The Predator [2] Read online

  The Predator Series

  Part Two

  By: Brooke May

  The Predator Part Two

  Copyright © 2017, Brooke May

  Printed in The United States of America.

  ISBN 978-1544148748

  First Edition

  Edited by Editing4Indies

  Cover Art by Dark Water Covers

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  All Right Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form of by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write the author.

  In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1979, the scanning, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher or author constitute piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purpose), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction of distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement with monetary gain, in investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  To my Marissa.

  Though I never got a chance to hold you in my arms, I think of you daily and know you are watching over us.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Epilogue

  Note to From the Author

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Books by Brooke

  Chapter One

  Chamberlain

  HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

  I dig the heels of my hands into my eyes, but it does nothing to erase the image of her ice blue eyes from my mind.

  She’s here. In Denver.

  “Fuck.” My back hits the locker behind the bench I slammed my ass onto after I made my way back here after my fight. My Katie is here, and she came to see me fight. Where the hell has she been for the past, what, four years? “Fuck,” I mutter once more and close my eyes, letting the cold temperature of the locker cool my head.

  Never in a million and one years would have I thought that coming to Denver, two thousand miles away from home, I would find my girl. My missing piece. My panda. And most importantly, the only woman I want for the rest of my life.

  Denver is one of my last stops on the whole tour deal before the championship in Vegas. Then it would be home to Boston to my giant warehouse home by myself. Well, not completely alone, if you include Scott and my cook living on the floor below, but still.

  Always alone.

  Scott has never understood why I bought the warehouse and turned it into my home slash gym, and I don’t care to explain it to him. The thought of someday having Katie come back to me drove me to buy it. It isn’t a huge warehouse, but it’s big enough to house a full gym with a fighting ring on the ground floor, and it has an underground garage for my cars and bikes. The second floor has two apartments; one is Scott’s and the other belongs to my cook. They pay nothing to live there. I won’t ever accept money from them for it.

  The whole third floor is mine; an open plan for my living room, dining room, and kitchen with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. So much more than what I ever had in my life.

  When I bought it, I had a family in mind to live there—a family with Katie—and for the longest time, that dream seemed to just be what it was, a dream. But now, I plan to make it come true. I’ve scarcely decorated my house with only a few pictures around the whole place. Pictures of my parents and grandparents, and the pictures I had taken of Katie when we were together. My favorite one sits on my bedside table; it’s of her and me at Bash Bish Falls. That was an amazing week in more ways than one.

  Fuck!

  This fight had me so pumped because I knew I would take my opponent with no problem. I’ve fought him before. He hasn’t gotten any better, and that drives me crazy. Some of the boxers I’ve come to know work their asses off, like me, to stay on the top of their game while others just get by and soak up the attention instead. That was this opponent; he has settled into his role, keeping up his strength just enough to get fights, but otherwise, he’s too busy with partying and women.

  My moves and technique were flawless; I wore him down then went in and took him down before he knew what hit him. He was easy, almost too easy. I really wish Scott could talk them into scheduling me against tougher opponents. Ever since I became the champ last season, they’ve only handed me the easy guys to show I’m still on top of my game. I want a challenge. I want to actually fight for it.

  And just as the ref was declaring me the winner, a buzz—a feeling that I hadn’t felt in forever and never thought I would again—took hold of my body. I turned my gaze from the fans cheering for me to the center of the front row where she sat.

  Katie.

  No matter how much time has passed since I last saw her, I will always be able to find her in a crowd. She was standing before me, barely clapping while she stared up at me with wide ice blue eyes—the same eyes that used to hold so much love for me. I could tell the moment she realized I was watching her, and for the first time in nearly four years, my dick jumped to life. I’m still straining in my shorts.

  “Glad to see you’re still alive,” I grumble down at my tented shorts.

  Her sun blond hair is now longer than it used to be, and her sexy little body wore my fight colors; black and white. She’s still very much my little panda. She never knew this, but I never had any set colors until I met her. Then the first day I saw her, I went out and blew my whole paycheck on everything I needed in black and white. After she had disappeared, black and white haunted my whole life just as her memory has.

  Never once did I think to change any of it, though. Even if I did, it would be too much now. My kitchen—black and white, my cars and bikes—black and wh
ite. Hell, even most of my clothes are black and white.

