at him, remember?”
“Jesus, that’s true, isn’t it?”
She nods. “Have you looked him up at all?”
“Meaning …?”
“Oh, come on! You borderline stalked Harrison Reeves, yet you haven’t him?”
“First, stalked is a really harsh word. Second”—I throw myself back in my seat—“his IG is private.”
She laughs. “I can help investigate on Thursday after school.”
“Brand leaves Thursday morning, right?” I ask.
She nods. “Come stay with me for the weekend.”
“You should ask Tris to stay with you on Saturday night,” I suggest.
“I love my little bundle of Brand in my belly, but it sucks I can’t be there.”
“Tris could use a little Kiki time.”
“I could use a little Tris time, too, I suppose.”
Wednesday
Same soft cast boot, different day … or something like that.
The horsemen, minus Easton, seem to be around every corner, and not one person has uttered an ugly word at me all day. It’s been perfect, actually.
I am the first of my crew, at the fitness center, having snuck out of my last class in hopes of avoiding the parade of horsemen, but I’m not alone.
Today, Tobias is in black Nike tennis shoes, white Nike track pants with a black swoosh on his narrow hip. His shoulders act as a clothes hanger to a black Nike hoodie with a white swoosh. His hood is down today, and he has a backward white ball cap on. For the first time—well, except for that time I saw him stepping out of his shower, and that one time in the ring—his head is held high and his Persian blue eyes are intense, so damn intense.
Thankfully, I didn’t fall today.
Guilt riddles me at the way I get so hot for the boy that Justice will be fighting on Saturday. Thankfully, no one can see it, and even more gratefully, Justice seems actually excited about the fight and is taking my advice on footwork, as well as working with the knowledge that Patrick, Brisa, and I have from watching Tobias fight. All those things help ease the guilt I have about that, too.
Tobias is hitting the bag with a ferocity that makes me shudder.
He’s not hot today. He’s the enemy.
He stops his assault on the bag and, with his back to me, begins to pace, his chest heaving and falling as I sit down on a mat with my lunch, back to the wall.
“You should really wear a fucking bell,” he pants.
“You should know, if you hurt him, I’ll hate you with every fiber of my being.”
He snaps his head back and glares at me. “I didn’t ask for this fight. He did.”
Pissed, I hop—yes, hop—up and make my way toward him. “You’ve been begging for one of them to fight since we got here.”
“Is that the”—he air quotes my name—“ ‘Truth?’ ”
“Fuck you,” I spit at him.
“I’d rather fuck—”
“Wasn’t offering. And spare me the itty bitty visual. I know you and Double Dee have a thing. Good for you. But you hurt him, you’ll pay.”
“Don’t threaten me, Truth.”
“This is my fault. Okay, I get it. But I’d rather you punch me in the face than hurt my brother.”
“You have that little faith in him?” He shakes his head.
“No, he’s sparred with bigger than you most of his life. It’s you I have no faith in.”
He licks his lips as he steps closer and lifts his hand like he’s going to touch me. My nipples tighten in anticipation, as he looks down at them, and stops himself.
“What’s wrong Easton? You afraid you’ll pop a pup tent in your sweats if you—”
“Shut the fuck up,” he snaps. “You stick to having no faith in me, or any other assholes around here. None of us want you for anything other than to stir up your boys.”
Ouch.
His eyes move from one of mine to the next, and then he looks me up and down. “That right there is your truth. Never lose focus on it.”
“What?” I ask as he walks around me.
He grabs his bag and towel off the bench by the wall then turns toward me, pinning me with an angry glare. “Any other thoughts you may have in that pre—” He stops, clenches his jaw, his nostrils flaring, before continuing, “In that pathetic head of yours, shut it down, because I would ruin you.”
Rendered speechless, angry … hurt by the word pathetic, which in and of itself is pathetic, because who the fuck is he anyway? I stand and watch him through the mirrors on the wall as he walks out of the fitness center and the girls