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“If word gets out about what I’m doing, I’ll lose my title.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I stated adamantly. Although, in all honesty, it could but I had to be optimistic for his sake. We made it back to his house, but I wasn’t ready to go inside yet. “Can we stay out here a little longer?”
Grinning, Carter pulled me down to the sand. I snuggled in beside him and gazed out at the ocean where dark clouds rolled in from the horizon.
“Looks like a storm’s headed our way,” Carter announced.
I breathed in the air. “Yep. I love it.”
A low laugh escaped from Carter’s throat. “One of these days, you’ll be on the local news, giving us weather updates. Unless you’ve changed your mind and want to move to Oklahoma or Kansas to chase tornadoes.”
“Hey, that still sounds exciting,” I countered, bumping him with my shoulder. “But no, I would love to find a good news station to work for. It’s where I see myself in the next five to ten years.”
Carter kissed the side of my head. “You’ll get your dream job; I know it.”
We sat in silence for a few more minutes until the storm clouds drew in closer. Then, finally, lightning struck in the distance, signaling it was time for us to get off the wide-open beach. Groaning, Carter jumped up and held a hand out to me. “We need to get in anyway. I have to run by Scar’s and warm up. I don’t know why the fuck I have to go there for that. Our fathers own a damn gym.”
Carter helped me up, and we walked through his private gate and around his pool to the back deck. Once he unlocked the door, we disappeared inside and the cool air blasted across my skin, making me shiver.
“I wish I could be at the fight tonight,” I said, watching him grab a water bottle out of the refrigerator.
Carter paused with his back to me. “It’s too dangerous. Too many people will know who you are to me. I can’t fight knowing you’re there unprotected.” He gulped down the water, and a low grown rumbled in his chest. “Especially with Nikolai around. He wants you.”
Knowing I couldn’t argue with him there, I stayed silent as he walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bedroom to grab his bag of fighting gear. I didn’t want him to leave. If I had my way, I would’ve made the day last forever so he wouldn’t have to face tonight. There was a chance he could lose, and I’d never see him again. I had to stay strong for him.
Appearing in the doorway with his face a stony mask, Carter had his duffle bag slung over his shoulder. I closed the distance and he leaned down to kiss me, his lips lingering longer than I anticipated.
He held on to me, and I breathed him in one last time. “Come back to me, Carter.”
“I will. I promise.”
He walked out the door and I locked it behind him, watching him through the window as he got into his silver Range Rover. The second his car disappeared from view, my phone beeped.
Ethan: Got the call. About to be on our way to fuck knows where. Kase and Hunter are with us.
A pang struck my middle, making me wish I’d come clean to Carter. He was going to be furious with all of us. I pressed Carter’s number, my body breaking out in a full sweat while the line rang. It rang and rang and rang.
And, of course, he didn’t pick up.