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Rafe moved in closer to Bass, letting him know that a punch was about to happen. Bass took an indiscernible half step back, set his foundation, and waited. He’d taken a few hits in his life and knew this was going to hurt. He also knew it needed to occur no matter what the family was shouting at them. He tuned everyone else out but Rafe, which wasn’t easy to do.
Within another second, Rafe moved and threw out a haymaker. Bass was ready and leaned back, then followed Rafe’s momentum and landed a perfectly good clean right hand to Rafe’s jaw. Rafe stumbled for a moment, then looked up with fury in his eyes. The hit had landed, but Bass knew he was going to pay for it later when the adrenaline rush ebbed.
The family had gone silent as the two of them kept circling. Now that the first hit had landed, it was more real. This wasn’t just men throwing out words, it was men about to kill each other. The family didn’t know what to do about it. Bass felt bad it was happening on such sacred ground.
He didn’t have time to focus on those thoughts though, because he saw the glint in Rafe’s eyes, telling him the man wanted to murder him. He decided it was time to rush his friend. He couldn’t stand the anticipation.
“Stop this,” Ella cried out, breaking his concentration for just a brief moment. That was all it took. Rafe reached out and Bass lost his air as a hard punch landed straight in his gut, doubling him over. He was thrown to the ground and Rafe was about to launch himself on top of him. Shit!
Bass jumped to his knees just in time to stop Rafe from pummeling him in the head. He sent an uppercut to Rafe’s jaw that sent him flying backward. He was dizzy, and he was sure Rafe wasn’t much better off. They were each landing hard blows on the other, enough to give concussions. There were going to be a lot of bruises in the morning, that was for dang sure.
Rafe kicked out and swept Bass’s legs back out from beneath him, sending him backward to the ground again. His arm flared out and something went flying from the ground. He heard a cry, but didn’t have time to focus on it.
Rafe managed to get to his feet and was standing over the top of Bass. He leaned in and threw another punch that landed on Bass’s shoulder, sending a burst of fire through his body. Damn, that hurt. He couldn’t remember the last fight he’d been in. He certainly had never imagined he’d have one with his former best friend. Before Rafe could land another blow, he turned, and Rafe hit the ground and then let out a cry of pain as his fist connected with the hard earth.
Good. That might mess his knuckles up for a while. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep it up. He heard the girls demanding they stop, but it was only background noise. It wasn’t over yet.
Rafe moved in closer, and Bass shifted his body and kicked out, sending Rafe flying in the air to land on his back beside him. They were both breathing hard. Should he get up and hit Rafe again? He’d lost his anger, and he was tired. He didn’t want to keep fighting.
“Are you idiots done yet, or do I need to call the cops and have both of your asses thrown in jail?” Rachel asked as she moved to them, standing over them with a glare. “Your scuffle threw a damn rock in the air and hit Ella in the cheek. She’s bleeding.”
All of his fight drained from his body as Bass whipped around and looked at Ella, who was glaring at him and Rafe.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. He sat up, but he felt too dizzy to stand. She didn’t look scared or sad, she looked furious.
“You stupid moron,” she snapped. She whipped her head and looked at Rafe. “That goes for you as well. You aren’t thirteen-year-old boys on the playground. You’re grown men who should know better than this. Get your crap together or you can sit in jail. I’m done with this.”
She turned and stomped away. The rest of the family followed her, but not before giving him and Rafe glares that should’ve scorched them right into the ground. Rafe sat up beside him. They weren’t looking at each other as they both contemplated what had just happened.
“Why are you here, Bass? Why are you doing this for Nana Bee?” Rafe finally asked. Before Bass could answer, Rafe kept speaking. “I’m doing it to keep even one more cent from getting into the hands of Brett Jones. He took enough from my family and I refuse to allow him to take anything else.”
Bass was quiet for a long moment. He decided to answer honestly. “I’m doing it because she asked me to.”
Rafe finally met his eyes. “That’s it? There’s nothing else? You’re simply doing it because she asked?”
“She gave me a life, Rafe. She trusted me and loved me when no one else did. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her,” Bass said.
“How can you be this man who loves my grandmother so much, and also the man who cheats?” Rafe asked.
“Rafe . . .” Rafe cut him off as he stood.
“Not now. I can’t deal with this now. Maybe I can eventually, but not today, not on the last day this house will ever stand. I won’t throw any more punches, and I’ll see this through to the end because I love Nana Bee. But as for us, I can’t think about that right now.”
Rafe walked away. He had a bit of hope for the first time in a long while. Rafe was saying not now, but he wasn’t saying never. They might be able to work this out. They might be able to fix their friendship. He wasn’t sure how or when, but he hoped they could. Was this what Nana Bee had really wanted? Was all of this a setup to fix something that had been broken for a very long time?
He didn’t know. But he was more thankful to Nana Bee now than ever before. He didn’t want to face the family again after his fight so he went straight to his vehicle and left. He had a lot to think about and he needed to be alone to do it. What was going to come next? He wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t wait to find out. He hoped he hadn’t just pushed Ella away from him forever. He’d understand if she was disgusted, but he couldn’t stop pursuing her . . . not yet at least.
Chapter Twelve
Ella
Everything at the wedding was going perfectly . . . well, as far as the bride could see, that was. Behind the scenes Ella was frazzled as she solved problem after problem. She’d yet to be at a single wedding that went smoothly. The only reason these events went so well for the bride, groom, and attendants was because the wedding planner and all of her workers fixed the problems before they ever knew anything was wrong.
Ella was exhausted. As long as the bride had the best day of her life though, she didn’t care. It was all worth it. Ella didn’t think she’d ever have a wedding. Even if she married one day she wasn’t going to make an event of it. She realized how stressful those events truly were and if she found someone she was head over heels in love with she wanted their day to be special, not stressed. Maybe a nice tropical getaway. That would be wonderful.
On top of all of the normal hiccups of the day, Ella’s boss had been messaging her all day. She was sick and tired of hearing from him. The longer she worked for the man, the more creeped out she became. She loved her job, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she could work for him. He’d made it clear he wanted something to happen between the two of them. Gross!
She’d made her feelings known about that. She wanted nothing to do with the man. Either he couldn’t take a hint, or he was so arrogant to think he was a gift sent from heaven for every female on earth. Either way she wanted to stay as far from him as humanly possible.
