Page 56 of Fierce-Jonah

“I’m sure it did. Did they help?” Raina asked.

“Nothing more than giving me a push. Your brother is stubborn. I mean we were flirting at the rehearsal dinner and wedding. He brought me home after the wedding and I thought he’d come in and we could talk or exchange numbers, but he didn’t. I was frustrated. I ended up going to the gym to work out.”

“Good for you,” Raina said. “Jonah needs a push.”

“Oh, I’ve been pushing.”

“I’m torn over how much I should say to you,” Raina said.

“Don’t be. I don’t want things to be awkward. I know about Jonah’s head injury. He told me. I hadn’t realized the whole MMA fighting thing, but there were enough comments made to him around me and I asked him. He explained what happened and how he ended up buying the gym. I know he works a lot and that was a conversation we had too. I’m not clingy, but I don’t want to have to fight to see him either.”

“Jonah is very independent,” Raina said. “He’s always been a protector. That injury was tough on everyone. I know they didn’t tell me everything. I know Jonah probably still has things we’ll never know.”

She wasn’t going to admit that was the truth. She wouldn’t betray Jonah that way.

“Don’t we all have things no one knows?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m going to tell you something so you can get a better idea of Jonah. I know he’s rough around the edges.”

“Punching people in the face,” she said. “I think that is just his line.”

“It is more than anything. You’ve never asked me why I dropped out of college during my second semester of my junior year. Why?”

“It’s not my business,” she said. “I’ve got enough people in my business and questioning things. I know what it’s like. I know it can’t be because you weren’t getting good grades. You’re too smart.”

“Thanks,” Raina said. “My brother and father didn’t want me to go that far away. Five hours was still a day trip there but not back in a day. But not like a flight to see me either. I wanted to spread my wings and was having a great time. Tori and I were roommates.”

“I knew that,” she said.

“We’d gone to a fraternity party and someone slipped something in my drink.”

“Oh,” she said. She hadn’t expected this. “You don’t need to say anymore if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. It’s taken me a long time to heal and be in control more. To learn to trust people. Thankfully, Tori and a guy she was with that night found me in a room before anyone else got to me. I was still fully dressed, nothing happened to me and they got me to the ER. I had no memory of anything, but I was in rough shape. My parents were called, my father wanting to bring his gun, Jonah ready to rip people apart. The thing is, he’d had his injury at that point and he wasn’t a hundred percent. I knew it and we saw it and he didn’t care. He was in fighting mode.”

“The protector in him,” she said.

“Yes. He will always put himself last and others first. He’s sensitive but would be ticked off if I said that about him.”

“I can believe that,” she said. She’d seen some signs of him being tender with her.

“I only tell you this because maybe you are what he needs in life. He’s my brother and I want him happy. I know my parents will be thrilled. They love you. Jonah is used to dating women at the gym that are pretty much only out for fun.”

“I figured as much,” she said. “I see them flirting with him there.”

“You’re going to the gym now regularly?”

“I am. He challenged me to a personal training one day. Oh my God, it was the day I couldn’t walk the next day. I didn’t want to tell him but I ended up when he said the second day was normally the worst. I just wanted to cry.”

“Did you wear a nice sexy workout outfit?” Raina asked.

“You know I did.”

“Good. Push his buttons.”

“You’re really okay with this?”

“Yes,” Raina said hugging her. “I wish I knew earlier, but I understand why you waited. When are you going to let my parents know? Or the Fierces?”