Reckless Retribution (West Warriors Book 1) (8 page)

I regretted doing it immediately because he reacted to my touch. He quietly sucked in a breath and his body jerked slightly. Realizing the stupid thing I had just done, I quickly started to push him off me, but he didn’t budge. I tried several more times, but he just didn’t move. I let out groans of frustration and wondered why I was even bothering attempting to. His weight had a full advantage over mine, again. Looking up at him, he had that same look in his eyes, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He hadn’t told me to stop trying to move him, but I couldn’t carry on because it was no use. A playful thought entered my mind, one I knew would definitely get him off me. I shot my leg up in between his, nearly catching Jamie Junior, and he buckled in reflex, sending the lower half of his body crashing onto me. I made a strangled, gargled sound as the force of his weight fell on top of me, winding me. Being crushed in the process hadn’t occurred to me.

He raised himself back over me and shook his head with a defeated smile on his face.

When I could breathe, I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Yeah, you win, barely.” He quietly laughed.

Now that we’d broken the ice with each other, I hoped he would stop keeping his distance from me and would be friendly to me like the rest of them.

“Ahem!” Someone cleared their throat from the side of the cage.

We both quickly turned to where it came from to see Kal frowning down at us through the cage, hands on his hips. He didn’t look impressed. I wondered how long he’d been standing there.

Jamie shot up from over me, scratching the back of his head. I looked at the clock on the wall and realized it was half past six. “Holy shit, I’m late.” I scrambled to my feet. Dad would be wondering why I wasn’t home.

Jamie walked over to where Kal was, and I could hear sharp, hushed voices as I slowly walked out of the cage, trying to hear what was being said.

“What was that?” Kal sounded pissed.

“Self-defense training, you know, like she wanted,” Jamie snapped back.

“Cam was doing it, not you.”

“He couldn’t do it tonight. Why you so pissed?”

“Not you, Jamie. You’re the best I’ve got.”

I wondered what Kal meant by that. He was the best he had? I hoped I hadn’t gotten him into trouble. I seemed to do nothing more than get them in trouble at the moment, which was the last thing I wanted.

“There’s nothing there. You’re making shit up in your head, Kal,” Jamie growled quietly.

Then there was silence, so I listened harder as I passed them.

“You don’t own me.”

I winced at how awkward all this was, especially because I was still in earshot—although clearly, these two thought otherwise.

“I put you where you are. Don’t forget that.”

Jamie never replied, but Kal carried on. “Go out, get it out of your system. Not here.” He shook his head.

Wow, he was angry. I never thought he would react this way to him training me. It made me wonder why Cam was okay to do it and not him. Unless he was more at risk of injuring himself, and then he would be out of training. That would make sense. I knew Jamie was one of the best fighters there; I’d overheard Kal many times talking about it.

I walked to the back room and quickly grabbed my purse from the locker, pulling out my cell and checking for missed calls from Dad. Luckily, there wasn’t any. Setting my stuff down on the desk, I pretended to mess with the computer so I could carry on listening in. The music had been shut off and they had stopped whispering, so I could hear most of what they were saying.

Really, I should’ve been running home to Dad, but I was too intrigued by this whole problem I’d caused, enough for me to risk the consequences to find out.

The door suddenly opened, and Cam came walking in. “Hey,” he greeted us.

I briefly smiled.

“Where have you been?” Kal turned on him. He was overreacting and it wasn’t fair.

“Out.”

Jamie’s arms were folded across his chest defensively, and he looked really agitated. Poor Cam looked like he didn’t know what was going on.

“I had plans.” Cam shrugged, looking from Kal to Jamie, confused. “What have I missed?”

Kal hissed and walked away. I took the opportunity and quickly walked over to them. “Did I get you in trouble?”

Jamie shook his head at me, the hard look back in his eyes, and I prayed to God he wasn’t angry at me or was putting the distance back between us.

“Golden boy,” Cam teased. Jamie shoved him and exhaled.

I grabbed my purse and left them all to it. I’d obviously caused enough of a stir for one night. It was my last shift there for a week, so hopefully when I returned, things would be okay with Kal. I hoped he wasn’t angry with me too.

