As long as mom's boy toys were bringing the supply when they paid her a visit, she didn't care how they treated Liam. Corey was her golden baby at that point.
Until he hit about 13.
It'd been a rude awakening for him that Liam didn't think he'd ever really recovered from, but he was better off seeing the reality of her before she had a chance to break his heart clean in two. 'Cause she would have. That's just the type of woman she was.
Uncapping the bottled water, Liam took a swig, savoring the cellar-smell of the gym, hints of laundered towels steeped and rinsed in heavily-scented fabric softener pluming the air. It over-powered the sweat most of the time, making the place seem a lot more upscale than the actual budget it ran on. Rico kept it clean and renovated every few years or so, but most of his profits went right back into these walls.
It was a back woods sort of gym, nestled in the trees at the end of a dirt road paved especially for it. Passed down from father to son in succession from sometime in the early 1900s. Something about all of the time it had been standing lent a spirit to it that made you feel like you were being watched over by the old-timer fighters who'd passed in and out of its doors.
This place had seen illegal betting, fights of all sorts, and even prohibition-era poker games. It was steeped in history. And right now, it was just the thing he needed.
By the time the rowdies marched toward the ring, beating their gloves together with playful menace, Jackie was very far from Liam's mind. Right where he needed her to be if he was going to keep his head at all.
Jackie
“Hey, Baby girl,” Roxy's voice crooned through the phone, velvet and cool, just like her demeanor.
“Roxanne! Shit, girl. How've you been?”
Near squeaking, Jackie cradled the phone to her ear. God, she'd missed this chick.
“Just fine, Sugar plum. I'm in town for the night. You free for drinks?”
An effervescent surge of bubbling rose up in Jackie's gut. Hell, yeah she was.
“You know it. Name the spot.”
“Dwight's. I'll get you at 8.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Clicking off the call, Jackie smiled to herself, widely, and probably goofily. She loved the hell out that girl, and a visit with the ol' sage was perfect timing. If anyone could talk sense into her, and set her back on her course it was Roxy.
Huh. She was in town? Just like that.
It wasn't like Roxy to call while she was traveling. She was too much a free spirit for that. Hence the random postcards and unchecked email inbox. No, Roxy moved with the wind. She was the sort of spirit who made an adventure out of life. A woman most people could learn from.
Dusting the flour off of her hands, Jackie gave them a good rinse, and secured the saran wrap over the dough, depositing it in the fridge for later. Glancing at the clock, she put a little more pep in her step.
She had about an hour to get ready.
Most of her day had consisted of trying a million and one recipes, and it had mostly succeeded in keeping Liam off of her mind, even if it didn't do a thing about the hollow feeling settling in her gut.
Usually, cooking and her many experiments gave her a sense of satisfaction, but she was having trouble getting into her groove. Lifting her chin, she shrugged it off. A night out would give her the distractions she needed, and then she could get back on her regular course. With classes starting back up, she had a world of demands just waiting to pile themselves on top of her.
Passing by the computer desk, she forced her eyes away from it and slipped out of her clothes, tossing them in the hamper. She'd left her Two of Hearts account open for some stupid reason, and the temptation to check her inbox to see if Liam... Yeah, it was stupid.
Putting it out of her mind, she rushed to the shower. Roxy was a punctual chick. Not someone you ever willingly ran late on.
~
Jackie squeezed Roxy so tight, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. God, she'd missed her. And she was just as beautiful as ever, long, electric-blue hair trailing down over her arms, wide-slanted eyes, overly lashed like they were kissed by the goddess of love herself. Grinning, Roxy pulled back, looking her over.
Her grin widening, she pulled the gum from her mouth and tossed it into the garbage can outside of the apartment building.
“What's his name?”
“Hmm?”
“Come on, Jackie. Do I know you, or do I know you?”
Sighing, Jackie threw her hands up.
“Alright. His name is Liam.”
Nodding in an assessing way, Roxy gestured her toward the car.
“We'll talk about it over drinks.”
Sliding into the passenger seat of Roxy's pick-up, Jackie nipped her lip in that preoccupied way she was sure would tell Roxy everything she needed to know. Her love interest was of the scandalous variation. Not at all good for her. Someone Roxy was sure to warn her away from. And that was fine. She was hoping they'd get on the subject at some point. Jackie desperately needed the voice of reason to intervene.
She'd been half out of her mind without someone to talk to about it. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd ever share with her cousins, and talking with her mom about anything that mattered was typically out of the question.
Rumbling the truck to a start, Roxy turned it onto the quiet, college street and made her way toward the lower fairway toward Dwight's. It was a total dive bar, but one that held memories for them. They knew all the regulars, and as a result, they never had to pay for drinks. It would be good to see the old crew. Most of them probably hadn't done much more than take on factory jobs since high school, but they were good people. The type that grounded you. Jackie was looking forward to seeing them.
“So this new guy-”
“Liam.”
Roxy grinned, her eyes firmly glued to the road.
“Liam. What's the story with you two?”
Drawing a breath, Jackie scrambled for where to begin. She wanted to cut right to the chase, but their story needed build up. Deserved it, really. There was a flaming foundation they'd stood on before her mother and his father had dropped their little bomb.
“He's... Someone I met on a dating site.”
“You're shitting me. Like Lela?”
“Something like that.”
“Same site?”
Jackie grinned.
“Yeah.”
“Well, you're not the only girls to get hit by Two of Hearts. They've tied a bunch of people together from what I hear.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Turning onto the fairway, Roxy settled back in the driver's seat.
“What's he like?”
Feeling a weight in her gut, Jackie pushed past the emotions she'd been battling since she'd ran out on him at the breakfast. Pretty fucked up pattern she was creating there. She needed to just cap it at that without any repeat episodes.
“He's hot. Really hot. And established.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, he runs Raw Ink.”
“Oh that's his shop?”
“Yeah.”
“So... what's the deal? The two of you hot and heavy, yet?”
Inhaling sharply, Jackie cracked her knuckles distractedly before lifting her eyes to stare out at the lit-up fairway through Roxy's smudged front window.