Page 77 of Lavish

Reese held his hands up. “Laurene insisted I invite him. Thought it might be good for you two to hash things out. You’re family now.”

Family.That didn’t seem to be any fucking help, now did it?

Erik walked closer to us, and his gaze flickered over to Reese. He gave him a quick nod before frowning at me. “Reese. You didn’t tell me he was going to be here.”

“I’m not exactly doing cartwheels to see you either,” I shot back.

“Anything happens to my sister, it’s your ass I’m coming after.” Erik took a step toward me. “You should have taken the money and left.”

“You can’t get rid of me.” I laughed. “You’re the one who ended our friendship. I didn’t want to.”

“It wasn’t an easy choice, Miles. But sometimes you have to make the hard decisions. You should understand that by now.”

Erik was the whistleblower. He told everyone and was responsible for the downfall that came after.

Betrayal choked me, my voice trembling. “I thought we were brothers, Erik.”

Erik’s face hardened again. “And I thought you’d understand why I had to do it. It’s not something that I wanted to do.”

“You didn’t have to do it at all.”

“Omar was going to hurt a lot of people, but most of all, you and Audrey. If you weren’t going to save yourself, you should have been protecting your mother.”

My stomach twisted. “Don’t bring her into this.”

“You know I’m telling the truth, and that part of you that’s ashamed knows it. You bitched out on your own mama.”

Reese intervened firmly. “Enough. This isn’t helping either of you.”

Erik nodded and took a step back, eyeing me up and down. Then he looked at Reese. “Hand over those gloves.”

Reese glanced at me and Erik. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Give him the gloves,” I said.

He sighed, then passed them over. “Fine.”

Erik grabbed them, his eyes blazing into mine. I saw his old rage, a fire waiting to explode. He stepped into the ring, and I followed him. All the gym noise was gone.

We circled each other, feet lightly shuffling. His stance was solid, but I knew the way he fought.

I couldn’t forget our hurtful words from all those years ago.

We didn’t have to be this way.

My breath was steady, but my mind was spinning. How did we end up here? Best friends once. We were practically like wolves, ready to tear each other apart.

His quick jab caught me off guard. I blocked it, the shock going right through my gloves. I instinctively punched him in the ribs. But instead of backing off, Erik grinned—a piercing, feral thing that made the anger in me surge.

“This didn’t need to happen,” he mumbled.

“No, it didn’t,” I said, my fists going wild.

With every heavier blow, the sounds of our fists colliding echoed through the space, an erratic rhythm punctuated by grunts and strained breaths. Erik’s hits became harder and his jaw clenched as he sent jabs aimed at my face. I ducked, but his next punch hit my temple, sending a white-hot flash of pain through my skull.

I drove my fist toward his midsection, and this time, he stumbled back, the mat giving a low squeak under his shoes. His chest heaved, a ragged, painful breath catching in his throat, as he wiped the blood from his lip with a gloved hand, never breaking eye contact.

“That all you’ve got?” he sneered angrily.