I walked the few blocks home and noticed that Rod’s car was in the driveway behind Dad’s broken one, which had taken up residence there the last four months because we couldn’t afford to fix it.

Rod was kind of Dad’s best friend. They didn’t see each other all too often, which was a shame in some parts because Dad really enjoyed his company and was certainly happier when he was around, which made my life easier. I hoped that now he wouldn’t be too bothered by the fact I was late coming home. I opened the front door, and hearty laughter came from inside.

“Here she is,” Dad’s voice joyfully boomed from the kitchen.

I didn’t respond to it. I hated how he played the nice guy whenever anyone was around. “Hi, Rod,” I said, ignoring Dad.

“Hi, sweetie,” he greeted. “How have you been?” he asked politely.

Rod had a mop of thinning red hair and pale skin with sunken brown eyes. He reminded me of Shaggy from
Scooby Doo
and even dressed in a similar way, which I had always found odd.

“Busy with school and working.” I smiled.

“You’re a good kid.”

His compliment touched a nerve with me. While it was nice, I could only think that if he really knew what I had to put up with, maybe he would think differently. I wasn’t just a ‘good kid’, and I didn’t just go to school and work like a normal, carefree kid does. His
friend
had ruined my childhood and forced me to grow up too quickly. I worked my ass off while trying to study, all while being physically abused by Dad on a regular basis. I had to put my dresser in front of my door every night so he didn’t attack me while he was drunk. He’d done that once when I was twelve. He came into my room and yanked me out of bed by my hair and gave me a beating for no reason. I had bald patches for a while because he used so much force. Trying to explain that to the kids at school was hard, and they used to taunt and bully me for it. Ever since that night, I pulled my dresser across. I wanted to say those thoughts out loud to him, but I didn’t. I made my good kid excuses and went to my room to shower.

Standing under the hot streams of water, I let my stresses melt away and watched them disappear down the drain, never to return again. If only! Soaping up my body with my favorite vanilla body wash, I couldn’t help but think back to Jamie during our session tonight. How his hands had practically been all over my body, pressing and touching me, and the way he hovered over me was something else entirely. He had the most gorgeous brown eyes when he wasn’t glaring or being indifferent, and that grin of his, which was as rare as an eclipse, had certainly won me over tonight. I think it was safe to say I had a tiny crush on him. At least he’d thawed a bit toward me now, or at least I hoped he had. Maybe Cam was right; he just needed to get to know me a little bit.

Finished in the shower, I quickly dried and changed into my gray slacks and black ratty T-shirt, leaving my hair to dry naturally before heading into the kitchen to make dinner for myself. Dad and Rod were having takeout and were currently discussing the latest new signings to some big football team. Pouring the pasta into a pan, I lit the burner, poured hot water in, and gave it a quick stir to stop the pasta from sticking to the bottom. A heavy-handed knock came from the door, and I turned my head, intrigued to see who it was. It wasn’t the takeout guy because they’d just ordered.

Dad walked to answer it. “Who the hell are you? Why d’ya want my daughter?”

My head jerked at Dad’s tone of voice; he sounded irate, and it didn’t take much to get him like that. I wondered who the hell it was too.

“Don’t narrow your eyes at me, you little punk.”

My blood ran cold, as I had thought who it could be. Cam. He jokingly said he knew where I lived. I silently prayed it wasn’t him, but no one else I knew would come here except for Taylor, and she always told me first. I quickly ran to the door and was shocked to see Jamie there, squaring up to Dad. I didn’t trust Jamie or the look that was on his face, and I didn’t trust Dad either. What on earth was he doing here, and how did he know where I lived?

I took a step out of the door, and Jamie glanced at me as I did so. Dad’s eyes stayed fixed on Jamie. “Go in Dad, please,” I begged. But he didn’t move.

Like me, he too looked ratty in his old gray slacks and dirty red polo shirt. I tried to gently coax him back in the door, but he was having none of it. “Rod!” I shouted toward the house as loud as I could.

A few seconds later, he came to the door with a beer can in his hand, and I wanted to die. We looked like utter trailer trash. Jamie’s head was turning from me to Rod then Dad and back again. God knows what he was thinking, and I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know.

