Page 13

CHAPTER 13

MCCOY

“You had a gym down here the whole time?” Earth asked, looking around my home gym.

“Yeah.” I laughed as I slowed down my speed on the treadmill to a light jog. “I don’t use it often, but it’s here.”

“I been working out in the room since I got here,” he said, shaking his head. “If I’d known this was down here, we would’ve been sparring down here.”

“I don’t think what we’ve been doing can be considered sparring.” I wiped my face with the small hand towel I had hung on the handrail.

“What you call it then?” He sat on the floor near the machine I was running on and started to stretch. “'Cause, in my opinion, that’s what we been doing.” His naturally low eyes swept over my body before returning to my eyes.

“Learning to throw a punch,” I answered, and he grunted.

“You knew how to do that, you just had to learn how to do it correctly.” Once he was done stretching, he got into the push-up position. “All I did was show you.”

“Who taught you to fight? Your daddy?” I asked as he did pushups.

“Nah.” He grunted. He moved effortlessly up and down. “I was hardheaded, so he put me in boxing classes as a kid to try and get a hold of my anger and quick temper.”

“Did it work?” I asked with a slight laugh.

“Nope.” He laughed and shook his head. “If anything, it made me feel unstoppable. I was knocking niggas almost ten years my senior out.”

“So you were good?” I increased my speed as we talked. If he could work out, then so could I.

“Until I met Nine.” He laughed. “That nigga walked into the gym one day, beat the black off my ass, and walked right out the gym. I trained for months after that, hoping he would come back.”

“Did he?”

“Fuck yeah. He smirked. “And he beat my ass again.”

“What?” I had to jump off the treadmill to keep from falling because I was laughing so hard. “He beat you up twice?”

Earth stopped doing push-ups and sat on the floor. “That nigga beat my ass ten more times. Each time we stepped into the ring, he knocked me on my ass.” He shook his head and smiled. “I didn’t learn until almost eight months into us sparring on and off that my pop had trained and paid him to show up and fuck me up.”

“Why did he do that?”

“To humble my ass.” He shrugged. “I told you I thought I was unstoppable back then and my pop knew the only way I would chill the fuck out was to have somebody go upside my head. He knew Nine would be that nigga.”

“How?”

“Nine is a computer genius. Nigga can hack into anything at any given moment, but the nigga has zero people skills. At times, I think he is autistic.”

“Really?” I felt like a parrot for asking the same two questions, but I didn’t care. Earth’s life was interesting, and he always had a good story to tell.

“Yeah, but I know now he isn’t.” Earth got back in the push-up position, then nodded at the treadmill. “Start your run back up.” I’d damn near forgotten about the machine. Luckily, I had one that stopped spinning if it didn’t feel pressure after thirty seconds, so all I had to do was step back on and the belt started rolling. Once I was back at my speed, Earth nodded and continued doing his push-ups. “Anyway, Nine is just a solo ass nigga. He looks out for his family and works.”

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend?”

“Nah,” he replied. “I know at one point he was serious about someone, but he never brought her around.”

“Why?”

“No clue,” he said, shaking his head. “And I didn’t ask. I respect his boundaries when it comes to his personal life.”

“So how did y’all become friends after he beat you up all those times?” I couldn’t help but giggle when I heard Earth suck his teeth.

“Like I said, he could hack into anything. Back in the day, I was a jack boy; both me and Fire were. We stole everything that wasn’t bolted to the ground, but we wanted to level up and cars were the next best options.” He stopped doing push-ups and stood. “Keep running.” I nodded. “Anyway, we didn’t want to deal with the everyday cars; we wanted the expensive stuff. Like I said, Nine could hack anything, including car security systems. He and his little Blackberry phone made us a lot of money.”

“So, he went from beating you up to being your partner in crime?”

“Yep.” He laughed. “Made money as teens, flipped it, and started our own businesses. Nine owns a couple of security companies and moves money on the stock market for us.”

“And you?”

“I own an investment company and a few rental properties,” I answered and shrugged. “Nothing too major.”

“I knew that, you know?” I said, smiling.

“Knew what?”

“That you owned your own business,” I answered, laughing. “I did my research before having your grabbed.”

“Then what you ask for?”

“To see what you would tell me.” I slowed down on the treadmill. “People tend to pretend they are something they aren’t, especially when it comes to men. As soon as they realize it’s a good chance I make more money than them, they tend to embellish what they do.”

“I ain’t one to lie, Coy.” He laughed. “You can make all the money you want, and I’d never be jealous of that shit.”

My phone rang, pulling my attention from our conversation. Alexa read off the number and I sighed. It was Jamel’s cousin, Leon. If he was calling me, that meant someone else was in jail and they expected me to get them out.

“Not someone you want to talk to?” Earth said once the phone stopped ringing.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “They aren’t even worth the headache I would get talking to them.

“Cool,” Earth said, nodding. “Let’s get back to our workout.” He tapped the treadmill control panel and stopped it. “You know how to jump rope?”

“Yes,” I answered as I got off the treadmill.

“Show me,” he said as he handed me one of the jump ropes I had hanging on the wall. “Whoever loses has to cook dinner.”

“Deal,” I agreed.

“And just so you know, I like my steak medium well, broccoli soft with extra butter, and my potato with all the fixings.”

“Me too!” I laughed as I started jumping. Earth smirked, shook his head, and followed suit. “I’m ten seconds ahead of you.”

“Alexa, start the timer,” he said with a laugh.