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  After that, she tried to follow Jami’s lead and just have fun, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t. She was seated beside Jami at a circular table surrounded by drunken guys with no one coherent to talk to, since Olivia decided to ditch her at the last minute and go home rather than be stuck in a room with her ex-boyfriend. She wanted to be mad, but she understood why Liv would rather be alone than subject herself to assholes all night.

  Speaking of assholes…

  Spencer stood on a chair and lifted his shot glass. “This guy right here is the best guy I know,” he called out as he pointed a finger at Jami. “He can kick every ass in here, except mine. To The Judge!” Drunken To The Judges traveled a circle around the room, and Alyson watched Spencer and Jami tip back their drinks.

  Jami slammed his empty glass on the table so hard it rocked as he shouted, “Whoo! Fill me up, bro!”

  And that was enough. Alyson leaned in, and Jami’s glassy eyes slid to hers. “Hey, baby, how about we call it a night? I’m tired.”

  Jami’s eyes danced and a slow smirk spread across his face as he leaned in. He’d been doing a lot of leaning tonight. Thankfully, he’d been firmly seated most of the time. Jami rested one strong arm on the back of her chair, and the other on the table beside hers, encompassing her. His face was close enough that she could almost taste the alcohol on his breath. “You wanna call it a night, or do you just want me all to yourself, because that can be arranged. All you have to do is ask nicely.”

  His mouth hovered over hers, the light brush of his breath tickling her lips. She stared into his glazed eyes. She did want him to herself. She always wanted Jami, and an inebriated Jami was far too adorable for his own good, but she was concerned with how much he’d had to drink right now to consider taking advantage of what he was offering. He had to practice in the morning, and at the rate he was going, he wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed. Don wanted her to look out for him, and she’d blown it, but it wasn’t too late to fix it. She hoped.

  “Jami,” she said softly, touching his face with light fingertips. His eyes slid closed, and his body shuddered. Unable to resist him, Alyson touched her lips to his. He reacted immediately, folding one arm around her waist and tunneling a hand through her hair, dragging her to the edge of the chair. He devoured her mouth, taking everything and leaving nothing behind. She was breathless, her body trembling beneath his masterful hands, but as much as she wanted him, she had to remind herself of her goal. She needed to get him away from here. Jami needed rest and time to sober up.

  Breaking away, Alyson fought to keep control as Jami trailed his mouth down the side of her throat. “Jami, let’s go to bed,” she said as she held the back of his head to keep him close. “Please.”

  “You want me?” he asked her, lifting his head to look at her. Always. She nodded. He searched her eyes for a moment and then shoved his chair away from the table.

  “Where are you going?” Spencer called out. “We were just about to play Spin the Bottle.”

  Such a childish game, but it was perfect for a childish man like Spencer, Alyson thought as she took Jami’s hand, and he pulled her to her feet.

  “My lady wants me alone,” Jami told him with a broad smile that made Alyson blush profusely.

  Spencer frowned. “You can get laid any time. This is a party! When is the next time we’ll even get to do this? Another hour won’t kill you. Come on, live a little!”

  Alyson held tight to Jami’s hand, praying he wouldn’t let himself be sucked back in. Spencer’s question rang in her head. What did he mean by when is the next time they’d get to do this? They had more than enough time to party. She caught Spencer looking at her, a challenge in his eyes. She stared back. It felt like a tug of war, and Jami was the rope. But Alyson refused to lose. Spencer may have been Jami’s friend, but she was his girlfriend, and she’d known him longer. Petty maybe, but when it came to Spencer, she wasn’t above it.

  Curling herself around Jami’s arm, she reached up and cupped Jami’s cheek to force him to look at her. “Come on, baby,” she cooed. “I know a game we can play, and it’s a lot more fun than spinning a bottle.”

  Jami got that mischievous glint in his eye, and the smile she adored returned. It was soft and full of love and only for her. His mouth captured hers. As he massaged her lips and tasted her with his tongue, he bent down, sliding his palms over her hips. His fingers curled around the backs of her thighs, and he lifted her off her feet, guiding her legs to wrap around his waist. “Say goodnight, Spencer,” he murmured against her mouth.

