Page 31 of Erik's Salvation
“You okay?” Erik asked.
He nodded but pulled off his gloves. “Yeah. Areyou?”
He wasn’t even in the vicinity of okay, and for once, he couldn’t lie. He tore his own gloves from his fists. “No.”
Before he’d moved to Redwood, he’d boxed in this gym, Mercy Ring, regularly. It was owned by four former Delta guys, men who had become friends. But since moving an hour away, he didn’t make it back nearly as often as he liked.
Ryker dropped his mitts into a box before grabbing a towel and wiping the blood from his face. “Didn’t think so. Usually it’s me callingyou, needing to get into the ring. Wanna talk about it?”
He could have laughed. The voices in his head had been loud these last couple days. Did that qualify as conversation? “I thought this house I moved into would be isolated from other people. It’s not. I have a neighbor.”
Ryker seemed to let that information sink in for a minute before responding. “A neighbor in the form of a woman?”
He threw his own gloves into the box. “Yep.”
“Let me guess. Sexy with an attitude.”
Ryker was good at this. “How’d you know?”
“Been there, man. So, what’s the problem?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face, wondering how much to tell Ryker. He never spoke to anyone about this. “My life isn’t a cookie-cutter, white-picket-fence, settle-down kind of life anymore. It’s dangerous, and I don’t want her anywhere near that.”
“I’ve been there too. But trying to keep yourself away from someone to protect them isn’t a good idea. Our path always finds us in the end.”
Ryker had gone through a lot in the last year and a half. He’d tried staying away from his woman, but she’d found him. And so had a shit ton of danger.
Erik blew out his breath. “It’s more than that. I was married once. And when I tell you that her death ruined me, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Because her death had been his fault. It didn’t matter that their marriage hadn’t been great or healthy, she’d still died because of him. And she wasn’tthe only one who’d died that day.
The familiar darkness tried to close in on him, but he forced it away.
“Shit. I’m sorry, Erik.”
He fisted his hands. “I can’t do that again.”
The man he’d been had died right along with Vicky. He couldn’t die a second time. He might not come back again.
Ryker was just opening his mouth to respond when Erik’s phone rang, an unknown number showing up on the screen.
“Who is this?” he answered.
Loud music blasted in the background, then a woman’s voice. “Erik? It’s Brigid, Hannah’s friend. I’m calling from Hannah’s phone.”
Erik straightened. Why was she calling him? Was Hannah okay?
“Henry, stop it!” she said quietly over the muffled sound of movement. “She’s not gonna kill me. I’m doing her a favor.”
“Where’s Hannah?” Erik growled, his feet already moving toward his bag.
“That’s why I’m calling. I just thought you should know she’s been having a very intimate conversation with your hot rich friend, and he’s looking quite smitten. I think when she gets back from the bathroom, he might even ask her to his room.”
“Oh, Jesus,” someone scoffed in the background.
A muscle in Erik’s temple began to pulse. “Friend?” He didn’t have any fucking friends in Redwood. Unless—
“Oh, you know. That sexy Italian who drives a Ferrari and goes by the name of Marco.”
