Olivia Cunning - Wicked Beat

Eric felt a little foolish beating the shit out of a punching bag.

First of all, punching bags didn’t shit. Second, they didn’t fight back.

While Eric loved to engage in a good brawl, he wasn’t into doling out unchallenged beatings. Sometime during his attempts to beat that tape letter off the punching bag while imagining Isaac’s perfect face, he realized that the guy would never fight back. Hitting Isaac was like beating up the punching bag and even less satisfying.

Drenched in sweat, Eric appraised what was left of the tape.

“Fuck.” He shoved the bag with both palms, sending it rocking back and forth.

Eric had learned to get what he wanted by fighting a long time ago, but he would have to change tactics in this case. Beating Isaac to pulp might be fun, but it wouldn’t bring Rebekah back, and that’s all he really wanted. He raked his fingers through his hair, trying to figure out what would win her over again. He knew jewelry wasn’t the answer. Maybe Jace had an idea.

Eric unwrapped the tape from his hands as he wandered through the house on his way to the family room. Jace nodded toward the empty recliner beside him. There was already a shot of tequila waiting for Eric on the side table. He sat on the edge of the chair and downed the shot.

“Feel better?” Jace asked.

“Not necessarily. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t beat the shit out of Limp Dick if I want Rebekah back.”

“So you officially broke up?”

“I don’t know. I hope not. She was so pissed.”

“Maybe you should call her. Talk to her.”

Eric pulled out his cell phone and stared at the screen saver of himself and Rebekah kissing and smiling. She had a smudge of grease on her cheek. He’d snapped that picture the day before. A memento of them getting the Corvette running perfectly. How could he have fucked things up between them so quickly?

Eric decided he had no clue what to say and was afraid they’d get into another argument if he talked to her then. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I’ll probably say something I’ll regret.”

“Then text her,” Jace said.

Yeah, text her. He couldn’t put his foot in his mouth in a text message.

I’m really sorry, baby. I’ll call tomorrow when I have my head on straight. Love you. He sent the message and sank back into the recliner, holding the phone loosely. Within a minute, his phone beeped with a message.

His heart dropped when he read it. Fuck you, asshole. I never want to see you again. Isaac asked me to marry him, and I said yes.

“What?” he sputtered. They have one fight, are out of each other’s sight for two hours, and she’s already agreed to marry Isaac?

“No fucking way.”

He dialed her number. The call connected, then disconnected.

“She hung up on me,” Eric grumbled. He dialed her again.

“Hello?” a man answered her phone.

“Who is this?” Eric growled.

“This is Rebekah’s fiancé, Isaac.”

“Bullshit. Put her on the phone.”

“Look, loser,” Isaac said. “She doesn’t want to talk to you. Don’t call her again.”

“Put her on the fucking phone.”

“Take a hint. She doesn’t want to be with you.” Isaac hung up.

“Son of a bitch.”

Eric dialed her number again. This time it rang, but no one picked up.

“What’s going on?” Jace asked.

“Rebekah is marrying Isaac.”

Rebekah came out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel.

A shower had made her feel almost human again after an hour-long crying jag. She found Isaac sitting at the end of her bed fiddling with her phone.

“Did Eric call?” she asked hopefully.

Isaac shook his head. “Nope.”

Her heart sank, and the tears she’d finally managed to suppress filled her eyes again. “He must be really upset. I thought he’d be cooled down by now. I hope nothing happened to him. He drives like a maniac.”

She sat on the bed next to Isaac, and he wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure he’ll call, angel. Give him time to realize he was in the wrong.”

“Maybe I should call him.” When she reached for her phone, Isaac hid it behind his back.

“He’s the one who needs to apologize, not you.”

“We both need to apologize. Actually, you need to apologize too. Why did you kiss me like that?”

“I’m not going to apologize for kissing the woman I love.”

“But I’m in love with Eric, Isaac. Why can’t you understand that?”

Isaac brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ear. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me.”

She looked into his gentle gray eyes, opened her mouth, but couldn’t say it. She did love Isaac, but she wasn’t attracted to him.