  Lifting her head, Alyson peered over Jami’s shoulder, seeing Spencer’s displeasure written all over his pierced face. She gave him a winning smile and said sweetly, “Goodnight, Spencer,” then returned to what she loved to do best: kissing Jami as he carried her back to their room.

  Booting the door closed behind them, Jami walked to the bed and dropped Alyson onto her back as if she were a sack of rice. He stood at her feet, running his hands over the tops of her thighs. Enjoying the change of pace, Alyson watched through hooded eyes while Jami silently enjoyed her body. He was an adorable drunk. His hair was mussed and his clothes were disheveled from carrying her, but he looked absolutely mouthwatering. Not even the bruises on his face could detract from his rugged good looks. In fact, Alyson was beginning to appreciate the light imperfections. They made him more dangerous, more masculine, more handsome, and more daring. More everything. All things that made her stomach flutter madly.

  Running his open palms up her body, Jami leaned forward, pressing her into the mattress little by little. When he reached her ribcage, the expression he wore shifted. Concern washed over Alyson, and she wrapped her hands around his biceps, kneading them gently as Jami braced himself above her. “What’s wrong?” she whispered into the dark.

  His voice came out low and raspy, as if he struggled to get the words past his lips. “I’m going to miss you.”

  A frown formed, and Alyson felt the skin between her eyebrows pinch together. “What do you mean? Why are you going to miss me?” A bad feeling began to creep in, giving her a falling sensation in her stomach.

  Jami’s head dropped on his shoulders, and he sighed. “I need to tell you something.”

  With their passionate moment forgotten, Alyson pressed her palms into the mattress and sat up. Jami pushed away, and then sank down beside her. Alyson watched silently as Jami scrubbed his hands down his face, and then raked his hair back—nervous gestures that amped up her anxiety. “Whatever it is, you can tell me,” she assured him, sensing that whatever he had to say was difficult for him.

  Lowering his head, Jami released a weighted breath, and then reached for her hand. He clasped it tightly between both of his, holding their joined hands in his lap as he readied himself. “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it,” he began, and Alyson felt her unease ratchet higher. “I’m leaving town.”

  A host of questions burst forth in Alyson’s mind. Where was he going? Why was he going? How long would he be gone? But only one came out. “When?” Her voice was nothing but a whisper, barely audible over the low baseline creeping in through the door from the party still raging in the front room.

  “I board the plane on Friday.”

  Three days. She only had three days left with him, and then she would be on her own. Panic began to set in. She always knew he would have to leave town, but the news was unexpected, leaving her feeling an instant and a deep sense of loss. But at least she had time to wrap her head around it. She hated that he had to leave, but that was the nature of the job. “Where are you going?”

  Jami’s thumb stroked the back of her hand in what should have been a soothing gesture, but Alyson was too wired. The pulse pounding in her ears, and the pit in her stomach, grew larger by the second. “I have a fight scheduled in Nevada on Saturday.”

  Saturday. The knowledge stunned her. There wasn’t a fight yet that he hadn’t had to work up toward. They always had adv
anced notice. But then, he had been working out pretty hard lately, hadn’t he? Her next question was automatic. “How long have you known about this?” Jami’s silence was near deafening, but it spoke for itself. Alyson slowly withdrew her hand from his. “How long?” she repeated, her voice coming out stronger and sharper than before.

  Shifting to face her, Jami’s voice held a pleading edge. “Don’t be mad, okay?”

  Here she was, sitting beside a man twice her size, a man who beat people up for a living, and he was practically begging her not to get upset. She could almost find the situation comical if it weren’t for the rising anger igniting her blood and making her head pound. “How long?” she asked again, her teeth clenched.

  His voice was tight and filled with a mixture of regret and resignation when he answered. “A month.”

  The air in the room evaporated. He’d known he was leaving for a whole month, and he was just now telling her. They’d talked about this. She knew it would happen one day. But he’d still kept it from her. Why? Unable to sit still, Alyson stood and began pacing the floor, the feeling of anger and betrayal was making her blood sizzle.

