Greek (Palm South University)

“Ouch!” He pretends it actually hurt, rubbing his arm.

“Why didn’t you tell me?! I would have gone with you!”

He chuckles, holding my arms in his hands. “I wanted to do it on my own. Besides… things have been strained between us. I thought maybe if I showed up with some good news, you’d forgive me easier.”

“I forgave you before you even thought to apologize.”

“And that’s just one of the many reasons why I love you.”

I blush, plopping back down on the couch and tugging Clinton to follow. “So, what does this mean?”

“It means…” He laughs, shaking his head. “It means I have my own business. Or, well, I have the start of it, anyway. I found a few small retail spaces that I could potentially rent out for the studio. Now that I have my loan, and my business plan, I just need to get my website up and running, plan out a marketing strategy, get the studio set up with everything it needs and then…”

“And then make a million fucking dollars in the first year,” I finish for him.

He barks out a laugh at that. “I’m pretty sure that’s impossible as a personal trainer, but I appreciate your enthusiasm.”

“I’m going to help you. We’ll make videos for social media, and everyone will fall in love with you and be clamoring to get your time. It doesn’t have to be confined to just the studio, you know. You could have virtual clients.”

He frowns. “Virtual clients… I hadn’t even considered that.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Want to be my VP?”

I scoff. “More like you’re the VP. I’ve always been El Presidente, babe.”

Bear smiles, his warm eyes searching mine as he leans in and presses a slow, soft kiss to my lips. “I can’t tell you how much it means to have you in my corner. I have no idea what I’m doing, so I’m going to need you. As per usual.”

“I’m here,” I promise.

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you,” Bear says with a sigh. “Giselle hit on me.”

I blanch. “What?”

“It was while you were gone. We were at the gym, went to the sauna after, and she started by asking why I was off. I thought she was just being there for me as a colleague, but then she had her hand on my thigh and was—”

“I’ll kill her.”

Clinton chuckles, squeezing my hand in his. “No need. I put her in her place. And then promptly quit.”

“Is that why you quit?”

“Partly,” he admits. “But not completely. I believe in this dream. Almost as much as I believe in us.”

I smile, shoulders deflating. “Well… I still want to kill her, but I also feel all warm and fuzzy knowing you handled it.”

Clinton leans in for a long kiss before he sits back, tapping my knee. “Your turn.”

My stomach sours, then, smile instantly slipping.

I can’t sit still while I talk about it, so I stand, pacing the living room for a moment before I finally say the words.

“The charges got dropped.”

A pause.

A breath.

And then a roar.

“What?!”

Bear jumps to his feet, his chest puffed, fists clenched.

“What the fuck do you mean, the charges got dropped?”

“Exactly what I said. They got dropped.” I wave my hand in the air. “Lack of evidence.”

“Lack of—” Clinton’s jaw drops, and then he smiles — a sadistic, twisted sort of smile as he shakes his head. He hangs his hands on his hips, tongue in cheek. “I’ll kill them.”

As if he’s going to do it right in this very moment, he stomps toward the door, and because I don’t trust that he’s kidding, I hook him around the elbow and pull him to a stop.

“It’s over, Bear.”

“Like hell it is. It’s not over until they’re all behind bars or dead. And since the first apparently isn’t happening…”

“Bear, please,” I plead, and he looks at me then, seeing the hurt in my eyes. “I’ve been agonizing over this for two weeks now. I don’t want to get angry again. I’ve finally come to accept it.”

“Two weeks? Erin, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why wasn’t I the first one you called?”

“Because just like you needed to get your loan on your own, I needed to process this first — before letting anyone else in. I needed to be alone.”

He frowns. “I hate that.”

“I know. But thank you for respecting it, anyway.”

A ginormous sigh leaves his chest, and his eyes find the windows, the lights of the city reflected in his hazel irises. “So… that’s just it? There’s no fighting it, nothing else we can do?”

“That’s it,” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “I’m so sorry, Erin.”

“Me, too.”

Bear pulls me in for a hug, resting his chin on the crown of my head.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispers. “It took a lot of guts to do what you did. I’m sorry the justice system failed you, but I hope you don’t regret coming forward.”