TKO: Total Knock Out (TKO 1)

Why isn’t he letting me go?

“I’m sorry, I should go. I…I-I need to go.” I try to pull away from him again but he isn’t letting me budge. The sound of my cell phone going off catches our attention and he eases away as he glances at the screen on the couch.

“It’s Howard. We’re in deep shit.”

I step away from Garrett and cringe as I answer the call. Before I can even get a word in, he starts barking across the line. “Where the hell are you two? Everyone’s going nuts and ya’ll are making me look bad. There better be a damn good excuse, like someone died or something.”

“I’m sorry, Howard,” I choke out. “I never meant to run off, I have no excuse.”

“Dammit, if you weren’t ready you should have told me!”

“I was ready, I-I mean I am but, Stacy doesn’t even meet my weight class and I flipped. I should have talked to you, I—”

“Just be at the gym tomorrow to practice and we’ll forget this happened.”

I hang up the phone, exhaling, tears staining my cheeks. Just then a text from Whitney comes through.

I know why you didn’t fight, I get it. Someone screwed up but you should have said something, girl.

I quickly key in my reply:

Ugh, I know. I feel like an ass, Whitney. I completely broke down in front of Garrett. Does he know anything about what I told you?

Hell no. And he won’t.

Her text message reassures me, but I still feel unnerved. I don’t have myself under control and that’s what scares me the most.

“Is Howard pissed?” Garrett crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head. “Shit, that’s a stupid question, of course he is.”

“Yeah, look…I’m sorry for getting us in trouble. But I really do need to go.”

As I stand, he reaches for my hand. Jolts of electricity shoot through my body and I try like hell to ignore it. I was trying to run from him, not to him.

“Please talk to me, Raegan. That’s all I want is for you to talk to me. I want to know you. I want to know the girl who let me take her to the bar, the girl who looked at the stars with me.”

The pain in his eyes hurts me, but despite that, I still push away. “I’ve told you before, there’s nothing to know. And that girl, she’s dead.”

And just like that, I remove my hand from his and walk out the door to sit inside my truck. I stare at the clock on the radio watching seconds turn into minutes. When realization hits that he isn’t coming after me, I furiously slam my fist into my windshield, screaming in pain from my heart and my hand.

He openly admitted he wants to be with me and reaches out to me like no one has before and I completely ignore him, probably pushing him even further away. Insecurity takes over and I wonder if I’ll ever be able to let anyone in. That sucks, because that’s all I want. I want someone to understand. Someone to care.

That was the longest drive home ever and I was never more relieved to find Dad wasn’t home. I wasn’t in the mood for any of his various personalities tonight.

Chapter 17

Garrett

She walked out. I should have chased her but I’m so exhausted. I can’t be who she wants me to be when she won’t let me know who she is. I reach up and grab some whiskey out the cabinet and chug from the bottle. There’s a knock at the door and I stare at it hesitantly, debating whether or not to answer it. After the second knock, I open it, hoping it’s Raegan coming back to talk, but it’s just Howard and Whitney.

“Come on in,” I mumble, wishing they’d just leave instead.

“Garrett, what the hell? What’d you do to her?” Whitney growls.

I shoot Whitney a glare that tells her go to hell. “I didn’t do a fucking thing to her. I tried to talk to her and she flipped the hell out on me. Someone needs to be straight with me, why’s she fighting. She’s hiding something and one of you knows.”

Howard slumps down on the couch. “That’s her business and not yours. I’m not stupid, I know the two of you have something going on, but you need to keep it on a semi-professional level around the gym.”

“That’s the thing, Howard, we don’t have anything going on. She won’t open up to me. Fucking teases me with two kisses and then I fuck it up. She said she didn’t want to be treated any differently, but I don’t know what she means. What the hell is wrong with me?”