  “You knew this was coming,” Jami told her as he watched her wear a track in the carpet.

  “Of course I knew,” Alyson said fiercely, “but I always assumed you would have the decency to at least tell me so I could be prepared.”

  Combing his hair back, Jami gave a frustrated growl. “I did tell you.”

  Alyson paused in her pacing to stare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. “What, you mean now? Just now? Three days, Jami. Three damn days! How am I supposed to be okay with that when you’ve had all month to prepare?” Her chest constricted painfully, and Alyson resumed her pacing. How could he think three days would be enough?

  “I’m sorry,” Jami said urgently. “I know I should have told you sooner, but I knew you would be upset.”

  “Ya think?” A lump began to form in Alyson’s throat, and she swallowed hard to keep it down. He knew she would be upset, he said it himself. So why didn’t he tell her sooner so she could have time to get right with it? Three days. That’s all she had left with him, and it felt like someone had punched a hole in her gut. It wasn’t enough time. “Jesus, Jami.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jami repeated, leaving the bed to intercept her pacing. His arms came around her shoulders, and he held her close as he tucked her head under his chin. “I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

  Jamison Weston, the man who never apologized for anything as long as she’d known him, had been making quite a habit of it in the last few minutes. It still didn’t erase the hurt over him keeping her in the dark for so long, but it helped. “You should have told me,” she croaked, gripping his shirt and burying her face in his chest.

  “I know.”

  “Three days aren’t enough time to say goodbye.”

  Jami’s strong fingers sifted through the length of her hair. “I know, but we’ll make every minute count, I promise.”

  It still wasn’t enough. They could spend every second of every hour over the next few days wrapped up in each other, and it still wouldn’t be enough to chase away the ache of his leaving. There was only one way that she could see to resolve the issue. “Take me with you.”

  Holding her face in his hands, Jami bent to kiss her lips. It was a soft, sweet kiss that lingered long enough to give her his answer. “I can’t. I want to, but I can’t. Don only booked enough tickets for me and the crew.”

  There was more to it than that. She could see it in his eyes. “You mean won’t. You don’t want me to come with you,” she accused. Alyson took a step back and folded her arms.

  “Don’t say that,” Jami said gruffly. “You know that I want you with me.”

  “Then why can’t I come? I can book my own flight and meet you there. Problem solved.”

  Jami looked away, the pulse in his jaw jumping. “It’s not that simple.”

  “It is that simple, Jami.” She knew what was really going on, but she wanted to hear him say it.

  “No,” Jami gritted, his dark eyes snapping to hers, “it’s not.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.”

  Alyson felt her frayed patience snap and took a challenging step forward, placing them chest to chest. “When are you going to admit that Don hates me and doesn’t want me around?”

  “Don likes you fine,” Jami defended, just as she knew he would. “He just has a hard time letting people get close to him.”

  “Why, because his wife died? Spare me,” Alyson said scathingly. “Don can’t spend the rest of his life hiding behind that excuse. Face it, Jami. He’s a miserable old man who wants you all to himself. He hates me because you love me.”

  “That’s not true. You never gave him a chance—”

  “Me?” Alyson screeched. “I have been nothing but tolerant of him since day one. I know he’s a father figure for you, but when are you going to stop looking at him through those rose-colored glasses and see him for what he really is—a controlling, fame-hungry jerk?”

  Fire danced in Jami’s eyes before Alyson saw the wall come down. “You know,” he said, his face impassible, “I think you were right earlier. It’s time to call it a night.”

  Alyson wanted to object, but she knew if she did, it would only lead to more arguing. Maybe if they went to bed now and talked more in the morning, cooler heads would prevail. Nodding, she walked to the opposite side of the bed and peeled back the covers. She was halfway in when she realized Jami hadn’t made any moves to follow.

  “Aren’t you coming?” Jaw set tight, Jami shook his head. “But, I thought you wanted to go to bed?”

  “I was talking about you. I’m not tired yet.”

