AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Carly nodded. “She’s almost finished fighting. She just has one more big fight and then once she wins, we’re leaving.”
The heat in my chest banked, everything going numb and still. Even my heart. “What do you mean, leaving? Leaving Brooklyn?”
Carly shrugged. “Leaving Brooklyn, leaving the state. Maybe even the east coast entirely. We might go back home.”
“Where’s home?”
“Georgia.” From the wrinkle between her brows, she wasn’t in a big hurry to head south. “We don’t know yet. All she has to do is fight this guy and—” Her eyes widened. “Holy crap, you’re Fox. I heard the name last night, but I was tired and it didn’t connect. She’s going to fight you.” She shook her head. “Man, that’s some fucked-up shit.”
I sagged into the chair I’d just vacated. The spring tried to give me another anal probe through my jeans, but I was too shell-shocked to care.
Fucked-up shit didn’t even begin to cover this situation. And now I knew it was going to end before I’d even begun to shovel my way through it.
Chapter Seventeen
Mia
In the center of my neatly made bed, I tucked my legs up to my chest and studied the rain slipping down the window.
Welcome to New York. Days of intermittent snow, then a night of rain. By tomorrow it could be seventy and sunny.
A girl could dream.
I was ready to dream. I was also ready to get out of New York. Georgia or Louisiana were looking better all the time. Someplace warm where I wouldn’t have to wear long underwear to sleep in half the year because I had the core body temperature of a wood tree frog.
We’d almost reached the finish line. All I had to do was execute the plan I’d devised. Kizzy was right. I wasn’t acting like myself. I never missed training, and today I’d just rolled over and gone back to sleep. I couldn’t risk losing everything when I was finally so freaking close to getting what I’d always wanted.
Money. Freedom. A new start with my sister, far from everyone and everything in New York.
That meant I had to stay away from Fox. If people saw us together before our fight, they’d think it was a big sham. Kizzy was already getting suspicious. I had never had trouble controlling my hormones, and I wasn’t about to develop bad habits at the worst time.
I’d had my fun—ha—and that was that. I’d never met a problem I couldn’t find a solution to. And that’s all he was. A problem. An impediment to my goal.
A roadblock with a sinful body and smart mouth and eyes like aquamarines.
Without looking at the doorway, I knew the moment Fox entered. The air in the room changed, the molecules scattering in deference to his overpowering energy.
He sat on the edge of my mattress, dipping it almost to the floor. I didn’t look at him. Couldn’t. I was already imagining the small room as he must see it. I’d shoved the full bed against the wall to make a big open space in the center for my exercise mat. A small worn dresser and kid’s desk I’d lugged home from the thrift store made up the rest of the room’s furniture. I didn’t even have a nightstand. It was a miracle I had a closet.
He didn’t know Carly and I would be sharing this bed while she was in town. We hadn’t even discussed how long that would be yet. She’d promised to tell me everything this weekend, and since I had enough on my mind with my upcoming fight—my last before I fought Fox—I’d let it slide. My overloaded brain could only accommodate so much information, and she was a good kid. If she said everything was okay, I had to believe her.
God knew I needed to have faith in something.
I waited for him to tear into me. For what, I wasn’t even sure. My latest offense was walking out on the guests in my living room and hiding out like some uncivilized beast.
But he didn’t. He only pointed at the pair of items propped next to the narrow window. “You fence?”
Rather than answer, I uncurled myself from my position and walked over to pick up my foil. He’d moved to my side so I handed him the other.
“Kizzy and I fence here sometimes. It’s not sanctioned at the gym.”
A smile crooked up his mouth. “Can’t fence, but bruising your brain is fine. Good to hear they have standards.”
“Do you want to?” Afraid he’d get the wrong idea, I gestured with my weapon. “Fence, I mean. I have a protective chest panel you could wear. It’s not as good as a regular fencing outfit, but Kizzy’s won’t fit you.” When he didn’t immediately reply, I hurried ahead. “If you’re unfamiliar, I can show you the basics—”
“Sweetheart, I’d love for you to show me the basics to just about anything, but I know how to fence. I’ve just never done it in a room this small. It’s dangerous.”
Because I’d already caught the light of interest in his eyes, I nodded. He was like me that way. Adrenaline junkies until the end. “It can be.”
