Page 73 of Until You're Mine
If embarrassment meant lighting up, my face would be a neon billboard now. “I also mentioned that I was trying to play it cool so I didn’t scare her off, but evidently you have selective hearing.”
“Guilty as charged,” Mom said with a laugh, and Brooklyn smiled, then immediately appeared conflicted about it. Or about me. Shit, I didn’t know, and it was driving me crazy. She’d insisted on giving me space so that she “didn’t get in the way of my training.” Something else was going on, though, and I intended to find out by the end of the day. Maybe then I could actually focus on something besides how everything seemed off with us the past few days, all her thinly veiled excuses leaving me confused and frustrated.
“Dinner’s in the oven, and I’d love if you joined us.” Mom ruffled my hair like I was a kid, the fact that I’d been far past that when I’d come to live with her notwithstanding. “I worry that Shane doesn’t get enough good meals. I don’t care how much protein his shakes have, growing boys need real food.”
“Pretty sure I stopped growing years ago, and if I’m not careful, I’ll be too heavy at weigh-in.”
Mom swiped a hand through the air. “Poppycock.”
Brooklyn smiled at my mom, then aimed that thought-destroying smile my way. “Poppycock, indeed. I’m going to have to start using that word more. It’s totally underutilized.”
I moved my lips to her ear and whispered, “Half of the word’s been underutilized lately.”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, poppies really should make up more bouquets. And there are also almond poppy-seed muffins, which are my very favorite muffin.”
I hooked my hand on her hip and pulled her back against me. “Oh, you want to talk favorite muffins?”
A grunt escaped me as she elbowed me in the gut.
Mom raised her eyebrows. “Are you being the gentleman I halfway raised you to be?”
“No, ma’am,” I said. “But fortunately for me, Brooklyn likes her guys a little rough around the edges.”
My girlfriend shook her head. “Oh my gosh, your cockiness knows no bounds.” She moved to help my mom grab the dishes out of the cupboard. “I’ve tried to teach him some humility, but it didn’t stick.”
Mom sighed, nice and loud. “I tried, too, but alas…” Her happy demeanor filled up the room and infected me as well. She loved fussing over me, and worried far too much, despite my repeated assurances that I was good. I could tell she was already seeing visions of Brooklyn and me as a couple, playing house and doing all of the domestic things I never thought I’d do. Mom deserved to be happy, and I’d do whatever it took to not burst her bubble, even though I feared we’d both be disappointed in the end.
We piled food onto plates and then sat in the living room to eat. I used to go over to Mom’s place for these dinners, but for a big part of last year she’d hardly left the house, so she insisted on coming over here to help with her “cabin fever.” I think she also wanted to check on me, make sure I had enough groceries and that I was truly doing as well as I told her I was.
“So, obviously you’ve seen Shane in action,” Mom said.
Brooklyn nodded and then flashed me a teasing grin. “He was a little rusty at first, but we’ve been getting him in fighting shape.”
“Oh, good. I was so glad when he landed a position on Team Domination, with the chance to be trained by Blake Roth. I told him over and over that he shouldn’t take a break from his career on my account. I almost didn’t tell him when I got the cancer diagnosis because I feared it would affect his fights, and when I was going through the worst of it, he dropped everything to be there for me.”
A lump rose in my throat as I thought of those awful days when she’d been so pale, dark circles under her eyes, hair falling out in clumps. I’d taken care of her the best way I’d known how, and the entire time she worried aboutme, and whatIwas giving up to help her out, when she’d given up so much just so I’d have a home and a family, even if a non-conventional one.
Brooklyn’s heavy gaze bored into me, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold back if I looked at her, but then she squeezed my hand, and I couldn’t not look at her. “I didn’t know,” she said, then returned her attention to my mom. “Are you…?”
“Cancer-free for four months now. I have to take a pill every day, but I got a boob job out of the deal—something I’m sure Shane would love for me to never mention again—so in the end, it all worked out.”
How did she always remain so damned optimistic? Her shitty husband was gone more than he was home, their marriage in name only. Instead of sticking by her side through the hard times, he’d left her alone to deal, and the only reason I hadn’t confronted him was that she’d made me promise I wouldn’t. It was damn near impossible to refuse a sick woman’s wish—especially when that woman was my mom—but sometimes I regretted making and keeping it. When you cared about someone, you stuck around, end of story.
“I’m so looking forward to his first big fight on his way back to the top.” Mom patted my cheek, again with the kid gestures that I secretly loved. “You bet your ass I’ll be as close as I can get to that cage, cheering just as loud as I possibly can.”
Were those tears gathering in Brooklyn’s eyes? If I wasn’t afraid she’d clock me for it, I might tease her for getting teary over a sappy story. This time I squeezed her hand, and she leaned her head on my shoulder, and all was right with the world.
“It’s going to be an exciting fight, and I have no doubt he’s going to win,” Brooklyn said. All positive, so I’m not sure why my first thought was wondering why she didn’t tell Mom that she’d be cheering right along with her.
Chapter Forty-Three
Brooklyn
It was too much. I should’ve fled while I had the chance, not dug myself deeper and fallen a little harder for Shane Knox. Like me, he’d given up his dream for a while, for a far more valiant reason than I had, and it was just another reason to not get in his way.
It was like every time I thought there was a lot at stake, the ante got upped. I couldn’t afford to play this hand, not if it meant standing by and watching people I loved lose everything while I tried to have my career and my fighter, and have sex with him, too.
And yes, I loved Shane. I’d been tiptoeing around the realization for the past week, telling myself it was too soon. Love didn’t care about logic, though. I’d gone and fallen for a cocky, sexy fighter who could break my heart so easily, the very thing I’d sworn to never do again. The way my heart swelled and my soul turned to liquid fire whenever I was around him made me question if I’d ever truly loved any other guy. Not in this same intense way, I knew that much.
