Brutal Boxer by Naomi Porter

18

Aspen

My situation wasn’t so bleak. Or so I tried to convince myself as I whipped up a batch of pancake batter. It took me an hour to organize the kitchen, so I could work more efficiently. Food was mixed with dishes. No rhyme or reason for anything. A clear sign a man had just put canned goods and other ingredients in any old place.

All the alcohol, a dozen bottles or so, were in one place above the stove. The important stuff, right?

Jill and Wolf slept, Hollywood sat on the sofa reviewing maps, and the other guy was out front keeping watch. Zach had stomped away like a child when I told him to go to bed.

Finally, I had some quiet and alone time.

So much had happened over the last eleven days; I’d hardly had time to process a damn thing. My escape from Casso’s iron grip had been beyond stressful. If he captured me, it would be my worst nightmare come true. He wouldn’t be kind or gentle the way he’d been knowing I was pregnant.

Was pregnant.

I sort of wished Hero and Tara hadn’t found me. If I’d frozen to death, I’d be in a better place, out of Casso’s reach. I wouldn’t be his prisoner again. His pet. The solitude and abuse would destroy me. I wouldn’t go back.

No more fear.

No more pain.

Out of his reach, I hurt more than when held captive. The blatant hate I’d see in Zach’s ice-blue eyes strangled me. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get over the way he grabbed me so brutally that day during church. It made him no different than Casso.

How dare he treat me like I was a villain here to destroy him?

Then again, I took him away from his old lady. Crashed into his life uninvited. Why wouldn’t he be furious about guarding me? What man wanted to be in this situation with his ex? With the woman he couldn’t stand? The one he got a boner for when she was throwing up?

This was the kind of insanity in movies. A woman on the run from her deranged, violent boyfriend. She ends up in a lion’s den… biker’s club. Forced to trust them with her life. Made to stay in a remote cabin with the one man she’d hoped to never see again. The man she’d loved.

Years later, she hated that she still loved him.

I couldn’t make this crap up even if I tried.

Worse than anything else, how could Jill keep such important details from me? I hadn’t called her out on any of it yet. The timing never seemed right, but we’re supposed to be best friends. She should’ve told me her boyfriend Timur was a biker and his road name was Wolf. Then she could have mentioned Zach was one too.

I felt betrayed. Slighted. And salty as fuck over it.

Had I known any of this, I wouldn’t have come to Minnesota.

Stop already. You can do this. You’ve dealt with worse.

No, there was nothing worse than breathing the same air as Zach.

I expelled a cleansing breath. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about anything.

The batter was mixed. The skillet on the stove was ready for me to get cooking.

A sudden urge to pee made me do the pee dance like when I was a kid. The pancakes could wait a minute longer. I rushed out of the kitchen.

Hollywood lifted his head. “Everything okay?”

“Yup. Bathroom.” I pointed down the hallway.

He snorted. “Okay, second door on the left.”

“K!”

The second door on the left, I repeated.

I thought Zach had said my room was the second door on the left. Whatever. It was a tense moment. I probably heard wrong.

I pushed open the door and ran smack dab, face-first into the chest of a rigid naked body.

“Oh my God!” I pushed myself away from the godlike figure, but not before I was poked in the stomach by his fully erect dick. In the process, I felt his six-pack abs against my hands. Familiar electric tremors traveled through my chest, down to my arms, and my southern region. I was rendered speechless.

“You okay?” he gripped my shoulder as I swayed a bit. His powerful hold infiltrated every cell in my body, tainting and possessing. “Are you hurt?” There wasn’t much light, but I swore the corner of his lip curled. His other hand covered his junk with a T-shirt.

“I… I’m so sorry. I thought this was the bathroom.”

“No. Not the bathroom.” He loomed above me, licking his lips and making me weak in the knees. The heat rolling off him caressed my red face.

“Why are you naked?” Thank goodness the only light in the room came from the cracks in the shutters on the window. Unfortunately, it was enough to make out his amused face. And his nakedness.

“Did you forget I sleep in the nude?”

I gulped. “It’s fifteen degrees out.”

Zach took a step closer. “So.”

I inhaled a deep breath. Bad move. His natural musk and cologne teased my nose and made me wet. I hadn’t felt this aroused in over a year.

“Why aren’t you in bed sleeping? Jesus, put some clothes on.” I turned away, making him chuckle deep in his throat—in a too-damn-sexy way.

“I’d just gotten up from a power nap. You barged in as I was getting dressed.”