  Not only did she change my choice of colors, but she also changed my world. I never thought I would care so much about one person or love something as much as I did and still do her after I lost my mom. I shared more with Katie than I ever did with anyone else, besides Scott. But that fucker has known me forever.

  I couldn’t break the trance she had me under until she ripped it away when she quickly grabbed the little redhead who was standing and cheering next to her. As much as I wanted to stop her right there, I couldn’t. Too many people around me mean the fans would have stopped me.

  I did get a good look at that body of hers. I had checked her out before she got the chance to retreat; the back and front are both incredible sights. I knew that body well, and I know when I see a change to it. She has a more distinguished curve to her waist and hips now, where there used to be only subtle curves.

  Damn.

  And her tits looked fucking amazing. She was a B cup when we dated, just little things that I loved to play with. But now, boy, have those babies grown. It makes me wonder if she is even dancing anymore. My head tilted and watched her perfectly round ass move under the black material of her dress. Her legs were tanned and toned beauties that I wanted to be wrapped around me again. I loved to see her with some color; Katie used to be so pale. Now, she isn’t; she is tan and sun-kissed, reminding me of honey, and that makes my mouth water for a simple taste of her.

  Something was different about her but still the same. When she looked at me, I could see the same Katie I loved. Hell, I still love her. Yet her eyes held a stronger resolve that was never there before. In truth, it was slowly growing there, but now … now, it is there in full force as if she is protecting something.

  Possibly her heart.

  I kick myself all the fucking time for never telling her that I loved her when I had the chance. She said it to me, and that changed my whole world. That night, in my grandparents’ cottage, my heart started beating only for her. It killed me that she couldn’t remember saying it to me, but it still brought light to my life. She left with my heart, and I want nothing more than to own hers as she does mine.

  With my song, “Animals” by Maroon 5, playing through the room, it gets my blood pumping even more. I felt possessive, and if I didn’t have so many fucking people in my way, I would have been down there in front of her, devouring her lips with a kiss that would remind her that she is mine and that what we had together was a once-in-a-lifetime love and would always be there.

  When she dragged her friend out of the arena, I quickly looked at Scott, who was watching the whole thing. He had a shocked look on his face; his mouth hung open along with a glint in his eyes. He looked up at me, and I nodded to her. He gave me a shit-eating grin as he talked to Christopher, my assigned concierge, who then took off at a run to try to catch the girls.

  Katie and I need to talk, and it’s going to be a long one. And after everything is said, I’m never letting her go again.

  I was on my way back to the locker room when he came back empty-handed, causing my temper to rise. Why would she come to watch me fight and not want to talk to me? I mean, fuck, I went through hell trying to find her and never found anything. Private investigators couldn’t dig anything up on where she ran to or where her parents possibly shipped her off to. The fucking Cunninghams know how to cover their tracks too well.

  For a while, I thought maybe she’d had an accident, but nothing was ever released on it, and deep in my broken heart, I knew she was out there somewhere, safe. I just had to find her. I don’t know how many days I actually drove to her parents’ house and stood at the gates yelling her name through them, hoping and praying she would come walking out one day. Every day, I would leave defeated, hoarse, tired, and broken. It was as if she just dropped off the face of the planet. Her phone had been shut off, and I felt stupid for never having her email address. She didn’t have any social media accounts. Over the years, I would check from time to time by entering every name I could think of that she might use. Never once did I find her.

  The night I won my first fight, I went to the hotel room right away to call her and tried a million times. I was so pissed and upset she couldn’t be there with me. I wanted my beauty with me while I won, and I couldn’t have it. I knew when I tried to call her the first time, she would answer, and it shocked me that she never did. I lost track of how many times I tried to call her that night, forgoing the party my friends wanted to have for me to try to reach her. I couldn’t wait to tell her and get back to her. I left Scott first thing Sunday morning to get back to Boston and Katie.

  Boy, was I surprised to come home and find in the days that followed from a reliable source that she was gone.

  Vanished.

  Without a single word, Katie disappeared from my life.

  “She said she never wanted to speak to you again, Mr. Lawrence,” Christopher had explained to me as we walked to the locker room.

  Why?

  “She seemed pretty upset, sir,” he offered weakly. My nostrils flared as my temper rose to an all-time high.

  Like that makes me feel better.

