Let Go (29 page)

Jackson turns
his face as Jimmy and Greylan approach.

“There’s our
champ now.” Jackson’s tone has changed, it’s more carefree.

The woman
stands smoothing her short dress and flashes Greylan a toothy
smile. Fuck, Jackson. She leans in offering her hand in a high
voice, “Hi Greylan, I was just talking to your trainer. He said you
might want some company later.”

Greylan frowns
looking past her at Jackson. He puts his hands in the air palms up
and claims, “Thought you might want to get your mind off of
things.”

He ignores the
girl and claims, “What the hell Jax, is Jimmy rubbing off on you or
something?”

As he turns to
the glass doors leading to the street, he hears Jimmy smoothing
things over with the girl asking if she’d like to meet him for a
drink later. He shakes his head at the reality of it all.

“Jax, are we
gonna do this or what?”

“Yep, let’s
go.”

They take a
taxi down the road for a short five minute drive. It turns into a
wide parking garage and drops them at the glass doors on the ground
floor. Jackson leads them through a casino into a room that makes
the warehouse back home look tiny in comparison. The cage is the
center of the room and obviously a permanent structure. Greylan
walks toward it as if it calls to him. All the while, Jimmy is
talking nervously as if just talking will make up for any
awkwardness. His voice halts, suddenly causing Greylan to look
back. Jackson’s hand is just dropping from Jimmy’s arm. He nods to
Greylan. Silently he thanks Jackson for the gesture. This is his
time. He walks carefully around the cage, his footsteps echoing
through the tiled space. As he nears the door into the cage he
takes the steps and clasps his hands into the black metal. Closing
his eyes he concentrates on what tomorrow will bring. This cage and
an opponent he’s watched on different feeds over and over. His
moves are graceful and determined. He’s going to be tough to beat
but not impossible.

He doesn’t
know how long he stood in that spot but at some point Jimmy has
crossed the room and he whispers, “Grey, time’s up. We have to
leave.”

Greylan opens
his eyes squinting into the cage, willing images to come to him. He
wants this more than anything. Even more than
her
, he
realizes. But he needs to put a halt to the thoughts so it doesn’t
ruin this for him.

He steps off
the platform joining Jimmy and Jackson. Jackson looks between them,
“This is it. All three of us have a stake in this, Greylan more
than any of us though. Jimmy we need to make sure we do everything
we can to make this happen.”

Jimmy nods as
if a silent message passes between them.

Jackson turns
to Greylan, “Go and take care of what you need to. We’ll see you in
the morning.”

That’s all
Greylan needs to propel his feet forward. He catches a taxi outside
and gives the driver a location. His hand absently moves to the
folded up piece of paper in his pocket. His eyes close picturing
her and everything they did together the one night they spent in
each other’s arms. His nerves are on edge anticipating what tonight
could bring.

The elevator
ride up to the top floor of the hotel seems to pass in seconds. His
chest is tight in anticipation of seeing her again. When the doors
slide open a maitre d’ welcomes him to the restaurant and asks if
he has a reservation. He feels as if he’s under water. Everything
is muffled as the blood surges through him and his heart speeds up.
He manages the words to tell the man that he’s meeting Mollie
Andrews here.
What the fuck? This is all wrong.
How can
he feel like this about someone he knows very little about?
But
he remembers his list of all of the things he does know and he
trudges on.

The man smiles
acknowledging that Ms. Andrews is waiting for him. He follows him
through the crush of tables and spots her across the room. She is
sipping from her wine glass looking out the window over the expanse
of the city. His heart lurches into his throat causing him to take
a deeper breath. The saying,
she takes my breath away
, is
more than true for Greylan in that moment. Her red locks hang
messily framing her creamy skin. When he approaches the table the
maitre d announces him. She slowly turns her head, those eyes
catching him once again, making him lose any words he might have
spoken. A mixture of emotions pass over her features in that
instant. She looks happy to see him but it turns quickly to sadness
and something else he’s not sure. She pushes a smile up as he takes
the seat offered to him across from her.

The man stands
for a few beats before she averts her stare from Greylan’s and
tells him, her tone all business, “Max, I think we’ll need a few
moments. Will you bring Mr. Pace a double tall Jack?”

“Very good,
madam.” He scurries away leaving Greylan still staring at her. He
can’t seem to tear his gaze away. She meets his stare with the same
intensity but seems resigned as she looks to her hands in her lap
after a few beats of his heart. He has a thousand things to say to
her, to ask her, but nothing comes to him. He’s lost as if
drowning, unable to reach for the air beyond the waves.

He wants to
soothe her. It comes natural for him but so many other things
tumble over that thought. Why did she ask him to meet her? And why
the fuck is she messing with his head so much? But that’s all him
he realizes. Her words from before ring through his head,
it was
nice
. He’s not here for that if that’s what she’s looking for.
As these thoughts float through him, regret starts to lodge itself
into his chest, the only thing that will make him walk away. As he
takes in her light and delicate features, the way the silky cream
sweater clings to her, he feels more and more that this was a
mistake. He wants more than anything to be here with her but not
with so many things unspoken between them. There are so many things
he wants to know but afraid the answers will mess with him.
No,
this is not happening.