“I didn’t barge in.” Could I die now? He was out of his mind if he thought his dick would fit in his jeans with that massive hard-on.

“Sure you did, Snow.”

I gasped, whirling around to see him. “Don’t, Zach.”

“Don’t what, Snooow?” He drew out the nickname he’d given me the way he used to when licking up my spine as he took me from behind.

“I’m not her anymore.” I blinked away emotion. Why was he taunting me?

“I bet you are.”

I opened my mouth, ready to give him an ear full when Jill ran into the room.

“Asp! Is everything—” She gaped at Zach proudly standing like a naked Greek statue on full display. “What the hell is going on in here?”

Still stunned, I backed out of the room. My eyes were locked on Zach’s cocky, you-caught-me expression.

“I meant to go into the bathroom,” I muttered, dashing into the correct room.

Zach snorted, closing the bedroom door.

Jerk. I wanted to disappear into the walls.

I relieved my bladder and washed my trembling hands, scowling at myself in the mirror, hating the reaction my body had to Zach’s. Sniffing the air, I noticed his spicy musk. It assaulted my sensitive nose, arousing me more than before.

What in the hell was that about? Why was I hot and bothered? For Zach?

Residual pregnancy hormones, maybe? Hell, if I knew.

I needed to shake this off. I took a deep breath and opened the door at the same time Zach exited the room fully dressed in jeans and a white fitted T-shirt, showcasing his muscular arms and tattoos. He stopped hard, waving me to pass before him, a stoic, almost irritated expression on his face.

I swallowed hard, darting out. Once again, totally embarrassed. No, mortified by my massive oops of entering the wrong room at a very wrong time.

“Well, how’s that for a good morning,” Jill teased as we appeared.

Zach growled behind me.

Yeesh, his attitude had changed dramatically.

I faked like I wasn’t fazed by anything and went into the kitchen. I’d hide in here as long as possible. Avoid Zach for however long we were in this forced proximity.

Walls up, emotions turned off. Breathe and don’t make a fool of yourself.

“Alrighty then,” Jill said with amusement in her voice. “I’ll help you in here.” She acted perky as ever, but it almost felt forced. Again, I wanted to talk to her about all that irked me. Why had she left out so many vital details? I thought we were besties. The only reason I hadn’t told her about Casso was that it wasn’t safe. But there was nothing that kept her from telling me the truth.

I didn’t know how to tell her I was upset. Instead, we remained quiet while flipping pancakes and scrambling eggs. I was starving and assumed the guys were too.

I served up the plates, handing them off to Jill to pass out. It was too soon to be in the same room with Zach after seeing him naked. My goodness, had he changed into quite the strapping man from the high school boy I used to know.

Holy hell, all those freaking muscles and him poking me? I flushed all over again.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Jill startled me out of my thoughts. She served herself a cup of coffee, eyeing me.

“No thanks. I’m good.” If she was a mind reader, I’d be horrified. I couldn’t function. My brain felt like it was short-circuiting. Heck no, I didn’t know what I wanted. My heart rate hadn’t even normalized after that encounter with Zach. I was so stinking flustered and panicked.

Was it too early for whiskey?

“Well, have a seat and eat.” She pointed to an empty chair at the table.

I took my plate and joined her, keeping my eyes on my food to avoid Zach. His spicy musk captured my attention.

Don’t inhale it. Breathe through your mouth.

After a decade, shouldn’t we behave like strangers? Considering I hated him and had vowed to never see him again, these familiar tingles in my body didn’t fit.

Maybe it was because Zach looked nothing like before. He was a rugged man with broader shoulders, a strong, chiseled jaw, and a deep, gravelly voice. Not to mention his stupidly perfect six-pack abs and sexy-as-fuck beard.

Gone was the youthful, cocky teen. He had a severe and sinful aura to go along with his godlike physique. Perhaps that was the biker in Zach… in Boxer.

The day we’d first met, I’d forced myself to not pay attention to him. It would’ve been wrong to crush on my new bestie’s brother. But the following week at school, Zach “bumped into us” during lunch every day. Then he’d walk us home after school. Before I knew it, he asked if he could call me.

Zach hadn’t been one to take his time. If his sights were on something or someone, he went after it. Nothing held him back. So, of course, he’d asked me out during our first phone call. I’d gotten Jill’s blessing before saying yes. After our first date, we were inseparable. For the next two years, we were totally in love.

Then it ended.