I didn’t acknowledge anyone as I walked into the burger joint and behind the counter. The manager's office was empty, but the usual container with pay slips inside was on the desk. I rifled through for mine, then plucked it out, not wanting to stay here a moment longer than I had to.
Holding my head high, I sauntered out and back onto the street, hooking a right so I could go to the grocery store. I didn’t look around me as I went, keeping my focus straight ahead, but a flashing light in the corner of my eye caught my attention.
The words, Fighter Alley flashed in bold above the top of the gym I’d walked past time and time again. Any other time I wouldn’t have stopped, but after last night, I couldn’t help moving closer to the windows to try and see inside.
They were dark, not letting anyone look inside. And for some reason, I found myself walking toward the door and pulling it open. My body had a mind of its own, and when I realized what I was doing, it was too late to stop it.
“Can I help you?” a young woman from behind the desk asked. Her shoulder length brown hair was curled, her bright-blue eyes looking bored. She was looking at me, but I wasn't sure what to say. Could she help me? I had no idea what I was doing here. No idea what to say.
So I spun on my heels and headed for the door, yanking it open and escaping before anyone else saw me there.
Chapter Seven
Nixon
She thought no one had seen her come in, and maybe they hadn’t.
But I had.
Her expression was full of confusion, at herself or what she’d just walked into, I didn’t know. But she’d walked in here like she was after something, she just didn’t know what yet.
My stomach flipped as I watched her pull the door open and practically run away. She’d known someone was following her last night, she hadn’t seen my face, but she’d come in here anyway.
Maybe she thought she was in danger. Maybe she wanted to learn some self-defense.
Or maybe she was trying to get my attention without even knowing it.
She didn’t need to do that though because she’d had my full attention from the first moment that I’d seen her. I’d never forget when her eyes had met mine for the first time. She hadn’t looked at me, not really, but I’d still seen the secrets she held in her shining blue eyes. I’d seen the pain she carried, but more than that, I’d witnessed the fight she had.
It didn’t take a genius to work out that she was trying to better herself and be more than everyone around her thought she was. What she didn’t know was that she was already winning. She was on the right track, a track I hadn’t been on when I was her age. She was determined to be better.
“Nix!” Coach shouted.
I snapped my head around, my breathing erratic. It wasn’t from my workout though, it was because of her. She stole the show every night of the week, but she’d never ventured into my world.
We were in uncharted territory. Not knowing what was coming next. All I did know was that I couldn’t wait to see her face again.
“I’m done for today,” I barked out, pulling my head guard off and sauntering across the canvas of the practice cage in the middle of the gym.
“What?” Coach huffed out a breath and rubbed at his temples. “You can’t let up, Nix. Not now you have the belt.”
I shrugged, not caring. I needed to get out of here. I needed to be close to her. She had no idea what was coming her way, but I was done with waiting. I’d watched her for what felt like a lifetime, and now I wanted to go a step further.
Coach barked some colorful words at me as I jumped down from the cage, but I didn’t acknowledge him. Everyone in the gym was watching me as I walked across the mats and toward the locker room. A quick shower and change of clothes took me no more than ten minutes, and then I was out of the door.
Watching her wasn’t enough anymore. I needed to insert myself into her life. I needed to find out what made her tick, what made her smile, what made her angry.
I was on a mission—a mission to make her mine.
Chapter Eight
Kloey
Emily: Guess who’s in town, bitch?!
I stared down at the message, a smile immediately lifting at my lips. My thumb hit the reply button but before I was even two words in, slamming on my apartment door ricocheted around me.
“Let me in!”
I laughed as I dropped my cell onto my sofa then beelined it for the door. A quick turn of my lock was all it took for her to barge inside, bright yellow dress in tow.
Emily was the most colorful person I knew, both literally and figuratively.
Her stripey tights took me back to the first day we met in one of our many foster homes. She’d been in the system since she was born. She knew it better than anyone, which was why she took me under her wing that first day.
She was ten and I was six. But that didn’t stop her from telling me all of the ins and outs of how to survive life as a foster kid.
We’d go months without seeing each other then we’d end up back together again before being split up.
Things weren’t any different now even though I was nineteen and she was twenty-three. Emily was a free spirit, and I loved that most about her.
“Finally!” Emily huffed out a breath, dropped her bags to the floor, then wrapped her arms around me.
I could barely breathe with how tight her
