Page 55 of Brazen Obsession

Wyatt nods. We haven’t really sat down and talked about what Wyatt went through. He bottled it all up and held it down with guilt for years. I don’t know if he’ll ever be ready to share more than what he’s already told us.

“It’s time,” Finn yells to Tom and Drew.

They stop their treadmills and grab their water bottles and towels to head over to us.

“So, is this the time we get to pound on Tom some more?” Drew asks as he sets his things down. He turns and smiles at Tom. “Sorry, man, but you were an ass and deserve a beat down.”

Tom sighs. “I get it, but you’re the guy fucking my sister, so I’m not going to stand there and take it.”

Drew chuckles and murmurs, “I’m not the only one fucking your sister.”

Tom’s already red face brightens and his mouth tightens. Yeah, he probably keeps trying to forget that fact. I don’t blame him. If I had a little sister, I’d punch Tom for fucking with her. But the difference is, we’re not just fucking with her. We love her.

“Tom, why don’t you choose who you want to fight first?” I offer, because I know I’m going last. And Tom won’t always be in the ring because he’ll need a break.

Tom squirts water in his mouth and swallows it while he looks the others over. Like I said, he won’t go for me because he knows I’ll take him out quickly. He sets his water bottle down and grabs his gloves. They’re slim, not full-on boxing gloves, but they’ll help keep the damage to a minimum.

“Drew,” Tom says.

“Coward,” Finn mutters and sits on the bench.

“Look.” Tom puffs up. “I need a warm-up. And while you guys are my best friends and I deserve every hit I take, this guy is new and I need to play the older brother card.”

“So you want to beat me up for fucking your sister?” Drew smirks and shrugs. “Sounds good to me. But you were the one who left when we first started dating. And I was always Sara’s choice. I didn’t call her. She called me and asked me out.”

Tom shakes his head. “I know who you are. It’s not like we haven’t fucked the same women. I just thought Sara was smart enough to stay away from you.”

Wyatt pushes Tom toward the ropes. “Keep the trash talk for in the ring unless you want to go home to your wife with a broken nose.”

Tom narrows his eyes at Wyatt but doesn’t keep running his mouth. Those two could probably just smack talk each other until they’re blue in the face. Instead, he climbs into the ring and Drew follows him. I’m actually curious to see how Drew fights. The guy works out, but I’m not sure he actually fights.

They circle each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move.

“I got twenty on Drew taking out Tom,” Wyatt says, loud enough for the others to hear.

“Does that mean I have to bet on Tom?” Finn grumbles.

Tom glances toward Finn with a what-the-fuck expression and Drew comes in with a left hook, which Tom blocks, but Drew follows with a right that hits Tom in the cheek before Drew bounces backward, out of reach.

“I honestly should be thanking you,” Drew says with a cheeky smile.

Tom rubs his jaw before eyeing Drew warily. “Why?”

“If you hadn’t been an ass to your friends, Sara would have been claimed long before I came into her life.” Drew comes close to swing and Tom blocks, but Drew chuckles and bounces back. “So, thanks. I’m sure Sara would thank you too if she considered she might have only had one boyfriend instead of four.”

“Fuck, man, that’s my sister.” Tom charges and gets a hit in on Drew before Drew blocks and pushes him away.

“Yes, she is.” Drew’s face turns serious. “And that’s why we’re all furious at what you did. I know the kind of clientele I deal with. People who want a safe place to do business and easy access to women. But I’m not about to let any of the women that work for me go unprotected. Let alone someone I claim to love.”

Drew and Tom begin to circle and trade punches.

“I didn’t leave her unprotected.” Tom gets in a sneaky left hook to Drew’s jaw.

“You did. You might not want to believe it, but everything you did to your friends made it impossible for them to step up and take charge of Sara’s life.” Drew drops his hands and steps back. “You know your sister, right? Did you expect her to go meekly where you told her to go? Did you really consider how she felt after years of being told she couldn’t go near them? Fuck, man. You set them all up for failure, and if it had been anyone else’s club but mine, they would have lost her. Pull on your big boy shorts and get the fuck over yourself. Take responsibility for driving the wedge so deep Sara might have been in even more danger because you didn’t take the time to talk to your friends before you ran away.”

Tom’s mouth presses into a fine line, but he doesn’t say anything. What more can he say? He fucked up. He knows he fucked up. We can’t go back and fix the past. We can only go forward.

“What you did made it possible for me to worm my way into your sister’s heart, so I can’t really hate you. Everything you did led us to here, where we’re talking about building a future together with your sister. You may hate us, but fuck, I can’t hate you.”