I hesitate to take them from him.
“It’s just a random Thursday bouquet, Miss Steel, from your not-so-secret admirer.”
My heart beats a bit faster as I reach out and take them.
“No strings, just stems.”
I feel my face blush. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome, Miss Steel.”
He then steps aside, and I walk past him to the fitness center, making sure I walk slow and not run to my girls and ask them to remind me he’s an asshole.
When I walk into the fitness center, it’s empty. I set the flowers down and start drafting a text to Kiki, Brisa, and the self-proclaimed love guru Tris when the door opens.
Smiling, I look up and feel my smile wobble.
He looks past me to the bench, the muscles in his jaw begin to flex, fists clenched as he looks back at me and, in a deep Dad-like growl, says, “Anyone but him.”
Expelling the word, “Why?” seems to leave me breathless.
“Because I fucking said so,” he sneers as he walks past me and right to the speed bag.
“What the hell, Truth?” Brisa squeals as she walks in the door and rushes not to me but to the flowers. “Harrison fucking Reeves.” She laughs as she picks them up and smells them.
Behind us, I hear bam, bam, bam, bam.
In the mirror, I see him at the speed bag.
“I told you all,” Tris sighs exaggeratedly. “My God, if you kids would all just listen to me once in a while.”
Bam, bam, bam, bam.
Kiki walks in, laughing. “You sure did, LG.”
“What’s LG mean?” Tris asks.
“Love guru,” Kiki jokes.
“Laugh all you want, but if you need any advice on keeping it fresh with Brand when this honeymoon stage wears off, I got you.”
Bam, bam, bam, bam.
Watching him, I swear my heart is beating at the same pace as his strikes, feeding off his pheromones like I’m starved and haven’t eaten in weeks.
“And when you get ready”—Tris smirks—“I have all sorts of tricks to teach you.”
Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, smash.
I watch in the mirror as the speed bag flies off the chain, hits the mirror, and the glass cracks.
“Fuck this!” Tobias yells as he grabs his towel, storming past us and out the door.
“Holy shit!” Kiki gasps.
“What the hell was that all about?” Brisa whispers.
“No idea.” Tris grins. “But is it just me, or is he freaking hot?”
“It would probably be easier to just go ask Frank about him than to find anything out searching on the web,” I say, dropping my bag on Kiki’s floor.
“Girl, however will you decide which one makes you hotter—the old hippy man who runs the jewelry shop, the guy who wears tights and torments you and everyone around you, or the one who I’ve nearly had to use my sleeve to wipe drool from under your chin so you don’t embarrass yourself while giving me secondhand embarrassment at the gym who, by the way, is going to try to fuck up a face that looks like yours in two days?” Kiki asks as she pulls out a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries with a tented note and a rose. She sets it on the kitchen island, rips the plastic wrap off of it, shoves one in her mouth, and moans.
Her phone rings, and she hits accept call. Then, holding the phone in front of her, she smiles while trying to cover her mouth.
“You didn’t read the note, did you?” Brand laughs.
“Yes,” she says while shaking her head in complete contradiction.
He laughs as she quickly chews and swallows it down.
“You can’t leave chocolate in a house with a pregnant chick,” she says then pops another in her mouth.
“I’m just messing with you, Katy girl. I know you have company—”
“I’m not company. I’m family,” I say loud enough for him to hear, and he laughs.
“Lemme see my belly,” he says, a smile in his voice.
Kiki shrugs off her blazer, switching hands instead of laying the phone down on the counter, no doubt wanting to see his face, and pulls up her shirt.
“Conway, make your momma behave and rest.”
“That name’s not sticking either,” Kiki scolds him as she brings the phone back up to her face.
“Katy girl, we really need to come to a decision at some point soon.”
“I’ll help her figure it out.”
“Good idea. You two should make a list tonight. Skip school and make it tomorrow. Hell, keep making that list until I come back Sunday morning.”
“Brand, we’re going to be fine.”
“Didn’t wanna leave,” he says softly.
“Someone has to work.” She winks.
“I’ll bring home the money, you keep working on baking that bun I put in your oven.”
She smiles. “Will do.”
“Love you. Call me when you lay down for the night.”
“Love you, and I will.”
She hangs up, grabs another strawberry, shoves it in her mouth, and then grabs the whole tray. “Let’s go do some digging.”
Through an hour’s worth of searches, we find out that the house Tobias Easton lives in belonged to a Hope Easton, who passed away at the age of twenty-nine while serving in the US Naval Reserves. The photos we found of her are the same as the woman in the picture on Tobias’s IG. The fact that she is only sixteen years older than him would lead one to believe she was his much older sister, but further digging unveils that she was actually his mother. Being her only known relative, he was given the house.
“He was fourteen when she died,” I whisper as I hold my hand over my heart.
We couldn’t find much on him. As a minor and one who seems to like his privacy, unlike most of our generation who shares everything on social media, finding anything more is extremely difficult. But what we surmised is he’s eighteen and doesn’t need a guardian.
“Mystery man,” Kiki says sadly, closing the laptop.
“I’m sure Harrison and the other two know everything.”
“How odd is it that they’re friends? Harrison, Miles, and Kai aren’t nice to anyone. They don’t even act like our peers without big names and plastic tits present. And Tobias doesn’t even hang around them at school.”
“Well, we don’t have to wonder where he gets money to eat and own a different workout outfit every day.” I lean back into the overstuffed couch cushion. “Those fights are big money. I bet he walks away with twenty grand, even if he doesn’t win.”
“Wonder how he reports that to the IRS.” Kiki laughs.
“Gonna guess that doesn’t happen.”
“You said you paid through an app. How do you erase that paper trail?”
“Honestly, Kiki, I don’t even want to know. I just wish I never even went to the outcast cast party. I feel like all of this is my fault, including my brother now being put in danger because of someone’s hate for me.”
“Someone?” she huffs. “You mean PBJ?”
“You know, I thought so, too, but what does she have to gain? If she liked Harrison, like really liked him, that would be the last thing anyone with half a brain would do. Think about it. Why would she want to even shed light on me or you?”