Q parks on the side of the road and climbs out with a box of doughnuts and a cardboard tray filled with coffees. “I figured Hal might need provisions.”
“Bring that coffee over here, kid. I’ve needed a refill since about four,” Big Mike says, waving Q in his direction. “You look like you’ve been up all night too.”
Q’s normally slicked-back hair is messed up like he’s been running his hands through it over and over. Knowing my friend like I do, his dad must be right.
I meet him as he walks up the driveway. “What happened?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing else like you’re thinking. No sign of Moses. Locksmith just finished up. I paid him triple to get his ass there and change every lock in the place, and add new dead bolts to the tunnel doors. I don’t know how Moses got inside, but he shouldn’t be able to get in again unless he’s fucking Houdini.”
“Thanks, man. You went above and beyond.”
He holds out the doughnuts. “Nah, that was what needed to happen. Above and beyond is the doughnuts. I got three with pink frosting and sprinkles for Bump. Thought it might help him forget what happened last night.”
I take the box of doughnuts and pass them to Big Mike before giving Q a back-slapping hug. “Thank you. Seriously. Fucking thank you.”
“You’d do the same for me,” Q says with a shrug.
“Absolutely, brother.”
“We gotta talk this out. Break it down. Come up with a plan,” Big Mike says.
I scan the neighborhood again, but I don’t see any unusual vehicles, even though I’m suspicious as hell this morning.
With my hands shoved in the pockets of my sweats, I turn to face him. “I’ll give you the short version, because we’re too exposed to spend hours talking about this here.”
“Short and sweet is all I need,” Big Mike replies.
“Moses wants me to throw the fight.”
“The fuck you will,” Big Mike says, jumping out of his chair. He’s already turning red in the face. “What the hell is he going to do if you don’t?”
“If he doesn’t get his money, which, by the way, he’s jacked up to one point five mil . . . he says he’ll take everything from me.”
A vein throbs in Big Mike’s forehead, and Hal just shakes his head. “That’s a shit deal.”
“I know.”
“Let’s think it through.” Q crosses his arms over his chest. “Moses wants this fight to happen without any problem, so that means he’s not planning to touch you before it.”
“He also said that he could’ve popped me plenty of times,” I add, “but he wants his money first.”
“So you’re safe until the fight,” Q says. “And hopefully Bump and Scarlett are too.”
“I’m not taking chances with them.” I look to Hal. “You’re staying with her everywhere she goes. If she’s in her building, you’re out front where you have a view of the entrance and the side door. Got it?”
Hal nods. “Abso-fucking-lutely, boss. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“What about Bump?” Q glances toward the service station.
“Bump stays with us,” Big Mike says. “He can come to work with me, and he’ll be happy as a pig in shit to watch football all the time and eat Joanie’s cooking. He’ll be safe.”
I think about the suggestion for a few minutes and then agree. “Yeah, I like that. Keeps Bump busy, which is for the best. I don’t want him thinking about what happened last night. Being at the club might freak him out for a while.”
Hal shuffles his feet. “Then we got the kid and the girl covered, but what about you?”
I shake my head. “We just said Moses wouldn’t come after me. I believe that.”
“That’s not what I mean. You need to start training. This fight is supposed to happen in a month. That’s not a lot of time to get back in shape to go three rounds.”
Hal is right. I’ve kept up training, but not at the level I should have in order to be ready to step into the cage.
“The fight’s not even a sure thing yet,” Q says. “We haven’t heard from the guys. No contracts have been signed. What if . . . it doesn’t happen?”
“It has to happen,” Big Mike whispers, and I nod, thinking about what Jimmy Jones, Harlow’s husband, told me.
“Last night, a high-profile sports agent told me it’s happening. He heard through the grapevine that they chose us for the venue too. I’m just waiting for the final word and the paperwork.”
“And Bodhi Black?” Q asks. “Are we sure he’s going to take it?”
Hal jumps in to answer that question. “Black would never walk away from this opportunity. He wants your head, man.”
“Dangerous to fight a man who’s got nothing to lose and has been training hard for months,” Big Mike says quietly as he meets my gaze. “You sure this is a good idea? You could pull the plug on it before the thing is even on the books. Tell them the venue won’t work.”
Q glares at his dad. “You’re trying to talk him out of it? Really?”
Big Mike’s expression hardens, and the crease between his bushy brows deepens. “This isn’t a walk in the fucking park, son, and you’re not the one getting in that ring—”
“I would.”
“I’m doing it,” I say to stop them from getting into the argument that’s coming. “I have no choice.”
Big Mike winces at me. “But you can’t win.”
“I have to win.”
“And what are we going to do about Moses?” Q asks.
I meet my best friend’s gaze. “I’ve gotta take him out before he has a chance to hurt another goddamn person I love.”
Seven
Scarlett
I wake up with my shoulder blades pressing into the hard floor beneath the air mattress. A wet nose nudges my arm. I open my eyes and smile at a waiting Roux.
“You need to go out, girl?”
She nudges me again. Scanning the room, I spot Bump’s feet sticking out of his couch-cushion cave. Soft snores tell me he’s still out, but there’s no sign of Gabriel.
Roux whines, so I roll off the air mattress, glad I borrowed one of Gabriel’s T-shirts and a pair of sweats last night, and yawn as I pad toward the door and down the stairs. A minute later, she’s bounding outside, across the driveway, to her dad.
As soon as Roux nudges his hand, Gabriel whips around to see me.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I was coming back up.”
Q stands near a man who I assume is Big Mike, his father, because he looks like Q’s clone, only about twenty-five years older and barrel-chested. Hal leans against the SUV blocking the driveway. The grave expressions on the men’s faces tell me that they’ve been discussing what happened last night. I have some things to say about it too, so I move to Gabriel.
“What’d you decide?”
He takes my hand and pulls me into his side. “Nothing much. Just getting everyone up to speed and making sure you and Bump are safe.”