AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And so is Haven,” he states. “You have one ready to be snagged up in your fingers, you just have to go for it. Call her and work things out.”
I suck in a breath and release it slowly while staring at him. “I’ll think about it. Let me get through tonight and tomorrow. I want Haven. Don’t get me wrong. She’s everything I want in a woman, and she gets me. But in order to work shit out with her, I’ll need to be able to give her my full attention. I can’t do that until after my match with Niko. Because of him and Ezra, I lost what I thought was who I am. Haven has shown me differently, and it’s time I prove that to myself as well.”
Rhett stares at me for a long moment, letting my words soak in before nodding. “Right. Then go get showered and do whatever else you got planned for today, and I’ll see you back here tonight for weigh-in.”
“Yep.” I nod, wiping a hand across my face. “See you later.” I stand from the stool and head for the locker room. Rhett’s words circling around in my head. I shower quickly and dry off, not able to get Haven out of my mind.
Why the hell is it so damn hard to stop thinking about her?I get she’s different from every other woman I’ve been with.
I dress, head out of the locker room, and out the doors of the gym, giving Rhett a two finger salute as I walk past him. I hop in my car and head to my mom’s house. Right now, I need peace, and she’s always been able to help me with that. I wouldn’t say I’m a momma’s boy, but she’s the only person who can help me right now with understanding what I’m feeling.
I park in front of her house, noticing another car parked next to Mom’s. I get out and head up the pathway and onto the porch. I knock as I open the door and call out. “Mom, you here?”
“In the kitchen,” she yells from the back of the house.
I make my way in that direction, hearing low murmuring. I stop just in the entryway of the room and spot who my mom’s company is.
“Reese, sweetheart, this is Luke Waters, the guy I told you I’ve been dating,” Mom says, smiling as she gets up from her seat.
Luke twists in his chair to look up at me with a smile of his own. “Hey, Reese,” he greets me with a nod. “Glad to officially meet you.”
I nod, coming out of my stupor, realizing my mom is dating Haven’s boss. “Yeah, glad to meet you. Sorry about what happened at the community center.”
“No need to apologize,” he says, waving my apology away.
“What has you stopping by?” Mom asks before I can say anything further to Luke, like asking the man how Haven is doing.
“Came to see how you were doing and check in on you. If it’s a bad time, I can catch you later,” I say, not wanting to interrupt the two of them. Seeing the smile on my mom’s face, I know it’s ‘cause of Luke. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that expression other than when she’s around me or my siblings.
“No, it’s okay. Luke has to get back to work anyway,” she says, wrapping an arm around my waist.
“Yes, and I do hope you don’t mind my coming with your mom tomorrow night. She invited me to come, and I’m looking forward to it,” Luke states, getting to his feet.
“I don’t mind. I’m sure she’ll enjoy having you with her. She loves coming to matches.” I grin and look at my mom to see her staring up at me with pride.
“That I do.” Mom pats my stomach and motions me to the fridge. “Get something to eat, and I’ll be right back after seeing Luke out.”
The thought of saying something juvenile pops in my head but I refrain from doing so and head for the fridge, snagging a bottle of fruit-infused water that Mom makes herself. I also grab a yogurt and move to the table.
A few moments later, Mom rejoins me, a smile beaming on her face, and I find myself blurting out what I want to know. “How do you know if you love someone?”
Mom’s step falters, and she blinks rapidly as she regains herself after I throw her a question I’m sure she never expected I’d ask her. Slowly, she takes a seat across from me and watches me closely. “You want to know how to know if you love someone?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I confirm with a nod.
“If you have to ask something like that, especially you, Reese, then you already know the answer,” she retorts, giving me an assessing look. “I know you, being the oldest, you saw what your dad was like the most growing up, and you saw how I let him walk all over me, cheat, do whatever. I should’ve protected you three, but I didn’t.”
“Mom, you raised us and did a damn good job of doing that without him. Yeah, I’m glad you stopped letting him come back after he walked out when you had Reyna, but I get it. I just don’t know how to know what I’m feeling is right.”
“Reese, only you can answer that, but I can tell you this. Looking at you now, I can see that you love this person, and I can’t wait to meet her. Rhett’s told me about you and this girl, and if she’s anything like Christina, I couldn’t be happier for you.”
Nodding, I give my mom a smile, feeling better and knowing that I’ll be going after what I want when it comes to Haven, though I’ll be doing it after the fight tomorrow. That way, I can focus solely on her and show her how much she means to me without interruption because I’ll show her that she can not only trust me but know without a doubt that I’ll be hers and only hers.
CHAPTER TWENTY
HAVEN
“I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.”
