Page 10 of The Secrets Behind Us

He says it so nonchalantly like she is any other person and not the other half of me. The one who destroyed me years ago and still holds that power over me. I need to put an end to this. He’s not going to decide how I handle things with Hazel, and if he starts training her, he’ll insert himself, giving ‘advice.’ Neither of us needs anyone else involved in our mess.

“No. You will not train her,” I demand, gritting my teeth.

He looks up from the paperwork that he is pretending to read as his jaw tightens. “No?”

I drop my voice real low, “You heard me. You will not be training Hazel.”

“I won’t, huh?” His eyes narrow.

“Thats right. No one here will train her except for me, and I’ll decide when that will happen,” I demand as a wave of possessiveness rolls over me.

He lets out a sigh and then looks at me as he speaks. “Dexter, I have a gym I have to run. If she wants to pay money for personal training, I’m going to let her.”

I glare at him. How dare he talk to me like that. He knows better that this is more about me, and he's trying to make it about him. I tighten my jaw as I speak. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child. I know this is your business. But she’s my Hazel.”

He’s supposed to be my brother and he needs to let me handle this my way. My hands clench by my side even harder, my nails biting into the palm of my hands. The sudden urge to hit something comes over me but I push it down.

Leaning my body over the front desk he is standing behind, we come nose to nose. I know he can feel it, the anger rolling off of me. “You need to stay out of my business.”

I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. I stand back up to my full height and turn away heading to the staff locker room to grab my stuff.

Slamming my locker closed, I walk out into the main gym heading for the exit. I faintly hear Mateo call my name, but I don't even glance in his direction. I strut out of the gym, walking until I reach my car. I pull out my phone and call the one person I shouldn’t. The other person in my life who has hurt me, but I need to feel a different type of pain. Not the pain that Hazel always brings.

He answers on the first ring aloofly, “Dexter.”

I skip any pleasantries. He doesn’t deserve anything but my hate. “I need a fight.”

My dad doesn’t say anything for a while, but I can hear his gears turning. He’s trying to figure out if this will help him or cause more problems than he wants, “This won’t get you out of your next fight.”

“I know.”

“Okay, you can fight tonight, but Dexter, this favor is going to cost you.” I sigh. Of course it's going to cost me, it always does. At this point in my life, I would never expect my dad to do anything to help me, even if it's to let me beat the shit out of someone.

“What do you want?”

“I want you to lose this one.”

I take a moment to process what he's trying to get me to do.

“Why?”

He doesn’t answer. I can still hear him breathing through the phone, but he doesn’t say anything. I should’ve known he wasn’t going to answer, but whatever. I just need to feel something other than this painful hole in my chest. The one that is radiating through my whole body every time I think, see, hear, or touch Hazel. Anything Hazel brings immense pain and if I’m losing…then maybe I’ll feel something else.

“Fine.”

“Be at the ring at eight.”

I don’t say anything else, I just end the phone call. My dad and I lost our relationship a long time ago. When my mom was still alive, he was a better dad. Not a good one but a better one. As we’ve grown, my brothers and I have learned to lean on each other. Mateo is the one who raised us, not the man who claims to be our dad.

Somehow, we’ve allowed him to pull us into his misery along the way. I put my car in drive and head out of the gym parking lot. If I’m going to be fighting tonight, and more importantly losing, I need to prepare.

Mentally. Physically. Emotionally.

Chapter eight

Hazel

Once I get home from the gym, I run upstairs to get ready for my mom’s doctor appointment. While I’m washing my hair my mind drifts toward Dexter and the look he had on his face when Mateo was talking to me. The way Dexter's whole body kept getting stiffer the longer I talked to Mateo, as if he was trying to hold himself back. A small part of me was thrilled to have his undivided attention on me. If the way his body reacted being close to me is any indication, I know he still feels something for me. He's not ready to open up to me yet. I need to come up with a plan to show him that despite everything I still love him. Easier said than done.

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