Page 9

“Worked,” Glo growls. “Last night, he got shot in the head.”
“So, you thought you’d waltz in here and take something from us?” Big Daddy K asks.
My stomach rolls at that. There’s not anuswhere he’s concerned. At least not truly. Not on the inside because I will hate this fucker with a fury no one will understand until the day I die.
“I was hoping for you or your shitty excuse for a son, but I decided I’d take what I could get while you cowards hid.”
“Well, now you have nothing,” Big Daddy K says. He reaches into his back pocket to retrieve a handkerchief. A fucking handkerchief like he’s a mobster from the fifties. Then, he finally reaches up to wipe Glo’s spit from his face. He does it slowly, making everyone wait as he carefully glides the cloth down his cheek, then folds the blue square in half, using a clean side to do it all over again. “Take her downstairs,” he orders.
Downstairs? What the fuck is downstairs? The parking lot?
Big Daddy K turns, placing his hand on his son’s shoulders. Behind him, two guards, including the one I sent away, drag Glo from the room. Big Daddy K ignores the insults she throws his way and makes his way toward me. The closer he comes, the more agitated I get. Magnum shifts his body out of the way, which makes me even more uncomfortable. It was nice to have a buffer. Eventually, Big Daddy K stops a few steps away from me, and I sigh in relief. I was just about to step back to get away from him. The more he’s in my space, the more I don’t like it. At least he hasn’t tried to touch me. Yet.
He takes in my appearance with a small frown. I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact that I was just rolling around on the floor fighting with a grief-stricken lunatic. By the way, I’m also a grief-stricken lunatic, so that’s not a putdown. If you think about it, Glo and I are the same. I was just smarter about my attack. Do I think she should have tried to kill me? Fuck no. But can I blame her? Not really. The vengeance bug caught her too.
“Where was your guard when this happened?” Big Daddy K looks down at what’s left of the broken lamp on the floor and accepts the gun one of his guards hands him.
“I sent him away. I thought I was going to be trying on clothes.”
His jaw ticks. “Wasn’t this woman checked when she entered?” he asks. He’s staring at me, but I know he’s not looking for me to answer, and everyone else knows it, too. The phalanx of black-dressed guards in the room hang their heads. “This, of all times,” he says, voice growing harder. “We knew there would be retaliation. I don’t care if you know these people or not. I don’t care if you stood next to their brother yesterday in the Goddamn parking lot, that doesn’t excuse you from checking each and every fucking person who comes in here.” He waves his hand out. “Now leave before I decide to take my anger out on all of you.”
Johnny eyes them as the group leaves. His chin is made of chiseled stone. He looks like if he could kill them all, he would.
After the mass exodus, a few linger behind. The guy I can’t look at or think about, Magnum, Johnny, myself, and Big Daddy K. The latter rubs his face. Between the gaps in his hands, he lets his true feelings show. He’s exhausted, and he’s pissed. But once he’s done rubbing his face, he smiles at me. I’m so out of my depths with his guy, I don’t know what to do. “Kyla, I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
I swallow. I’m not thanking him. Fuck that. Though, those are the words that immediately spring to mind because if someone says they’re glad you’re okay, you automatically want to thank them. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow it back. I don’t know what he’s going to do about Glo. I can’t even blame her for what she did, but I doubt they carry those same feelings. If it were up to me, I’d ask her to be sent home. No harm. No foul. Maybe keep a watch on her for a few days to make sure she doesn’t do anything else stupid. But the Heights Crew doesn’t work like that. They’re far less forgiving.
She’s probably already dead.
Big Daddy K gestures toward the black leather couch behind me. I turn, make my way over to it, and have a seat. My shin is bothering me again, which means I should probably ice it. My body feels like it’s been thrown in a washing machine. I don’t know which way is forward anymore, all I know is I’ve walked through hell to be this confused and fucked up.
He sits next to me, angling his knees toward my own. I make sure I’m just out of his reach because the last thing I need is for him to put his hands on me again like we’re old friends. Too many things swirl through my brain at the moment. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you properly last evening. I understand you have some questions about what happened last night.”
My face flames. Not because I’m embarrassed, but because I’m fucking pissed. I told Johnny that in confidence. Or what I thought should have been in confidence. A conversation between two people, who—I don’t know—fucking like each other? It certainly wasn’t meant to go anywhere besides the two of us.
But because the cat is out of the bag, I lift my gaze to meet his. “Why did you kill her?”
He cocks his head slightly, like he’s trying to make me out. Maybe he doesn’t ever have people question him? Maybe he’s just trying to figure out why I care. I don’t know.
“I don’t want to diminish your fight, Kyla. You fought admirably. You did what I asked you to do, and I thank you for that. What happened after was going to happen whether you won or lost. The Heights Crew is at the top of the food chain. Do you know why? Because we don’t let people walk all over us. What happened yesterday was a culmination of that woman’s actions. You either die a winner or a loser, Kyla, and she died a loser. Me? I’m making sure I die a winner, and that means protecting what’s mine at all costs. It was my territory. Not hers. The fight was just a ruse to sucker her in so I could do what I’ve wanted to do for years but never had the opportunity.Yougave me that opportunity.”
Oh God, if he thanks me, I’m going to puke. He says it like I should be proud of that fact, but I’m not. If this really is all because of me, then I’m the reason why Roza Fonz died. I’m the reason why Glo’s brother got shot and bled out.
“This life isn’t for everybody, Kyla, but I think there’s something in you. I want you to be our prizefighter in the rings. Johnny’s told me you also want that, so wish granted, little fighter. You’re now number one. You’ve earned it.”
Satisfaction should be rolling through me, warming my skin. I get to fight, one of the things I loved from my old life, here, to make me feel human again in this one, but now’s not the time for that. I know I’ve already lost before I’ve even begun.
But at his words, I allow myself to finally find the one person in the room I’ve wanted to see more than anything.
Oscar’s dark eyes are already focused on me, piercing through every barrier I have in place. Funny enough, though I’m relieved he’s okay, I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted to punch someone more.
5
That feeling grows and grows as Johnny and Big Daddy K leave the room to deal with the situation downstairs. I can’t even focus on that because I won’t like the outcome, but there’s also nothing I can do about it. I can’t plead her case. I can’t help her. She made her bed, and I’m not ruining my plans to save hers.
I stare Oscar down, and he flashes me a smirk.
I can’t even with this fucker.