Page 45 of The Forbidden Secret
“Fine,” she said, and the look of mischief in her eyes had me hesitating. “Defend yourself.”
She moved forward with a punch that would have left a nasty bruise on my cheekbone if I hadn’t stepped back. But she was on me again with another blow that I absorbed with my forearm.Shit,it hurt. I hadn’t practiced these moves in long enough that the blow jarred me enough to miss her next attempt.
I took a knee to the gut and crouched over with a wince.
“Damn, you are out of practice,” she declared with a slight chuckle.
Her voice and words blinded my pain. I whipped up and swung my arm at her, cocking her across the jaw before she could react. I moved as fast as I could, sending a kick and another punch, both of which she deflected.
“Good one,” she replied as she rubbed her jaw approvingly. “Damn, you’ve got a good hook. Maybe the uncle did teach you something.”
“He was the best,” I said.
Jaimie struck again, but I was ready and easily deflected. For a moment, we exchanged blows, neither of us gaining the upper hand over the other. I could tell that she was going easy on me, but she didn’t pull punches. She just moved slower than I knew she would in a genuinely dangerous situation.
“I don’t think self-defense is a concern for you,” she said as she took a step away.
“I have to agree.”
The male voice from across the room startled me, and I turned my attention to Zeke. I frowned, my nostrils flaring asI stared at him for the first time since he had walked out on me yesterday. Jaimie had been here soon after, and she knew nothing about his whereabouts or thoughts on the situation. Hell, she didn’t even know about the situation, and I didn’t particularly want to relay it to someone else.
“You’re back,” I said between pants.
“I had a lot to do.”
I didn’t care.
Jaimie stepped back and looked between us. “You take over this. The last thing I need is to be in the middle of a lover’s spat.”
She hadnoidea.
He didn’t say anything to Jaimie as she walked out, just stared intently at me.
When she left the room, he stepped forward. “What were you working on?”
I didn’t think I had the capacity to speak to him right now—not after I had opened up and told him the truth, only for him to walk out on me. I had never lied to him, but now I regretted taking the high road. He didn’t deserve it.
I turned my back on him and went to step away, but he grabbed my upper arm to stop me.
Maybe it was the anger that I had kept suppressed for so long, or maybe it was the hurt from his betrayal that fueled me. But the second I felt his fingers wrap around my arm, I turned, grabbed his wrist, and extended my leg. When I pulled him, he stood no chance of catching his balance as he dropped to the floor.
I had to give him credit where credit was due. He immediately caught himself and pushed up off the floor. It was impressively nimble watching the way he so easily righted himself, but as he took a step toward me, I swung.
He dodged, but I swung again and again. Over and over, I tried to hit him. I aimed anywhere I could at the thought of my little girl fatherless. I reminded myself that he walked away. He did that. He walked away once, and when he learned the truth, he did it again.
“How could you?” I screamed.
He stopped deflecting as I punched his arms. His chest. Anywhere I could land a blow.
Years of building a dam inside myself and holding all my emotions back had broken, and it was because of him. My fists throbbed, but I kept going, and heletme. He stared down at me, but I didn’t meet his eyes as I felt the tears well and spill over—as my voice grew hoarse with them.
“I gave myself to you. I trusted you, and you walked away!”
“You have to stop,” he said in a tone that reminded me of someone trying to soothe a wild animal. He moved in closer, but I didn’t. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“You did this,” I screamed at him through tears. “You left me alone to do it, and Idid. I fucking did it all, and then this happened, and—”
My words broke, and my punches grew weaker.
