Fighting for her Life

Chapter 16 - Jess

Monday I reach out to my brother and make plans with him for drinks later and he confirms that he is good once Skye is finished at the gym.

Skye comes in my office hands me a coffee and gives me a good morning kiss.

"Morning Sweetheart, thank you for the coffee."

"Anytime.  Did you sleep well last night?" I recognize she is playing with me since she noticed I wanted nothing more than to spend the night but had nothing with me for this morning.

"My bed has never felt colder, we could have remedied the issue if you would just come home with me last night." I say as I pull her closer to me.

"Jess you recognize the whispers haven't died down yet and they aren't bothering me so much since we are together and those whisper are true.  It's the other ones about how I laid on my back and that landed me a large account that still gets to me sometimes. Us coming in together will start more whispers, those whispers will always be connected to the Customz account." I can understand the plea in her voice, and she has let me in more the past week then she has over the past month, so I give in.

"Okay fine, but it's going to happen one day and hopefully one day in the very near future." I lean in, give her a quick kiss and she is ready to head back to her desk.

"Skye, before I forget I am meeting up with my brother tonight, I'll call you when I get home."

"Have fun tonight."

Jess

It is just after eight and Johnny walks into the restaurant, makes his way over with a smile on his face. Instantly I wonder if Skye was the one that put it there which piss me off because I don't like that train of thought.

"Hey Big Brother, it's been a while." We share a man hug and pat each other on the back.

"Hey Little Brother, it's been what a whole week, what are we little girls who braids each other's hair every night?"

The waitress comes over to take our orders and gives Johnny a little tongue and lip action which he ignores.

"Not your style?" I asked once she left with our order.

"A little desperate for my liking, but you sound a little jealous that she didn't notice you." He says lifting his eyebrow and smiles.

"No need for jealousy on my side, I have the hottest woman in my life." I point out as a matter of fact.

"Talking about Skye we need to have a little discussion asshole." My brother stares at me with confusion.

"I was at Skye's place when she came home Sunday after working out with your ass and you better not be enjoying the view! Actually, you should tell her she needs to wear baggy pants and a big f*****g sweater." Johnny is laughing so hard, I want to punch him in the face.

"Real smooth Jess, you want me to tell her to wear a snowsuit too?" He continues laughing and I realize that Johnny sees plenty of women in the same sort of clothes Skye was wearing at his gym and I am being an asshole.

"f**k off asshole."

"So knowing what our girl Skye looks like for me twice a day makes you jealous, good to know!" He is laughing so hard that people are actually looking at our table.

"Not OUR girl asshole MY girl, now cut your s**t off before I beat you!"

"Oh man you are killing me today, beat my ass? I train the best of the best and you think you can beat my ass?"

The waitress comes back with our order and we start eating and I whisper, "I hope you choke asshole" he starts laughing again.

"Jess I have to say if you made me laugh this much every time we got together it would be much more frequent."

Once we're done and just enjoying our drinks I ask my brother the one thing that has been on my mind since Sunday morning, "Johnny I need to ask you something and I need you to answer me honestly."

"No Jess, no more! You need to leave me out of your things with Skye.  I helped you out last time because I thought she just need a little encouragement, that's it." He already has his hand up as if to stop me from speaking up, but I really need to the answer.

"Nothing like that although I appreciate what you did for us.  Skye has not been in with any bruises lately.  I appreciate you talking with her about not fighting in the underground, I don't believe she has since she got hurt, but if she was would you tell me?"

"Honestly Jess, I don't know if I would. After we talked about her fighting, I'm not so sure she would even tell me.  I don't think she needs that part of her life anymore though; she seems lighter, happier and as much as I don't get it, I believe it's because of you."

"Johnny I hope you're right because if she does fight again, and she ends up worse than the last fight I am going to lose my mind."

"Jess since we are discussing things, I have a question for you. Have you thought about what is going to happen once she finds out that we are brothers?  How betrayed she is going to feel because I know I have; I am not liking the outcome." I can see the worry in Johnny eyes, but I really don't know what to do about it.

"Yeah, I have and honestly I am hoping that she loves me enough to work through it.  I can't lose her man she's it for me." I can't even glance at my brother because this is not going to end well, and he knows it.

"Hope she does love you enough, but she doesn't love me, so I am about to lose someone I consider really important to me." There is so much sadness in my brother's voice and I hate myself a little more because I put him in this position.

"She loves you, when she comes to work or home after the gym all she does is talk about you. At first, I wasn't sure her feelings weren't more, but like you she assured me you're like her brother and somewhat a protector.  We'll work through this I promise." I place a hand on his shoulder and squeeze it for reassurance that I have no right to make.

