“Because you know what you could lose.”
“Yeah, well, I lose everything if I don’t take the chance.”
“Have you told Blake?”
“Not going to,” I said, taking a sip of my beer.
“Are you sure you want to be doing this? What if you fuck it up for good?”
“What if I don’t take the chance and never find out?” I argued.
Silence stretched across the table at my admission. “Listen, from what Blake told me, you’re a hell of a fighter.”
“Yeah, but try telling my head that. I thought I was gonna puke when that guy walked out, and I’ve never felt like that in my life. But that night just kept coming back to me, taunting me. I can’t tell Deke that.”
“Why?”
“Because…he’d lose his faith in me.”
He nodded in understanding. “Then you need to fight someone who can ease you back in.”
“Yeah,” I snickered. “Let’s find someone who has no problem fighting a head case.”
“You could always fight me.”
“Uh-huh,” I laughed at his mocking.
“I’m serious. I could train with you.”
“You’re not a boxer.”
“No, but you could teach me. I mean, I know how to fight. I just don’t have the technique down.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. It would allow me to ease back into the ring without having to admit to Deke that I was losing my edge.
“Besides, it might take my mind off things,” he grumbled.
“It would have to be early,” I warned him. “Deke starts training at nine.”
“That’s fine. I have to be at work by seven. We could go a round at five.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely.” Pulling out his phone, he sighed. “I have to get back to the ranch.”
“That was the quickest beer ever.”
As he stood, he tossed down a few bills. “Apparently, Ma is threatening Pop. This should be interesting.”
“Take pictures,” I called after him as he shot out of the restaurant.
Chuckling, I almost forgot about all my problems with Cassidy. That is, until she walked into Seafood & More with Alyssa and took a seat at the other end of the restaurant.
I had to get out of here before I walked over there and asked to join them. It was bad enough that I was spending every night at her house. But now, I was actually considering putting up cameras outside her house.
I’d lied to her the other night when I told her nothing was there.
Footprints were smashed into the light snow surrounding her house, and I had a pretty damn good feeling I already knew who they belonged to. I’d already told Maverick, hoping that it would help the investigation or that Maverick could do extra patrols.