Heavy hands land on both mine and Casey’s shoulders as he turns us away from Bree and Chase.
As Dale marches us away, I hear Chase’s loud laugh.
Fucker’s laughing at us, I just know it.
“So ya got yourselves a break, I see. Didn’t even ask ol’ Dale if he wanted to join ya. Nope, just left an old man like me to do all the work,” Dale croons to us softly.
Casey looks over at me. “Can I say it now?”
“Only in your head,” I grumble.
“Cheer up, boys, there’s still lots of work you can help me with. But first we’re going to have one of those heart to heart talks,” Dale says as he leads us over to a quieter area of the gym.
“I’d rather you make me puke from working out,” I groan.
“Oh, that comes soon enough. No, this one is of a serious nature,” he says as he turns us to face him.
When all three of us are standing in a small triangle, he says, “Bree only gave us enough information to get Chase to stop hounding her for the moment. I’m not happy with that.”
The hackles on the back of my neck rise at his words. He’s pissed, and so am I all of a sudden.
“I want the fucker’s name who was messing around with her, understand me?” Dale says to me as he looks directly in my eyes.
/> I nod my head. “I want it too.”
“Good, we’re going to make sure trash like him don’t mess with family,” Dale says, and then looks to Casey.
“Okay,” Casey says with a grin.
“You’re old enough now to be a part of the gym and the guys. Don’t fuck that up,” Dale warns and then motions to the rings. “Go watch the ones I need you to look at.”
Then, smiling at someone behind us, he changes his whole demeanor. Switching from the grizzled old bastard to some jolly fucking man.
Turning to see who’s worked a miracle, I see Grace and her daughters walking toward us. Grace is beaming at Dale, while, if I’m not mistaken, Hope is giving Casey a devilish grin.
“We need to go,” Casey hisses at me as he tugs my arm. “Like right now.”
“What’s the big rush?” I ask with a smile. “Don’t want to talk to Hope?”
“I’ll tell Dale you called him a pussy,” Casey says, and then pulls even harder.
Fuck, a man can only take so much teasing, I guess.
“Alright! Talk to ya later, Dale!” I say as we rush past them and head for the fighting cages.
Chapter Eight
Bree
My head is fucking pounding, pain throbbing and pulsing behind my eyes. But like I’ve done in the past when everything is falling apart and I can’t show the world what I’m really feeling on the inside, I force myself to slap a happy smile on my face as I sit behind the front desk.
Chase is hovering beside me like a mother hen, and the amount of anger simmering off him is so strong I find myself shivering.
He’s pissed and rightly so. Someone attacked me outside his own gym. I get that. His pride has taken a hit. But I think what is really biting him is that I won’t tell him who or why.
“Just give me a name,” he mutters for the hundredth time as he squeezes his inhumanly large hands into fists.
It’s tempting, so tempting to give him what he wants. To put it all out there. To put it in those hands of his so he can fight my battles for me.