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"My mom was the best person I've ever known." I started as Victoria sat back down across from me. "We never had much, not even before Dad got sick, but she made sure to do her best tokeep our family's troubles away from me and let me be a kid. It wasn't like every other kid in Southside didn't have the same or worse going on at home, but I got to be naïve a little longer than most the rest of them. It wasn't until Dad got sick that I even realized how desperate our financial situation was."

"Az–"

"It's alright," I stopped her, waving my hand to brush off whatever she had intended to say. "I got into a lot of fights after my dad got sick. Seeing my mom pick up shifts, coming home so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but not stopping until me and my dad were cared for, it made me angry. I'd imagine a shrink would say that's where my penchant for lashing out stems from."

"I can't say I understand it completely, but I get the anger that comes with losing a parent." Victoria spoke softly.

"When you say stuff like that, it reminds me of her." I replied, one side of my mouth ticking up in a half-hearted smile. "She'd pick me up from school after I got in trouble for fighting and tell me she understood why I was angry. There were a few times she set up cans and bottles she'd collected to recycle for some extra cash and set me loose on them with the baseball bat we kept by the door."

"Did it help?"

"Some," I shrugged. "But then my dad died and my mom couldn't make ends meet anymore. One day she took me to your mother's office in the center and asked if there was anyway I could be cared for overnights. She said that was when the best money was made on the corner. I was old enough by then to realize what she was doing. I tried to fight her about to, offered to find a job to help pay the bills, but she made sure I was persona non grata because she wanted me to focus on school."

"You'd think I'd remember you from back then." Victoria sighed.

"Nah, we were kids, and at that age, four years is a big enough age gap that I would have made it a point to not be around you. Kid germs and all."

Victoria snickered and shook her head.

"Prudence made sure I was taken care of. I'm pretty sure she's the reason I landed the scholarship, because my grades were shit. I didn't care about anything back then except getting my mom back the way she'd been before my dad. She was the mom that came to every school play, every field trip, and every little league game. I'd stopped participating in any of it after dad died, or else I know she'd have found a way to keep making it happen." I paused, huffing out a breath through my nose. "She'd have liked you, and she'd have been really pissed at me for the way I've treated you."

"Is that what you meant that night at my Father's about a lesson you learned from your mother?" She asked.

"Yeah. She raised me to treat women well and never allow anyone to talk down to or over them. Before you laugh, I am well aware of my failings." I chuckled. "If my mother were around to witness them, she'd tan my hide, thirty years old or not."

"She sounds like someone I'd have loved to know."

My eyes scanned over Victoria, taking in the way her shoulders still slumped forward as she sat on the mat opposite me. "Yeah, I think she'd have loved to know you, too." I said before standing and offering her my hand. "That's enough chick flick shit for now, though. We have more training to do before you're done for the day. I'll be damned if I screw up another of my mother's rules."

"And which rule is that?" She laughed, allowing me to help her to her feet.

"Never leave a woman unprotected when she's in trouble."

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Victoria

I was sure Az was trying to kill me. We'd met in the gym so he could continue my self-defense lessons for a second day in a row, and he'd gone harder on me than the day before. My head hung between my knees while I panted to catch my breath and hoped like hell my roiling stomach wouldn't result in my breakfast on the mat.

"Your phone's ringing, Princess." Az said, lifting the cold washcloth he'd placed on my neck.

I groaned and forced myself to my feet. "Az-hole." I muttered under my breath, eliciting a chuckle from him as I wobbled to the cubbies to retrieve my phone.

It had stopped ringing by the time I picked it up. Flipping open the screen to check my missed call, my brows furrowed. The call had been from the center. My hands trembled, and my breathing grew erratic as I pressed redial and brought the phone to my ear.

"Victoria!" Mrs. McMillan answered on the first ring. "I need you to get down here to the center."

"I… is everything alright?" My voice trembled.

"Oh, it's nothing like what you're worried about, honey. It's an administration matter, but it's urgently time sensitive." The older woman rushed to explain, and it took several seconds forme to get my breathing back under control. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, no. It's fine, I'm alright. Still just… dealing with it." I took a deep breath and forced my tone to even out. "Give me a minute to finish up here, Mrs. McMillan. I'll change and be right down." We exchanged goodbyes, and I flipped the phone closed.

"Everything alright?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

"Yeah, nothing like before. She said it was administrative, and she needed me to come down. I just… don't know if I'm ready to do that. I should just call her back and tell her to email everything over." I said, fidgeting with my phone. My stomach was tying itself in knots as flashes of my destroyed office raced through my mind.

"Look at me," Az commanded, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Are you going to keep letting someone scare you away from what you love, Princess? Or are you going to be the stubborn brat I know you are and balls up?"