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She slams her hand down on the mattress between us. “No! And I was going to say something but then when no one else did, I figured it wasn’t my place, you know? You were all up in his business, did he have one before?”
I shake my head. “No, definitely not.”
“So, spill,” Jaz says, waving her hand in the air. “Your turn. What the fuck happened?”
I let out a breath and tell her everything, from Cole spotting us dancing to his threat about the Ring. “Holy shit, Finn owns the Ring?” Her eyes bug out of her head.
“I know,” I grind out. “Can you believe Cole is making someone likehimoff limits. Like, dude, there’s not going to be a better guy in the Heights. He’s not a thug, and he owns his own business. He owns two freaking businesses.”
Jaz shakes her head. “He just really wants you to die alone, doesn’t he?”
I blink at her. She’s so serious that it makes me laugh. “He keeps telling me it’s about my safety.”
“Whichisa concern,” Jaz relents. “Bad things happen to people caught up in gang stuff.”
“But I’m not in the gang.”
She pouts. “We don’t need to talk about Maria, do we?”
I throw myself back on the bed, closing my eyes. I rub my temples, thinking back to high school when my brother’s friend and his sister got gunned down on the sidewalk. She was just caught in the middle of gang shit.
Jaz moves closer and places her head on my shoulder. “I know it’s hard, Leenie. Cole coming back turned your whole life upside down. It’s almost as if it’s not even yours anymore, but I don’t want you to end up like Maria. You can’t. I don’t know what I would do.” She chokes on her last words, and I know it’s not all alcohol propelling this talk. Jaz and I have discussed this before. We even talked seriously about one of us moving out.
The wholebrother being the leader of a huge gangthing is just so new, neither one of us knows what to do. Cole is simultaneously trying to keep me safe while also attempting to have a relationship with me.
I reach down to clasp our hands together. “I’ll apologize to Cole in the morning about going out without telling him.”
She hums under her breath, and her breathing deepens. She’s about to fall asleep, but she asks me one last question, anyway. “What are you going to do about Finn? If he stood up to your brother for you...”
She barely gets the words out, and I know she’s sleeping already. I don’t bother answering her, but I’m wondering the same thing. Most of the men in the Heights would’ve run away so fast, I would’ve thought they were a figment of my imagination.
While Jaz drunk snores on my shoulder, I know two things for sure. One, I have to have an honest and raw conversation with my brother, and two, I can’t let that be the last time I see Finn.
* * *
It wasn’thard to find out where Elite Boxing was. Just a few clicks once I Googled the gym name plus Rawley Heights afterward. I step off the bus stop and check my phone, but Cole hasn’t responded to either of my texts. I apologized, and then I told him we should meet to discuss things. I think both of us have been avoiding this conversation. Me, because I’m worried he’s going to try to send me out of the Heights, and the Heights is all I know. It’s where Jaz is, and Mom and Dad. Maybe he wants Mom and Dad out of here, too. Hell, I don’t even know what his plan is. The Heights is new territory for the Dragons, acquired when they killed the Heights Crew’s leader. He might not even know what he wants.
Staring at the phone screen doesn’t make the response come any quicker, so I tuck it back into my pants and continue down the street toward the strip mall where the gym is located. It’s in a better part of town than the warehouse district, but really, nowhere in Rawley Heights is actually all that great. But it’s home, and I have a comfortable life here.
The closer I get, I spy the sign above the gym that just readsBoxing. My stomach clenches. A bunch of cars are parked out front, and I suddenly don’t know why I thought that no one goes to the gym on Saturday. I was hoping I’d be able to talk to Finn alone, but that might not be the case.
I straighten my shoulders as I approach the door. Heaving it open, I blink when the short chime of a bell rings overhead. Not that anyone who wasn’t standing right under it would be able to hear it because inside Finn’s gym is absolute chaos. A boxing ring stands in the center where two guys are inside punching the crap out of each other. Around the outskirts of that are various pieces of equipment with shirtless guys involved in some aspect of training. A few are hitting speed bags. Some are jumping rope. In the left corner, blue mats section off a space in which a few guys wrestle.
I am legitimately the only person with a vagina in here. Testosterone is everywhere.
I almost lose my nerve, but that’s not my style. I pull up my big girl panties and move in further. The closest sweaty dude is stretching, so I approach him and ask for Finn. He looks around the wide-open space and points to the side of the boxing ring.
I spot him immediately, and I don’t know how I missed him before. With his hands wrapped around his mouth, he shouts things to the two fighters in the ring. He’s one of the only guys in here wearing a shirt, and like before, it hugs his torso like a glorious second skin.
A catcall whips through the gym, and I immediately stiffen. The piercing noise attracted a bunch of attention, so quite a few guys stare as I stride across the floor. The sad part is that I can’t bitch any of them out for taking back feminism a few decades with just one whistle because Finn is currently marching toward me.
I take a deep breath and stop in my tracks. He’s glowering, no longer wearing the easy smile I was so fond of from yesterday. But I came here to thank him, so I’m going to do it. There’s no backing out now.
When he gets close, my gaze drifts to the adorable indentation in his lip. After taking in my fill, I move upwards, studying the sharp cheekbones that give way to blue eyes. His hair falls forward, just grazing his ears.
“Leenie.”
I swallow, meeting his stare finally. He’s not giving anything away. Nerves stay my tongue but then I notice the bit of bruising around his eye and remember why I’m here. Yeah, he most definitely did not have that yesterday. Sure, it was dark, but I practically committed Finn to memory, and I would’ve seen the bluish-purple shadowing. “Hey.”