Page 15 of Brutal Boxer

Jill laughed, covering her mouth. “Oh, that’s right. I never mentioned Zach’s road name is Boxer. This building belongs to the Knight’s Legion MC, a motorcycle club. Most of the brothers have road names.” Jill fidgeted with her short pixie-cut hair.

“A motorcycle club? Weird. Zach wasn’t into bikes when…” I let my voice trail. We shouldn’t be talking about the past. “Why is he called Boxer?” Dammit. I shouldn’t ask about him, but I was curious. After Zach left and shattered my heart, talking about him to Jill had been forbidden. She’d made me promise not to dwell on him. It was easy to do, considering I wanted nothing to do with that asshole.

“In the Marines, he got into boxing. Now he’s into MMA fighting. He actually has an event tomorrow.” She snapped her mouth shut as if catching herself.

“On New Year’s Day?” Odd way to start a new year.

“It’s his thing. His tradition, beating the crap out of someone.”

I winced at her words. “Sounds like a violent way to celebrate.”

Jill tittered, heading toward the door, but I keyed into the nervous twitch in her eye. “I guess, but that’s Boxer for you.”

Yeesh. It sounded like Zach changed quite a bit since we were teenagers.

“I’ll be back lickety-split.” The door closed behind Jill.

I exhaled, staring at the dimly lit shoebox room. There was only a full-size bed, a dresser, and a nightstand with a plain black ceramic lamp. No pictures. Just a stark room with only the bare minimum.

With nowhere else to go, I didn’t have much choice being here. I trusted Jill. Oddly, I felt like I could trust the massive man called Storm—the clubpresident. Maybe it was because his wife put me at ease. I supposed it didn’t matter. I was on the run from Casso and Tony and needed a place to hide. This would have to do.

I lifted my weary ass off the bed to put on the clothes Madeline brought. The gray Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt must’ve belonged to a giant, falling mid-thigh on me. I didn’t particularly like the skull on it and guns, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

My eyes burned with tears, pressing my hand to my stomach.My baby…Climbing back into bed, I cried on my pillow. Tonight, I’d have stress-free rest, knowing Casso wasn’t here.

But Zach was with his lady. I didn’t care one bit so long as I didn’t have to see him. He was my past.

The asshole meant nothing to me.

4

Boxer

It was after two-thirty in the morning. The party hadn’t ended downstairs and wouldn’t any time soon. I’d be in the cage, beating the shit out of my opponent in less than twelve hours.

Storm wouldn’t let me pull out of the event. Not sure why I suggested I stick around tomorrow to see what was up with Aspen and Casso. Sick curiosity? Probably.

Prez wouldn’t hear of it. It was obvious he wanted me gone and nowhere around my ex. I’d told him all the pathetic details about my relationship with Aspen back when we first met in the Marines. He’d done his best to help me get over her, but forgetting her wasn’t so easy. Not even when drunk or fucking another woman.

I scratched the top of my head, frustrated with myself. I needed to sleep if I was gonna fight.

When I closed my lids all I could see was the blonde with dazzling green eyes. She’d haunted my fucking soul for too many damn years.

I hated Aspen fucking Crosby…Snow... with a burning passion. Over the years, I’d drink myself stupid on New Year’s Eve, drown myself in club pussy, then destroy my opponent in the cage as if it was his fault I lost my girl.

Now she was in my club and on the run from her boyfriend. She almost froze to death.

How did it all make me feel?

Fucking furious.

I didn’t want her here. Didn’t want to see her, much less as a grown woman. Didn’t want to see what I’d missed out on. Ignorance was fucking bliss. Not knowing anything about her kept me in a reasonable frame of mind.

I’d been doing pretty damn well. Knight’s Legion MC was my life. My family. I had a shit ton of brothers I loved. All the female companionship I could want. I was happy.

Fucking hell, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for having my life disrupted. My vengeful spirit wished to destroy her the way she destroyed me.

My gaze lowered to Libby sleeping beside me, her blonde hair tousled across my pillow. She came to my room an hour ago after making her rounds. We screwed around. Anything to get Aspen out of my head, but my dick wouldn’t cooperate. It pissed me off how having Aspen in my space negatively affected me. It’d been forever since I hadn’t spent all of New Year’s Eve fucking.

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