to dress. My closet is stocked with the same skimpy outfits, so instead of pulling on any number of those, I grab some joggers and a cut-off t-shirt. Once I’m dressed, I run my fingers through my still wet hair, but it’ll have to do because I’m sure my half hour is up.
I haven’t heard a word out of the guys since I’ve been in here, so I walk out. It turns out Brawler is the only one in the apartment. He lifts his head from his phone when I walk in. Rising to his feet, he pulls me in for a quick hug before saying. “They’re next door in Mag’s place. You better go.”
He leads me to the door, opening it. Mag’s door is open, and the copper-headed bodyguard is sitting facing the door, so he waves for me to come in and then gestures for me to shut the door behind me. Brawler stays where he is, which makes sense because this is Crew business, and luckily, Brawler isn’t Crew.
“She just walked in,” Oscar says.
Oscar moves over, allowing me space on Mag’s couch. I sit, facing the laptop that’s open in front of us that holds Johnny and his father. I trap a breath in my chest after seeing Johnny. He has a fresh black eye, and I immediately ball my hands to fists. Whoever touched him will fucking pay for that.
I’m about to open up my mouth and ask when Magnum butts in. “What do you need me to do?”
Big Daddy K smiles at Magnum approvingly. Subtle differences differentiate this Magnum with the Jacob of yesterday. This one looks like a giant steel rod is shoved up his ass. He’s so tense. His face not only impassive but serious. It’s a far cry from the guy who hugged me yesterday, but I understand the role each of us need to play. I wish I could play it better myself sometimes.
“I’ll get to that shortly but let me take a look at Kyla here.”
I take my eyes off Johnny. Other than a sad smile he gave me that I didn’t return, he’s super stiff next to his father, and I’m immediately on edge thinking it was K who hit him.
“I’m glad to see you back at the tower and safe.”
Focus, Kyla. Fucking focus. I need to act the part, and with the way Johnny’s eyes are begging me right now, I know he’s thinking the same thing. “Thanks to you and Johnny,” I say. “Let me know what I can do to make it up to you.”
“Nonsense,” K says, though it doesn’t look like he believes the words at all. “That’s what family is for.”
My stomach heaves, and I throw up a little in my mouth. After just imagining my family being the ones surrounding me right now, the thought that Big Daddy K would even be in the vicinity is physically making me sick.
“I just can’t figure out why your fingerprints would’ve shown up on the gun.”
I swallow and take a leap. Heights kids own guns, so this shouldn’t be a revelation. “Probably because it’s my gun,” I tell K, locking gazes with him. He tilts his head just off-center, so I continue. “My gun was in my apartment, but it got ransacked after the shootout that night. What I don’t understand is how the police knew they were my fingerprints. It’s not as if I’ve ever been in trouble before.”
“Fucking Reynolds,” Johnny curses. “I told you he was after her for some reason.”
His father sneers at him, but Johnny doesn’t back down.
“He probably got your fingerprints from that school. Didn’t you have a meeting with him in the principal’s office that one time? He could’ve gotten it off anything you touched.”
A meeting? If he means browbeat into talking to him, then yes, I guess it was a meeting. Either way, his explanation makes sense. It’s one I came up with myself and even had my fingers crossed so damn tightly that it wouldn’t get traced even further back to Joanne Ridley. Because I didn’t know how they’d gotten them, I wasn’t sure who knew what, and I still need to keep that part of my life separate from this one.
“Don’t worry about the charges, Kyla,” Big Daddy K says, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he actually meant every word that was coming out of his mouth. His voice is like butter, and he’s so put together that looks are definitely deceiving in