With Eric, she had both. Her love for Eric was still growing, but her attraction was there in full bloom. Her love for Isaac was strong, but she would never be attracted. It wasn’t the kind of love you had for the man you want to spend the rest of your life with. Was it? She felt like crying again. Why did Isaac insist on confusing her?

“You know we’re good together,” he said.

“Eric and I are good together too,” she insisted. “I’ve never been happier. Every minute with him is exciting and fun.”

“But how long will that last? He’s a rock star. You’re not stupid, Rebekah. It’s only a matter of time before he falls to temptation and breaks your heart.”

“He would never break my—”

“I would never.”

“But you did, Isaac. I was devastated.”

His brow crinkled with confusion. “You broke up with me.”

“Because you couldn’t stand to have sex with me. I disgusted you.”

“I told you I was sorry about that.” His hand slid across her back. “Your body has had more time to heal. We can try again.”

“No, Isaac. I love Eric. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?”

“I love you too much to watch you throw your life away,” he said emphatically. “He’s not right for you, Rebekah.”

“He’s perfect for me, Isaac. You just don’t know him.”

“I don’t think I want to know him. He’s crass. Low class. Violent.

I worry for your safety. He punched me without provocation.”

She shook her head at him. “Without provocation? You kissed me, Isaac. I’m his girlfriend. I don’t approve of him punching you, but I understand why he reacted that way.”

“Like a mindless thug?”

“I’m not going to sit here and listen to you insult him. I think it’s time for you to leave.”

Isaac hugged her tightly, reminding her how safe he always made her feel. “I don’t want to leave. I’ve missed you so much. Let’s talk about something else. Tell me about your new job.”

Rebekah really didn’t want to sit by herself while she waited for Eric to call. But she didn’t want to be alone with Isaac either. He was confusing her. Nothing new about that.

“Yeah, okay.” She climbed from the bed and headed toward the door. “Let’s go hang out with Dave. He could probably use the company.”

Eric had lured the guys to his house with promises of a huge turkey dinner and football, so they weren’t too pleased to find out they were actually being put to work.

“Did you seriously sign us up for kitchen duty?” Trey grumbled.

“Yeah,” Eric said. “It’ll be fun.”

“Fun?” Brian said. “What’s fun about shoveling food on the plates of homeless guys?”

“You’ll see,” Eric promised.

“It’s great publicity,” Sed said in his deep voice. “Jerry is getting a news crew to cover it.”

“Aggie wants to join us. Is that okay?” Jace asked.

“Yeah, I signed up the ladies too,” Eric said.

“And Rebekah?” Trey asked.

“I don’t know if she’ll show up or not.” Eric secretly hoped so. “She’s the one who suggested it originally. Her family does it every year. I kind of got carried away on the sign-up list and volunteered everyone.”

“So we’re supposed to give up our Thanksgiving dinner and football because you were trying to impress a girl?” Trey said.

“I wasn’t trying to impress a girl,” Eric said. “I thought it would be good for us.” Impressing the girl was just an added bonus. And she hated him now, so it didn’t really matter anyway. He’d called her like a thousand times, and she never answered. When he drove past her parents’ house, her car was never there. He checked his messages every twenty seconds. She was obviously avoiding him. Probably busy planning her wedding with Dr. Perfect. Fuck!

God, he wanted to see her. He hadn’t slept all week.

“Dave was excited when he heard we were all going to be there,” Eric added, trying to get the guys to cooperate. “I think he wants to show us that he’s willing and able to get back to work.”

“We’re going,” Sed said, and that was the end of all arguments.

Eric rode with Aggie, Jace, and Trey in Aggie’s brand-new Mustang. Brian and Myrna rode with Sed and Jessica in Sed’s Mercedes. It was great to have everyone together again. Everyone got busy with their own thing when they were home on break, and he didn’t get to see them. At times, Eric longed for the good ol’ days when they’d all been bachelors, but then he saw how happy his bandmates were with their significant others and decided he’d been just as happy when he’d had Rebekah. Home wasn’t supposed to be hell.

When they arrived at the shelter, the news crew started hounding them before they were even inside the building. Sed—bless himstopped to talk to the reporter about “Sinners’ new Thanksgiving tradition,” while the rest were directed into the kitchen and given sharp utensils.