“And you just made that decision for us.”
“Hey, you’ve made a lot of decisions for both of us over the years. This one was actually logical.”
I scoffed, not believing that he was throwing my past in my face. “Is that what this is about? Are you trying to get back at me for the mistakes I’ve made?”
“This has nothing to do with the past. This is about moving out of all that shit and doing what’s best for us.”
“This is not best for us!”
He moved quickly, pulling me into him. I didn’t want him to touch me, to hold me right now. I wanted to punch and kick him. I wanted to point a gun at his head like I had done earlier. It made me feel in control, and right now, I was floundering.
“I walked away from you once, Florrie. I won’t do it again. I won’t let you break us like you did before. I will hold us together, even if I’m the only one that can see all we still have to fight for. You fucking remember what it was like the last time when we were apart. It was fucking torture, and not even our issues then could keep me from loving you or needing you. This is a bump in the road, but we’re going to fight through and move forward just like we always do.”
His lips crashed into mine and he kissed me like he always had, full of so much love and intensity that I momentarily forgot why we were even fighting. I gripped onto his hair and pulled him tight against me as he ripped my shirt from my body and palmed my breasts. As much as I hated him right now, I needed him. He was my anchor, and no matter what, always would be.
I unbuckled his pants and shoved them down. I felt the rush of air as he pushed down my pants and then his fingers slipped inside me, thrusting and filling me up so much that I felt an ache fill me that only he could cure. His cock filled me moments later. His thrusts were frantic, full of need and desire. I rolled him over, straddling his hips and riding him hard. I barely looked at him as I used his body.
“Look at me, Florrie.”
I shook my head and squeezed his cock.
“Florrie,” he pleaded. “Look at me.”
Against my better judgement, I looked into his eyes. I saw the man I loved, but I also saw the man that had just destroyed my world. I felt his fingers at my clit, pushing me toward orgasm. My body betrayed me and sent me spinning out of control. I felt him tense beneath me, and then he was falling over with me, holding me to him like a lifeline.
Panting heavily, my senses came back to me and I slid off him. How could I have done that? No matter what he promised me, he was still the man that had taken something vital from me with no regard as to how it would affect me. And I couldn’t be with a man like that. Not when I felt so destroyed.
“Don’t go,” he said, grabbing me by the back of the neck. “Stay with me. I need you.”
“I needed you too, but you didn’t care.”
“I do,” he said, pulling me closer to him. “I need you more than life itself. That’s why I chose you. I will always fucking choose you. You’re my life, Florrie.”
I shook my head and pulled back from him. “I need some time. I hate you right now, and I don’t know that I can forgive you for what you did.”
“I bought us time to figure this out.”
“No, you chose me and only me. I can’t do that. I can’t choose only you, because there’s a kid out there that needs someone to fight for him. That was supposed to be us.”
“Florrie-”
“Just give me some time, Alec.”
He did something very much unlike him and nodded. I watched as he pulled up his jeans and slipped into his shirt. My heart broke a little when I watched him walk out that door, but I didn’t see another way forward right now. I needed time to adjust to our new normal. I needed time to adjust to the fact that Reid wouldn’t be there in the morning to eat breakfast with or spar with in the ring. Everything was different now, and I couldn’t help but think that it was all Alec’s fault.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINEAlec
I pounded the bag, trying to work out my frustrations from the past two days. I hadn’t spoken to Florrie since I walked away from her. She ignored me whenever I walked into the room, and if I tried to talk to her, she shook her head and walked away. Nothing I could say or do helped in any way. She said she needed time, so I was trying to give her that.
“How’s Florrie doing?” Craig asked the next morning.
“She’s pissed.”
“I figured that,” he said irritatedly, stepping in front of me and getting the way of me punching the crap out of the bag. “I meant, is she okay? How’s she doing with Reid gone?”
I sighed and unwrapped my hands. I wasn’t going to get any more time in with the bag with Craig hounding me. He was still pissed at me for stopping Florrie, but his need to know how she was doing won out. “She won’t talk to me. She blames me-”
“Yeah, a lot of us do.”
I glared at him. “Do you have something you want to say to