His legs move,
propelling him up from the chair. Worry crosses her face when she
looks up at him. She opens her mouth to speak but snaps it closed
again. The gold flitting through her eyes glints in the subdued
flicker of the candle at the center of the table.

“Mollie, I, I
don’t think this is a good idea.” Trying like hell not to sink back
into the chair he forces himself to leave but her voice stops him
before he can take another step.

She closes her
eyes at the sound of her name rolling from his lips. This is so
much harder than she thought it would be.

“Grey,
Greylan, I need to talk to you. Please don’t go.”

His eyes
narrow, taking in her pleading tone. He wrestles with himself
knowing already that there never really was a choice. His body
leans back down into the chair just as his drink appears before
him. He clasps it taking a gulp of the wet liquid. He knows this is
against what he promised himself but so is sitting across from the
one woman who he now admits could break him if he allowed it.

His hand
lingers on the glass tightening when he looks back up into her
eyes.

“This is not
what I was expecting.”
Great Grey, some lead in. What the
fuck?

“I know.” Her
voice grows stronger as she speaks, “I had to see you.”

He throws back
the rest of the contents of his glass and squints. Her hold over
him is still so prominent, but that familiar anger he’s so
accustomed to starts to rear its ugly head.

“Okay, you saw
me so now what? More sex, is that what you want?”

A look of
shock crosses her features, his words stinging exactly as he had
intended. He’s here for one reason and that’s to fight. He can’t
let her take that away from him. But he regrets the words seeing
how they affect her. It meant so much to him and he’s hurt that she
left without a backwards glance.

The strength
gone from her words, “Grey, I’m, I wanted to tell you that I’m
sorry. That was never what I intended…”

He wants to
tell her he’s sorry but he isn’t. How can he be? He didn’t do
anything to this woman. Somehow she wiggled her way in and twisted
until she was lodged so deeply that he couldn’t take a deep breath.
He can’t let that happen again, not now just before the fight.

Standing
Greylan tells her, “Actually Mollie, I don’t think there is
anything you can say to me at this point that I need to hear.” His
chest tightens as the words leave his mouth..
.

He turns
before she can say anything else to make him stay. He heads for the
door reminding himself of Trinity’s words, no regrets. He’s sure
this isn’t what she meant by them but this is what he needs them to
mean. One look at Mollie Andrews and he wants to give it all up and
that’s no good because fighting is all he knows for sure.

His hand
moves faster than he’s ever seen it connecting with soft skin. A
loud crack shakes him to the core
. He wakes up panting and
disoriented. A glance around the darkened room lit only by the
undying lights outside slipping between the curtains reminds him
where he is. He rolls over picturing the shocked look on Mollie’s
face as he returned her words back to her.

Guilt lodges
itself but that’s okay, he’s used to guilt. It’s the other things
swirling around that he can’t deal with. As much as he has tried,
regret does make an appearance but he reasons, maybe it can be
transformed into something useful in the cage. He needs it to turn
into something else. As he dozes back to sleep Mollie’s apology
repeats through his head. She’s sorry but really does she have
anything to be sorry about? No, he decides.

A banging
sound wakes him hours later. A rough voice on the other side,
Jimmy.

“Grey, get up
buddy, it’s D day and you need to get outta there and ready.”

“Okay, I’m
up.”

“See ya
downstairs in thirty.”

What the
hell?

He pulls
himself up and stands in the scalding shower for almost the full
thirty minutes. He thinks about his opponent today, David Pontas.
The guy is pretty skilled. Greylan has been watching his fights for
a week, since they found out who he’d be fighting. He’s going to be
tough but not impossible.

As he makes
his way down to the lobby in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt he
sees his sister standing with Jimmy and Jackson waiting at the
entrance to the restaurant. When he walks up, another figure is
just walking up behind Trinity. First he notices Trinity’s uneasy
stance, her hands fidgeting and her mouth in a nervous line. His
eyes slide to the reason. Parker Harris is a foot behind her
seeming to wait and see what Greylan is going to do. His glare
moves from Parker to Jimmy and Jackson both smirking at the whole
situation.

“Fuck no Trin,
he’s not eating with us.”

Her arms move
across her chest crossing in defiance, “Grey, get over it. Parker
is
eating with us because I have something to tell you.”

Greylan looks
from her determined face to Parker. His is a blank slate, revealing
nothing.

Greylan moves
into the restaurant, his anger surfacing now more than ever.

A hostess
seats them. Jimmy and Jackson each take a seat on either side of
Greylan as if he might be a threat. He’d like nothing more than to
leap across the table and knock Parker out but he restrains himself
knowing a time in the future will come when he will get his chance.
All thoughts about how it will affect Trinity are out the door now.
He deserves an ass beating.

“Greylan, did
you hear me?”

“What
Trinity?” He barks at her.

She looks
taken aback but recovers quickly, “I had dinner with Parker last
night and we talked about stuff.” She grabs Parker’s hand. A tilt
of a smile forms on Parker’s lips causing Greylan to shift in his
chair. Jackson places his hand on Greylan’s arm readying to
restrain him.