  She is upset about something, but what could she possibly be upset about?

  Scott snorted with disgust next to me. “He should be the only one upset here. If she—”

  “Enough, Scott.” I had cut him off. NO one and I mean no one outside myself, him, and Katie should know what I went through and how I continue to torture myself daily with trying to figure out where she went. I thought for sure now that her dad had announced his plans for the presidency, she would resurface, but she hadn’t yet.

  Hell, I made it a point to read and watch every single one of his interviews and anything with him on the news in the hopes of seeing or hearing about her. Not a single reporter ever asked about his oldest daughter—only her mom and sister. That smug, asshole face of Douglas Cunningham is burned into my mind. I knew her parents were a piece of work once I met them, but I never thought they would actually do away with their oldest daughter. Katie was sweet, innocent, and full of so much love; I could never figure out how they didn’t love her.

  And she’s here, in Denver, Colorado. One of the last places I would have ever thought to look.

  But why here?

  What’s out here that would bring her here?

  When I was searching for her, I managed to track down her sister and that Tim douche, but either they didn’t know anything, or they weren’t going to say.

  Fuck, Zoey was a real piece of work, talking about how useless her sister was right in front of me. I can’t help but smile now. I lost my temper at them and yelled before the security at the restaurant escorted me out.

  “She was perfect and fucking everything to me! You are nothing compared to her!” I yelled as they hauled me out.

  Chapter Two

  Chamberlain

  I OPEN MY eyes and look around the cold, muted room. Excitement courses through me at the possibility of getting her back, of winning her heart for the last and final time. But my anger spikes as well. I don’t understand why she threw us away in the first place. What we had was special, uniquely us.

  Taking a deep breath, I stand to change out of my shorts and throw on a pair of loose board shorts, a T-shirt, and stuff my feet into a pair of sneakers.

  She looked damn good.

  A growl falls from my lips as the thought takes over my mind. So damn good that I tighten my fists around my bag thinking of any other man who might be holding her now. I hope no other guy has gotten to her.

  She’s mine; always and forever mine. Just the simple sight of her tight little body sends mine into a fit of nerves and excitement. No other girl, woman, has ever done that to me. Not that I gave many a single thought over the past few years. I’ve had countless women throw themselves at me, and not once have I indulged in what they offered. I always passed them off to Scott or one of the other guys hanging around and excused myself to either go h
ome or go back to my room, alone.

  Without Katie, my career became my love and focus. Women were always out of the question, and until tonight, I never had the urge to sink into something tight, wet, and just made for me. Most guys would lose their shit over a four-year dry spell, but it fueled my determination to make something of myself in the boxing world. I channeled the sexual frustration over the years without my girl into lifting more, getting stronger, and ruthlessly fighting my way to the top, which I finally achieved last year. I sure as hell plan to keep that title this year, but I plan to gain one more.

  I sling my bag over my shoulder and head out of the locker room where Scott is leaning against the wall, toying with his phone. “You good, man?” He quickly glances at me as I pass and then falls into step with me.

  “No,” I grunt. One would think that with me coming off a win, even if it was an easy one, I would be over the moon and in a kickass mood.

  Yeah, not fucking tonight.

  “Well, aren’t we just cheery?” The asshole laughs. “Un-bunch the panties, fucker.” He slaps me on the back.

  I stop walking to glare at him. He knows, God, he knows out of anyone in my life how badly I hurt after Katie disappeared and how hard I tried to find her. “Fuck. Off.” I growl and start to walk again. I won’t be in a better mood until she is back in my arms.

  “Jeez, C.” He rushes to catch up with me. “It’s not like you don’t know where she is now.”

  “You stupid moron.” I grunt. “She may be here in Denver, but where exactly?” I raise a brow at him. “I think the population here is around six hundred and fifty thousand, fucker, so how the hell am I supposed to find one person here!” I roar. He stays quiet as we make it to our rental car and climb in to head back to our hotel.

  I had given up partying when I signed my official contract with the league. That shit would just get me in trouble and take one of my dreams away. Not that the emcee guy, Bob, didn’t try. That sleaze invited us to join his penthouse party where he promised booze and babes. Scott wanted to go, but I didn’t give a shit. I’m pissed as it is that he said we would go to a pool party Bob is hosting for the fighters tomorrow at one of the major water parks.