"Hope you're right because she has a brother remember and he let her down in a big way."

"I know.  f**k! we are so f****d!" 

We finish our drinks and head out.

Skye

Wednesday I have received all the responses I need to get back to Taylor regarding earlier add space, so I give her a call to let her know that we are late for the next addition, but can be in the following week which brings us out a month earlier and she is happy with that news.

"Have you decided on when you were going to come by?" Taylor asks once the business is out of the way.

"My schedule is open, what day works better for you?" there is a quick pause, you can hear Taylor checking her schedule.

"I am free Friday, then we can go for a drink since there is no work the next day."

"Sounds great, I can't wait to see your place." Just as I say that Jess is standing there and once again, he is looking at me with those questioning eyes and I can't help the eye roll, I give him.  We say our goodbyes and I hang up and turn to stare at Jess.

"Do you need something Mr. Royal?" I ask with so much sass in my voice.

"Who’s place are you going to see?" I laugh and try to muffle it so no one else hears me.

"That was Taylor Williams, and I am going to go check out Customz Friday after work, that we are going to go for a drink."

"When you get there let her know you’re MINE!" he whispers in my ear.

"You’re a nut, don’t you have work to do?" As he is about to enter his office he turns, "I'm serious, you never know, so just put it out there."

"GO. TO. WORK. CRAZY"

Skye

Friday Jess tells me to take off early since he knows how excited I am to see what Customz has to offer. Even though this is not a business visit, I bring a tablet with me in case I want pictures or to make some notes.

After an awesome tour Taylor and I head over to the bar across the street, I let her know that since I did ride my bike over it would be just the one drink.

"Taylor your place is amazing, those bikes are so sexy. Thanks for allowing me to take some pictures of the place it will come in handy with some ad work."

"I love your passion for bikes Skye. It is really nice talking to another female about motorcycles and not feel uncomfortable," Taylor is smiling the whole time we are speaking.

"My customers are predominantly males, sometime the conversation feel a little strained."

After we order our drinks the conversation with Taylor flows so naturally, she is an easy person to talk to and I enjoy her company which is nice since I don't have that friend circle.

"Skye do you mind if I ask you a question regarding your job? If you do, just tell me to back off."

"Not at all."

"Do you enjoy working as Mr. Royal's assistant?"

"Of course I do, he is a great person to work for. The job is not a stressful one and I'm sure now if I wanted, I could ask for more accounts, but I don't think I would. Why do you ask?" I find her question a little offsetting.

"Well our contract with you is for 3 months and we were thinking if re-signing is the way to go or maybe higher someone with the passion for the business like you, would be the better way to go?"

"Oh... Well re-signing is the way I would want you to go since I do love working on your account, but I understand why you would prefer to hire someone and eliminate that cost.  Although, if I'm being honest, our company has the connections that someone else may not have, our name pushes companies to give us what we need to meet client deadlines.  Unless you were looking to hire someone to plan what you want and then have a company like ours to execute it?" Taylor looks as if she is truly taking in everything, I am telling her.

"Thank you for your honesty Skye, that is definitely a lot to consider before I make my decision, but what if I hired you, would that be something you would be interested in?" I know she can see the shock in my face and then continues.

"I love your passion, the vision you are bringing to the table is just what we want, so I thought I would just put it out there."

"Thank you, I am very flattered but I'm not looking to leave the company at this point."

"Well if you change your mind give me a call, I am certain we can work something out, until then I am very happy we have you working for our account"

After that I notice it's passed ten and I still have a ride home so I thank Taylor and we plan to get together again soon.  Before I hope on my bike, I text Jess to let him know that I am on my way home and will talk to him tomorrow since it's already late and by the time I get home it will be closer to eleven.

Skye

The next day I head to the gym and meet up with Johnny and I'm starting to get a little worried about him, he has been looking a little stressed.

"Hey Johnny, ready for me to kick your ass?"

"Look at who assumes she has game this morning, good night with the boss or is it Boyfriend?" Oh, so he's in a feisty mood today, this I can work with.

"Nope I had plans last night with a client, she was so awesome. If you don’t have a client after me maybe, we can grab breakfast?" I want to see if he will take me up on my offer because I need to know what's going on with him.

"I can do breakfast. Let's make this a little more interesting if I kick your ass, which I will, you pay for breakfast, if you kick my ass which you won't, I'll pay for breakfast."  We climb into the ring and touch fist before we start.

"You're such a gentleman, you're on." We train for over an hour before he calls it, we are both breathing hard and each of us has had our asses handed to us, so no winner. As we head for the change rooms I call out, "Johnny you're paying, what kind of trainer doesn't win?" I hear him laughing as he closes the men's changing room door.