After much persuasion, Dad went back inside with Rod, and when they were inside, I turned to Jamie. “What are you doing here?” I folded my arms across my chest protectively.

“You left your cell. Figured you would need it.” He smiled briefly.

I looked down to see my cellphone in his hand and remembered setting it down on the desk with my purse before I left. He handed it to me and smiled again like nothing had just happened.

“How do you know where I live?”

“Cam told me.”

I wondered why Cam didn’t just drop it off himself. Then again, I was glad he hadn’t.

“You shouldn’t come here, Jamie.” I shook my head. This wouldn’t be a big deal to a normal person with normal parents, but my life wasn’t exactly normal with my psychotic father. It was a huge mistake, him coming here, and I would be in for it once I got back inside.

Jamie just laughed it off. “I figured that from the reception I just got from your old man.” He chuckled, looking back to my front door where Dad had been. He wasn’t the least bit bothered by him, and it infuriated me.

“It’s not funny, Jamie,” I snapped at him. He hadn’t the faintest clue how much trouble I would be in now.

His smile disappeared. “Jesus, I’ll fucking go.” He threw his hands up in the air despairingly and stormed off to his truck.

Instantly, I felt guilty; this wasn’t his fault. I began to go after him, but he’d walked so fast he was in his truck already. I wanted to apologize, but it was too late. He took off so quickly that his wheels screeched on the road. I stared at the street after he’d disappeared, feeling horrible. I hated that I’d upset him.

Before going back inside, I slowly counted to ten. I needed to be calm to deal with Dad. I slowly walked across the grass, onto the path, and reached the door. Taking a deep breath, I walked inside.

Dad was standing with his back against the kitchen counter, waiting for me. “Who the hell was he?” He straightened, pointing to the door.

“Someone from work. He was being nice and returned my cell, because I left it,” I said to him calmly.

He lunged at me, pinning me forcefully to the wall behind me by my shoulders. I knew he wouldn’t hit me while Rod was here, so I wasn’t scared he was going to hurt me. Rod was by the fridge, and he shifted uncomfortably watching us.

“Don’t lie to me. I will not have you whoring around with lowlifes like him,” he said, with a look of pure disgust on his face.

My mouth opened at his harsh words. Was he honestly calling me, his daughter, a whore?

Jamie, a lowlife? He didn’t even know him. “I work with him, that’s all.”

He let go of his grip on me, but his glare never faltered. He remained standing in front of me, still in utter disgust, and I couldn’t understand why. I had done absolutely nothing wrong except have a guy innocently turn up at my house to return the cellphone I’d left.

My shoulders ached and I massaged them with my hands. He lifted his right hand up, and before I got time to move, he backhanded me across the face, his knuckles making contact with the side of my temple and my eye. Yelling out in pain, I cupped my face.

“Take that as a warning. Don’t let it happen again,” he seethed.

Rod was instantly at Dad’s side. “Christ, Mick, leave it!” he shouted, tugging on his arm and leading him away from me. He ushered him into the front room with the promise of another beer.

I remained against the wall, holding my hand to where it hurt. Rod quickly returned and moved my hand away from my temple for a second.

“Oooh, that’s a nasty one. Do you have ice?”

“Freezer,” was all I could say. My eye was throbbing. I was frightened to take my hand away in case my eyelid burst open. He quickly wrapped some ice in a dishcloth and pressed the compress to my head. “I got it, thanks.” I took it from him. “Can you turn the stove off?” I murmured to him, as I walked away up to my room. My dinner was probably ruined now anyway.

“Sure, honey.” He sighed loudly, and I heard him opening the fridge door to get Dad another beer. That was the last thing he needed. I wondered whether this would be Rod’s last visit here now. I’m sure seeing just what a vile person his friend actually was would be enough to send him running for the hills.

Standing in front of the mirror, my whole eyelid and socket was swollen red, and my temple was bruised. A knock came at the door, startling me. Cautiously, I opened it in case it was Dad, but Rod was standing there. He’d finished my dinner for me and was holding it in his hands.

“Thanks, Rod, you didn’t have to.” I took my mac and cheese from him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned.