Knock Out (A Reynolds Security Novel) (17 page)

Chapter 24

When Lou finally woke she was starving. She found Jace in the kitchen making omelets and realized the smell was probably what woke her.

“Hey sleeping beauty.” He smiled at her and it made her feel warm. “Feel better?”

“
Yeah I do.” He put an omelet in front of her and she dug in. “What happened to Viktor?”

“
Arrested, he’ll probably turn on bigger fish and be out in no time but hey that’s the system at work.” Lou glowered at that sentiment.

“
Elena?”

“
Last I saw she was pretty cozy with Latimer in his hospital room.”

“
You think he really loves her?”

“
Sure seemed like it.” She finished the omelet and pushed her plate back.

“
If I never see another diamond again it will be too soon.” She grumbled.

“
I hope you don’t mind just one more.” He placed a black velvet box on the bar in front of her. She straightened and stared at the box. A sour feeling of dread filled her stomach.

“
That better not be what it looks like.” She said softly.

“
Lou, I love you. I know you think you can’t do a relationship but there is nothing that we can’t conquer together.” He looked at her and she slowly shook her head. “It scared me to death when I saw that gun pointed at you Lou. It made it very clear what I wanted and who I wanted it with. You can take all the time you need but I want you to know that I want to marry you.

Lou leapt off the stool and began to pace.
“Are you crazy? Don’t you hear anything? I tell you I don’t want a relationship and you have me practically moving in. I say we are moving too fast and you want to get married? You are showing your stalker tendencies again.”

“
They aren’t stalker tendencies! I love you. There is a big difference.”

“
That’s what all stalkers say!”

“
You might succeed at pissing me off. God knows you’re good at that but you are not going to succeed at pushing me away.” he said with a calm he didn’t feel.

“
Look I am not doing this. I don’t want to share my space. I like my life the way it is. I don’t want to get married ever.”

“
If you like your space why do you prefer to stay here? Why do you keep a gun in your bathroom? Why does Cooper have to sweep your apartment before you’ll go in but never here? Your space terrifies you.”

“
I am not terrified. I am cautious.” she said indignantly.

“
Tell me what happened, Lou. Help me understand.”

“
What gives you the right to know all my secrets?”

“
Because I love you.”

“
I don’t love you. I am not capable of love. You want to know what happened? Fine. I was raped by my CO and his brother in law. I wouldn’t go out with him and they called me a tease. They broke into my apartment while I was out for a run and attacked me while I was in the shower. They took turns holding me down.” There were tears glittering in her eyes. “Satisfied? Now you know why I am neurotic about making sure my apartment is secure.”

“
Lou…” He reached for her but she jerked away.

“
Don’t touch me. I don’t want your pity.”

“
That’s good,” he said angrily. “Because that is one thing you’ll never get from me. My anger you have. My frustration, yep. Also, my love, my adoration, my respect, my pride but never my pity. What happened to you makes me want to kill someone, and that might happen still, but it does not change how I feel about you. How I will always feel about you.”

Lou wiped at her tears. Her heart soared at the idea that he would always love her but fear rose up to meet it.
“The last guy that said he would love me forever got my best friend pregnant.”

“
I’m not him.”

“
I’ll never trust again Jace. I can’t fake it. It’s not fair to either one of us.” Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it desperate for any excuse, any distraction. 

Jace watched Lou
’s face pale as she listened to whomever was on the other end of the line. Finally she hung up after having said very little.

“
My father had a stroke.” She said softly. “They don’t know how bad it is. He is in the hospital.”

“
Are you going to go?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Go, you’ll regret it if you don’t.” She nodded slowly. She looked up at him and there was raw pain in her eyes. “I’ll go with you.”

“
No. I’m sorry Jace, but I am not the girl you’re looking for. I’ll never be that girl.” He was stunned by the conviction in her voice. She walked swiftly from the room. Two minutes later he heard his front door close. A small whine caused him to look down. Cooper was at his feet looking up at him.

“
Looks like she left us both buddy.”

Chapter 2
5

Lou stepped into the hospital room and stopped. The sight before her was more than she had been prepared for. He looked
… old. He certainly hadn’t been a young man when she left but he was completely gray now. He had a patch over his left eye. That was the eye that he had been losing his sight in. She imagined the patch meant the sight was completely gone now.

“
Ah Mr. Silva, it looks like you have a visitor.” The nurse said warmly. His visible eye opened slowly and blinked a few times. She approached slowly and he looked towards her.

“
Ellen?” He rasped. “Ellen you came back. I missed you so much.”

“
No,” she had to stop and clear her throat. “No Poppy it’s me, it’s Lou.”

“
Lou?” He whispered. By this time she had reached the side of the bed. He put his hand out to her and she took it. “You look just like your mother. So beautiful. Even the giant earrings.” His voice was soft and tired but she had never heard anything that sounded better.

“
You remember my mother?”

“
Of course I remember her. She was the love of my life.”

“
I… I didn’t know that.”

“
I missed you Lou. I never said… I should have and I almost never got the chance.”

“
The doctors said the stroke was minor that you won’t have any lasting effects.”

“
Maybe not any more effects but my brain is already scrambled.”

“
You’re going to be fine Poppy.” She said softly wiping her tears from her cheeks.

“
Lou I need you to listen to me while I can still say this. I have Dementia Pugilistica. It’s sort of like Alzheimer’s. I have good days and bad days. I want to hear about your life for the last five years but before you tell me I have to get this out. I never know if I’ll get another chance.”

