“No, we aren’t. Not only are we not together, but she’s barely talking to me. She knew if we had sex it meant we would be together, but once it happened she said she made a mistake and left. I really care about this girl, but I don’t know what to do anymore. I think it’s time to move on. I’m already almost thirty years old. I want a family one day. I want a wife and kids, and I don’t want to wait until I am too old to enjoy all of that. There’s a girl I’ve been talking to, so we’ll see…”
Because he hasn’t been kicked down enough, Caleb adds, “She actually mentioned she might be moving out soon. I’m sorry, Bentley.”
“Well, screw her then.” And with that he gets up to clear his head.
I decide to hold off on my news for now.
A few hours later, and I can hear loud screeches and yelling from outside the house. When I look outside, I see Liz and her friends walking up the steps to the front door.
Ashley and Hayley appear to be drunk, while Liz and Kayla are both sober.
“Hey, baby.” She gives me a soft peck on the cheek and walks in with Kayla, while everybody else stumbles in loudly. It’s actually quite amusing.
“What’s with only half of you being drunk?” Bentley asks. Kayla turns her attention to him, and if looks could kill, he would be dead and buried six feet under.
“Not that it’s your business, but I wasn’t in the mood to drink and neither was Liz. Is that okay with you?”
Bentley puts his hands up in surrender and turns back to the fight.
“Sorry to ruin your little fight party,” Hayley says as she plops down next to Caleb and pats him on his leg. He blushes. The fool actually fucking blushes. Then he gets up immediately, like her hand set his leg on fire, and Hayley frowns at his reaction.
“I have to get to work,” he says, and without saying goodbye to anybody, he’s out the door.
Tristan and Bella come running down to say hi to their moms and tell them about all the Halloween candy they’ve been eating. Damn traitors.
We all find a seat and watch the fight. Liz is in my lap with Bella passed out next to us. Eventually everyone heads out. Kaden gives Ashley and Tristan a ride since her car isn’t here and she’s been drinking, and Kayla gives Hayley a ride home. Liz and I put Bella to bed and then head back to finish watching the main event.
“Are you going to miss this?” Liz asks as we sit back down on the couch.
“Miss what? The fighting?” I ask, stalling before I answer the question I know she’s really asking. She wants to know if a few years from now I’m going to resent her and Bella. I’ve thought long and hard about this and I know this is what’s right for my family and me. I would never turn around and blame Liz for my choices, but she needs to hear it so she doesn’t feel like I’m making a rash decision.
“No, baby girl. I’m not going to miss it. I’ll still be fighting. I’ll fight at the gym every day. The only difference is I won’t be fighting professionally. My contract ends in February and I’m okay with that. It’s time to move forward.”
Liz climbs into my lap, placing a leg on either side of me. I look up at the stairs out of habit and she slowly shakes her head. “She’s fast asleep.”
Taking the bottom of my shirt in her hands, she raises it over my head and throws it on the floor.
“Do you know how beautiful you are, Cooper?” Maybe she is drunk after all.
“Um, Liz, I’m not sure you should be calling a man beautiful. Do you want to emasculate me?”
She ignores my question and starts to kiss me. First, she kisses me on my lips but pulls away quickly. “You have beautiful lips. They were made for me. They kiss me with such passion and emotion, and the words that come out of them are just as beautiful.”
Next, she kisses the tops of my eyelids. “You have the most amazing eyes. When you’re happy, they are bright green, full of life, like the grass after it’s been raining for days. And when you’re angry, they go dark. I don’t like it when they go dark. Bella has the same eyes as you. Every time I would look into her eyes, it gave me butterflies because it brought back the brief time we shared together.”
She trails her lips down my neck, over to my chest, and stops right over my heart, placing multiple tender kisses there. “And your heart. It’s so full of love. Whether it was for thirty-hours in Miami or every day since we reconnected, you give me your entire heart and trust me with it. The way you instantly fell in love with Bella. Many guys might have thought I got pregnant on purpose or they might have accepted her but they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to make her feel so loved and cherished. You didn’t just give us a place to live, you made sure we felt at home.”