Page 61 of Fighting Fate

“I did, and I’ve asked Sean to handle—”

“I didn’t message Sean. I don’t want Sean to handle it.”

Whoa.

I take a step back as the awkwardness of my presence sets in.

“I’ll train with Sean while you take care of Willow. Exactly the way you made sure Orla can handle herself with anyone.”

“Rory…son, we don’t have time to—”

“She comes first. Right now, Willow’s priority.”

“Okay.” Taylor nods, obviously sensing something’s wrong. Not that he shows his concern when he focuses on me, taking the skipping rope from my hands before he leads me towards the area with the punchbags.

I’m barely listening to what he’s telling me as I watch Rory swing his rope in Xs in front of him while he stares at the mural. Even from across the room, I can sense his unease.

He’s so heartbroken. So fucking sad that my insides are aching for him. His hurt is breaking me from the inside out, and suddenly I understand why he’s so adamant about protecting me. I get why he’s so intent on fixing my problem for me. Because right now, all I want to do is heal his pain. I want to fix it, desperately enough that I will give him everything he’s asking of me. I’ll let Rory break me if it means it’ll lighten his burden and ease his pain.

* * *

Oh.My. God.

Oh fuck.

Oh shit.

Why?

I curse my way through the restaurant. My body is in pieces after my session with Taylor. He might be a nice guy, but holy crap, he knows how to torture you.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Beth laughs as I plonk myself down on the chair she pushes out for me with her foot. “You’re walking like you’ve been fucked in the arse with a baseball bat.”

“Really? Did you want to say that any louder?” I hiss, mortified as the older women at the table beside ours gawk at me. “And no, I did not get shafted up the back passage with a baseball bat.”

“Well, if Hulk Man got up there, it might as well have been one.” Beth can barely contain her laughter as she takes a long sip of her margarita.

Normally, I’d laugh right along with her. I’d probably even drag the joke along, louder, so that the nosey parkers got a proper show. But I’m just not in the mood. I’m sore, and I can’t shake Rory’s flip from this morning. It doesn’t matter that he seemed back to his normal self when we parted. Doesn’t matter that he said he was fine. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen.

“Did you come? You don’t look like you—”

“Jesus! Rory didn’t fuck me in the arse, okay?” My retort comes out loud enough that the young server bringing the two old bags their drinks almost spills them. Taking a deep breath, I tell her, “I told him about Peter.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”

“How did it go?” Beth asks, offering me her drink with a grimace.

Although I take it from her, when I bring it to my lips, I can’t bring myself to drink it.

“That bad?”

“Ummm…I’m still trying to gauge it. The whole married man thing wasn’t exactly dandy, but it’s not like he flipped his shit.” I draw in a deep breath and put the drink back down in front of her. “He was angry when I told him the whole story, and with what happened yesterday, he’s—”

“What happened yesterday? What did I miss?”

“Peter showed up at the theatre, and I freaked out. In hindsight, it was stupid, but being alone with him…” The thought alone makes me shudder, and when I think back to the whole debacle, it’s like a vortex is sucking me into a nightmare.

---