Once we are ready, I messaged Jess to let him know I was going out for breakfast and would be home later, then headed for the breakfast joint around the corner.  We ordered, the food came, we ate in silence once we were done, I decide to bring up his stressful look.

"Johnny are you okay? Is the new place becoming too much with this place?"

"No I'm good, why you ask?" I can see his confusion, so I pressed on. "You just look a little stressed and I would like to think that we are more than friends, you could talk to me if something was wrong." Just as I finished saying that my phone rings, I answer it without looking at the caller id thinking it's Jess, I let Johnny know it will be just a second and he nods.

"Hello?" The voice on the other ends is not Jess, it's the guy from the underground fighting.

"No the ribs are good and I'm back in the gym."

"I haven't really thought about another match, why?" I peer at Johnny, he is looking at me like he's going to be ill, I mouth "are you okay?"  Instead of answering me, he looks down.

"No not really ready to get back in, but if anything changes, I'll definitely give you a call."

"Yeah thanks." I end the call and Johnny still looks sick.

"Sorry about that. I should have looked at the caller id before answering, wha-" Johnny cuts me off quickly.

"Are you fighting again? I thought we discussed this, Skye. I can't watch what happened to you the last time again!" He looks hurt and I hate that I put that look on his face.

"Johnny stop!  I turned down the fight, I haven't thought much about it since the last time. I know how you feel, and I would never ask you to put yourself through that again." I tell him with as much sincerity as possible.

"So you would just take the fight and not tell me?!" I can tell this upsets him and that is not what I want.

"Like I told him on the phone I haven't thought about another match so, I guess this is a moot point, okay?"

"Skye as much as I don’t like it and I'm so happy that you are at a place in your life that you haven’t thought about it, but promise me if you ever decide to enter a match you will at least tell me." Johnny is the best person I have ever met other than Jess and I would never intentionally hurt him.

"I promise to tell you if I ever fight underground again."  I see him sigh in relief and we change topic.  He tells me about the new gym, how it's going to be done soon and he is interviewing a few people next week to manage the place and then he will need to start looking for a good trainer to have on hand.  I am so proud of him and tell him if he needs any help, I can work it out to train people until he finds the right person, he lets me know that he will keep that in mind.  After that we headed our separate ways and I feel good about our talk.

The weekend passes, Jess spends Saturday and Sunday at my place, and we have an amazing weekend just being together.  Monday morning, I head to the gym and Jess stayed in bed until he needed to go to work.

Jess

This weekend was perfect going to bed every night with Skye in my arms is what I want forever, I realize I need to tell her what I want and let her know I love her.  But something inside me is scared shitless she will pull away; I know she loves me; she whispers it to me every night when she thinks I'm sleeping.  I am not sure why she hasn't told me yet or if she is just waiting for me to tell her how I feel first.  So, as I sit at my desk looking at the same piece of paper for the last 15 minutes, I plan a perfect weekend and then I'm going to tell her I love her.

Around lunch I notice I missed a call from Johnny and call him back and he picks up on the first ring.

"Why don't you ever pick up your damn phone." I hear his irritation. I am not sure what has got him so wound up since he is always so calm.

"Hey Little Brother, sorry I do work for a living you know. What are you so worked up about?"

"I have been calling you all f*****g weekend, you would think you would call me back!" Okay that is my bad since I was with Skye all weekend, I turned off my phone.

"Sorry I was with Skye this weekend and my phone was off. Why didn't you leave me a message I would have called you back when I checked my phone?"

"Did she say anything to you when she got home Saturday?"

"No why, did something happen?" He is starting to worry me, and I need to know what happened that has him so worked up.

"I hope not but when we were at breakfast, the guy from the underground fighting called to set up a match for her and -" the blood is rushing into my ears and I can't hold back.

"Why would you not tell me sooner? I can't let that happen and-" Johnny is quick to cut me off.

"Listen asshole, she turned him down.  I made her promise to tell me if she ever decides to have a match and she did, but I am not so sure she will because she knows I am against it. She won't want me there knowing it will kill me to watch her get hurt."

"What the f**k am I supposed to do with that Johnny?" I appreciate he said he doesn't want to get in the middle of this more than he already is, but I also know he worries about her.

"Keep her happy man. She said she hasn't thought about fighting since the last fight and I am praying it's because of you."

"I promise man she is my number one priority no worries there." Once we're done, I tell him I need a workout and heading over there we hang up, I need to blow off some steam.  On my way out I let Skye know that I am heading out to meet my brother and I will meet her tonight.