Rangers on her hands.”

“Damn straight,” Hammer said with a grunt.

“You gonna marry that girl?” Storm asked.

“As soon as possible.” Hammer told his friends the short version of what happened at the wedding over the weekend, and was pleased to see the righteous fury burning in their eyes on his woman’s behalf.

“The ex is still breathing?” Dante asked incredulously. “Man, Hammer. You’re losing your edge. I would have taken that asshole apart.”

“Trust me, I wanted to, but I wasn’t about to kill a guy at her cousin’s wedding. Besides, I made him fear me enough that he won’t cross me.”

“David’s always been a little prick, even when we were young. Let me know if he bothers her again,” Storm said. “I won’t tolerate that shit here in my town.”

“Got it, Sheriff.” Hammer sighed. “I wonder if I could convince Kali to have a wedding without her parents.”

Hunter laughed, knowing there was no chance in hell of that happening. “Good luck with that shit. Could you imagine what your mom or my dad would do to you if you got married and didn’t invite them? Hell, they’d probably kill me, too, for not talking you out of it.”

Hammer winced at that. “Okay, first we’ll adopt the dog and I’ll ask her to officially move in with me. Then I’ll convince her to marry me.”

“Why wait?” Storm asked. “If you’re already all in why don’t you just ask her right now?”