“
Alright.”

“
When I realized… when they told me my mind was slowly going, I wrote everything down. Well really I spoke into a voice recorder and hired someone else to write it down.” He lifted his hand that was bent and twisted from arthritis. “I don’t type so well.” She smiled. “But there are some things I would like you to hear from me. Starting with the fact that I owe you an apology. I wasn’t a very good father to you.”

“
Poppy.”

“
No let me finish, you… I loved your mother but I loved boxing. When the doctor first told me that I’d sustained a brain injury, that I had damaged my retina she wanted me to quit. I was so arrogant, so full of myself. I didn’t believe the doctor. I thought I was invincible. She begged me. She said she couldn’t watch someone she loved constantly get their head bashed in. She said I had to choose. That it was her or the ring.” He paused and looked out the window. She saw tears in his eyes. She had never seen him cry. He took a deep breath and continued.

“
I thought she was bluffing. I never thought she would leave. Then she did and I was so angry, my pride wouldn’t let me go after her. I never knew she was pregnant. Not until the social worker showed up and told me my name was on your birth certificate. Then I was that much more angry. I was angry that she never told me about you. I was angry that she died. Mostly I was angry that I never got the chance to tell her what she meant to me.” Lou brushed away her tears but she had no idea what to say. He didn’t wait for a response though. “I didn’t know how to be a father to you. I let my anger keep me from showing you what you meant to me too. I love you Lou.”

“
I love you too Poppy.” She sniffed then she hugged him.

They talked for what felt like hours. When he was finally sleeping again she quietly let herself out. She promised him she would be back the next day. But right now she really wanted to call Jace, if he even took her call. She owed him an apology. She didn’t want to be old and lamenting her one true love as the one that got away. As she crossed the waiting room toward the exit someone stood up. She stopped and stared slightly stunned.

“
Jace?”

“
I had to come. I know you told me not to but I couldn’t say away.” She was stunned. After all the awful things she’d said he still came all this way. She walked straight up to him and wrapped her arms around him squeezing him tightly. He hugged her back and she began to cry all over again.

“
I love you so much.” she mumbled into his chest.

“So he already sold the gym?” Jace put a slice of pizza on paper plate and handed it to her. She was lounging across the foot of the hotel bed in the bright green shorts he had lent her and she had never returned.

“
Yeah, his house too apparently. He was literally weeks away from moving into an assisted living facility in Edgepark. He said he’d hired an investigator to find me but he wasn’t going to call me until he was settled because he was afraid I would tell him not to come.”

“
Wow.”

“
Yeah.” She was quiet for a minute and he could see she was struggling to form the words. He didn’t say anything he just waited. “He said… he said he never saw anyone with the natural talent that I have. He said… he wouldn’t train me out of respect for my mother. He said she didn’t want to see him hurt and she would have hated it if I followed in his footsteps.” Jace ran his hand gently up and down her back.

“
I feel… rattled. Everything I thought my whole life was wrong. I thought he hated me, that he resented having to take care of me. The truth was that I reminded him of my mother. Seeing me made him miss her. Watching me grow up made him sad that she wasn’t there to see it. I thought he was cold but he was constantly repressing his emotions.”  She sat up and set her pizza aside.

“
I look like my mother but I got his personality. His love of boxing.” She sucked in a deep breath and looked into his eyes. “I also got his stupidity and stubborn pride. I owe you an apology. I lied to you.” He frowned slightly.

“
Lied about what?”

“
I lied when I said I didn’t love you.” His expression softened.

“
I know.”

“
I also lied when I said I didn’t want to get married. The truth is I always wanted the big white dress and the cathedral with the bells and… the whole fairy tale. I want to spend my life with you but I am afraid. I thought I was afraid of how you’d feel about me after you found out I was raped, but now I realize I am just afraid you are going to change your mind. We haven’t known each other very long. What if you realize you don’t really love me.”

“
Lou, I love you. This is the real deal. I have had enough of the not real stuff to know the difference. This is forever. I have never been more certain of anything. But like I said I will wait as long as you want just as long as you know I want to marry you. As soon as you’re ready.”

“
I think… I think I am ready. I want us to start a life together and I don’t want my life to be on hold anymore.”  Jace grinned and kissed her. He pulled the ring from his pocket and she gasped when she saw it. He dropped down to one knee in front of her.

“
Louellen Santiago, say you will marry me and I will spend the rest of my life fighting with you both in the ring and out of it.” Lou burst out laughing and threw her arms around his neck.

“
That is the least romantic proposal I have ever heard. It is also the most perfect. I love you Jace, and I will marry you just as soon as I can find a big puffy dress. 

Morning After

The first book in the Reynolds Security Series.
Erica has never met anyone who made her want to deviate from her carefully laid out life plan. She is going to find a man who is good husband and father material. She has a plan and a timeline. She is not interested in passion. Passion is overrated.
Then in walks Ethan Reynolds a former Marine who runs a successful security company across the street. Even though he's not what she was looking for, when he sets his sights on her he's hard to resist.
When he makes it his job to protect her from a stalker she didn't even know she had, her perfectly ordered world is thrown into upheaval and it’s only a matter of time until she discovers passion’s not so overrated after all. Too bad her stalker may end it all before she has a chance to really enjoy it!

http://www.amazon.com/Morning-After-Reynolds-Security-Novel-ebook/dp/B00HMYXP9A