  “But—”

  “Goodnight, Ally.” Jami cleared the door before she could splutter another word. Shocked that he would just walk away from her like that, Alyson stared at the door. A piece of her wanted to rush out there and yell at him, and demand that he come to bed, but she couldn’t bring herself to move. Making a fool of herself in front of all those people wasn’t very appealing, not to mention, in two words Jami made it clear that he wanted space from her. So, she would grant him his space.

  Forcing herself to lie down, Alyson curled up on her side and stared at the city lights winking behind the gauze curtains. Music thumped through the walls along with laughter and voices belonging to people she didn’t know. The longer she lay there, alone, the more disconnected she felt—with this place, this room, these people, this lifestyle. She wondered if Jami was a part of it. If the space inside of her that was quickly turning into a gulf between her life and his, if it were a metaphor for the current state of their relationship.

  As she drifted off to sleep, she realized one more thing. She wasn’t having a good time, and that meant that, for the first time, Jami had broken a promise.

  THREE

  A lot can happen in three days. Jami planned to make it up to Alyson. He’d wanted to tell her about the trip, knowing that she would be upset no matter which way it went, but every time he considered broaching the topic, it wasn’t a good time.

  He’d thought about telling her the day he’d received the news, but Alyson had arrived at Knockout with a smile on her face and a little hop in her step. That was the day that she announced Miles and Victoria had found a place and were moving out. He couldn’t see shooting down her good mood, so he set it aside.

  The next time the opportunity presented itself was a week later. He was staying at her place for the weekend as a sort of celebration of the first time they would be alone together. No interruptions. No need to be careful, quiet, or considerate of anyone else. For obvious reasons, he decided that was not the best time to approach the subject either, and before he knew it, a month had passed.

  Alyson was under the impression that he had failed to tell her to avoid hurting her feelings or something equally ridiculous. She blamed it on Don, but Don wasn’t responsible for Jami being a chicken shit. He just h
ated the idea of seeing the disappointment on Ally’s beautiful face, but disappointed she was, and it was his fault. He’d made her feel that way, and knowing that made him want to drive his fist through a wall. Now she was gone.

  He’d crawled into bed sometime during the early morning hours after a few more drinks and had awakened in the morning with a splitting headache. His stomach pitched and rolled, and that was before he decided to actually attempt getting out of bed. When he finally did, he found Ally’s side of the bed empty. A glass of water that was still cool to the touch along with a couple of aspirin sat on the table by the bed, indicating that she hadn’t been gone long. Their presence alleviated some of the guilt over the way they’d left things last night from his mind. She’d wanted to take care of him so she couldn’t be too pissed, right?

  After washing the pills down, Jami ventured from the room to seek out Ally and apologize for his behavior. He searched the trashed hotel room, stepping over empty bottles and cans and passed out people littering the floor, but there was no sign of the one person he wanted to see most. He did find Spencer sprawled out across the bar with a half-naked woman plastered against his chest.

  “Wake up,” he commanded as he shoved his shoulder. His head thundered at the sound of his own voice, and Jami swayed on his feet. Shit, how was he going to practice today when he felt like he’d gone a few rounds with Andre the Giant? Don was going to have a field day. No doubt, by the end of the day, Jami would be begging for mercy.

  Releasing a small moan, Spencer cracked open his eyes and grimaced at the faint morning light spilling in through the cracks in the blinds. “What time is it?”

  Jami wasn’t thinking about the time. If the level of light in the room was any indication, it was already mid-morning, which meant he was late for the gym. Yeah, Don was going to be pissed, but Jami didn’t really care about that at the moment. “When did Ally leave?”

  Trying to sit up, Spencer’s forehead creased in confusion before he realized that he was weighed down by the girl passed out on top of him. Grasping her shoulders, he pushed her until she was in an upright position. Her body did a Raggedy Ann wobble, and Jami moved to catch her, but Spencer didn’t dump her onto the floor as he had expected. Wrapping an arm around her back, Spencer held the girl steady against his chest. Scratching his fingers through his mess of chestnut hair, he said slowly, “Uh… I think she left?”